Staying Warm

On a cold winter night you just can’t beat the heat from a wood fire. It’s a different kind of warm. It seems like it penetrates clear down to the bone. And then you have that glow of satisfaction because you are not paying some utility company top dollar for that warmth. It gives you a sense of independence. If you do your own cutting you can have a deep down good feeling knowing that you cut and split that fire wood yourself. Having 10 cord or more of wood stacked outside the house gives you that I am prepared for winter weather feeling.

I have heated my home with wood for many years. I will be the first to admit it is hard work, but for me it is worth every bit of it. Our first stove was an old #9 pot bellied antique. It had a small fire door and we had to feed the stove several times per night. That left you pretty tired in the morning. One day I got a 55 gal steel drum and a stove kit and set up a barrel stove in the house. My wife threw a fit and told me to get that ugly thing out of the house. I got her to agree to a 2 week trial period. After two weeks the stove stayed because it performed so well. We could heat the whole house with it and could load it up to last all night long.

It probably depends where you live but out here in rural Nebraska you can get all the wood you want for the asking. I look for wood that is dense and has a high btu value so it will burn a long time in the stove. Around here that would be oak, ash, mulberry, hackberry, locust. Most farmers are receptive to letting you clean up an older shelter belt or tree grove. Logs from green trees need to dry for at least a year. Wood from standing dead trees can be burned as soon as you cut and split it. Even logs laying on the ground are good for immediate burning if they are not punky and rotten.

A pickup, chainsaw, and splitting maul are minimum equipment to getting your own firewood supply. So much the better if you have a log splitter. Some folks for various reasons decide to just buy their firewood from the local firewood business. Being a seller of firewood myself I would advise that barter would work here. You could take your special skills, knowledge and abilities and make a trade for your firewood needs