Wood Heat: A Heckuva Lot of Work

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Before I moved here, a few of my more experienced acquaintances warned my that wood heat was a heckuva lot of work.

Wow – heating with wood is a heckuva a lot of work!  For those of you yearning for an off-grid heat source, let me tell you about it.

If you happen to be independently wealthy, the minutiae of wood heat probably won’t affect you.  However, if wood heat is a practical money-saving move, you are in for more work than you might expect.

First – there is the acquisition of the wood in fireplace sized pieces.  I skipped a couple of steps this year because I needed wood that was already split and seasoned to keep us warm. It’s more expensive, of course, if someone else does the splitting, so this is a one-time luxury for us.  My next load of wood will be un-split and I am going to learn to split it myself in preparation for next winter.

Second – your future heat source doesn’t give a flying rat’s tail if you don’t feel well. If you leave it where it’s dumped, you will no longer have dry wood. The dew or frost or possible rain will undo that year of seasoning the wood has undergone. You will have paid for wet wood which won’t burn well.  A wood delivery gets dumped out of a truck in a huge pile in the middle of your yard. I’m currently dealing with a respiratory infection, but the wood’s still gotta be stacked.

Third – nearly each day will find you lugging wood into the house for burning.  Again, the heat does not care if you have hurt your back, sprained your ankle or if you are feeling energetic that day.  Lug wood or freeze.

Fourth – Starting a fire and keeping it going takes practice.  I probably spend 45 minutes per day on my knees in front of the wood stove coaxing the fire to a) start burning, b) continue burning or c) resume burning when it goes out. I didn’t realize that there was more to it than lighting it and tossing a log in every few hours and this was very naive.  However, I’m sure I’m not alone in the assumption – it seems like it should be so simple. It’s NOT.

Finally – kindling is REALLY expensive to buy.  Because of the sheer amount of chopping to get the wood into those little pieces, kindling is labor intensive, and thus, high-priced.  A person in my area is moving his campsite and gave me permission to haul away his kindling.  So, because I’m cheap…er…thrifty…I’m dragging a wheel barrow 1/4 of a mile through a trail (there is no access for my truck), then bringing the loaded wheelbarrow back and stacking it. Also a LOT of work!  This meager looking pile represents 5 wheelbarrow loads full – so two and a half miles with a wheelbarrow, loading the wheelbarrow and unloading the wheelbarrow. There are at least 20-30 more loads to come over.  I don’t mind because free stuff makes me happy and pushing it in a wheelbarrow is way less work than splitting it down to this size

People rely on the power grid for a reason – it’s much more convenient to have heat at the turn of a dial and lights at the flick of a switch. But somewhere along the line, all of that convenience has caused us to lose our health and lazy and overweight as a group.  We’ve all come to rely on “just-in-time” satisfaction, whether it is our heat, the food in our cupboards or any other number of items we purchase whenever we need them.  Many of us seem to have lost the ability to plan ahead like our ancestors were forced to do.

The benefits of heating with wood are so much more than just a warm cozy fire, but go into with your eyes open!

 

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Daisy Luther

Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, globe-trotting blogger. She is the founder and publisher of three websites.  1) The Organic Prepper, which is about current events, preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty on her website, 2)  The Frugalite, a website with thrifty tips and solutions to help people get a handle on their personal finances without feeling deprived, and 3) PreppersDailyNews.com, an aggregate site where you can find links to all the most important news for those who wish to be prepared. She is widely republished across alternative media and  Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses. You can find her on FacebookPinterest, Gab, MeWe, Parler, Instagram, and Twitter.

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  • I’m lucky, we have 10 acres of lodge pole pine and a strong hubby! ( plus a gas powered log splitter is awfully handy!)

  • Way to go! You are awesome! We keep some pine or aspen in little bite size pieces for starting and reviving the fire. They burn hot and quickly heat up the hardwood so that it ignites more easily.

  • Give up the kindling. Buy a couple of the pre-made fireplace logs. Knock off a small chunk (about the size of a golf ball) and light that, put some split wood on top and away it goes. I haven’t bothered with kindling wood for years. One of the pre-made logs usually last all season.

  • Roger, good advice!! An added tip to that is if your on a trip into town in the spring, (when heat is less of a concern of course) you have a better chance of getting them on sale, picking up a couple can last a long time and give you more time for other chores rather then chopping kindling.

    Another tip for low cost fire starters, you take a 50/50 mix of dryer lint and saw dust and pack it tight into a paper egg container. Melt wax from left over candles and pour over the mix till well saturated. Let this cool and you can tear off individual egg parts and take a flame too and and poof you have a powerful fire starter.

  • I like to make a “set it and forget it” pile in my wood stove.

    I save every twig that lands in my backyard and store them in a drum. I have another drum where I store all cardboard from food and merchandise containers and junk mail.

    1. Twig pile on bottom
    2. Carboard in the middle
    3. Junk mail on top

    This whole pile fills less than half the stove, but after lighting it, I can ignite even big log splits with the embers left from the twigs.

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