It’s All About The Wood

Fujifilm X100V 23mm 1/500 sec f/5.0 iso 320

At this time of year, many New Englanders share a common purpose: Getting firewood stacked and under cover before the real winter weather hits.

When we first moved to New Hampshire we really didn’t have a good understanding of what winters could be like here. That first year we stacked all of our firewood for the winter outside, simply covered by a large tarp. It wasn’t long before the snow just about covered the entire stack. As for the tarp, it froze solid to the top of the woodpile. That was the last winter we ever stacked wood outside.

iPhone 6S 4.15mm 1/1900 sec f/2.2 iso 25

That next summer I built a proper woodshed that could hold a respectable 3-cords or more. The shed eventually became an integral part of the garden, which grew up around it and doubles now as a potting shed in the summer months.

Until a few years ago, we cut and split all of our firewood that was taken from our own woodlot. Then, the garden reached a size that there was no longer enough spare time during the summer and fall months to cut and split. Oh, and there was that thing called aging!

So, for the past several years, our wood arrives in a truck, already split to the 16” lengths required by most wood stoves today, and is then dumped in a huge pile in front of the barn.

iPhone 12 pro 4.2mm 1/170 sec f/1.6 iso 32

We still choose to stack it ourselves. Not having to cut and prep it saves us a lot of work during the summer months. But, as much as we love those cozy fires during freezing winter days, wood isn’t cheap and there might come a day when supplementing by wood heat during the winter will no longer be cost effective either on the pocketbook or the aging back. If you’re just getting into burning wood, here are your options from the cheapest to the most expensive:

Cutting and splitting it yourself. The only cost is your own labor.
Purchasing a grapple load (log lengths), then cutting it into stove-burning lengths and splitting it yourself.
Purchasing cut and split green wood then seasoning it (letting it dry for a full season) yourself.
Purchasing cut and split seasoned wood. At this writing, in our corner of New Hampshire, a cord of split and seasoned wood is going for $300-350.

Do you still cut your own wood or buy it from a dealer? Let me know in the comments.

Lumber

Wyeth Like

Joseph Valentine Photography