I’ve talked and dreamed about living the wood stove lifestyle for years, and I’ve enjoyed nearly every second of the reality – finding firewood, processing firewood, loading up the firebox even early in the morning and late at night… it’s all a dream come true.
The only part I haven’t enjoyed is the precarious position I’ve put myself in with regards to firewood. Since I spent every spare moment this week working on this issue, let me explain…
I started the winter with a pretty limited supply of firewood. I can’t be too hard on myself about it; upon moving to the property in June, I had a LOT of other tasks that demanded my immediate attention.
I started with a few sources on the property:
- Hardwood Pile: In the horse’s paddock, there was about half a cord of split and stacked hardwood – likely maple, sitting right next to the stump it came from. It had been sitting there for at least the past two years, so there was a fair bit of debris from animals nesting, but it was excellent aged wood.
- Eastern Red Cedar Pile: Out by the grove was a stack of eastern red cedar, cut to approximately 2 foot lengths.
- Downed Trees: This is where I will embarrass myself (and various professors from my biology education) because forestry identification is not my strong suit. There is a lichen-covered hardwood and a small oak tree that fell over the summer, plus a pine tree that fell on my family’s garage.
There is a science to burning firewood, and I am merely learning on the job. A moisture meter has been my most used tool. It is best to burn wood at 15% moisture or less, with 20% as the upper limit of acceptable. More moisture decreases the efficiency of the burn and increases the creosote production, leading to potential build-up issues in the future. It seems like I will be able to get away with a bit of sub-optimal burning so long as I stick to a chimney cleaning schedule and include a daily hot burn (maximum airflow to burn off preliminary creosote). My next cleaning will be in the spring, so that should give me a good idea of whether my practices so far are acceptable or if I need to be more strict about the moisture level of my firewood.
In two months of heating primarily with wood, the majority of the hardwood and eastern red cedar piles are gone. I have turned my focus to the downed trees; though they’re testing at slightly too wet for immediate burning, once split and stacked I hope they will be ready for burning in a month.
Hopefully I can make the last of the cedar and hardwood last until then. Here are some strategies that I’m using to get me there:
- Process the annoying stuff. I have a decent pile of knotty cedar logs and strangely shaped hardwood ends that are seasoned, but laborious to split. However, processing one knotty cedar log nets me two full firebox fill-ups, so it’s worth doing.
- Keep bringing in as much wood as possible. If it’s not ready for the end of winter, it will certainly be ready for next year.
- Limit burning to when it’s really needed. If it’s 50 degrees outside and I’m going to work, I don’t need to be burning firewood – the electric mini-splits are efficient and sufficient to keep the house warm enough to keep the pipes safe, and my dog has a fur coat. Skipping a before-work load will help stretch the wood I do have.
- Use the emergency basement pile… if I have to. The previous owner used the basement wood stove frequently as the basement was his workshop. He left a stash of wood in the corner that is pristine – hardwood that is as dry as could be. I’ve been saving it for an emergency, like if I didn’t want to go outside to refill my porch stash in the middle of the night, or if a wicked cold snap forced me to fire up the basement stove. I hesitate to use it because I like knowing that it’s there, but I will if I have to – I’ve made it this far without turning on the boiler, and I’m determined to make it to the end of the winter!
I know that I could cough up $300 to have a big pile of (relatively) seasoned firewood deposited on my driveway, but I’m too proud. This is about self-reliance, so on principle it doesn’t feel right to have the wood trucked in – at that point, I might as well turn on the boiler and have the oil delivered instead.
So if you need me, don’t call – I’ll be busy doing firewood.
KC