Welcome to Bens Backwoods Blog

Bushcraft , Survival, Homesteading, and simple living articles and info.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Firewood Time!

This is the time of year we start to put up firewood for the winter.

We have a decent amount of hardwood on our property here, mostly maple but also beech, birch, ash, black cherry and some oak. This picture is of what we have stacked right now on our deck. It came from one double maple tree that part of it died and I cut the rest down. So far the one tree has provided almost a full cord of wood, 4' x 4' x 8' . There is still more I need to get in from this tree. One good sized tree like this will provide about 1/3 of the wood we need to get through the winter.

Harvesting Firewood is hard work, but like anything once you get used to it , and if you have a few helpers, its not that hard of work and becomes enjoyable for the whole family. We like to do a few hours here and there and the wood pile just starts to add up.

There is just something rewarding about harvesting and using wood for heat that is hard to explain. I would not trade it for anything and will likely be running a chainsaw and swinging an axe until I physically cant keep up with it.

Heating with wood also gives you self reliance as your not dependent on oil, or gas to keep your home warm in the colder months. I enjoy simple things, and would highly recommend using wood as a main source of heat.


This is a small Fisher woodstove I picked up at a yardsale for 20.00 about 8 years ago. I had to clean off the surface rust and paint it. It has been heating our home ever since.

2 comments:

samh said...

Like they say, wood warms you three times. Once when you cut it, a second time when you carry it and a third time when you burn it.

backcountrybowhunter said...

Ben,
Looking forward to following your blog, as well as ordering more goodies from you soon! I added your blog to my blog's roll call. Keep it up.
Mike