Let’s talk about firewood

There is nothing wrong with cottonwood for the fireplace, it burns just fine. Out here where we live there is a lot of salt cedar. It burns hot and slow much like the abundant mesquite.
It also smells nice when burning.
We did get a big load of free ponderosa pine from the ski area my son worked at for a few seasons. The logs were giant 80-100 foot and at least 3 feet across.
It does burn fast and it doesn't really make coals, just powdery ash. But it was free. (y)
 
Lots of good wood options here in Northern CA. Madrone, Black Oak, Blue Oak, Cedar, Doug Fir…
I like cutting wood because it’s tangible. You can see what you accomplished for the day. Plus you just can’t beat wood heat in the wintertime. IMG_2828.jpegIMG_2572.jpegIMG_2572.jpeg
 
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I’ve burned firewood most of my life. One of my first free labor jobs with my dad was moving firewood as he cut wood.

Present house we burn roughly 7 cords a winter. Wood is our heat. We used to cut about 10 cords a year. After a couple years we could skip a year. We cut 10 cord one weekend in our prime.

Family complained about the amount of time we spent each summer cutting, splitting and stacking wood. I bought a logging truck of wood. 12+ cord. It’s a lot of work too. Last year wife said she just wanted to buy 8 cords cut and split. I complained about the size and potentially quality of wood we’d get. Nobody cared until we burned it last year. It was declared junk.

This year’s games are another truck load of logs. I’m going to rent a cut and split machine to cut the load hopefully in a day. Manual stacking. We need two people to run the machine efficiently, everyone else is stacking. I might hire a couple neighbor kids. We should have two years worth of wood.

Definitely more expensive than spending all summer in the woods but we prefer wood heat in the house.
 
Just got the call from my wood guy. An outfitter/guide buddy who delivers quality wood. Lives near Apache creek and knows some good spots here abouts. Lives basic off grid style life.
Heavy load of oak coming tomorrow. Bringing me some applewood for the smoker and firepit/q too...cool.

The propane is back up and just runs to move air around. Rarely ever lights up. I cook with it.
 
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