Firewood

This may not be the most glamorous post, nor a topic we want to think about during the summer months, but it is part of our story that we wanted to share...

When we purchased our house, it came with a wood stove but so far we have only used it sporadically, mostly as a back-up when the power goes out. Like many other Mainers, we primarily heat our house with oil. After a bit of discussion last winter, we decided that since we were already working towards having less dependency on corporate farming, it would also make sense to take steps to lessen our dependency on oil and utilize our wood stove much more. We realized that part of our goal toward living a more self-sufficient life has become providing our own heating source during the long winter months. Even though it was early January and winter had already settled in, we wanted to put our plan into action as soon as possible. We carried in some firewood, loaded up the old Dutchwest wood stove, and attempted to open the damper. A loud clanking sound came from inside the stove and just like that, we discovered that it was broken! After starting to price out replacement parts and realizing that those only were going to cost in excess of $800, we decided it would be a smarter investment to purchase a new wood stove rather than pay to repair the potentially 15-year-old one. Of course this started yet another discussion about what kind of stove we should choose and where we should buy one! Ultimately, we ended up picking the Jotul Castine and decided to purchase it from Embers Stove & Fireplace Shop.

Since our home sits in the middle of nearly two acres of land and is surrounded by trees on all sides, it makes sense for us to begin selectively harvesting them for firewood. This is also helping us work towards our future gardening plans because as we drop trees we are opening up more space for the sun to get through in different parts of our yard. We don't intend to get all of our firewood from our own land and just recently purchased a cord of unseasoned wood from Whitehouse Logging and Firewood .

The winter months are not always our favorite time of the year, but this new endeavor has us looking forward to when we turn this pile of logs into fuel for our home...