I love burning wood
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kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
Its a life style choice for me, I could easily fork over the $$$ for oil heat, but I like the challenge from the start at the tree to cleaning the ashes out of the stove. I also am constantly thinking / critiquing my heating wants and needs, from building a woodshed to making my house more insulated.
Just heard a quote on tv.. " Like grandpa says, you get out of it what you put into it." I think that can easily apply to this type of living
Just heard a quote on tv.. " Like grandpa says, you get out of it what you put into it." I think that can easily apply to this type of living
XmasTreefarmer
Feeling the Heat
It is a lifestyle choice at this point for me as well. Certainly in the beginning I was sort of doing it for fun, but saving money was a big part of it. Now I still do it for the fun and there is just no heat like it. I always smile when someone comes over in the Winter and when they come in they will say the house feels "cozy". If it's someone who knows we heat with wood - friends, the kids, etc. They will say "hi" and then head over to stand by the stove to warm up after coming in from the cold.
And then there's cutting, splitting, hauling, etc. That is not work for me - I enjoy it, it helps keep me in shape, it makes me feel like I'm in charge of my life, and I can whether a power outage quite easily!
Finally the routine - I love getting up in the morning, grabbing that first cup of coffee for the day and then getting the fire going. People LOVE to build their fires when they are camping ... every day is like that for me!
And then there's cutting, splitting, hauling, etc. That is not work for me - I enjoy it, it helps keep me in shape, it makes me feel like I'm in charge of my life, and I can whether a power outage quite easily!
Finally the routine - I love getting up in the morning, grabbing that first cup of coffee for the day and then getting the fire going. People LOVE to build their fires when they are camping ... every day is like that for me!
jatoxico
Minister of Fire
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Squisher
Minister of Fire
It's the only heat I've ever known. I can think of a couple of winters in my wild youth spent in rental homes without wood heat. Never again. As a teenager my bed was right beside the wood stove in the basement in an open uninsulated basement. Lol. No blankets nescessary, sheet at most.
I love supplying my family with warmth. It's very satisfying for me. The whole process.
I've often said I was designed from the get go for lifting and carrying things. We have a small farm and there is plenty of routine and work involved. I don't find the 'work' of firewood burning to be much at all.
I love supplying my family with warmth. It's very satisfying for me. The whole process.
I've often said I was designed from the get go for lifting and carrying things. We have a small farm and there is plenty of routine and work involved. I don't find the 'work' of firewood burning to be much at all.
Lloyd the redneck
Feeling the Heat
Ben Stark
Member
Both my wife and I grew up with wood heat. We learned to cut and split and stack alongside our parents, and it is very rewarding. The heat is steady and comforting, and it doesn’t matter if a blizzard knocks out the power, our family will still be warm.
I enjoy watching the fire in the evening more than watching mindless TV shows with commercials repeating every few minutes. We had a night where the temperature dropped to 27 degrees below zero, not including the windchill. Many of our neighbors pipes froze, their overworked furnaces could not keep up. Our house was warm and snug.
Once a week I remove some ashes and once or twice a year I sweep the chimney. Other than that the stove needs little maintenance. Door gasket maybe every 5 years. I actually enjoy operating the stove.
Simple living is extremely rewarding, I think so many people have lost site of that in our non stop world of instant gratification. We overschedule our lives sometimes, forgetting what is really important. Nights our family has enjoyed around the wood fire are always treasured memories.
I enjoy watching the fire in the evening more than watching mindless TV shows with commercials repeating every few minutes. We had a night where the temperature dropped to 27 degrees below zero, not including the windchill. Many of our neighbors pipes froze, their overworked furnaces could not keep up. Our house was warm and snug.
Once a week I remove some ashes and once or twice a year I sweep the chimney. Other than that the stove needs little maintenance. Door gasket maybe every 5 years. I actually enjoy operating the stove.
Simple living is extremely rewarding, I think so many people have lost site of that in our non stop world of instant gratification. We overschedule our lives sometimes, forgetting what is really important. Nights our family has enjoyed around the wood fire are always treasured memories.
Definitely a lifestyle choice for me and Womanly. I can afford to pay oil and it would certainly be less work. But I like the work involved. Bucking, splitting and stacking help keep me fit, trim and manly. We have been heating with solid fuel for so long that oil fired forced hot air feels uncomfortable to us. Then there are the beasts. The Shepard likes to bake her bones after a cool romp in the snow. The Misses has two Norwegian forest cats. They are a breed that just loves winter; spend their days laying around the Norwegian Jotul 3CB. We wouldn't have it any other way.
Bootstrap
Burning Hunk
It’s a lifestyle choice for me as well. I like the heat and wouldn’t want to spend more on oil to heat my house to 70.
As far as the work is concerned, I believe that physical work is a good thing. You need to do something to keep your body going, in my opinion. I don’t want to become a fat lazy loaf like some.
As far as the work is concerned, I believe that physical work is a good thing. You need to do something to keep your body going, in my opinion. I don’t want to become a fat lazy loaf like some.
XmasTreefarmer
Feeling the Heat
A big THANK YOU to johnsopi for starting this thread! It's really fun to talk about why we do what we do; why we live like we do. We are in a minority, a very small minority, and I know that many/most of my friends really just don't "get it". That's OK - it's great that we have the opportunity to live like we want too.
I often feel like I've picked a time somewhere in the past to live in. Back in the early 70's I'd just graduated college and rented a little farmhouse with my wife. We just knew we wanted to be, "in the country". I was teaching HS in our small town and she was a nurse at the hospital. The nice folks across the road from us had a small Round Oak stove in the garage and after we'd pick rock, or shock corn, or whatever they needed help with, we'd sit in there around the stove. I was hooked. I installed a stove that I found in an old out building on the farm and i was heating with wood!
I often cut, split, and haul wood by myself - but just as often my wife and I work on it together. I'll limb out a tree and she'll haul brush, she'll run the splitter and I'll bring the wood and then stack it - then we'll switch off. It's such good work, it feels like we're in the "old days", and it brings us together in a very meaningful way. "I love burning wood" !
I often feel like I've picked a time somewhere in the past to live in. Back in the early 70's I'd just graduated college and rented a little farmhouse with my wife. We just knew we wanted to be, "in the country". I was teaching HS in our small town and she was a nurse at the hospital. The nice folks across the road from us had a small Round Oak stove in the garage and after we'd pick rock, or shock corn, or whatever they needed help with, we'd sit in there around the stove. I was hooked. I installed a stove that I found in an old out building on the farm and i was heating with wood!
I often cut, split, and haul wood by myself - but just as often my wife and I work on it together. I'll limb out a tree and she'll haul brush, she'll run the splitter and I'll bring the wood and then stack it - then we'll switch off. It's such good work, it feels like we're in the "old days", and it brings us together in a very meaningful way. "I love burning wood" !
iceman2424
Member
Fire, and the heat, smoke, crackling, and dancing flames that come with it are magical. That goes without saying.
But I also live in the 'burbs, and I love heating with wood because it allows me to connect in some small way to nature, and God's creation. As I see it, I get to build a campfire in my living room whenever I please.
I enjoy scrounging wood from felled trees throughout the metro area, competing for "the score" vs. my fellow firebugs. I love hauling, splitting, and stacking, and taking my kids on "stick walks," where we gather kindling from lawns, and throw it in the wagon.
I even like trudging out to my stacks with a cigar in the freezing cold and selecting the perfect splits for that evening's fire. Shoot, I analyze my wood piles like I do my 401k.
Great thread.
But I also live in the 'burbs, and I love heating with wood because it allows me to connect in some small way to nature, and God's creation. As I see it, I get to build a campfire in my living room whenever I please.
I enjoy scrounging wood from felled trees throughout the metro area, competing for "the score" vs. my fellow firebugs. I love hauling, splitting, and stacking, and taking my kids on "stick walks," where we gather kindling from lawns, and throw it in the wagon.
I even like trudging out to my stacks with a cigar in the freezing cold and selecting the perfect splits for that evening's fire. Shoot, I analyze my wood piles like I do my 401k.
Great thread.
The kicker is if the power goes out and you have enough fuel , the heat stays on indefinitely. Everyone cannot say that. In the unlikely event of an electro magnetic pulse, even generators will not work.
In that event, I'm pretty sure I will be gone long before my wood stacks are.
Could come from a solar flare . Big one just missed us in 2013.In that event, I'm pretty sure I will be gone long before my wood stacks are.
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