What better way to enjoy winter months than getting outdoors with your family to cut firewood. Our family has bundled up many times over the past couple of months to gather wood. It is a group effort. My husband runs the chainsaw, I haul the wood with a sled and split it and my husband and kids help to stack the finished product in the garage. Most of my friends think I am crazy. I can not tell you how fulfilling the whole process can be. I have a nice axe that is relatively light. For difficult logs I use a maul and wedge. I split the logs atop a wide flat log. I spent this morning researching different aspects of buying wood, species of trees and their efficiency, and cutting. The sites that I visited were , www.michigan.gov and www.woodheat.org
On the Michigan site I found that the state offers permits through the Forest, Mineral and Fire management division. The permits cost $20 and are issued from April 1 - December 31. Those issued permits may cut appropriate wood on designated state land. Five cords is the designated amount of wood allowed to be removed. A cord of wood measures 4 ft H x 4ft W x 8ft L. The DNR also offers a lot of information regarding the emerald ash borer. Most of the trees we have cut to burn this year have been dead ash trees.
I found the wood heat site to be very informative. They covered all of the pros to burning wood. They also provided a list of trees and burning effiiciency. I hope my husband is in the mood to run the saw tonight! This post has given me the fever!
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Awesome! I can totally relate to what you wrote here. We have 5 acres, and lots of dead wood, so my husband goes out with the chainsaw and goes at it. Usually I help him load up his pickup, then we drive it up to the corncrib and stack it.
ReplyDeleteIn last summer's quick wind storm (remember that one??) we lost half of a mature maple, right across the driveway. But we have been burning it all winter! It's almost gone, and this weekend we need to get out and cut some more.
I've never split any myself! That freaks me out a little. But you're inspiring. Maybe someday I'll have the nerve.
Thank you so much for these sites, I'm going to the woodheat one now.
Oh, and last year we actually got billed for our propane tank "rental" because we didn't use the minimum propane to waive that fee!
Just have to come back quick and exclaim! I opened the woodheat site and just that photo of the stacked wood blew me away! That's one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
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