It’s almost 90 degrees outside, but ironically, I’m thinking about my firewood. Although spring has grown into summer as I write this, last week or so marked the last and latest fire I’ve ever had at June 19^th. The lows sank into the 40s while the highs reached only the upper 50s with an added dampness in the air that sent me once more to the woodpile. I only stuck in three small sticks, but it was enough to dry things out and warm things up. There is something else too that has been sending my thoughts back to that woodpile.

While I don’t have a Tesla, Prius, or brand new F-150 hybrid pick-up truck to brag about, I do have a long stack of firewood and a simple medium-sized Regency front-loading woodstove that I find pretty cool. Firewood is our primary heat. And in the last few months, those two stacks of firewood sure have appreciated in value, mainly savings. The average price of fuel oil in Ulster County is about $6/gallon. The average total gallons used by upstate NYers is roughly 718. At $6/gallon, that would burn down to about $4,308. In our household, that isn’t chump change.

The Cost of Firewood

While firewood might be a savings — especially during high energy costs — it is so much more than that. As one older gentleman once told me, “Firewood is a way of life.” While an oil burner is simply shut off or turned on, firewood is a work in progress. Firewood isn’t free though; You pay for it in many ways. If you’re buying firewood, it can be about $250/cord. For comparison, I have a small ranch house and four cords is about all I need. If we consider our above average oil usage/year, then firewood is about ¼ the cost. However, oil’s high price today is unusual, and firewood is more like ½ to 1/3 price of oil. If you’re cutting it yourself, it’s dangerous. The occupation that uses chainsaws the most — logging — represents the most dangerous occupation on land in the US. Cutting firewood demands knowing something about this tool, its sharpness, maintenance, and application. There also needs to be some forethought. Knowing which trees to cut and which to leave can be detrimental to the forest or a huge improvement. Firewood, unlike oil, is bulky or “volume rich.” It takes up a lot of space and needs to be seasoned or dried before gaining its maximum heat value. Then, it must be moved into the house where it can be messy. Burning firewood, or rather how you burn, can be anywhere on that wide spectrum of efficiency, too. Combustion requires heat, oxygen, and wood. If the burner is impatient and deprives oxygen to trade for longer burn times, then more smoke and heat is lost up the chimney. Poorly burned or smothered fires that occur frequently can lead to house fires. In addition, burning inefficiently releases more smoke and unburned particles into the air for you and your neighbors to breathe in and potentially complain about. The aftermath of all that burning is ashes that need to be periodically cleaned out. The cycle of cut, stack, season, move, burn, move ashes, move more fire, repeat, repeat, repeat is, well, repetitious. But, in between those steps, is a “way of life” perhaps some find fulfilling.

Firewood’s Payback

That brings us to the positive side of the ledger. Unlike other renewable energy sources that trade an on/off switch with fossil fuels, firewood demands a student, but ultimately teaches something valuable in the end. Let me explain. If you slack in your wood — and don’t plan ahead — you’ll be penalized in lost heat, come winter. If you rush your firewood — and it’s not seasoned — it will harass you when burned in the stove via a hissing sound. The hissing is stuck water vapor that steals heat away from the wood and up the chimney. It also deposits creosote which can lead to chimney fires. Lost heat value means lost money since you’re not getting that cord’s full heat potential. If you’re cutting yourself, maybe you think “at least I didn’t pay for it.” I’ve always been an athlete, but firewood has taught me how unnecessarily hard I’ve been on my body. For instance, in swinging the maul to split firewood, I used to swing as hard as I could. I got away with that for about eight years. Then my elbow began to sing. It forced me instead to “throw” the maul, not pound it. Also, I now trade off with my weaker left arm. I try also to think ahead on how to limit unnecessary or poor positions when moving or lifting wood. There is a reason wise folks say, “Work smarter, not harder” or “slow is smooth, smooth is fast.” I’m learning.

If performed efficiently, firewood can make a man as hard as first growth timber. I’m aiming for third. One more thing on that. I used to go to the gym quite a bit in college. The problem is that most of the exercises there are “linear” since they include machines that stimulate real movements. Doing firewood creates enough “muscle confusion” that it seems to strengthen (for me) more efficiently and practically. Everything from the grip in your hand, to your back, legs, and arms. Again, assuming you’re not “pounding” your body. Tom Brady may be one of the oldest quarterbacks — and this is quite impressive — but how many can say they do firewood into their 70s or 80s? I knew one older man that lived near a cemetery in Margaretville into his 80s. He sold firewood right up until the end. He was known for saying, “I cut firewood here, so I don’t end up there (pointing to the cemetery).” I believe he lived long and ably because he spent so much time doing firewood.

Even when firewood is spent, its work isn’t done. Ashes can be used as a liming agent for soil and plants, as a deicer on driveways, or a divot-filler. You can even use wood ashes as lye to make soap with or to buck buckskins. Ashes can even be used to clean the glass door of your woodstove.

Firewood — Good for Forest & Community

I spoke about how firewood forces one to “plan ahead” or use forethought. It isn’t a switch like using oil or solar power. Instead, its solar power is locked up in wood fibers that are decades old. Its benefit must be unlocked through forethought and just hard work; These are two understated benefits of firewood I’ll leave off with. In defense of firewood, it is a cultural win and damn good for the forest if applied appropriately. After spending years educating others about natural resources management, I’ve come to realize just how difficult it is for people to gain awareness about their “environment” or local forest. While some people can gain this awareness by simply hiking around the woods, most I don’t think can. A love for the forest is a good start. But, there often needs to be some sort of “economic” or tangible incentive to gain this awareness. It doesn’t necessarily have to be money, but something to keep people coming back, even when they might not want to, even when the weather is unpleasant. I have spoken about how fishing drew me back to streams I only used for swimming or hiking as a kid. It was fishing or the hope of gaining a fish that gave me more reason to return. Hunting worked the same way. Sometimes I just didn’t feel like going in the woods. But I rely upon deer not just for the experience, but also for meat; I need the meat, no matter my mood. And in doing so, I can’t help but to remain connected. Ever notice that farmers seem to have an incredible depth of understanding about their land? It’s because they have many reasons to know it. Firewood is the same. It keeps my nose looking at wood and the trees they come from, even when I’d rather sometimes just go inside. If you know which tree to cut and which to leave behind, firewood can provide an incentive to enhance forest health, wildlife habitat, future trees for sawtimber, improve maple sugaring, etc. Besides, firewood must be cut; winter is coming. And that brings me to my second defense of burning firewood.

Yes, I know. Firewood can seem almost primitive or regressive in today’s world. Technology seems to be pushing solar, geothermal, mini-splits, and more, and these technologies are welcomed. Firewood too has progressed technologically, but the woodstove remains fairly simple and affordable for local people. I’ll never forget my brother-in-law’s happiness in seeing my woodstove. He’s a plumber, and after dealing with water issues in baseboard systems or other heating/cooling systems where water is exchanged, he admired its simplicity. “So much less to go wrong. No plumbing or water exchange. No duct work, nothing.” And who can beat raw heat coming from a stove?

But firewood is so much more than savings. It teaches something perhaps sorely needed today. It teaches self-reliance, independence, living locally, forethought, patience, and hard work. Ironically, it teaches an appreciation too for other energy sources. I know the work it takes to make my heat. Surely, it must take a lot to create our electricity, oil, etc. Surely someone is laboring somewhere to bring it to us. Firewood is something tangible that can be stacked, burned, and bone-warming during the winter. It cannot be simply turned on or off or arrive virtually. It must be planned out and the plan must be stuck to. It rewards when it is practiced correctly, and it punishes when it is not. It can be a great workout or it can be damaging. It is humbling, just as the forest and its elements are. So, if you’re thinking about doing firewood, don’t just look at the dollars saved. Look at the whole picture. It’s a way of life that’s from the forest, but may carry itself well outside of it too. catskillforest.org