Home Garden Companion

Ilona's Garden Journal

buy quality plants
  • Plant Library On The Journal
  • Garden chores
    • Do as I say
  • Ilona’s Garden Home
    • Old House Blog
    • Garden Librarian
  • Ilona’s Garden Flavor Shop
  • Privacy Policy

autumn

Woodpile and woodsmoke….Looking toward winter

This last Friday we had our winter wood supply delivered. A wood burning stove furnishes most of our heat for the house, with electric as a backup. We used to have two woodburners to keep going, but after remodeling the kitchen we just never put the old cookstove back. I had intended to buy a new Waterford one that was airtight and efficient, but ran short of funds. It happens to the best of us;)

The children are pretty good about getting the dumped load all neatly stacked, which I really appreciate. There was a year or so when they weren’t so attentive to duty and it killed the grass…. Never mind that the wood was wet in the rain. But the past several years have seen the woodpile go up quickly and almost architecturally packed.

The stove in our home is a Vermont Castings, because we were quite happy with the one from our former home. In that house we had to rebuild the chimney for safety. We contracted with someone who built us a Rumford chimney and we installed a Resolute ( I don’t think they make these anymore). In that home the stove was only meant to be supplemental heat after we went through the first energy crisis and couldn’t get enough heat that winter. It was a smaller stove and we soon became enamored with radiant heat in cold, damp, Ohio winters. When we moved here we bought the Vigilant ( which I also think they no longer make). It is large and heats most of the house most of the time, although I would still like a cookstove in the kitchen dining room.

Woodsmoke scents the air and curls from our chimney, but these newer types of stoves are efficient burners and don’t emit so much particulate.

Our favorite wood is hickory, although we get a lot of oak, and other types mixed in. I try to save the prunings from the fruit trees, but those tend to find their way to autumn bonfires. When the weather cooperates it is nice to roast hotdogs and marshmallows, and just sit around the fire and talk.

Using wood for heating has its pros and cons. The two things I don’t like so well are the efforts that are needed to keep “the home fires burning”. The fire has to be fed, and that means hauling in wood from the main pile every day, twice or so a day. It also can leave lots of dustiness and bits and pieces from the wood. The ash has to be cleaned out regularly. It is a bunch of work, really. But it feels so good on the bones after coming in from the cold! And it is still fairly economical. The biggest plus in this rural inconsistency of electric outages is the rock solid dependability: I always have heat.

Properties of Firewood Types

Species of Firewood for Home Heating

Basic wood heating information



DISCLOSURE: I may be an affiliate for products that I recommend. If you purchase those items through my links I will earn a commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link. Thank you, in advance for your support! Privacy Policy
« Apple Cider Time
Top 10 Gardeners Destinations in Central Ohio »

Oh, hi there!

I was a garden blog pioneer, and began writing on this blog in 2003. Before that I had begun a garden website that has been at its own domain since 2006, Ilona's Garden.

I still love writing, gardening, and art after all these years, although travel and grandchildren have become a big part of my life, now.

Standouts

Do You Grow Herbs? 10 Reasons To Love Them

There are so many ways to enjoy herb plants, that they are not for herb gardens only. Think about tucking them into the landscape, into containers or into your home. I do I enjoy thee? Oh, Herb, Let me count the ways! 10 Ways I Enjoy Herbs (and you can, too!) In companion plantings, herbs […]

10 Cool Season Annual Flowers To Plant

Shirley poppies and Bachelor Buttons Not every garden writer alerts you to the fact that annuals can have seasons that are shorter than other choices. For places like Ohio which have hot summers, there are common annuals that only do well when our weather is cooler, such as in early summer. Those flowers sort of […]

Newest Postings Here

  • HELLLOOOO, From The Other Side
  • February Gardening, Last of Winter in the Flower Garden
  • Compilation of Past Mini-Posts of 2003
  • Wayback in Ilona Garden Time
  • 3 Tips For Landscaping Successfully With Ornamental Trees

Finding your way home via the garden path


Read reviews from the GardenLibarian

Visit For A Spell

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • Wanelo

Portrait of a Gardener

gardener musings

Musings

What’s Wrong With Today’s Gardening?

Modern gardening

What Is Wrong?

Garden Journal

fine garden journal

Journal, Planner and Log Book

Shop Small Trees and More

People’s Choice

Wayback in Ilona Garden Time

posted in Uncategorized

1910 garden plan

3 Tips For Landscaping Successfully With Ornamental Trees

posted in Landscape Design Know-How, Landscape Trees

Garden update

Mid-Ohio Gardening Update

posted in 2018, How's the weather?

All Season Garden Color with Bold Foliage Effects, Masterful Contrasts

posted in Garden design ideas, Landscape Design Know-How


Bonsai Trees

Stay updated!

Get all the latest tasty goodness straight to your inbox!

Topics

Past Posts

Join Me

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Garden Enthusiasm

Garden Enthusiasm Delivered

* indicates required

View previous campaigns.

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2021 · Part of Ilona’s Garden by Ilona Erwin