I only have 9 acres to cut on and I can't keep up with what comes down naturally. I have 3 areas where red oak are down. Elm is down all over the place. It is almost too much for this 77YO to deal with in a timely fashion.
I'm about a 1/3 css for next year and about another 1/3 cut. I get 90% of my wood from work and the other 10% from my small woods. I fell way behind ( like to 0) and I'm basically starting from scratch. I used to scrounge, and after about a year of actively searching, people started coming to me. I just got lucky with the current source of wood and there is plenty. I don't do much with firewood once the weather gets nice.
I have probably 2 cords of bucked BL and a cord of bucked red pine at a friend's house I need to get. Got trees here in the woods bucked I need to get to. Dead standing I need to get to, and also some already knocked down I still need to buck up. Probably 15ish cords in all. Time is what I need more than anything.
Im surrounded by crown land that is very mountainous with easy access to as much firewood as I want. Sometimes Ill drive an hour to get firewood but that's not out of necessity as there is lots of it close to home. Thats not to say that its easy and at the road side, I still have to have a keen eye and grab the good stuff before others do. I spend a lot of time poking around in the woods so look for standing dead larch and doug fir and log it away for when I decide to head out with the saw. If I wanted to just burn Aspen and lodgepole pine then its plentiful but the prime wood for us is larch (19 mbtu) which is on everyones list around here. This one was a standing dead larch that was 52 ft long and was a tree that snapped off part way up about 3-4 years ago. It was the last tree of the season for me in early November as the snows started that day and the back roads became inaccessible until spring. Located a 5 minute drive from my house and was hiding in plain sight. Yes my truck was parked further away before I dropped it!
I've got 3 places to cut not to mention my own property. My place is alot of silver maple down. My neighbor cuts a little at my place to keep ahed of the rot. Need another neighbor to come get some....@brenndatomu
I burn about 2.5 cords a year plus or minus. Currently have six under cover in the woodshed and 4 more split stacked and top covered. Just recently got 2 more cords of rounds stacked in the very small wood yard and maybe a couple more cords to come shortly. Unfortunately, because I live in a suburban area I am mostly dependent on tree service scores. No way of scheduling these, they just happen when they happen. I do have a tree service owner friend who sometimes calls if a home owner has some trees cut down and the wood is not spoken for. Sometimes a lot is cleared and the developer lets me take the trees. One plus is that the surrounding county has a lot of trees mostly Doug Fir. Trees that were once smaller have now become too large and get taken down. Lots of opportunities if you keep a constant lookout and immediately ask permission to take the wood! Always listening for the siren call of the chainsaw!
I have 3 lg farms to cut at, always plenty to be had. Just scoped a few trees today when I have time.
This ^^^ And what I am striving for, but it's not going to be easy with my property. It would be a game changer for sure, right now it's a a lot of work to get to get rounds moved around back!
I've gotten inventory up to about 3.5 years now and heading into the 4th. The last time I took wood from a property other than my own was when I went to get some Hedge couple years ago. I just don't have any of em on my own ground. Prior to that was probably 6 years ago...some white oak tops that were easy to get to. I don't have a ton of good prospects at the moment past the white oak blowdown I plan to retrieve shortly to the woodyard (need to take a ride around and see if there's anythig new). I don't get stressed about it because weather and mother nature always end up providing fresh fodder. Whether I can get to it is usually the issue. Ice and wind put a dozen cord of good stuff on the ground a coupe years ago that I could get to. There was more, but in tough to impossble locations. I watch plenty of big logs rot on the hillsides and in the deep valleys. I did see a little red maple that gave up the ghost right near the upper woodyard last trip up there. Passed a punky sapwood red oak that may have some potential left. If I needed to scrounge, I can think of 3 to 4 places that I would be given the run of if I asked. One of them is a 8 acre patch of hedge, but it's tough going without me tractor there. I do have a black locust oasis that's on a friend's farm who doesn't burn, but never take advantage. I got a buddy who is trying to figure out how to put a burner in his garage, so I may need to help supply another here soon as he lives in a subdivision. His family has a little property but it's a contentious issue amongst them, so he'll not want to cut there I don't think. Just wants away from space heaters when he's out there, so I figure maybe 2-2.5 cord would be plenty for a winter.
I'm falling behind because my back has been not cooperating. I've 18 acres to cut on, but about 2/3 of it is inaccessible swamp. Where I can cut easily is mostly red mple and eastern white pine. Any oak I tend to save for really cold weather and/or overnight burning.
I harvest in my own timber and burn 3 cord annually. Currently sitting on 31 cords CSS and 7-8 cords of logs ready for CSS. Fortunately/unfortunately I have plenty (3-400) of Ash trees still standing, but will all perish due to EAB. Most are going to rot before I can get at them. Lots of standing dead elm, plus whatever comes down naturally. I mill a little bit and my neighbor takes the slabwood in trade for maple syrup. I do sell a little firewood to a few older guys. Their spirit to process wood is there, but their bodies just won't allow it. They like to come out to haul and stack their wood, at their own pace. I'm more than fine with this as we always have a great time visiting. I have one younger couple that cuts about 2 cord for themselves and an on site renter that can CSS when I bring logs to him. I just started selling firewood logs this year, but it's been slow going due to transportation logistics and weather. That will be remedied soon.
