My wife only complains about my addiction when the firewood hoard interferes with opening her car door. I can not find another "hobby" which pays...
I have cut LOTS of rounds when processing tops left from a wood harvest and spent an entire winter burning only rounds 5" or less from tops. Some...
I can have the same experience. Air flow between the firewood sticks is my issue. Burning down my coals to less than average (coals restrict my...
I reserve sugar maple for only the coldest days since sugar maple burns hot/fast with low coals which makes room for more wood. Bitternut hickory...
While split wood dries better, I am never reluctant to store firewood as rounds. Years ago, my neighbor logged twenty acres adjacent to us and we...
Furnace is below our bed and we like to sleep cool. Anything warmer than 67 F at bed time is too hot and around 60 in the morning is ideal. 54 F...
54 F inside, -9 F outside at 6 am since we kill the furnace fire every night. Started on slippery elm+hackberry with a 7" slippery elm round for...
Dutch Elm disease tends to kill trees in waves in different areas at different times with time enough for trees to reach 10-20" diameter. The...
Bark free dead slippery elm (a member of the red elm family) is a very popular in Northeast Iowa with some folks burning only bark free dead...
For reference: The last National Forest prices I saw were $10 per cord standing or down.
My guess is Lamppa Kuuma furnaces operate better on 18% moisture firewood because they are totally electronically controlled. The moisture would...
I avoid walnut because it burns slower than my other choices. A slow burn rate combined with a medium density makes walnut a lower rated wood for...
It is a little weird to find a "giant" wasp in your home woods instead of some far off rain forest. The multiple tubes on the ovipositor are part...
After cutting down a dead bitternut hickory, I met these two neighbors who are helping me: [ATTACH] [ATTACH] They are black giant ichneumon...
I missed one: beer can cases (which for some could exceed the need o_O).
Any non-glossy paper with heavier sheets at the bottom of the kindling pile: junk mail, envelopes, sales circulars, paper grocery bags, cereal...
An ice storm could cut electricity for several days here with downed wires. We keep a "hoard" of water and food in the basement (freshened by...
I have heard of coal piles freezing up and a search shows coal pile freezing does happen. There is a list of "best practices" for preventing coal...
The means to store natural gas has long history and use: those "layer cake" steel structures 5-10 stories high with a diameter around 5-10 acres....
Well, I was curious if what happened to wind turbines in Texas could happen in Iowa and the answer is NO! Iowa uses a "winterized" model of wind...
