Ken and I always heated with wood. There are advantages and disadvantages like any heat source. Ken used to spend a morning felling trees. Before we had a splitter I would go out with him after lunch and upend each piece that needed splitting and as he split I loaded the trailer.
Then we would stack it in the yard.
Downstairs there is a culvert queen stove. It takes 24″ wood and will heat the stone chimney and surrounding concrete floor. Then that heat radiates for hours.
Upstairs is a wood cook stove that takes 16″ wood, and I use that to cook for several months each year. I also have a propane stove for summer use and baking; I just never have gotten consistent with baking on a cook stove. My grandmother told me the best bread she ever had was baked in a wood cook stove, and the worst bread she ever had was also baked in a wood cook stove!
Now that Ken has died, I am loading racks and stoves alone. I tend to plan out bringing in wood. Before it gets cold, I load up racks and stack bulb crates of wood so I don’t have the door open to bring in wood when it is frigid
Heating with wood has several advantages: it can be intense area heat that takes off the chill quickly. The cook stove warming oven is great for warming plates, food and even my pajamas!
Of course wood has its disadvantages: one must plan and cut it ahead so it is dry; it means cutting, moving, stacking; there is some ash and dust in one’s house. But I still prefer it. I like the exercise and connection to my heat, I like that it is renewable, and it is handy because I live in the woods!
