we heat our home with 3 wood stoves. one in the great room, one in master bedroom and our kitchen stove/oven is wood fired.

I bought 2 cords of wood in 2022. since then I have not paid for wood. I now collect wood from downed trees and property maintenance at jobsites. I had never used wood to heat prior to 2022.

even with my "free" wood, I would say it does not necessarily save money. most wood needs 2 years to season properly. elm is 50% of my gather. it is low BTU and high ash production and does not split with an axe/maul. I still don't have a hydraulic splitter. the cost of (new) one is equal to 3 years of GRID power heat-pump, or 1 year of propane heat. then you factor in time, wear on tools, truck, trailer, tires and body. to further devalue the "savings" of wood heat, our house runs on 80% solar power, from a cash-paid DIY installed system. despite that, we still look forward to wood fire season.

this post gives me anxiety. over 1/2 of my wood has not yet been cut to stove length. we do plan to use our heat pumps a lot more this year, since we doubled the size of our solar system.