One of the first things I look at when I’ve been looking at property and houses, does the house contain a woodstove and is there wood on the land. I really do not like being dependent on natural gas or oil plus electricity for heat, getting metered and billed through direct withdrawal for every calorie produced as fuel is piped in and the planet warming emissions go out.

It would sure be nice to be able to chop my own wood, have control over how warm I am without thinking of the monetary costs. Where the only real cost would be my sweat equity, where I wouldn’t have to worry about the power going out. Plus, there is something so warm about a wood stove – the dry heat it produces – radiating out into the room. The smell of the smoke, the look of the flame in it’s rawest form producing heat.