The Best Thing about Firewood…and Fall

What is the relative value of different kinds of Firewood?
No blog about firewood would be complete without some practical reference to BTUs! Firewood is any combustible flora or plant matter that is convenient and useful to burn in a fireplace or wood stove for heating purposes. In the American novel of the westward expansion of the mid to late 1800’s by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prarie, we read about the Long Winter. During this prolonged cold season there became a shortage of firewood. Due to the nature of the Mid West, straw was available and used for fuel to create heat in the little clapboard structure the family lived in. Evenings were spent twisting straw and braiding it into thin cords that would be fed into the wood stove.
Thankfully, due to modern technology, all EPA Phase II stoves burn cord wood with around 60%-80% efficiency. It makes me wish I could transport one of these efficient wood stoves back into Laura Ingalls Wilder’s little house during the long winter and help her family stay warm!