Turning wood into savings

Autumn brings on loads of opportunities for folks to get in some quality fresh-air time and exercise.

Most of us are familiar with the walks, hikes, runs, hunting/ fishing seasons and related adventures that present themselves this time of year.

But there's one often-overlooked autumn activity you may want to add to your outdoors agenda.

Head to the wooded hills and countryside to harvest firewood for use in your home. You'll be surprised at the benefits you can reap.

It's a given that you'll get ample healthy outdoors exercise — walking to locate the timber; sawing, chopping or gathering the wood; loading it into your vehicle; and then hauling the stash home for stacking.

The biggest perk in this win-win endeavor, though, is that the energy you expend outdoors translates directly into energy you can save indoors.

Using firewood in a wood stove or fireplace insert to heat your home can dramatically reduce heating costs, say Jim Long of Paris Springs and Barry Bradley of Miller, both of whom heat their homes exclusively with wood.

"When we moved into our house 18 years ago, it was rigged up for heating with propane," Long recalls. "After my second propane fill-up (each bill close to $400), I replaced the old heater with a wood stove and we have been heating with wood ever since."

"If I don't heat with wood, I'm not warm during the winter," says Bradley, who uses two wood stoves (one on the west side, the other on the south side) to heat the family's more than 1,500-square-foot abode.

Using the top of a home-heating wood stove or fireplace insert (instead of an electric, natural gas or propane-fueled kitchen range stovetop) for cooking simply increases and can even double the energy-cost savings.

In the midst of the current economic downturn, savings on home energy bills can be well worth the wood-harvesting excursion.

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