Green Tips &Tricks- Using Downed wood

Wood is a good renewable source of heat. 

Gathering downed wood is excellent exercise for every family member.
A well-managed woodlot produces at least a cord of wood every year, renewing itself with Nature’s help.
Downed wood is an especially frugal heat source for those “shoulder seasons” as well as for adjunctively warming cold areas of the house.
Stick sizes make excellent kindling.
Each type of wood has its own personality combination: aroma, color, grain, hardness, density, moisture content, durability and heating value.

Technology has been developed for stoves and fireplace inserts to efficiently radiate maximum heat and meet clean air standards.
I just met a local resident who is working at establishing what he calls a “cordwood transfer project” to move downed wood to fixed- and low-income people who need wood for heat. This avoids landfilling and chipping (all fossil fuel yard machines are horrific polluters), which happened to many trees downed by storms this past year.
Would you please begin 2012 thinking about what you could do with wood to use less fossil fuel heat? Maybe chat about it with a few others? Cultivate a light-hearted beginner’s mind. (How much wood would a woodchuck cut if a woodchuck could cut wood?) Let’s have fun this year living more greenly. Thank You.