The environmental thing is interesting in itself. For burning wood to be carbon neutral the wood needs to be replaced as it is cut. Most isn't. I found this article which makes the important distinction of carbon cycle rate. If the wood isn't managed in a sustainable manner then we release the carbon quicker than new trees sequester it.
Now I would guess that most trees around here are from tree companies who cut trees from customers' land (all of mine is). How does that figure in? Well, we are burning the wood quicker than it would take for the wood to rot down - 2 years from cutting to burning, as compared to 10 years minimum to rot in the forest - and of course the tree would have kept growing in the customer's yard. Mind you, that's better than waiting for a bunch of sea creatures to die, be buried under layers of mud, wait a few million years, then burn those accumulated millions of years worth in a matter of centuries... The article I mentioned notes that the current rate of oil production by sea creatures dying today translates to 20,000 to 3 million barrels of oil each year to be carbon rate neutral. We burn 30 billion a year.
Wow, that was an aside. So, anyway, I have begun splitting the wood that I have collected over the last few months. I am still learning the best way - there's a great sense of satisfaction when it splits cleanly, less so when you pound at a great big block of oak, only to kick it back to the pile still in one hunk. Much to my wife's consternation (exasperation?) I also have a spreadsheet tracking the amount and seasoning of the wood. Can't afford to run out next season, don't you know.
