Yep, we use my Grandmother's Pot Belly cast iron stove, although we could use straight coal in it we also use a lot of wood, since we have a good source for it. With combo of wood cost (chain saw use, tow fuel, etc) and coal cost and even the once in a while supplemental kerosene it cost about $500 yr for us to heat. Trade of is making sure we are here to tend the fire regular, or the kerosene heater once every 24 hrs. But beats the heck out of fuel oil prices.
I'd love to have the trees/acres to allow us to at least try the maple syrup process once or twice. And even if I decided not to do it I would find someone local who would tap the trees in exchange for a couple quarts of finished product. Only thing is though that it takes a huge amount of sap to make a gallon of syrup... so would need plenty of trees.
I seem to remember something like 50 gallon of sap to a gallon of syrup... is this right?
