Future Fuel
As I’ve mentioned earlier I have plans to start work this year on managing the small amount (I’d guess at around half and acre) of woodland that I have. As all our heating depends on either the sun (solar thermal water panels) or our stove (multi-fuel burner with boiler) the need for a dependable source of fuel is a constant one especially in the grey winter months (in fact it becomes a bit of an obsession). At this stage, management of fuel consists of four threads:
1. Buying in / bringing in fuel.
I’ve been buying in various types of fuel - mainly modern eco-log type products made of reconstituted chippings, saw dust and the like. I’ve found some of these very effective, but would rather not have to go to the trouble of sourcing them or the cost of buying them. I’ve also been lucky enough to have a source of ready felled timber from a relative that just needs cutting, bringing onto site and spliting. The need to transport the wood brings a certain overhead, but such a free resource can’t be sniffed at.
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2. Planting new trees.
A two fold exercise, in planting I’ll remove established trees to open up areas of the woodland canopy. Firstly, this provides wood from the cleared trees for burning probably next year. Currently this is mostly ash and so should be burnable green (i.e. immediately) - I’ll try that out, but I’m not sure that is the most efficient use of the wood. Secondly, the replanting provides a future source of wood. Cutting down trees leads us to…
3. Coppice existing trees.
Where I’m removing existing ash trees, I leave the roots and stump in the ground and a don’t plant close by, thus hopefully leaving the opportunity for the coppiced tree to grow back and provide wood over and over again.
4. Establishing a bio-mass fuel source.
By this I mean planting a fast growing combustible resource - in my case willow. I’m currently in the process of ordering some willow trees from a local supplier so more on this shortly.
If you enjoyed that post, then read these...
Logs 2 on January 5th, 2010
With my current preoccupation with firewood and the current bout of ice, snow and freezing temperatures making me long for warm weather a favourite quote...
Logs on October 8th, 2009
I've really enjoyed Roger Deakin's 'Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees', the book takes you on a gentle journey, part biography, part manifesto, part travelogue.
Coppicing ash trees on February 15th, 2010
The process of coppicing is pretty straight-forward:
Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management in which young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near...
Tree Planting - Winter 2010 on February 12th, 2010
I bought 60 hazel and 60 silver birch trees just after the new year started.
The case for coal on November 6th, 2008
Now here's a conundrum...
First the facts:
The barn lies just outside of the South Wales Coal Field.
Our heating system will comprise of solar thermal water heating...
Posted in Barn Conversion Journal |






