I live in northern New England. I lived off grid for ten years, had a sheep farm. We were on a hilltop where the wind just whistled through, and most years the sheep fencing, which was maybe 4'8" high, got buried completely under the snow. We used to say spring was on its way when the top of the picnic table reappeared in late winter.The house, a log cabin was built by hippies, badly built and caulked, plastic sheeting over two window openings when I bought it, doors so ill-fitted that a little snowdrift built up inside the front door some nights. It took 9 or 10 cords to heat it the first winter. I was younger and stronger then, so it was kind of a big adventure. Eventually my wife put her foot down and we moved into town, to a house with a few acres of pasture, so that we could bring most of the animals with us. Now we are in a legit house (I gave up working in the woods and got work in education) with a couple of sheep, 25 chickens, six dogs, and three cats; and it only takes 3-4 cords plus oil to heat the house. So when I think back to the firewood I used to have to work up (plus stowing away hundreds of bales of hay), 3 or 4 cords, which I only have to split and stack in the woodshed, doesn't seem that bad. Once a year, the hay guy delivers 60 bales of second cut. He even helps we old fogies to stack it in the hay building (for- ouch- seven or eight bucks a bale). For firewood, we get mostly maple (hard and soft), ash, red oak, birches (yellow has the most heat), and beech.
