So where do you get the wood? Around here, firewood is relatively
expensive.
Off our hillside. We've got 20 acres of pine trees. Neighbors with
less personal resources get a permit from the lumber company (it's
cheap) and harvest from the slash piles.
The other alternative is to get it yourself but that requires a fair
amount
of equipment to do right. Also a dry place to store it etc.
You do need a woodshed, but otherwise nothing more than a pickup
truck, axe, and chainsaw. And you can do without the truck if
you are on flat land, and have a beater MB that you don't mind
treating like a truck! (Take out seats and remove trunk lid,
and fill 'er up!)
See http://www.woodheat.org for lots more information, including
plans for an ultra-cheap woodshed.
-- Jim