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If you haven’t started storing wood for your fireplace or wood-burning stove, I’d get started now. The days are already getting shorter, and before you know it summer will be over, and fall’s first chill will be in the air.

But if you’re only stocking wood for a fireplace, and burning wood for its esthetic value rather than as an energy source, there’s still time to gather enough good wood for the winter. If you buy wood, and have it stacked or stack it yourself, you can virtually wait to the last minute.

If you heat your home predominantly by wood, as I do, you should have started stowing wood weeks ago. Compared to most folks who heat their homes by oil, gas, or electricity, I’m among a small minority who heat their homes entirely by wood. I cut it, haul, split, and stack it. That translates to a lot of work. If I can recruit my son to help out, the job is a little easier. More often than not I do the entire, tedious job myself. Since it’s a tough, tiring job that takes a toll on my body, especially arms and legs, I spread it out over four weeks.

Every year, my goal is to find seasoned wood, or wood that is well on its way to being totally seasoned. By just looking at a log or branch, I can tell whether it’s seasoned. Typically, seasoned wood is lighter than unseasoned wood; has a hollow like sound when dropped on the ground; and when cut, it has many cracks from the centre to its ends.

Technically, seasoned wood is dry wood that has a moisture content of 15 per cent to 20 per cent. Most important, it burns hotter and more efficiently, and it reduces wood consumption as much as 25 per cent. That’s why seasoned wood costs a lot more than partially seasoned wood.

If you burn as much wood as I do, which is about eight cords during the chilly and cold months, it’s almost impossible to stock only seasoned wood. Depending upon the state of the wood, whether it’s a recently-cut dead tree or one that has been sitting on the ground for a couple years, it can take six months to a year for wood to dry out. Some experts insist that it takes two years to season wood.

That’s a matter of opinion, because it depends upon the type of wood you’re burning, and how it’s stored. If properly stacked, which is an art in itself, so the wood has plenty of air and light, it will dry pretty quickly, as opposed to wood that is stored in an enclosed area with little or no natural light.

Also, the type of wood burned has a great deal to do with the quality and duration of heat. All wood isn’t the same. Wood aficionados can tell what type of wood is burned by its smell, because every wood has its own distinct smell. That said, I wish I could burn only quality wood, but I have little say in the matter. Mother Nature calls the shots, and I take what I find. Each year it’s different. I can count on a few dead trees on my own property that either fall by themselves following a storm or that I cut down once I’m sure they’re dead.

If you wander North America’s woods and forests, you’ll find a rich variety of hard woods. But the best burning woods are black walnut, sycamore, red and white oak, maple and white and green ash. But there are many other woods that come pretty close.

If you buy wood, it pays to ask about the type of wood you’re getting. The average wood buyer doesn’t know one wood from the other, but it pays to learn something about wood so you know you’re getting quality wood. Reputable loggers selling a variety of seasoned woods should be happy to tell you.