Boycott Wood Pellets this Year

[Bioburner]

I have burned a fair amount more propain this season too as the refill is currently 1.03 so the corn at $120 a ton is still lower so the Bixby is shouldering the brunt of the work and the propane stove topping off the home most of the time but the last week has been well below normal so firing the Elena for a bit in the early AM and again around supper. Waiting for a new water thermostat for the Harman that went south of course as the temps fell. Good time to replace a pot switch that was failing as well. Seems I had a rash of appliances going bad as the dishwasher water valve seized up too. Got rid of the Jeep.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I went to Montana in the early winter for a nice guided hunt and brought back a freezer full of mule deer then got smacked by a 10 point buck driving down the road that trashed the SUV which I'm still driving but haven't had to use 4wd at all, no snow to amount to anything here. I dislike car payments. Probably find a used buggy in the spring.

The buck walked away, the SUV is ugly. I was in his path, must have had a doe on his mind.... broadsided me.

Corn isn't that cheap here. around $1.60 / bu. delivered with a 500 bushel minimum. I have the nags and the steers on straight hay, not that cold. Gonna be a buggy spring I suspect. Lots of pesticides. Looking at another new tractor but I'm not liking the emissions crap at all.

Both GSI's are empty.

Been cutting lots of wood. I'm taking down 4 large trees, 3 oaks and one ash. All the wood is going to my friend who sells it to campers in the summer. Cutting it into 17" long knots and chipping everything under 3". he gets the wood and I get a deep discount on bailer twine and net wrap (he's the manager of the dealer where I buy my implements at). All good for me. he makes money, I save money. net is pretty expensive now. 51" over the edge net is around 300 bucks a roll and square bailer poly is around 25 bucks a box.

I developed a distinct dislike for burning / heating with saw logs years ago. Just too much fiddling around. I heated my home in Ohio with wood, had a huge woodlot out back and took downed wood only. Skidding logs, cutting, splitting and roasting and then cleaning ashes isn't my thing at all.

I cleaned the appliance out last spring, cleaned the vent and there it sits. It's available if and when the price of propane equals or exceeds biomass but not before. No point in throwing money out the window just to enjoy a fire in the stove.

This old barn is well insulated (foamed) and has good windows so heat loss is minimal anyway. One thing I've noticed is I'm using much less water in the humidifer than when I run the appliance.... about half as much.

Coal is catching on here. There are now 2 Blashalk dealers close by and a couple places offering freestanding auto stokers.... Something to consider. With Obama destroying the bituminous coal industry, Anthracite mines are leaning toward domestic heating. Reading and Blashalk are moving farther west to take advantage of the markets.

I really like the Reading freestanding stoker and the Hitzer too and you can direct vent both without a masonry chimney. The BTU output per unit of Anthricite is much higher than any biomass product.

 

[Bioburner]

Courts just struck down a big portion of big O's EPA mandates.

 

[SidecarFlip]

From what I read in the paper, it's only temporary. He's got a pen and a phone afterall. I'm never disapointed by his lack of doing what is right.....

 

[Bioburner]

The FAA put up a bunch of rules on unmanned aircraft without proper public comment period before Xmas and makes it near impossible to use them for any commercial use without a pilots license. Impacts a lot of the hobbyists and photographers. I don't know how many lame duck items are going to be chucked at the regular people before fall. Really glad had everything out of the markets.
South America is getting good rains to develop the crops so corn looking to be held to low price unless La Nina dries out the corn belt severely. We are pretty dry here with almost no reserve water in the soil.

 

[Edsson]

I burned 5-6 cords of wood for 28 years and had to replace the stove, so I went to a pellet stove. Everything is more expensive when you change things up. I eliminated plowing snow to get to the wood pile, hauling wood in 2-3 times a week, and tending to the stove 6-8 times a day. I am paying for the convenience with a little higher price for the fuel I burn, but I personally think it was worth it.

 

[slls]

Local pellet mills are talking about shutting down, no business. Oil down again, looks like $20 barrel coming.

 

[Mpodesta]

Yeah.......this month I filled up on oil, 1.40$gal. Cheapest I could find pellets was 249$.

I do like my stove heat abit more tho.

 

[FirepotPete]

I've never heard of Boycott Wood Pellets, must be a local/regional brand.

 

[SidecarFlip]

The FAA put up a bunch of rules on unmanned aircraft without proper public comment period before Xmas and makes it near impossible to use them for any commercial use without a pilots license. Impacts a lot of the hobbyists and photographers. I don't know how many lame duck items are going to be chucked at the regular people before fall. Really glad had everything out of the markets.
South America is getting good rains to develop the crops so corn looking to be held to low price unless La Nina dries out the corn belt severely. We are pretty dry here with almost no reserve water in the soil.

I almost bought one for suveying crop land and scouting deer and bear on my property up north and I read about the licensng and decided not to get one. It would have made life easier but I don't need nor want the licensing hassle. Bad enpugh with all the licensing regulations concerning pesticides and herbicides.

They are prediciting a drought here this year as well. Ws really haven't had much snowfall at all. I guess it will be another year of fired up corn and 2 hay cuts. Glad my stock count is down...less mouths to feed.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Local pellet mills are talking about shutting down, no business. Oil down again, looks like $20 barrel coming.

Offshoring pellets is BIG business today with the EU being a big consumer, but that excludes local, landlocked mills that don't have access to water based terminals to load ships. Great Britan is going almost all biomass and winf solar for their power needs, which I think is a mistake but I've been wrong before.

 

[slls]

Offshoring pellets is BIG business today with the EU being a big consumer, but that excludes local, landlocked mills that don't have access to water based terminals to load ships. Great Britan is going almost all biomass and winf solar for their power needs, which I think is a mistake but I've been wrong before.

My area is not land locked, several ocean ports. What surprises me is prices are not dropping much.