I was in Germany and experienced a masonry finnish russian siberian or tile heaters will burn anything from cow pies to pellets and beyond. But I couldn't find any one here that knew anything about them.

Now we are installing a multifuel stove that will also burn wheat, and I am told rye. Both are much more earth friendly. It also comes with a back up battery system incase of a power outage. Got it at Pettigrews Feed, edinburg, OH for more than $1000 less than Lehmanns.

Also, consider using Craigs List on the internet to locate free wood, advertising in either needed or wanted. We had a huge storm here and tons of people were looking to have their fallen trees cleaned up...you take the wood.

We have an outdoor wood boiler. This provides our heat and hot water for our house and also heats our barn. I know I could never go back to paying for oil. My last fill-up of home heating oil was in 2003 when we first got the outdoor furnace, because I was skeptical about how well it would work. All that oil ended up fueling our tractor!
We receive tree-truck loads of wood from some local tree companies, for free, as sometimes it is too expensive for them to store it or transport it. We burn mostly pine and until this year, were selling the hard wood each fall.
It is definately a lifestyle change, and not everyone has the room to store loads upon loads of wood/trees.
My only concern at this point is town regulations concerning outdoor wood furnaces are getting severely restricted in nearby towns, and that worries me. Be sure to check with your area regarding any restrictions.

I'm glad a friend had turned me on to Mother Earth News.
It teaches How to be independent and free.
With the way our country is going.
The answer is to learn how to be more self sufficiant and less dependent on our society.
We lost our Freedom and Liberty's when we started becoming more dependent on others for our needs.
They started having more control over our lives and taking away more of our Freedoms and liberty's because of it.
Thanks for showing the way back to freedom and Independence.
Money is not the answer to the world's problem's.
People are the answer.
People working for freedom and Independence, not money or financual control over other's.
When the acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our society.
But to create a better way our life for ourselves and the rest of humanity.

We had an air tight wood stove for about 30 years. This was a great stove, would burn most anything except pellets because they fall through the grate in the firebox. Anyway, the chore of gathering firewood became too much for me a few years ago and I began buying firewood cut and stacked. That soon became too expensive so last year we install a new pellet stove. It's nice, convienent, and the pellets aren't real expensive--yet. I miss the wood stove because it would operate when the electricity was off, the pellet stove requires electricity to operate (augers, fans, and pilot light). I don't miss the firewood mess and the extra maintenance of cleaning the chimney every week.

Regards,
David Tracy

oops masonry finnish russian siberian or tile heaters will burn anything from cow pies to pellets and beyond

the corn in question is at best borderline food in my opinion NOT FOOD

the corn in question is used mostly for making of corn syrup
used to feed puss and drug filled feeder lot cattle
these two consume most of the crop

corn starches and or flour
and ethanol

probally corn oil is some where on the list

have i missed anything?

it has mostly been genetically modified adding traits not natural and unsafe(differing from plant breeding)
misplaced family farms
heeavily subidized to over produce on what the land will support

Derreck Wells,

I agee that enough is enough, it seems as though if the wind blows from the wrong direction the price of gas goes up. I am courious about the legality of "price gouging" though. Is there a rule/statute that you can piont to that outlines the criminal elements to define "price gouging?" It seems to me that if the market will support the price of a product, there doesn't seem to be anything illegal about it. If Stanley offers a screwdriver for $15.00 and I feel the need to have this screw driver I will pay the $15.00. If no one buys the screw driver for $15.00 then Stanley will have no chioce but to lower the price or discontinue selling it all together. If Stanley has record profits because enough people want this screw driver, is that "price gouging?"

Just courious about the legality and elements of "price gouging"

Thanks
ARBuck

"The steady rise in the price of oil and gas, which most knowledgeable commentators say is the result of resource depletion combined with rising global demand,..."

If this comment were true, Exxon/Mobil wouldn't have been breaking their own profit records every quarter since Katrina, finally breaking the COUNTRY'S profit record with 11.3 BILLION profit this last quarter (3 months). If "resource depletion and the rising global demand" were to blame, then Exxon would have been paying the higher prices too and their profits wouldn't be growing every quarter. I'm sure that if I were to do the math, their profits would be growing at the same rate the gas prices are rising.

Yes, people, Exxon/Mobil is to blame for the high gas prices, not the "resource depletion" that so many are claiming. The problem is that Exxon gives millions of dollars to the politicians' campaign funds. Would YOU stop them from making money if they were sharing it with you? Of course not, so don't expect them to either. Unfortunately, the "legal system" is the only place we're ever going to see help from. What Exxon is doing is called "price gouging" and it IS illegal. If enough people stand up and shout ENOUGH IS ENOUGH someone might listen and do something to stop Exxon.

Let me be the first... ENOUGH!!!!!

I've heard that masonry heaters (which burn wood) are most efficient and least polluting of any wood or pellet burning device.

My source:
http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/space_heating_cooling/index.cfm/mytopic=12570