Why wood?

So now lets get to the meat of the matter, wood that is. In a ‘green leaning’ new age when people are looking to limit their ‘carbon footprint’ it is time to start looking back to move forward. We all know that the propane that fuels most backyard grills is a fossil fuel and bad for the environment at the least, and tasteless heat that is really about speed and convenience more than any sort of desired cooking medium. Charcoal is better, it has some taste, is one step in a very short carbon cycle, in that the trees that it comes from were just pulling carbon from the atmosphere in the last few years, and will be reabsorbed by the new plated trees we should all be planting wherever we can; BUT most charcoals on the market are more than just that, they are packaging and often gas furnace produced, so that combined with the fuel cost to get them to you makes them just about as bad for your carbon footprint as the propane you are replacing… just about is still not as bad, and does taste better, so some will choose that. But if you can find minimally processed LOCALLY produced charcoal, choose that.

Personally I LOVE wood pellets produced from locally sourced sawmills. The furniture is needed… the sawdust is great fuel, and imparts the great taste of real wood fire to all the foods you cook with it. Whenever you can wood that you cut yourself from trees that you have already replaced yourself it the BEST choice.
I have felled a few Oaks on some family property in South Carolina as well as helped a neighbor remove a storm blown Red Oak from their yard. My wood fired backyard Oven runs on that wood. I have new apple and pear trees happily absorbing the released carbon and feel good that the wood didn’t have to be processed other than me cutting and splitting it. Plus I loved seeing my teenage daughter splitting wood with her old dad, Knowing that once its good and dried by summer, the pizza we make will mean even more to her, since she really did work for it.