What to grow on 12 acres for heating fuel?

Homesteading & Country Living Forum

Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
T

tommydog

Friend
Neighbor
Joined
Apr 4, 2022
Messages
14
Location
Scotland
I have recently purchased 12 acres of land, but I don't have any woodland. I am trying to be as self sufficient as possible, so wondered what crops I could grow which would provide a high efficiency for heating my home? I have seen videos of people heating their homes with straw boilers, such as this:

]

But if I am starting from scratch what is the best approach if I want to be as self sufficient as possible?
 
That’s a lot of straw. Hard to go wrong investing in high R value insulation for your dwelling. That will conserve your fuel. Doesn’t sound like you have much fuel on the premises so you’ll have to bring in energy (wood, propane, oil, electricity...) to cook anyway. I don’t know your climate. Your best bet may be to grow food somebody will buy and use the proceeds to procure energy your home. Beef, pork, corn, potatoes and beans taste good to me. The beef will eat the grass you may already have. Pork will eat your scraps. I also like the idea is doing and having it all myself but I also understand nobody can do it all by themselves without sacrificing luxuries we’ve gotten used to.
 
That straw and some mud would go a long way for insulating value. Research mud houses.
How much straw would you get per acre for fuel? Would12 acre suffice for your needs? Do you have the means to cut and bale the straw? Or would you be doing it by hand?
I just trying to lead you down a train of thought if it is feasible.
 
Arcticdude said:
A lot of old timers burned dried corn cobs. But that would take a lot of corn. Is there any coal in your area? I burn 6-8 cord of firewood to heat my home, that would equal a large amount of straw, probably more than you could grow on 12 acres.
Click to expand...
Grow enough corn a sell enough corn and he’ll have plenty of cobs
 
Arcticdude said:
A lot of old timers burned dried corn cobs. But that would take a lot of corn. Is there any coal in your area? I burn 6-8 cord of firewood to heat my home, that would equal a large amount of straw, probably more than you could grow on 12 acres.
Click to expand...

I saw a corn burning stove once. It was alike a pellet stove and worked the same way but it burnt corn kernels. They said farmers used these things since they already had the corn. They also said the whole house smelled like popcorn. OP could grow corn if he could find one of these stoves. Quality of the corn probably does not matter.
 
Schattentarn said:
I saw a corn burning stove once. It was alike a pellet stove and worked the same way but it burnt corn kernels. They said farmers used these things since they already had the corn. They also said the whole house smelled like popcorn. OP could grow corn if he could find one of these stoves. Quality of the corn probably does not matter.
Click to expand...

everybody that uses a pellet stove uses dent corn for fuel - 50% savings compared to on a retail basis - 80%+ when corn is bought on a direct farm basis ....

natural gas is cheaper when going whole house or primary .....
 
Out in the plains of the mid west during the pioneer days...burning dried cow/buffalo chips was the way they kept warm, not a tree in sight. I see you are in Scotland, and I have never seen many cows there. Maybe sheep or horse dung?
 
Last edited:
tommydog said:
I have recently purchased 12 acres of land, but I don't have any woodland. I am trying to be as self sufficient as possible, so wondered what crops I could grow which would provide a high efficiency for heating my home? I have seen videos of people heating their homes with straw boilers, such as this:

]

But if I am starting from scratch what is the best approach if I want to be as self sufficient as possible?
Click to expand...

Without knowing where you are in Scotland, it's hard to say. If you are up in the far north I think your options are limited. Are you in the highlands or a coastal area? What is the average temperatures in the summer and how long is your growing season?
From what I understand, corn (maize) is a challenge in Scotland, but some varieties can be grown. Corn requires a lot of fertilizer though.
 
DrHenley said:
Without knowing where you are in Scotland, it's hard to say. If you are up in the far north I think your options are limited. Are you in the highlands or a coastal area? What is the average temperatures
Click to expand...

I am in the Highlands but on the coast. According to google these are the temperatures in my area, expressed as a high and a low:

January 6° / 1°
February 6° / 1°
March 8° / 2°
April 10° / 3°
May 12° / 5°
June 14° / 8°9
July 16° / 10°
August 16° / 10°
September 14° / 8°
October 12° / 6°
November 9° / 3°
December 7° / 2°

One problem is high winds. according to google:

The windier part of the year lasts for 6.5 months, from 22 September to 5 April, with average wind speeds of more than 27.1 kilometres per hour. The windiest month of the year is January, with an average hourly wind speed of 33.4 kilometres per hour. The calmer time of year lasts for 5.5 months, from 5 April to 22 September. The calmest month of the year is July, with an average hourly wind speed of 20.6 kilometres per hour.

I found this academic paper where they grind straw to increase its energy density.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339942075_Solid_Fuel_Production_from_Straw
I think a lot of crops may be difficult to grow here, but the grass grows like crazy without any fertilizer or need for farming. Thats why I thought of using Hay. Maybe the same approach could be taken to grind it?

Ideally I really want to use the land to be as self sufficient as possible. I am reluctant to have to buy wood in from others.
 
Just a suggestion and looking long term, like 10 years. Try and get some eucalyptus tree seed from Australia. There are varieties that take snow and cold winters and they grow rapidly. You are looking at quite a large tree in 10 years. You could start thinning earlier than that. Not sure if this is allowed but it could be an option.
 
Amish Heart said:
What a pain to use your 12 acres to grow a heat source instead of food. Anyone near you with firewood you can buy?
Click to expand...

I will be buying another 2 acres adjoining the land just for food. I also have a few 40ft shipping containers that I have started to stash tin food in. Secondly It may be possible to use less than 12 acres for a heat source. For the long term, I would rather not depend on someone else for heating. My philosophy is to be as self sufficient as possible. It's certainly not about money.
 
Marjie said:
just a suggestion and looking long term, like 10 years. Try and get some eucalyptus tree seed from Australia. There are varieties that take snow and cold winters and they grow rapidly. You are looking at quite a large tree in 10 years. You could start thinning earlier than that. Not sure if this is allowed but it could be an option.
Click to expand...

That's not a bad idea, but would have to research it. If I planted Eucalyptus at a spacing of 3.5 m × 3.5 m between trees, I would get quite a decent yield as this study from Pakistan shows:

https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/abs/10.1139/X08-085
There was another study I was ready in Uganda where they had a few hundered trees per acre. But the problem is both of these studies were done in climates different to mine, so the variety of Eucalyptus tree I can plant here may be totally different and I may get less yields. Anyone know more about these trees and what variety would be best to plant? How many am I likely to get per acre in a cold, windy, coastal climate like mine?

EDIT: Just found this study which points to the viability of Eucalyptus in the location where I am:

https://forestry.gov.scot/images/corporate/pdf/InterimEucalyptusGuidance.pdf
 
tommydog said:
I found this academic paper where they grind straw to increase its energy density.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339942075_Solid_Fuel_Production_from_Straw
Click to expand...
I've read some articles about making pellets from grass. Not only can you burn them, they can be used as feed pellets. Some wheat can grow pretty quickly without fertilizer, I'm not sure which variety would be suitable for your latitude and climate however. I believe oats grow well there. If you can plant a cereal grain and get both food and fuel from the plants, that seems like a win-win to me.
It's not really much of an issue here. Trees grow whether you want them to or not, LOL, especially oaks which make excellent firewood.
 
DrHenley said:
I've read some articles about making pellets from grass. Not only can you burn them, they can be used as feed pellets. Some wheat can grow pretty quickly without fertilizer, I'm not sure which variety would be suitable for your latitude and climate however. I believe oats grow well there. If you can plant a cereal grain and get both food and fuel from the plants, that seems like a win-win to me.
Click to expand...

Thats my thinking as well and in the short term (without trying to grow trees and waiting for them to mature) it seems like a good option. Grass really does thrive here without having to apply fertilizer or anything. If you can grow something so easily and obtain fuel from it, It seems a win to me. I have to work with what I have, and to me some sort of grass seems the most logical option.
 
Here, hard red winter wheat thrives in the winter so we can have both winter and summer crops. I don't know if that is possible there, but that would double your production.
 
I like the better insulation suggestions. You cannot beat not needing the fuel! From the looks of those temperatures, they swing far less than the temps here. We typically see summer highs in the 90's with a week or so hitting 100°F (32°C to 38°C) and winter lows -30°F with a week or so hitting -40°F (-34°C to -40°C). So, with your temp ranging from 1°C to 16°C (34°F to 63°F), I would assume with decent insulation, solar heat would be the way to go. Then, you could save that land for food production.
 
I have found a number of commercial projects that make briquettes out of straw. This company in Poland sell machines (although I imagine they are very expensive)
https://biomasser.pl/en/briquettes
They even do a small trailer that can be pulled with a car that has all the machines needed. They describe their briquettes as follows:

The briquettes are 100% natural and successfully replace coal or wood used for heating, cooking or as kindling. The ash left after combustion is a perfect fertilizer, so we operate within circular economy. The caloric value of the briquettes amounts 15,5-17,5MJ/kg, that is the equivalent of dry wood. The briquettes are burning 4-6 hours depending on the outside temperature, type of boiler and set room temperature giving cosy warmth on cold days. Briquettes can be used as fuel in traditional and automatic heating boilers, fireplaces or tiled stoves

So it does seem it may be possible to use biomas from my land for heating with reasonable efficiency.

This method does not require any expensive machines:
https://wiki.lowtechlab.org/wiki/Bio_Charbon/en
Here is a video of the method:
 
Last edited:
Our firewood around here is a fast growing, hard wood hedge tree. They were planted here so we don't have anymore dust bowl conditions, but they grow so fast that they are trimmed yearly and supply firewood around here. Also called Osage Orange. They get to 50 feet. They get hedge balls that grow on them, too, baseball size. Kids throw them at each other while waiting for the school bus.
 
Illini Warrior said:
everybody that uses a pellet stove uses dent corn for fuel - 50% savings compared to on a retail basis - 80%+ when corn is bought on a direct farm basis ....

natural gas is cheaper when going whole house or primary .....
Click to expand...
I knew someone would know something about this. But can't you raise your own corn for this?
 
Schattentarn said:
I knew someone would know something about this. But can't you raise your own corn for this?
Click to expand...
Yes, but corn will quickly use up the nutrients in the soil. It would probably need to be rotated with other crops like alfalfa and soy beans. Rotating the crop brings nutrients back into the soil and breaks up pest problems associated with one particular plant. If you are not adding fertilizer, a 4 year (oats-alfalfa, alfalfa, corn, soybean) rotation almost doubles the corn yield over a 2 year rotation of just corn and soybeans.
 
Last edited:
MNwr786 said:
If you are not adding fertilizer, a 4 year (oats-alfalfa, alfalfa, corn, soybean)
Click to expand...

I have tried to grow Soybean before in the Uk, but the crop was poor. One of the few variations of soya bean that you can grow here is Ustie. As for Corn, it does use a lot of nutrients and I don't think it would stand the winds we get here. I have looked at what my neighbors are growing and they are mainly growing cabbages, potatoes, sugar beats. I do like the idea of growing oats, but wonder if it would be too windy here?

Oats would be perfect, as they need very little fertilizer and I could make biofuel from the stalks. It would be a win win situation. But I guess I will still have to rotate oats with something else?
 
It all takes a lot of fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides to get any kind of decent yield. Plus it takes a lot of equipment to process the crop even on 12 acres. Do you have a reliable source for fertilizer and other chemicals? Farm equipment? Is your weather and soil suitable for growing corn and other grains? Do you have a lot of hands to help with this project?
There are a lot of fast growing tress that you could plant, but you'd be looking at probably 10 years before you cut your first log. Can you collect used oil from the area farmers and burn it for heat? It would be easy to build a used oil burner, and far cheaper. Can you import wood pellets or pressed logs to your area? What's your current source of heat?
 
Arcticdude said:
It all takes a lot of fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides to get any kind of decent yield. Plus it takes a lot of equipment to process the crop even on 12 acres. Do you have a reliable source for fertilizer and other chemicals? Farm equipment? Is your weather and soil suitable for growing corn and other grains? Do you have a lot of hands to help with this project?
Click to expand...

I have been experimenting with seaweed and its a pretty good fertilizer. There is an abundance of it here which I collect. I also have a supply of horse manure. As for chemicals, I prefer organic farming.

With regards to farming equipment, I can buy whatever I need. I have a sickle bar mower that I can use to make hay from grass. As for harvesting crops, I have seen some mini combines that look promising and are within my budget. They can do 1/4 acre in about an hour, which would be perfect for my needs.
 
Soybeans will "grow" there but won't germinate naturally in the spring, so they have to be started in a nursery then transplanted. I don't think you want to go to that much trouble.
If there is a legume or other nitrogen fixing plant like alfalfa or clover that will germinate in the spring in your climate you need to alternate that with the grass in the winter to restore the nitrogen and avoid having to use a lot of fertilizer. Otherwise you'll exhaust the soil.
 
tommydog said:
I also have a supply of horse manure.
Click to expand...
Depends on where you use it. Hay has seeds, horses don’t digest them. The horse manure has to sit for over a year or you will have hay growing in your garden.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top