Providing warmth for winter

MOUNT VERNON - As cooler temperatures settle in, a number of Eastern Iowa homeowners begin to gather firewood for winter.

Whether burning firewood in a backyard fire pit or to heat indoors in a wood-burning stove, companies that sell firewood said they have seen an increase in sales in recent weeks.

Matt Kroul, owner of Kroul Farms near Mount Vernon, said selling firewood is a way for his family business to stay busy and generate cash flow during the non-growing season.

'In the spring we offer flowers, in the summer we offer vegetables, namely sweet corn, in the fall we have our pumpkins and in the winter firewood is what keeps us busy,” he said.

'It adds some diversification to our cash flow, our model of self-insurance. If the grain market is down or we have a bad weekend for pumpkins, we can say, Let's cut firewood and put more time into another facet of our business. Gives us the opportunity to hopefully lessen the blow of what could happen economically.”

At Kroul Farm they don't log the timber on their property, but rather adapt fallen and overgrown trees into firewood. 'We have nearly 600 acres of pasture, and it keeps us busy enough just keeping it clean,” he said. 'We are hopefully managing the timber in the right way. If a dead tree falls over, we are there to pick it up and cut it up.

'It just adds value to our acres that we are keeping clean and value for us as firewood sales.”

The wood - mixed hardwoods - at Kroul Farms is split on site. They have a hand bundler that they use to bundle wood for a few local Fareway stores and a gas station. The firewood business is an enterprise that takes about three full-time employees and one part-timer.

A lot of that effort goes into delivery as well, Kroul said.

'With our location we can service Cedar Rapids and the Iowa City area pretty easily,” he said, noting that they reserve delivery for orders by the truckload - about 96 cubic feet for a regular load or about 128 cubic feet for a larger truckload. Stacking is available for an additional fee.

'If we can dump it, that is great because the less hand labor involved the better,” he said.

'A lot of deliveries have to happen in the late afternoon and evening so our customers are there,” he added. 'From a communications standpoint, it takes some time to set up deliveries. And we are a small operation, so sometimes it takes a little bit to get your deliveries.

'We tell our customers to get your order in early and be patient. They are getting better about putting orders in early and not waiting until December with the first cold night.”

Kroul noted that because of the labor involved, firewood can have less profitable margins. It makes up about 10 to 15 percent of Kroul Farms's sales, he said.

While his father started offering firewood as part of the business more than three decades ago, the process remains much the same and demands a lot of effort.

Dan Green, owner of Eastern Iowa Firewood, agreed that selling firewood is physically demanding work.

'People just don't realize how much work is involved in it,” he said.

Based in Calamus, Clinton County, Green has been in the business for 15 years and does his own logging.

'I have a huge processor that cuts the wood and splits it and goes up an elevator, but there is still a lot of physical work with it,” he said. 'And if you've ever watched those logging shows on TV and they show the equipment always breaking down, well, it's true. It's like that every day. We are always fixing something.

'Sometimes a customer may complain about the price of firewood, but they don't realize how much work goes into it.”

Green has two full-time employees and a couple of part-time workers, depending on how much hauling needs to be done. He said the season is particularly busy now and will remain up until Christmas.

'I have a lot of customers get in touch with me through my website,” he said, noting that word of mouth is another important factor. 'And I have a really good return customer base. A big part of that is that you want to get what you buy, and ...

I bring them what they order.”

Kroul said producers can sell as much firewood in summer as in winter because of the increase in backyard fire pits and the number of local camp sites available.

'Outdoor wood burners are a big industry change,” Green added. 'My business has grown a lot with the outdoor wood burners.”

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The work does get a little less fun when it's negative 10 degrees and the wind is blowing,” Kroul added.

'In a super cold snowy year,” Green said, 'even the guys that go out and get their own wood are calling me to supply their firewood.”