That's great Foxpaw and you're right, that's low by today's standards.
Similar to fishing and hunting.!

Wood in front of stores now is $1 per stick. And they sell alot to campers.
Here at Casey's it's stacked out beside the gas pumps! Brilliant!

We heated with wood when I was growing up. Putting up wood is enjoyable work, but time consuming. I can heat my house for less than $800 a winter on propane, which is very reasonable to me. If (probably more likely when) the cost becomes unreasonable it might be time to install a wood stove and start a woodpile.

Could you give my wife a couple of pointers how to do that please

When we built our house we were going to put in an outside boiler, the insurance company said if we did they would not insure the house. There reason was it was to far from our house to a fire hydrant. I asked them if they knew what an outside boiler was and they said that they did, I also asked them if they could document a single time that a hydrant lay had been done in this county as all the VFDs operate on the engine nursing off a tanker. They still wouldn't budge. I have since changed insurance companies to a company that is far more understanding of the rural lifestyle, I need to revisit the issue.

If I'm not home, my wife will just push a button on the thermostat. I prefer wood heat myself. When I'm home, I have a fire going. I love the smell and feel of the fireplace. We typically burn 2-2.5 cords annually. I recently put in an order for new windows in my 70-year-old farmhouse, that should make a huge difference in our heating and cooling.