In this episode we talk about getting the most out of your woodstove - cooking, baking, hot water, and more. Ben compares rocket mass heaters and masonry stoves to high-efficiency wood stoves, and shares why he uses a wood stove, how he cuts all the wood he needs for a year, manages his woodlot, and shares some wisdom gleaned from over two decades of permaculture homesteading.

Check out Ben's workshop on wood stoves here: 2023 Wood Heating Intensive — Whole Systems Design And the new edition of his book The Resilient Farm and Homestead, Revised and Expanded Edition: 20 Years of Permaculture and Whole Systems Design can be found where ever books are sold!

Ben developed Whole Systems Design, LLC as a land-based response to biological and cultural extinction and the increasing separation between people and elemental things. Life as a designer, builder, ecologist, tree-tender, and backcountry traveler continually informs Ben’s integrative approach to developing landscapes and buildings. His home landscape and the WSD studio site in Vermont's Mad River Valley serve as a proving ground for the regenerative land developments featured in the projects of Whole Systems Design. Ben studied architecture and landscape architecture at the graduate level and holds a master’s degree in land-use planning and design. He has conducted more than 650 site development and land inspection consultations across the US and abroad, and has facilitated dozens of courses on property selection, permaculture design, and resilient systems. He has given keynote addresses and presented dozens of workshops at venues ranging from Bioneers to the Omega Institute. Ben is the author of the award-winning book The Resilient Farm and Homestead (Chelsea Green, 2013) and serves as an Advisory Council for the international regeneration group Ecosystem Restoration Camps.