Even if you presently heat your home/retreat with propane or home heating oil, get a good quality airtight stove or fireplace insert with a large, long firebox. (If the firebox is too small, there will not be enough fuel to burn all night.) Buy a lot of firewood. A two year or even three year wood supply would be prudent. If you burn four cords per winter, that will mean building a large woodshed. Keep your firewood in a well-ventilated covered shed. If your wood shed has a dirt floor, stack the wood on wooden shipping pallets. Pallets are plentiful and free many places if you ask around. You have no excuse not to get enough to keep your firewood supply from getting damp and moldy. While you are at it, get at least a half dozen extra pallets, or a lot more if you have the storage space. They have 101 uses around a ranch!
Putting wood under a flimsy tarp is throwing away your time and money. Wood that is shed-stored will last for decades. Build a wood shed that is twice as big as your neighbors. Why? Properly stored dry firewood is like money in the bank. The extra that you have can be used for barter or charity. Your extra supply will represent that much less time and gasoline you’ll expend WTSHTF. A chainsaw can be heard for miles, and the loud noise would make it easy for someone to approach you without being noticed. So store plenty of wood before TEOTWAWKI.
Cut or buy the hottest burning wood that you can afford. If you are near a National Forest, you can get a very inexpensive firewood-cutting permit from your local ranger station. Use all appropriate safety precautions.Buy a pair of goggles, sturdy gloves, ear plugs, a “bump” cap (logger’s helmet), and most importantly: invest in a pair of protective Kevlar chaps. They are available at most saw shops. They are money well spent! (A chainsaw accident could be devastating for a family, especially post-TEOTWAWKI.) If you’ve never cut firewood before, have a local “old hand” take you out the first couple of times to show you safe felling techniques and the best places to cut wood for easy loading. Her in the West, I personally prefer Tamarack, Oak, Madrone, Walnut, and Red Fir. Buying soft pine is a waste of money and effort. Ask your neighbors that heat their homes with wood how many cords they burn each winter, and which wood varieties found in the area burn the best. Again, lay in at least a two-year supply, and keep all of it under a sturdy shed roof.
Since you will probably be burning firewood extensively and won’t have the services of a commercial chimney sweeping service available, buy a set of chimney brushes and the appropriate extensions. Practice using them. To prevent creosote-fueled chimney fires, chimneys should be cleaned annually, or perhaps even twice a year if you live in an area where you burn more than four cords annually. Also be sure to buy smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, as well as fire several extinguishers to place in key locations inside your retreat house, barn, and shop.