I remember my pop buying a cord (maybe it was a half cord...?) of wood every fall when we lived in No Cal to burn in our fireplace there during the winter. We had central heat, but, no central air. The fireplace pretty much kept the front part of the house warm, but, we still used the heater, as well. Just not as much.
When we moved back to Texas, we got wood from one of the family farms.
When we bought our home, we also got some wood from the same farm, but, also got a bunch from the 35 acre horse, cattle, and goat ranch that used to be right next to our lot in our dead end (it's now all a developement, and has been for about 15 years, or so...?).
The elderly gentleman that owned the ranch
used to cruise around his property on a 4-wheeler pretty often to check things out. With his permission, we used to let our young kiddos feed the livestock wilted vegetables, apples, etc. We became trusted neighbors.
Shortly after, we had a crazy ice storm one winter, and old trees and branches came down all over that acreage. We ran into him on his 4-wheeler when things began to thaw, and he gave us his phone # and said to just call ahead and take all the fallen/dead wood we wanted.
We definitely took him up on that offer...!
We had access to free firewood for several years after that...!!!