Just a couple of things to add.
As some others have indicated, the BEST wood to burn is the one that is the most readily available and least expensive in your area. That may be mesquite where you are. I burn eastern red cedar mixed with oak, hackberry, persimmon, and whatever else blows down on my place. I've heard a lot of folks say you can't burn cedar (juniper), but my chimney sweep says my chimney had less creosote than any he'd seen, and that was after I went 3 or 4 years without having it swept. Any conifer will burn up faster than hardwoods, so a blend is best, I think.
I have about 3.5 cords ready to go. I have about a half cord that is cut into four foot lengths that needs to be bucked and split, but I'll get to that now that it is cooler and it will be the last that is burned next spring.
I've spent most of my life processing wood in one form or another, mostly into furniture. Some of what has been mentioned in this thread about drying is right, but incomplete.
Wood does lose more of its moisture from the ends, but exposing the long grain will speed the process up significantly, too. The bark will retain water -- that's a big part of its job in the first place. When you split and buck to length, your wood will dry much faster than just bucking to length. The more you split, the faster it will dry. Rightly or wrongly, my stove store suggested small splits over large pieces. I find I can pack more into the stove that way, but the big ones do seem to burn longer --- in the total load life, I think the small splits work best.
On the sawdust and parafin fire starters -- I like them. Lazy, I guess. They're just faster and easier than newspaper and kindling. I just throw two or three small pieces of cedar on top of one of those, stack the hardwood on top of that and let 'er rip.
Could have used a small fire last night. If it gets down in the 40's again, I think I will fire the stove up tonight.
