We heated our nearly 2300 sq. ft. house ENTIRELY with wood for 18 years, so I know the subject!
We invested in a fireplace insert, as the house has two fireplaces, but no place for a freestanding woodstove. If using an insert,I recommend one that does NOT set back in to the fireplace opening, and does not depend on any 'blower' system. Ours is an ORLEY, a horizontal 'barrel' type that sets fully out on the hearth, so that all of the heat comes outward into the room. I *think* it was 'rated' to heat around 2000 sq. ft, so fell a bit short--but it has really done a great job over many years.
My BEST suggestion to you would be to get all the information you can from those REALLY knowledgable about wood stoves and their use, such as your area extension service?
It IS a lot of work--and depending on what the 'heating medium' costs where you live, may NOT save all that much money. I'd suggest doing some cost comparisons before committing to anything new.
Here, the lowest it has ever gotten is -10 degrees F.--and that's infrequent. How cold you can expect it to routinely be, AND, how well-insulated your house is, are also BIG factors.
My late husband used to be able to go and cut wood off his cousin's ranch down in the timber; in recent years, I had to purchase wood, and it has become EVER more expensive--we have juniper(cedar) and pinon(a pine)most available here; I always got juniper because it is harder, burns longer, doesn't 'pop and spit' as much as pinon. Oak and apple, for example, are MUCH better woods, as they produce more heat, burn longer--BUT, they are very expensive here, because oak would have to be hauled in from a distance, and apple is rare, period.
You have to buy it split, or buy a splitter. You have to 'season' (let it dry;'green' wood is unsafe and ineffiecient to burn) properly, you need a safe, away-from-your-house place to stack it, and cover it against rain/snow. You need to haul it to the house, have a place to keep several days' supply so you aren't ALWAYS hauling it. You need small stuff for kindling. It is messy and dirty to handle and haul. You have to then take out ashes, and dispose of them SAFELY--meaning in a substantial METAL container with a METAL, tight-fitting lid, placed someplace SAFE(a large, and fairly new,house not far from me went up in flames a couple of years ago when someone set the fireplace ashes on the porch in a heavy plastic lidded container. All it takes is ONE coal to do it....and in a bucketful, you may not 'see' that one hot coal....)Once the ashes are DEFINITELY out, you still have to find a place to dispose of them(most trash removals will NOT allow ashes.) You also have to have, or learn properly how to, clean the chimney and flue...MORE work and cost.
As for getting up to feed the fire? Unless it was TERRIBLY cold, I could put a nice BIG log in about 15-20 min. before bedtime, open the stove dampers and let it really get to burning well, then at bedtime, close the dampers,and it would burn slowly throught the night, and I could easily build the fire up when I got up. On REALLY cold nights, though, I'd sleep in the recliner in the family room, so I could get up and 'feed' the fire and keep it 'burning up' all night. We LITERALLY had NO other source of heat, so HAD to not allow the fire in the insert to go completely 'out' over a very cold night!
Heating with wood, properly, is truly an ART, IMO, and takes dedication and yes, WORK, to manage.
That said, it is a 'wonderful' comforting heat. Of course, the room where the stove is located will be the warmest; the rest of the house will stay cooler, and the rooms furthest from the fire, the coolest. IMO, it's NOT for everybody.
I am relieved that I now again have a 'whole house' electric(my house is all-electric); I use a heat 'storage', time-of-use electric rates, heating system-and only use the stove insert occasionally, on REALLY COLD evenings.
Margo