The Woodstove

My friend Jen told me that I never put up a picture of the wood stove once it was completed. I left you with  the hole in the ceiling barely covered up. Sorry about that. I talk about it all of the time and forgot to share! Oh, I just looked it up and found that I did post a picture.

Here are a couple more just in case you wanted to see it again:

I LOVE my wood stove. I am spoiled by the heat that it puts out and the heat that it retains. It is so much better than a fireplace in that respect. The concrete slab that we built it on absorbs heat and then after the fire has gone out slowly releases it just like rocks in the sun. Of course the wood stove itself holds in heat too. I hope that one day, when we build our own place in the country, we can have a couple of these to heat the majority of the house. I do love it that much!

So far our bills have been much lower by using the wood stove for heat. We have been fortunate to get our firewood for free. But calculating the costs for firewood, we would still come out on top using the wood stove. I think it was a great investment.

What I would change: in the future we would get a front loading wood stove. Ours loads from the side which can be a pain when a fire doesn't want to light. This also makes it difficult to clean the ashes out.

As far as cooking on the wood stove, I haven't. It isn't a true stove. We do keep a pot of water on the top to keep some moisture in the air. I suppose I could cook a pot of beans or a slow, not so simmering soup. If we lost power I could definitely heat something up!

How are you staying warm this winter?

the Adventures of the Wood Stove: Part 3

Ok, so I have had the hardest time getting a picture of the wood stove in all of its glory. I need to take a photo at night I suppose. I also need to get a good photo of the stove pipe for you all. Oh yeah, and the huge pile of wood that I unloaded myself, thank you very much!

For now, this will have to do. I hope that you are warm and cosy by your fire!

The Adventures of the Wood Stove: Part 1

We chose to put in a wood stove this winter. We love it now, but it was a process!!! Here we go. Follow along!

Step one: Choose where the wood should be located. Rearrange the living room five times. Begin process.

Step 2: Cut a hole in the ceiling. Wait, not there. There. That is where the hole should go.

Step 3: Blue sky, smiling at me.... nothing but blue skies do I see. It was a bit chilly for an open skylight!!

Step 4: Smile at your man who is up on the roof on a frigid day, working to make your house warm. It is especially fun to do through the hole in the ceiling.

Step 5: Insert the beginnings of the stove pipe. Woohoo! One step closer to having a wood stove in the house.

Part two coming soon.......

Brrrrrrr.....

It has been four days now with temperatures not rising above thirty two degrees. In the south this is frigid! We had a little snow storm. It was mostly ice on bridges and roads and school closed. I always love a snow day, especially when there is actually snow on the ground. Kids were definitely sledding. What fun!

I am over it now. The temperatures at night have been in the teens with a wind chill in the single digits. Seriously. Cold. There is still a bit of ice on our driveway and sidewalk and snow on the ground too. Our house is old and drafty, read that no insulation in the walls. So keeping our house warm is not the easiest thing to do. We are layering up and I am trying to keep something in the stove at least once a day. I do believe that I will be making bread again this week!

I have been really concerned about our chickens in this weather. I know that chickens live in much colder climates and do just fine. I have been keeping a close eye on them. We ended up buying a heated dog water bowl for their water. It kept freezing, poor girls. Now we don't have to worry about their availability of water, just if it is clean or not. They have definitely slowed down and aren't very active. What is the use in scratching around when the ground is frozen?

We have had one chicken hardship. Jemima's break broke! I have no idea how. When she was younger her beak cracked. I am assuming that with the cold she pecked on something and there was a weak spot. It scared me to death. I walked out and found a bloody breasted bird. For your information, you could compare a chicken's beak to a cat's claw. If you trim a cat's claw down too far it bleeds. Or like a finger nail when cut to the quick. She is okay and her beak looks fine. It doesn't seem to hinder her eating or drinking. Poor girl. I know that it hurt because of the sounds she was making. The other girls were great didn't peck her a bit! Chickens have a tendency to peck at blood or open wounds. I am proud of them for being so kind.

We have been keeping ourselves busy with the process of installing the wood stove. It is a bit slow going. Or slower than I expected. The concrete hearth is now poured. Micah ordered for where the glass goes. Feet for the stove sorted out. Oh, how I wish the stove would have been up and running this weekend. It would have been wonderful. At least we will be prepared for the next round of wintery weather!

This week we are supposed to get back up into the fifties. I think that it will feel like a summer's day compared to what we are experiencing now. I can't wait!!

Any more thoughts on braving the cold? What did you do while snowed in?