The sun isn't up yet, autumn is definitely here and our mind is turning to all the things we need to make sure we've done for winter.
With the cost of oil so high, we want to make sure we have enough wood cut, split, stacked, covered and ready to go in the biomass stove that has really saved us at The1870.
Before we found this used stove, which is supposed to warm a 2000 square foot normal house, we were using about 100 gallons of oil a week and it didn't even keep the big room that's about 6500 square feet with 25' high ceilings, warm. The temperature stayed right around 55 with the oil & radiators on.
Thankfully a church miracle happened and we were lucky enough to find the used $3500 stove for just $700. The question is, would it help? I had faith, a stove pipe was put in several long winters ago and the miracle happened! This stove designed to keep a 2000 square foot normal home warm was warming the big sanctuary at the church. It took a few trick, tries and trials to get the whole thing going the right way, but now with the cheery stove burning wood we find in the woods from branches & trees that have came down, we enjoy a nice warm area that stays 68 to 72 degrees in the winter for free!
Best thing is, we can keep a pan of water, the same pan my dad always kept on his wood stove, filled with water that I add spices to, that adds humidity to the air. And it's free, just the gas for the chainsaw and the electricity to run the splitter. The stove is so efficient it burns about half the amount of wood a normal wood stove would burn. I know my dad would be so happy we have this in the church.
Rarely in our little village do we have power outages, but when we do, our biomass stoves keeps us cozy & we can even do slow cooking on the top of it.
So here I am on the second day of autumn, waiting for the sun to come up, thinking about the Autumn Tomtem I'm making today for the OctoberKraftFest happening here on October 8, 2022 and my mind is on firewood and being ready for the next beautiful season. The rest of my day I'm just going to be in the present, enjoy this gift of life we all have and make the most out of it.
Wishing you a lovely day filled with the here and now, a touch of nostalgia and a peek at what's to come.
Priscilla