The 1870.com

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

Changes are happening in our lives so fast at the moment it feels like time has sped up a bit.

Morton has retired at 55, we are getting projects done at an incredible rate of speed thanks to him being here and having two incredible helpers with us for the month of August from Workaway. 

Behind the pipes is now an Enchanted Tiki Music Room, firewood is being cut, split, stacked and for the first time in eight years we're getting ready to actually use half of the old vestry as our upstairs studio.

Summer feels like it's running away from us faster than ever with the nights getting chilly, our windows open all the time and the church smelling like fresh air and homemade bread. The sun is setting earlier and yesterday I saw several leaves floating down from the tree they had grown on already. Time is just a feeling I think. 

With the next season right on our doorstep, as we enjoy these warm and sunny days, I feel like just for a minute, I need to allow myself to feel like we have all the time in the world, even though I know it's always later than we think.

I'm thoroughly enjoying these precious moments with Morton home, where he belongs, with all our friends online and in person, with all the changes and creating in the studio, with all the wonderful progress being made on this lovely old church we call home, I'm taking the time to count my blessings, lucky stars and let the minutes and hours just float on that fleeting summer wind.

Wishing you a wonderful amount of time to do all that makes you smile.

Since the beginning of our journey here at the lovely old church we call home, we have known that getting the big roof done was going to be the most expensive project we’d be doing and one we couldn’t do ourselves. Any other things we did were done one the strictest economy, usually by ourselves and with no regrets that we have $90 kitchen counters made from Formica instead of thousands of dollars for marble, granite or something trendy and costly.

The outside of the church, even things like the doors that were not insulated, got frost on the insides of them and had huge gaps went on the back burner, saving all the pennies for the roof.

With the help of savings, we managed to get the roof done in 2021 and now the outside of the church, which has been neglected due to budget, is getting a makeover on a budget. New energy efficient doors have gone up in our main entrance, we still have five more to replace, but these things take time, there’s been a deck added over the studio patio creating a lovely veranda and our front steps are fully planted in free canna lilies that started off as less than 20 from a friend and now numbers in the hundreds, all adding up to the old church looking as loved on the outside as it is on the inside.

I’m hoping that you are enjoying watching our journey and invite you to connect with us on our social media to see just how beautiful this home is becoming!

Have a beautiful day!

Priscilla 

Yesterday we had planned what we were going to do on Morton’s day off, but our lovely old church had a different idea for us. We were going to head to a garden center, buy a yellow rose for my mom’s memory garden and a red rose for my mother-in-law’s memory garden, stake down the dropper hose on the hay bales, mow the lawn and have a lovely day outside that wasn’t to filled with work. After all, Morton works long hard hours at his job, so his days off we try to balance with some rest for him. I try anyway, Morton is always in work mode and the hardest working person I’ve ever met.

Just as we are leaving, Morton decides to see how easy it is to take one of the loose veneer rocks off of the bulging wall that we’ve both been wary of since we bought this place. I might have encouraged him to try it too, I’d have to watch the TikTok I was making. It came out so easy, it was a simple choice to just make that wall disappear on the sunny Monday.

There are lots of videos on this @the1870studio if you’d like to see it happen, rather than just reading about it.

After 8 plus hours, with dark approaching fast, Morton had finished a huge task, mainly by himself. It’s secure, looks beautiful and is going to be turned into a TikTok family garden for all our amazing followers on TikTok who send us gifts during our lives. It’ll be filled with fun, whimsy and the best thing ever, friendships and kindness from people who love what we’re doing here.

Thank you to everyone who is on this wonderful adventure with us. We appreciate you being here.

Hugs,

Priscilla