My woodburning kitchen stove or humble hearth with a heart

My wood burning kitchen stove has no chrome it is plain, as plain and black as can be. It is modern in a way that is odd, it has a temperature dial and the draft turns with a knob, but even with these additions the stove is plain. Not ugly mind you, just plain. It has a good size fire box and gives off a great amount of heat. On the top of the stove is a rectangular box with a top that has a hole at either end and slides back and forth so one can pour in water as this is a basic water tank that just sits on top of the cooking surface and heats the water. In the rear of the tank is a comercial style coffee faucet; which makes it easy to drain water into a bucket.

There are no timers or designs attached, no lights or bells there are few moving parts, a draft knob and doors for the fire box, oven and ash pit. The oven is not self cleaning though remains clean if you are careful with your cooking. There is no on off switch either-to lower the temperature one moves the pot or pan about the flat surface from very hot to warm. If warm is to warm one uses a trivet. A trivet is a device usually of iron that sits on the stove and raises the pot up about an inch, more or less, and lets the heat escape and cools the pot. The cooking surface is steel, it can be brought to a dull sheen when scrubbing, but that is not needed the sheen won't make it work better. Only the cook can make the stove work better by feeding fuel at the rate needed to maintain or increase heat output or move the cooking food about the stove to regulate the cooking speed of the food.

I have moved a rocking chair near my stove as it is comfortable to sit by the stove and read or hold a pet and day dream near the stove's warmth. The crackle of the wood burning inside and the smell of wood burning and food cooking tugs my soul in some basic way. I guess, like the dog that sleeps several feet away from the stove, I know my comfort zone and hanker for it.

In Praise of the white 5 gallon bucket

One of the most useful objects on a farm or rural home is the common five gallon bucket.
If one had exsisted during Wm. Sheakspear's time he would have written a sonnet to it as he did a rose.

The bucket carries all manner of objects in all kinds of shapes and states; liquids, solids, granular, mixed as in filled with trash. However there are other less obvious uses for the white bucket. It can be used to as a step stool by the lighter folks or with a board laid across makes a nice sitting bench. It can be used to protect the tender plants from frost by covering them at night.

I have used one as a door stop and to bring home fish from the lake; I also have used one as a stool to rest on while painting or planting. Feeding animals is common using a big white bucket and once they get used to being fed from or by a white bucket just the sight of the thing and maybe a few pebbels rattled in it will bring some animals running for their dinner.

Of course you can mix all kinds of things in it like feed, planting soil and fertilizer; mixing cement for small jobs is possible also. With ice it will cool your favorite beverage. With a tight lid it stores food like cornmeal and flour. With the addition of a nipple it can be used as a calf feeder. There are liners that lap over the edge and convert the bucket into a tool box. For light loads it can be used to wash clothes or yourself if need be. Collecting things like when beans are harvested the bucket comes in handy or when collecting squaw wood those small dried pieces of wood found on the forest floor.

Even when it leaks from a crack it still can be used for a trash can. They are good for holding things while your sorting out a pile of something like in the garage or barn. One turned upside down over a fence post marks the spot were you worked last so the next day you know where to start again with what ever you were doing.
The uses for the simple white cylinder go on and on. I wonder if people in other lands use the same bucket or do they use something else?

The move begins

With a great deal of trepidation the move to the farm has begun. I don't know If it is because I am getting on in years or just my cautious nature showing through but the the move has had its stressful moments.

I was in luck this time around as Samantha was home and she loaded the truck almost completely by herself I got to help with some of the larger pieces after I got home from work.

The following morning bright and early we loaded the dogs and headed our vehicles toward Kentucky. It was a long ride with making stops for the animals to have a break and give us a rest as well. Our little caravan made its way across the the Smokey Mountians into West Virginia and on into Kentucky. We had walkie talkies that kept us in touch with each other during the trip.

We arrived at the farm before sundown and unloaded some of the things we needed for the night and pumped up the airmattresses; these mattresses turned out to be a good thing after all. I had my doubts, but with space and money concerns seemed to be a good idea; who knew they would be comfortable ? We got a fire started in the big stove in the 'Meeting Room' as the Amish would call it. The stove kept us warm for most of the night with a few loadings of fuel during the night. By morning the fire was out; it was cold as the outside temp had fallen to 28 degrees during the night, but we did get some much needed rest, we would need it because we had just a short time to unload the truck and turn it in to the U-Haul place.

Things didn't go well at the U-Haul store as we got there about ten minutes to closing without our papers for the truck. We were told that we would have to have them faxed from Virginia to turn in the truck and to do that we had to drive to the nearest city and find a U-Haul store that had that ability. Well, to make a long story short, we didn't have to do any of that, it all could have been handled over the phone-somebody wanted to get off work on time.

We got the house put together and made progress with the woodstoves. Learning to use them was a learning process. As time went on we got good at starting fires and stoking the stoves and even did some nice cooking on the kitchen stove-which also has a large hot water tank on the back. This tank came in handy for our shower baths, there was plenty of hot water from the this tank.

We got to fix the water line to the farm several times as each time we had thought it was fixed it would break at another spot. We think that we have it fixed now, but keeping an eye on it until it proves its self, so the hole is not filled in yet.

The neighboring farmer harvested the hay field and got the third cut off that five acres; only 91 bales. He also disked the garden and we had a chat about the pasture and what to do with it. The pasture needs to be bush hogged (cutdown) and replanted. The hay field should be fertilized and resown. I will look into having all that done later in early spring.

I got a real feel for living in a place without the usual ammenties; electricity, indoor plumbing, hot water heater, central heat/air. The oil lamps take getting used to-the small ones from Wal-mart aren't good at giving out light. The larger ones they sell are better. The Alladin lamp that costs a lot of $$ works fine if you keep a careful eye on it. The propane camping lamps give the most light, but the light is harsh and the the lanterns make a hissing sound which you get used to quickly. I bought a large Dietz lantern and it gave out very good light for the price. The lamps and lanterns give off heat as well as light and that is a benefit on a cold night.

Speaking of cold nights flannel is defenitely in fashion when the temps fall. Flannel pajamas, nightgowns and sheets and if your feet get cold like mine some nice fluffy socks too. Getting up in the middle of the night to feed the stove is a treat. I get up at least once or more for the loo anyway and seeing as I am up I put some wood on fire and get back to the warm bed. Soon enough the rooster crows and your up and at 'em getting the fire going, taking the dogs for a morning walk and when you get back to the kitchen making your favorite breakfast including toast and coffee. The toaster I use is a one sold at camping stores and toasts four slices of bread at one time, one side at a time and rather quickly. One has to keep an eye on the toast or you have rather well done toast in a fashionable shade of black to go with coffee.

The dogs had a wonderful time, checking out the barn, pasture, garden, chicken house, all the rooms of the house-there are nine rooms counting the large pantry, and the mud room. They also got introduced to the Amish horse and buggies. They responded to the new scenes rather well and looked very happy and very tired at night. After the evening meal there is a quiet time in the evening before getting ready for bed. This time, at first, was used for talking over the day and making lists of things to do the next day. Then when we got things caught up it became game time; we played board games until it was time for bed. There are so many things that have to be done one has to make a list and choose what to do. When I move in full time the list will get longer and the chores will increase as well; such is life on a small farm.

One disappointment was not getting the telephone installed. I will have to call the company and find out what the problem is as we had an appointment and they didn't show. It will get put in just that it will take time.

I enjoyed myself this trip, I felt at home, the place grows on you, plans come to mind and it feels right. I have chosen a place for the fruit trees, a place for the compost pile, another place for the green house. I have lists of things to repair or replace in my mind such as gutters for the house and over the barn doors, finnish the siding on the washroom, repair the porches, paint the kitchen and put up shelves, build boxes for the firewood, put up more curtians, replace the mudroom door, finnish the mudroom interior, so forth and so on. Then there are the pastures and fences to repair and gates to fix, the ramp to the second level of the barn has to be redone, and live stock added too. Whew! There is a lot of work to do :)