Well, I’m not sure how it all happened or came together … but one of my sweetest dreams has come true!
Meet Betsy.
[Yes, I named her.]
She’s my new (used) wood cookstove!!
Located snuggly in our kitchen, she’s working away to keep our home toasty and well as providing us with meals simmering away…
Maybe we’re crazy, maybe we’re nieve but it’s another step towards an old fashioned life, less dependent on outside resources. I am so excited and grateful! I’d like to place a rocking chair right in front of this lovely friend and rock my winter away, children playing around me, holding my newborn baby, bread rising and (hopefully!) baking, stews simmering and the feel of the warmth bringing new life to our kitchen.
Although originally saying no to the idea, somehow my husband was persuaded that adding a wood burning cook stove to our home would be a benefit. Not only could we cook for free, but we would also be helping heat our very cold farmhouse. Last year, our kitchen temperature was so chilly, no one would visit us. Friend’s noses dripped. Toes curled under as they stood the cold tile floor of the kitchen. Some visitors never even took off their winter gear when they came inside. I tried not to worry about, just layered up lots of clothing and made do, just grateful to have moved from town and to have a home where the children could have more freedom outside and where we could live a life we were determined to live. {To be fair, we also had a very cold winter last year, nothing compared to the mild temperatures we are enjoying right now in Ontario!}
So, the search began on kijiji …. after so many indecisive moments, we settled on one stove that was many, many hours away. Because we didn’t have anyone to watch the children, my fantastic husband offered to go alone to pick up the stove (I honestly would have loved to sit for six hours, maybe eat a hamburger and enjoy some quiet beside my husband!). He got up at 3:30 a.m. and left by 4 to retrieve our new-to-us-cookstove! After a few hours, I called him on his cell phone to get an update. But the update was not good.
“It’s completely junk, Gillian. It’s no good.”
What?! Seriously!? I honestly thought he was joking. The poor man had give up his day off, gotten up extremely early and drove all that way … and the stove door fell off in his lap when he opened the oven! I felt so bad! Determined not to waste the trip and his time, Abby asked me to call up a second ad that had a similar stove listed for a good price. One ferry boat later, three men to haul in onto the trailer and another very long drive home (he did not arrive home till 9 p.m.), we had found the cookstove for our home.
{the water reservoir … You can even do water bath canning in there!}
After safely returning home, my husband had to also drag it alone into the house and set up it … I couldn’t really help at all being pregnant so he was stuck with doing it all himself. He also had to move out our electric heavy Moffat stove (also very heavy!) and help me move around the kitchen details (ie. Hoosier was moved to where stove was, etc. I’ll try to take pictures of the entire kitchen set up soon.)
So far, it has not been challenging to cook on the top of the stove. Learning to use the oven is a different story. We have only had her hooked up for a day, so I still have a TON to learn about managing the heat, regulating the temperatures and keeping the fire burning steady when required.
However, I am up for the challenge!
I am roasting one of our chickens in there right now – to see how long it takes with Christmas coming up … I know a turkey might be longer, but I need a general idea.
Heating and cooking our food slowly is not new – as we have been cooking on the woodstove in the back room for about a year. We also ditched the microwave about five years ago so we are accustomed to using frying pans to heat up leftovers and so forth. I’ve also been baking with my 1930s electric stove for two years and that has given me a test run for fluctuating temperatures. 🙂
So far, there is always hot water for tea and a pot boiling with something… I think I will need more pots! As I learn how to bake with the wood cookstove, I will definitely be blogging about it.
The top part is a warming drawer – fantastic and lovely! I set orange peels to dry here and warmed up a pie hubby brought home, along with some leftover cinnamon rolls.
Our house is so much warmer already and I have not even brought the oven past 200 degrees …
I’m not sure what we will do in the summer – I need to figure that one out, but for the majority of the year, we can certainly be firing up the cookstove to do all our baking, cooking and even canning!
This Christmas, we may have some burned pies and singed cookies to offer, but with all the extra space on the cooktop (the entire surface can be used for cooking) I think we’ll do just fine in the roasted turkey dinner department!
Have you ever cooked with a cookstove? Any tips? My grandma saw it on the weekend and gagged. 🙂 She had one when she was a young mom and hated it. I am hoping my experience is the opposite!
by Gigi
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