by mannytheseacow » Sun Mar 23, 2014 4:53 pm
Well I'm several days late in this post, but Happy Spring everyone! It's been a long cold winter for all of us but things are starting to perk up. The lambs ears, clover, and lilies are starting to grow and we've had a couple days in the upper 50s. We're not out of the woods yet as it's only 23 today and still hitting lows in the single digits and teens.
Looking back over the winter I burned a heck of a lot of wood this year. It was such an unusually cold winter I have no way of comparing what the rocket stove did compared to the old stove as far as how much wood I burned. The house was a little colder but the heat was more even. I'm definitely not going back.
I've been splitting like mad but because I'm still burning it seems like I'm not making much progress. My wood shed measures 10' x 14' x 8' high. My goal is to fill that sucker full from ground to rafters this year. If my math is right that would be about 8.75 cords that I can fit in there. I'm at about 2 cords now... a long way to go.
Part of me thinks that I made it with the 6" rocket this hard winter so I could make due. If we can't be happy with what we have then how will we be happy with anything else? But then again, I have all the materials and the mold made for the 8", so I'm leaning that direction. This winter made me also think about the cold air venting my heat from the bench, too, as it drafts from the chimney, so I'm digesting that yet too. Along those lines, I'm worried about cutting another hole in my house for this wood burning cookstove. That's just more cold air coming in when it's not being used... We had 50-some odd days below 0 here this year. I'm curious to see how the perennials made it through.
Similar to George's awesome food forest I've got over a hundred trees, shrubs and vines going in this year but the ground is still too frozen to dig. Fences to build too, whenever the ground thaws. I can't wait to get going on it. I'm pretty much just tending the livestock these days and splitting wood. Seeing the robins return is sure a promising site, though.
I finally dug into some of my pork the other day, besides bellies and loins. I pulled a leg out of the freezer and thawed it. I wasn't sure what leg off of what animal but it turned out to be a Berk shoulder. 30 some pounds. I made 7.5# of sausage, 7.5# of Tasso ham, smoked the foot to put in some pea soup or cassoulet, 10# of carnitas for tacos, a pound or so of bones, and some random small bits for stir-fries. Delicious, all of it!
"Knowledge is power. Arm yourself."