The Hearth

When you come to my home during the winter months, the 1st thing you might notice as you step inside the door is the wood stove. It is a large, green stove sitting in the sun porch next to a school table, sofa, and bay window full of schoolbooks. The stove is warm and always causes people to gather ‘round. Usually I run it with the doors closed, but there are times when I open the doors so that it can be used as a fireplace

Most people walk in the door and immediately stand in front of it, holding their hands over it, absorbing the warmth. They usually ask if we heat the whole house with it, and I always say that it does the job most of the time, but not on days that hang below zero or are very blustery. The upstairs rooms are cool, but that is fine for sleeping. Sometimes at night the fire will go down, and then the furnace will click in.

The boys bring wood from the woodpile and stack it on the deck near the back door. Each morning and night they fill the wood box inside the door. If I do not watch the stove, it can get too hot or too cold: when I stoke it, I have to get it up to about 600 degrees before I turn the catalytic converter on and sometimes I get busy and it gets hotter than I like; during the day I have to be sure to remember to fill it or the fire will go out and I will have to start it from scratch (I really do not like that). The stove is a rather demanding part of my winter days. One of the first things I must do each morning is to get the stove going before the coals in the bottom have gotten too cold. At noon I add more wood and again in the evening. It is rather like feeding the family 3 meals a day, plus I top it off just before I turn in for the night--its bedtime snack.

At night when I cannot sleep, I grab my robe and slippers and curl up on the sofa to watch the glow of the fire through the windows of the stove. It makes the whole room seem friendly and since the cats usually prefer to sleep in that room in the winter, I usually have company.

Living on a farm is not an easy life, but there are many good things that we enjoy because of it. Our hearth is one of them.

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A Duh Moment

When I wrote the first time on my blog about planting Christmas bulbs, I wrote that I was going to plant Lily-of-the-Valley because they did not require time in the refrigerator. Well, when I went to the greenhouse to scrounge around for some bulbs, my mind slipped a cog—and I picked up crocuses. Crocuses need more time than Lily-of-the-Valley. So when I went to plant last night and I realized my mistake, I went ahead and planted my crocuses so that we will have Easter flowers.

Now I will need to see if I can find those Lilies… Sigh.

Blessings to you all!