This year has been so busy that I just didn’t get around to cleaning and starting the wood kitchen range. Last night, it was -18 degrees, so we were so glad to have it again heating not only the kitchen but also radiant heat on the floor of our bedroom, directly upstairs. Now, I wonder just why I didn’t get to it sooner! Two days ago, I got home from town to find Will had cleaned off the stove, which had become a repository for miscellaneous stuff … sort of like an additional countertop and had her burning merrily. Not only does this stove provide a nice, gentle heat, but also cooks and bakes a lot of our food during the winter. After all, nothing bakes like a wood oven! Ask anyone! It also neatly burns up any kitchen waste, from paper wrappers, used paper towels, and chicken bones, lessening our use of the local dump.
I got to thinking, too, how having a wood stove and plenty of wood available, sure is a blessing in a power outage, especially during the winter (when outages are most common). Not everyone has room for a wood kitchen range in their kitchen. But if you do, you might give serious thought to it. That good old girl really provides a lot of heat, as well. Sure better than nothing if a person’s furnace fan is powered by electricity! Not room for that kitchen stove, even though they do look very nice, adding to rustic kitchen decor, how about a wood heating stove? You can sure cook on one, as well as heat the house cheaply, even if just in an emergency. Safely installed, both are easy to learn to use and are such a bonus, especially when things go awry.
— Jackie
Friends of ours had a cook stove in their kitchen before they sold their home. It was sure beautiful. And cooked good food!
It’s been a tough week here, between being sick, and I ended up in the ER and had emergency surgery Wednesday night. I am so thankful for the family and friends around us that are helping us out with things and making food for us. I wouldn’t be able to do it without them. Just so thankful for the blessings of of friends and family and my continued healing. Glad you all are staying warm and Sarge is sure getting big!
I grew up on a farm and our cook stove was both gas on one side and wood on the other side – a big stove. My mother was a teacher so she usually cooked on the gas side, with a pressure cooker for a quick meal after she got home from teaching. I never learned to use the wood side. I would like a wood stove in my kitchen but they can be very expensive and would require reworking the kitchen. My folks remodeled and the old farm cook stove was replaced. I don’t know what happened to it but it was big and heavy.
I grew up cooking on both electric and wood cook stoves. I have no room for one in the kitchen now but I wish I did. I do use a wood stove in the living room for heating. There is nothing like wood heat. Well, ok, except for those really cold cold cold nights when it needs feeding every couple of hours in the night then I miss my natural gas thermostatically controlled heating system. I know…I am a weenie wuss :-)
Ours is going right now. My husband made homegrown bacon and pork steaks on it this morning for 2 of our grandbabies. Our youngest daughter is coming over with 2 of our other grandbabies to cut down a tree. My husband plans on cooking on the stove for her family with homegrown steaks and hot dogs. Praise God for all His blessings and that we can live like this.
I enjoy all these comments about wood cook stoves, both my grandparents and my Mom had them. When we got our wood heating stove my only “must have”,, was that it have a flat top I can cook on if I want. i keep a big tea kettle of water on it which is handy. My cook stove is propane, second best for power outages.
We just had a woodburning stove installed and plan to burn our first fire today. The sales rep said we could “cook” in it with a Dutch oven or bean pot and suggested doing stew.
Anyone try it? I was excited to learn that extra bonus: not only for heat, but alternative “oven”
We have a pioneer maid stove from Lehman’s. Got in about 1995 in the cabin which is now our permanent home. Sure is nice, heats dish water in a reservoir that holds 10 gallons. Also provides a heat reserve if the fire gets low. Especially nice when it is -40 or -50 in our Alaskan winters!
Break me off one of those biscuits.
Dang!! I’ve never seen more beautiful rolls! Boy what I would give for one of those hahaha
Wish I had a wood oven. For the first forty years of my life we heated exclusively with wood via wood stove. My great grandparents had a wood cook stove on their cabin but it wasn’t handed down, just sold with the property. So sad.
It warms my heart to see Sarge getting some loving.
Keep warm, and have a very Merry Christmas
Kinda understand why it was sold with the property. We’ve told our kiddos that they need to keep the VT Castings stove we have. It is now closer to 40 years old than 35, older than both kiddos. Scarlett O’Hara vowed to never be hungry again, for us it was to never be cold again. At the time of purchase, the cost was around $800 (a lot of money for us) but we knew it was well worth it. No catalytic converter but IMHO, if you burn good seasoned wood, it should not be an issue.
There’s nothing better than homestead food coming out of a wood cook stove! The extra heat is also a blessing.
Fun to read about your
Affection for wood burning
Stove. We have a Magnum
Wood cook stove from The
Lehmans Hardware in Kidron
Ohio. What a find in today’s
World of high tech. Just loving
The peace of mind it brings
When I was growing up, we cooked most of the time on a kerosene stove but had a wood burning stove for heat. Anything that required long, slow cooking went onto the wood stove—stew, beans, soups. We also kept a kettle of water on the stove to add moisture to the air and to have ready to hot tea.
My happiest memories are driving up to Mom and Dad’s house, smelling the wood burning stove and coffee perking. Nothing like it. Unless you add bacon cooking. It may be cold outside but its always warm by the stove.
We have three here. One in the house kitchen & one in the summer kitchen. One in stand by just in case. It is so true food seems to taste better cooked on these stoves. Yours is a beauty! None of mine have that warming oven I jealous.
We have a top loading VT Castings – one could use the “lid” as a griddle as well for a pot/pan/dutch oven. Haven’t had to do so all these years but nice to know the option is there if need be.
We don’t heat exclusively by wood but using it sure makes a huge dent in the gas bill. Running the furnace when it is really cold does minimize the risk of frozen pipes (2nd story pipes that is).
Comments are closed.