My Daughter is Learning

Skye just turned 20. She has been living up state for more than a year go, and has been seeing her boyfriend for 5 months. She has been living with him, his sister and their parents.

I went to visit a couple of weeks ago, purely for the weekend. I stayed in Skye and Kevin’s room, and they stayed on the futon in the livingroom.

This is the first time that I have visited her up state, and I am happy that I did. My mind is set at ease. Skye helps out with household tasks, helps Kevin’s sister with her homework, and has even learned some valuable skills.

For instance, she now knows hoe to grind and freeze moose meat. And, she helps with stacking wood and whatnot. She also works seasonally at a hunting lodge.

I am very proud of her.

Shannon

Mini Homestead Happenings for 3/25/2009

The other day, as I was walking, I was thinking about being out at camp when I was a child. What got me thinking about those times was that I could smell someones wood stove going. It smelled so good.

That scent always brings back those memories.

We had a wood stove out at camp. We used it for cooking and for eat. I can remember being outside and smelling the wood burning in the stove, as it rose from the pipe through the roof.

What makes you remember childhood happenings?

I know that I want a cookstove when I finally have my own land and my little home.

Shannon

Mini Homestead Happenings for 12/11/2008

We had received some nice snow during the beginning of the week, but it disappeared with the rain yesterday. This keeps happening. It snows, then it is gone.

We have another chance to keep some snow. We are, apparently, supposed to be getting another storm tonight. This one is supposed to be pretty bad, and it should leave us with about 8″ of snow. We shall see how long it lasts this time.

It was a cold but refreshing walk this morning. I have been sick and my asthma kicked in pretty bad because of it. I continued with my meds as usual, and didn’t walk or do as many other physical activities as I normally do, but was still having problems. I felt a little better yesterday, and still better today. I hate colds!

IW (11) took his merry old time with his math today: Almost 4 hours worth of time. No pressure, he just had to bring homework home with him tonight. C (9) came over on the bus after school today. She helped me with dinner, practiced her math and spelling, and played with Lego’s before deciding that she wanted to draw and write a story.

Sheila’s professor told her that he was not having class this evening due to the impending storm, which is why IW is not spending the night. I sent his list of homework for tonight, as well as a list of his scheduled school work for tomorrow and one of his weekend homework. I figured that, if we are all housebound tomorrow, there is no reason why anyone should be getting behind on their homeschool work.

If Zowie’s one class tomorrow is canceled at the high school, she also has homeschool work that she can work on, until we have to walk to her doctor appointment tomorrow afternoon.

If school is canceled, we may also have C from noon until evening sometime.

I watched some Christy episodes yesterday. They are an inspiration in homesteading, in my opinion. Their mission had little money, so they really had to make do, as did the people in their area. The episodes show their hardships, but also how they ‘overcome’ them. And how they overcome hardships is what can be very inspirational.

I am currently looking into how one can stock up on food for a year, at least. I figure that, the first year on my own land may not produce a great food yield, so I will want to be prepared with plenty of food. A small walk-in room of the side of my shack should suffice for storage purposes.

Another small walk-in room, on the other side of the shack, will hold the wood for the stove. I aim to figure out how much wood I will need to get me through a winter before going to a new homestead as well. I saw a contraption that makes splitting logs easier, which I do intend to have. That is, if I choose a wood stove.

I also want a cookstove, if possible. What with having no utilities, I will need to be able to cook inside during the winter. I will be looking into this as well. My question here is, do you use wood for cookstoves? If so, does the wood need to be cut smaller than in a woodstove?

Skye just called. She is my older daughter (19) and lives up north here in Maine with her fiance and roommates. She will be coming down for some of the holiday celebrations, and is very excited about it. She does not get to come down often.

Well, have to go for now.

Shannon

P.S. If you check out my links, you will notice a link for sourdough recipes. I have not tried them out yet, but one of my goals is to learn how to make sour dough bread. This link will lead you to a place that has different recipes, including hamburger buns and cinnamon rolls.

Wood Stove Vs. Pellet Stove: That is the Question

Okay, so I will need to make a choice at some point. I do not know a whole heck of a lot about how wood and pellet stoves work. I was bound and determined that I would be having a wood stove when I move onto some land of my own, but then I start hearing about pellet stoves.

A friend got a pellet stove, and he was telling me that you need these little fans (that run on electricity) to get the warm air moving around. But I do not think that I am even going to be having electricity.

Which would make the ideal choice a woodstove. Right?

However, What if I only have one room? You know, I only need one room with a small kitchen area and a bed area, really. Maybe a couple of rocking chairs.

So, would a pellet stove work in that instance? Maybe I wouldn’t need the fans if I only had one room.

Also, does any other component of a pellet stove use electricity?

Now, I think that a wood stove would be a good choice for another reason: What if I want to start the fire with something other than wood? Some sort of fire starter? I have seen where people use shredded paper, pine cones and newsprint. This would help to prevent waste, but could you do this in a pellet stove?

Also, I assume that you can only burn pellets in a pellet stove. What if pellets were not available?

I know that, in an emergency, you could realistically burn tightly woven hay or something in a wood stove. I do not ever intend to have such an emergency, but you never can tell when you may have to burn something other than wood.

And, if I had to, what else could realistically be burned in a wood stove?

Hmmm…I have more research to do on these things before I move, obviously but , if anyone has answers for me, I sure would like to hear them.

Shannon