I found this decomposing piece of a tree from which you could separate all growth rings.
Thermosiphon a success
I built the house with 2 flights of stairs, pretty overkill for a 1200sqft house and I’ve often gotten this feedback. There’s a couple of reasons I went through the extra trouble and extra wasted space.
- I like 2 ways out the first floor for safety. You never know when the government ninjas will come get you, but more seriously: fire safety. You know, for when the government ninjas set the house on fire.
- It provides the opportunity for a thermosiphon. Hot air from 1 stove rises up 1 side, cools down, and circulates back down the other.
With lower temperatures upon us, we have finally tested it and it works beautifully. I was worried that practice and theory would diverge, such was not the case and so we heated the whole house for the first time with one stove and awesome passive circulation keeping every nook and cranny warm.
Standing at a choking point such as a doorway, you can clearly feel the air moving. I’m super happy this is working.
Candle test
Now the one thing we still need to get used to is how much more wood we’re burning. We more than doubled our living space going from the tiny 450sqft to the more appropriate 1185sqft, circulate all you want it takes a lot more wood to heat it all up :).
I’ll be using thermosiphons to heat water too at some point.
Trying my hand at woodpile art
although “art” is a big word for this, I’m still pretty happy about it for a first attempt :).
As green as it gets
I threw the last logs in the stove and promptly went after a couple more small ash trees. For a brief moment, we were all out of firewood.
We’ll take all the drying we can get
This is the greenest we’ve burnt, literally minutes between tree to firewood. Ash is seriously impressive.
Just in time fire
We’ve had no wood reserves for 2½ months, what little left we had was consumed by the unexpected or trying to make starting fires quicker. It’s ok though we’ll be warm, fuel literally grows on trees. All it takes to harvest is a bit of exercise, a beautiful day doesn’t hurt.
Ash trees have a special place in our hearts given how many times they saved our bacon. It’s a shame they are getting ravaged by the emerald ash bore, what will the future ill-prepared homesteader do when their wood reserves don’t meet the tribute demanded by Winter?
Working my way up to the canopy
I was taught to not waste a branch, I moved the canopy elsewhere for later processing, for now I need the quick yield of the trunk
Big logs going for a hike
A fair amount for the time spent.
The tire technique
A few swings later, splitting small to help the burn
Straight into the firebox it goes
Super Moon Chimney Smoke Snow Shadow
There are many spectacles for which I’ll want a low light camera at some point.
2 Ash 1 Saw
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Feels very good to chainsaw, it had been a while and I had been itching.
They went right where I wanted them.
And for your viewing pleasure here’s just the tree going down, notice the little pine way out in the back getting utterly whipped.
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Numero dos:
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An addition to the family
Of wood stoves. This little Alpiner will be in charge of the house addition although it will probably not be hooked up to a chimney before next year.
The tractor is once again proving itself invaluable. The front loader fits right in the truck within 0.5″.
My new hobby: taking wood stoves for a ride.
After an hour of trying various techniques, Justin & I give up for the day. The stove is just too heavy to get up the steps.
It’ll sit outside until next time.
Take 2, with a come-along. Same awesome tool I used to move 2 trees a while back.
Easy as pie.
I love the Alpine landscape decoration.
Traveling Wood
With decent snow, a new chainsaw, a large sled and the recently discovered “tire splitting” technique, we’ve been amassing a large quantity of wood.
Here’s what getting it home looks like, I’ve been working on 4 poplars which domino’d onto one another during the last surprise wind storm.
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The sled & ATV combo is also a great way to move children around.
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Kettle to the metal
We’ve been having static electricity problem in the house so we decided to take humidification seriously. Pots filled with water on the stove tend to be noisy so it was time to go legit with an actual kettle.
Friends gave us this great device
one vinegar bath later, it’s back in business.
We haven’t had static electricity issues since the kettle came online, unlike its modern counterparts, it will never break.
We upgraded our wood splitting setup with an old tire
Gave the Sweet Heart a thorough clean up
It served us very well throughout the Winter but it was hard to find a time to clean it up because it was always hot.
Humbling cold
Nights bellow -20°C are forecast for the next few days and I happen to be home alone. It’s humbling to be solely responsible for keeping warm. All the evening chores are mine too.
Getting the shower ready
- break the ice in little pieces
who needs Minecraft?
2. Scoop out the little pieces with a milk crate (holes to let water through make it easier)
3. Let things settle for clear water
4. Fill pots
5. Apply heat
Before dusk I gave the chicken a path to their food to stretch their legs and fill up one last time before a long night.
They also got home delivered warm water.
I really hope they’ll be all right.
Should be enough wood for the night, emergency fire starter kit included.
I “ran” electricity to the house for convenience. I’ll do it right when the ground thaws but in the meantime this will make so we don’t have to worry so much about charging and going outside to do so.
Wood push
One day we’ll be ahead and have wood that’s been dried for more than a few months.