A Day on the Farm

In spite of the energy-efficient, passive-solar design , a fire in the wood stove makes the farm house so much more cozy and inviting when it's cold outside. Plus it helps to control the condensation on the windows, which has become a slight problem since we filled in the "pits".

Recently, at least part of every weekend has been spent cutting firewood. The neighbors had about 80 acres of timber stand improvement done, in which all the red oaks over a certain diameter were cut and logged. Of course the loggers just left the tops and a pretty big mess. The neighbors don't burn wood, and told us that we would be doing them a favor if we took what firewood we could get out of it. After the first day of cutting, it became apparent that there is enough wood to get us through several years. We are trying to decide where we are going to stack it all - I'll have to make sure I get a picture when we are done.

We decided it would be nice to have a wood rack inside instead of just have a pile of wood on the floor all winter long, but we couldn't bring ourselves to spend a fortune on one of those fancy racks from a catalog. We talked to another neighbor of ours who has a metal working business, and he made us this very simple rack for a modest price. It was not only affordable, functional, and fits the decor of the farm house; but it was made locally and we can feel good about spending our dollars with a neighbor and supporting our local economy.

Peace and cozy winter days

A Winter Day In the Farm House

It's winter here in the Ozark Hills and the temperatures outside are testing the green, energy-efficient, passive-solar design of our non-typical farm house. Yesterday's high was 45 o and the temperature inside the house was a steady 70 o. This was without a fire or radiant floor heat (which hasn't even been turned on yet). The only thing maintaining the indoor temperature was the earth contact and the solar gain from the south-facing windows.

Last night we built a small fire in the wood stove and this morning when I got up it was 71 in the house and 15 outside. At 11am the mercury outside has risen to a whopping 17, the fire has gone out, and it is still 70 here in the house.

You just gotta love staying warm when it's freezing cold outside and not spending a dime on heating!

Peace and cozy winter days

A Day on the Farm - like-minded fellows

We all know cats are terribly curious creatures, but did you know that turkeys are too? Our two heritage Narragansett turkeys have to check everything out - including the cats.

Peace