Since I’ve got the wood stove going, I’m making black bean soup on it.\u00a0 I’ve also got an old camping teakettle on the stove warming up to have perpetual hot water for my tea.\u00a0\u00a0 God, that’s so nice.<\/p>\n
I’d been keeping the house at 60F with the oil heat.\u00a0 I’m going to have to say the difference between 60F and 65F is an amazing one for physical comfort.\u00a0 I have a fan in the window between the jungle room where the wood stove is and the living area of the house.\u00a0 I thought I was going to want to be working in the jungle room while heating with the wood stove, but the air transfer means that the living room with my writin’ chair is perfectly comfortable.<\/p>\n
I love heating with wood, cooking over fire, all that smack.\u00a0 Don’t get me wrong, not having the option<\/em> of a gas or electric range, or heat that didn’t depend\u00a0on so much work\u00a0would be a big, fat pain in the ass.\u00a0 I like the option of modern conveniences very much!\u00a0 Still, on days like today when I’m working at home, tending the fire when I take a break, and getting up to stir the beans soaking, or pouring myself a cup of tea from the kettle sitting on the wood stove is immensely satisfying.\u00a0 The smell of wood smoke has always meant comfort and home to me.\u00a0 Yes, yes, I grew up in surburbia.\u00a0 Still, we heated with wood.<\/p>\n My mother made the occasional soup on our wood stove when I was growing up, but I think didn’t do it as often as she might because my brother and I were not particularly soup fans at the time (Sorry, Mom!).\u00a0 I suspect I’ll be doing a lot more of that because my son is nowhere near the jerk my brother and I were and finds homemade soup a perfectly fine dinner.\u00a0 I’m using the pork bones from last night’s ribs to make a stock.\u00a0 I have the beans soaking on the stove right now.\u00a0 So, when the stock is ready later this afternoon, I’ll drain the beans, transfer them to the stock and add some veggies and spices, maybe toss in a little bacon.\u00a0\u00a0 Then it can just sit there till dinner time.\u00a0 I love stuff like that.\u00a0 I think it’s really the only time I let my inner hippie come out to play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since I’ve got the wood stove going, I’m making black bean soup on it.\u00a0 I’ve also got an old camping teakettle on the stove warming up to have perpetual hot water for my tea.\u00a0\u00a0 God, that’s so nice. I’d been keeping the house at 60F with the oil heat.\u00a0 I’m going to have to say … <\/p>\n