As winter weather continues, I am thankful for our wood stove. This is what heats our entire house. It is not a great picture and I am sorry for that. The stove pipe goes up and outside through the wall about 2 feet over my head. This is a soapstone stove. We purchased it shortly after moving into our home. We found that within 2 years it had paid for itself by saving us that much money on our LP gas. I am sure it is saving us bundles this year as we haven't turned on the heat in the middle of the night like we did the past couple years... we either get up and stoke the stove, or we wake up in a COLD house! LOL. I think 56 is the coldest I've seen it in the morning, most of the time it is around 62 and it warms up within an hour or so. We're all accustomed to wearing warm slippers and wearing sweaters, sweatshirts and throwing a blanket over our lap until things warm up.
In the early morning hours, it is a common sight to see my girls sitting near the stove doing their schoolwork. It is a favorite place to warm up after being outside in the cold. Wet boots and mittens get dried near the stove. Dh bought me soapstone boot driers last winter and they are wonderful pieces of stone. I take them upstairs with me and stick my feet on them to keep myself a little bit cozier. They heat up quickly by laying on top of our stove. The heat stays in the stones for quite some time... an hour or more. He got me two sets so one can be warming while I am using the other. Dh uses the stones to dry his boots if they ever get wet. They also work wonderful as bedwarmers. Just warm up both pairs, wrap in a towel and lay near your feet... Ahhhh!
The wood stove is also wonderful for warming up cold lambs. Nice and warm, it seems to warm them up in no time. We put them in a laundry basket and set near the stove. Last year we had a selenium deficiency and the lambs struggled for the first 3 days or so to just get up... they were like newborn babies, not lambs. We had over 25 lambs in assorted laundry baskets around the wood stove. Can you imagine the sight? Well you can, I found a picture from last year. The blue basket shows new lambs... they were always close to the fire. They got moved further away as they were able to maintain their body temperature.
It is obvious that a wood stove will warm your house, but it also helps to warm your heart as well. We have 6 in our family and our house is quite large. The wood stove helps to keep us "together" in the winter months. Everyone gathers in the living room for warmth and we benefit also by being together! Friends that visit during the winter love the warmth from the stove as well. We've been told our home is so "homey". Our house isn't the most beautifully decorated, or the classiest. But it is home.
Warmly, ~Melissa
