Stickin 'Mud' on a Shitty Wood Stove

I knew before i moved into the yurt that the woodstove was kinda moody.... it burned hot and fast - not the way you want it to burn for a long cold winter. Then when i was casually perusing the wood stove section of a Lehmans (non electric homesteading) Mag i saw this exact stove pictured....

Omgawd... the first words next to the glossy pic were "don't buy one of these cast iron stoves if you desire high quality." I laughed. and laughed. and then started to think of ways to work around it's poor quality...

While experimenting with pushing ash in the grill holes and also against the giant gap in the door, i felt like an uber genius when i thought of using a clay/ cob / -like substance to fill in the cracks and holes.

I could totally get toxic stuff to fill this in.... i could use glues and pastes and fire proof fiberglass ropes, but i hate chemicals. I hate ruining my home space with chemical stuff - because what i am looking for is to make things more comfortable, easier, healthy and pleasant.

!! Screw buying some creepy VOC goop..... cause for free i got some clay from a dug up pile of dirt on Dogget Mountain, and mixed it with rice flour. Anyone who eats gluten free knows rice flour turns to something awful and cement-ish when baked...
I mixed the clay, the rice flour and water in a bowl and started filling in the spots where air was leaking too much (causing the hot fast fires)......

and so far so good. There was some slight cracking in the clay, but i kept filling in the cracks as it shrunk and dried, making sure less air could get in the stove while the door is shut.

Now i have to do the smaller cracks.... like the cooktop and all around! and this doesn't solve the issue that the manufacturer didn't even bother to make the flue/damper fit correctly either! (lame and shame!) The only solution for that is to put a second one on there.

I am kinda glad about the cracks though, cause its fun to play with the clay... and i like experiments. :)))

XOoxOX

My One Match Fire!

This morning I woke up to snow! wtf, right? Yesterday I was sweating my tits off in my crochet bikini, gardening, getting a tan...I went to bed to the sounds of a spring time thunder storm, it was so warm I let my fire go out. While sleeping, in came some freezing cold winds & snow, so a fire was needed as soon as I woke up.
I can finally do this with only ONE match!

*
HERE IS HOW I DO IT ::::*
1. I put paper at the bottom (sometimes with a toilet roll), down the middle, front to back
2. I layer tiny tree branches, by size up to larger branches on top
3. I put wood slivers on top the branches
4. I add small logs at the top of the pile...
5. and light the match to the paper at the bottom
6. then BLOW and blow and blow some more, till ya have a big flame!
*

Watch the process here::::


XOXO

Rain Walk: Things Me and Mah' DOnkee Liked

Me and all my animals (chickens, a donkey and one cat) have all been cooped up (so to speak) for the last few days with the constant fall rains. Even though it was still overcast and a drizzle came down on my hooded head I invited JuJu the donkey to go for a walk with me...
She totally wanted to come. On with the halter and out the gate, we ventured not too far from our home but far enough to feel freedom from the gloomy confinement.

JuJu is one of the most alert, consistent, and reliable guard animals I have ever seen - she hears things from farther away then I can even imagine them and is always right on target. She knows when they are just something to notice or if they are a true threat (which a donkey will kill or injure), she always shows me whats far ahead when she stops short of walking, flares her nostrils, and takes on the stiff, high eared pose she has in the pic above.

A lil' further up, I saw what she heard over some hills and hundreds of feet away...

wild turkeys!!! (See them in the pic below, making a run down a nook in the meadow...)

Along the road we also came upon something that is fairly new... someone set up a wood stove for outside cooking! I happen to love this idea, because I have a really old not serviceable wood stove on my porch and have been dreaming of using it as an outside fire/cook stove for Spring, Summer and Fall when it's too warm to fire up the one inside the house.

The wood stove I have is missing a front door, and I thought it could be turned into a Cob Oven! (Read HERE how to build your own cheap outside oven.)

Remember the 'pink trailer' I (didn't) trespass at a few months ago...

JuJu has a thing for the retro trailer too. Everytime we pass it she wants to walk all around it, look in the windows, nibble on some charcoal in a burn pile out front, and just generally chill out there...

I am so glad she doesn't look in the windows of my neighbors who are actually home! ha.

The same someone who must have set up the wood stove, placed two animal skulls side by side on a mossy log. Then I found the plastic daisy. I like old plastic flowers in a weird way, even though I am not sure I should....

The thing me and JuJu like the most though, is the forest in general. The bigger picture, the adventure, the all encompassing balance of it, the safety & the dangers, the sounds, the peace, the tall trees, the wet bark, the weather, the wild plants-

the feeling that things are completely right.

Xoxoxox

Learning To Use An Ax Part 2 (The bungee cord idea!)

Ya'll might recall when I was learning better ways to split wood with an ax called a "go devil"? Well, the poor "go devil" is now R.I.P like most things with a plastic handle end up these days (it's cracked at the base) - and we have now moved onto old school wooden handle ax which I like bunches better. But hec, that isn't what this post is about... it's about how we tried out the awesome bungee cord idea by one of my most favorite readers 'Gratuitous'! (Hi, Gratu! Yeah, I am talking about ya...)
I did give a few swings on this bungee cord wrapped humongous black walnut log, which happen to be sitting in thick mud puddle... when I swung down the ax hitting the log that cold puddle squirted me right in the mouth and eye!! lol
So... moving right along.... Here is how this trick works:

• We tied a bungee cord around the log (see bad ass video Gratuitous found here!)
  
• Push it closer to the middle or bottom to prevent breaking the cord itself
• Go ahead and swing as per normal, except now you wont have to keep standing the pieces back up cause the bungee will be holding them all together!

Pretty sweet idea, cause it worked!
XoXo

Eco Art: Homemade Charcoal & Scrap Paper Drawing

Yay! I am all excited about this eco art project...mainly because I was able to work in the larger size I am comfortable with, but also because the whole thing was free (free charcoal made in the wood stove, free scrap paper from a shipping box!) I made a lil' video for ya'll of the step by step process of the drawing itself... take a lookie down below!




XoXOXooxx

Eco Art: Self Portrait in Charcoal

This portrait is just a teaser, cause tonight I am working on a much larger charcoal drawing using the charred wood from inside my wood stove (which I am burning wood in for winter heat.) The drawing here though was a quickie self portrait I did while thinking deeply into how I can make fine arts truly part of my life again with the same joy I had when using the easy to access toxic art supplies I used to buy. Art by virtue of it's rebellious political stance really should naturally lend to a more earth friendly, recycled, upcycled and natural formation - AKA maybe a lil' less purchasing of mass manufactured supplies and more learning how to create our very own art supplies. Free is always good for the 'starving' artist anyhow. :)
This self portrait took only a few minutes, and was done on trash paper that had been stuffed in a box that was delivered to the house here... which made it 100% free and eco.
Can't wait to show ya' the next one...
xoxo

Building A Fire For Heat

It got cold here...I mean chance of snow winter winds freezing cold. I hear that each person has their own style of making a fire, kind of like everybody has their own special penmanship. It's all the same result, but your own signature way of doing things...
So here is my fire making signature! :) Brown paper or dried up weeds at the bottom (don't use bleached paper which is so grody breathing the smoke made me feel like I needed to call 911 after), then some piles of tiny kindling (I used apple tree branches) and added a few larger branches too, then thin split logs. All this I like to think I am making in a sort of subtle teepee fashion, and then add the one big log on top towards the back.
I actually had hardwood logs brought to me by some local guys who totally split all the logs by hand (very hardcore and more earth friendly.) I found them on Craigslist and they rock - if you need wood I will give ya their number!
I do best with all natural materials, otherwise the smoke bothers me alot (coughing, chest pain, crusty eyeballs) - I don't use fire starters or fake logs, EVER. One thing that does make it less sustainable or hard is how to light this thing ablaze... I usually use matches, and sometimes a propane clicker- I think it would be cool to learn to make my own fire from two sticks, jus' like boy scouts do! Who wants to teach me?
If you know some tips or methods of starting fires for heat (or keeping them burning) I would love to hear it. Also, what do you consider to be the most eco & healthy way to heat your home during the winter?
XoXo

Sustainable Farm Chores: Gathering Kindling For Winter Heat

It's time to start preparing for winter! The less luxuries of the modern world you have the more physical work you have to do in order to keep some basic necessities going - like heat in the winter. Today was perfect beautiful warm fall weather for breaking sticks for kindling - what I kept thinking as I did it was when the winter really sets in this would be alot harder to do. This is the kind of work that is meditative, relaxing, productive and gets your body moving without being extreme. I have a hunch that it's most fun to do with another person around though. After filling the first bucket I was yearning for some conversation or Fleetwood Mac. :)
These branches are from trees already fallen or cut down by someone. Most of what I cut up here are apple tree branches - the wood is kind of papery and will probably light fairly easy. I even got all anal with it and made two sides, one for wide pieces and one for the tiny sticks.
XoXo

Project Fail: Heating Bath Water With Hot Rocks

A while back I read about how the Native Americans ate hard boiled eggs as part of their staple diet - they boiled the eggs by putting rocks in a fire and then put the hot rocks into an animal skin and it boiled the water. The hot water heater at my place as of now needs to be fixed and I was wanting to take a hot bath pretty bad, and figured I could boil the tub water just like the Native Americans boiled eggs! Except I wasn't going to bathe in an animal skin, but rather a cold metal tub.

Bort (remember the dude who taught me how to make rope from yucca leaves) put the rocks in the fire and took them out with a fireplace shovel, thick gloves and placed them into a metal pot to bring to the tub. I was 100% certain this project would work, but it failed horribley. Here's some reasons why I think it may have failed (please tell me why you think it did too in the comments section):

1. The metal tub was capable of holding the cold in itself and kept the water so cold it cooled the rocks instead of boiled the water.

2. The rocks were only on the fire for no more then 1-2 hours, which afterwards Bort (who was a way good sport for this project) pointed out that in Sweat Lodges they heat the rocks for like six hours to get them to create the steam. Possibly the Native Americans let those rocks heat for a day or two?

3. The rocks were dirty. This didn't really make it fail heat wise (I think) but I shoulda rinsed those babies off first cause when they hit the water they sizzled a cloud of dirt out. I can tell you this, I would have bathed in the dirt water if it had gotten hot though.

4. Rock type? I considered that the structure of certain rocks may be tighter and hold heat longer, better, and have a slower release - and that the Native Americans knew secrets it may take me a while to figure out on my own.

Regardless of the fact that no bath took place and the water didn't even get warm much less boil (a hella lot of sizzling and bubbling though), and the smoke from the stove nearly choked us - I was still happy cause sometimes it's kinda fun to have a project fail completely. :) So the pic below is my not bathed clean self, since I had promised some peeps I was going to take tasteful bath pictures and post them here in my brilliant success glory, instead here is what accepting failing glory looks like!

xoxo

Cooking & Warming with a Wood Stove

The last two days we had a big ole' spring snow storm that blew in enough white fluff and cold air to make the converted barn house I am living in pretty freaking COLD. It's a wee bit drafty in it's original DIY glory - possibly over 80 years old, the barn itself was transformed by some pottery slinging hippies well over 20 years ago. There are two wood stoves inside the house which (in spite of my chemical sensitivities) always makes me feel comforted, because with no electricity you can always be toasty warm and have a pot of soup boiling.
With the snow storm freezing the living shit out of the house, it was time to burn some wood - and try out cooking on top the old buck stove, which to my surprise worked out pretty awesome! I cooked a delicious organic root soup (I must give ya'll the recipe soon) and a pot of organic brown rice, both of which turned out so awesome, tasted so good and cooked so evenly and perfectly I am now wishing I could cook on this thing all through the summer too. The whole house got so warm in that lovely way you see in story books, made me think of images of hanging stockings over the fire place (X-mas in spring?)... I believe even those who are sensitive to wood smoke would probably do alright if they had the $$$ to invest in a truly tight & efficient style stove. I coughed a little when the doors were open to start the fire and add wood, but all in all it was well worth the warmth and hot well cooked food.
BTW- that white in the pic above is not smoke leaking from the stove door, but rather the hand of God touching the stove........... just kidding, it's the light reflecting from the glass door next to the rocks, so my MCS (Majorly Chemically Sensitive) friends need not quiver & choke looking at the pic!
And just for fun, check out the pic below of the icicle's hanging off the bamboo outside my kitchen window, very pretty!
XOXO