Cooking on a wood stove

Earlier this evening, I put a big pot of pinto beans on the wood stove to cook. They are already about halfway done. I am loving this wood stove so much already. I am wondering if I can bake potatoes in the ash pan? Or maybe even a roast on top. I guess I could use the wood stove just like a regular stove. This could be a real electricity saver for us.

How about some ideas and advice on cooking on a wood stove from all you out there who have done this. What all have you cooked or even baked on yours?

Moving mountains

Tonight, my grand daughter was talking about mountains and mentioned the Bible verse where Jesus said if we had the faith of a mustard seed we could move a mountain. I told her that I think He didn't mean that literally, but used it to symbolize our mountains that we have to climb every day. Like people have huge debt, or a horrible job they hate going to, or medical problems. These are mountains we have to either go around or through or over. But if we have the faith of a little tiny mustard seed, we can move these mountains and get them out of our way.

I have SO much to do to get ready for the holiday market in just a few weeks that I am overwhelmed right now. Just thinking about all that I still have to do is making me freak out. And the more I freak out, the less I am doing. I have been doing some every day now, but when I see how much I have left to do, oh my goodness! But it will get done. I know it will.  I have to have faith. Then I can move this huge mountain out of my way and get on with it!

Down to just 4

I have finished butchering all the Freedom Ranger meat birds. And I sold all my "un-laying" laying pullets except the 4 Red Stars and the Americana rooster, who will be going to a new home soon. So just 4 hens now. The least amount of chickens I have ever had. There are 2 of the RS that have been laying a beautiful dark brown egg every day now for the past 2 1/2 months. And they are ALL the same age. So they are all gone except these 4.

I was talking to a guy the other day who has a lot of Nubian goats, that if the animals on my farm aren't producing something, like meat, eggs, wool, milk, they have to go. I don't have the room or money to keep a farm animal that's not giving back. I have had Abby, my Lamancha doe, for about 8 years now. She'll be 12 in Feb. She just dried herself up last week. I went from a pint to nothing in a day. She should be bred again, but after this, I won't be breeding her again. The last 2 years, it's taken a few months to get to where we could drink her milk. I guess that happens with age? SO I was telling this guy that I'll need to find a goat retirement farm for her to live out the rest of her days. He said he keeps all his animals til they die. He said he wouldn't want to live on my farm.

But really. What do y'all do with older, non-producing animals on your farms? I don't think I could butcher Abby. I have had her too long for that. Or my ewes. And I will not take any of them to a sale barn at this age. That would be animal cruelty for sure. I might be able to butcher for dog food maybe. If I had to. If there were no other options. But he said he would let her live there the rest of her life. So I said I would bring her next year about this time if she's still living. And I'll come visit.

It hurts bad

So this morning, I stepped on a nail. I came in when I was done with chores and soaked it in Epsom salts for at least a half hour. Then I was on my feet the rest of the day. And now it's huge. And throbbing. I am soaking it again. I have to go out and do it all over again  in a few minutes before dark. But the ball of my foot feels like an actual ball now. I hate getting hurt. Why do things like this hurt so much? Why am I such a whiney baby? OUCH! I don't think I can get shoes on anyway. Wah wah wah.

Yeah, farming is dangerous.

I am always getting cut on wire or scraped on fencing. Or hit with a hammer. Or stepped on by sheep or goats. Or even rammed by rams. Clawed by chickens. Scratched by cats. I can just walk by a wild rose or blackberry bush and I am dripping blood. Or in the very short goat barn, I am constantly hitting my head. I am surprised I haven't knocked myself out yet. Or broken a leg or arm. Or sprained an ankle. Just little things like this is dangerous to me. Like just this morning I stepped on a nail putting the ewes back out in the pasture. I am soaking my foot right now in Epsom salt water. I almost cut my thumb off almost 2 years ago cutting up meat for dog food and had to get stitches. They made me get a tetanus shot, thank goodness. I didn't really want it, but am glad I got it now. Farming is dangerous!

There was a guy last spring not too far from me, that was baling hay and his baler messed up. He didn't turn the tractor off and had his arm up in the baler and it sucked his arm up and he almost went in too. He was very fortunate and he lived. But his arm is all mangled and he won't be able to use it much. God sure protects us when we do unwise things. This guy has 2 young children and a wife to take care of.

So every day, I am glad I haven't broken or sprained anything. I can't afford to hire someone to do what I have to do here every day. I need to be more careful.

85

Yep. 85 degrees in this house right now. I am sweating. I have windows open. This wood stove will be great when it's down below 20. But right now? It's too hot. But I am so glad we got it though.  It even heats upstairs really good too. So it will pay for itself this winter for sure.

It so hot in here...

the dogs won't even come in! We got the wood stove all hooked up and started a fire this evening. It was so smoky in here and upstairs, we had to open all the windows. It's nice and toasty in here now. I sure hope we have a nice cold winter. Well, not too cold. But I'll be ready!

And we got the wood shed semi finished. I need to get some tarp for the back and put up some tin on the sides. It's 4x12 and about 6' tall. We have 3 pallets for the floor. It's wide enough to get 2 rows stacked at least 6' high. Me and my grand daughter got about half of it loaded with wood already. When I get a camera, I'll take a picture of it. I am right proud of us for all we got done today here.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I better go get some wood in. It's going to be in the 50's the rest of the week.