Pam – Page 150 – New England's Narrow Road

New Fire Brick – The Heat is On!

Last December the northeast had a horrific ice storm and the electricity was off for 8 days at my place. I had just moved in and although there was a spot in the basement for a wood stove, I didn’t have one.

So due to the kindness of my landlord and neighbors, I didn’t freeze, but I sure was cold. Inside my house the temp. hovered around 38-40 degrees. In fact one day it “warmed up” enough that I opened the windows because it was warmer outside.

So I made it my quest to find a wood stove before the next winter arrived.
I also don’t have much money, so a used one was what I hoped for and I ended up with a good size “All Nighter”, but it was missing most of the fire bricks inside.

I was told that it could be run without the bricks, but if the fire was too hot the sides could warp so I got some bricks just to be safe.

The bricks just set in along the sides and it’s not difficult to do if the bricks are the correct size and if there are not old bricks, broken off and stuck to the sides already! That was my problem.

So someone came out and put them in for me. I don’t know for sure, and information online is hard to find, but a friend bought a new stove and had to burn on a low temp for 40 hours to “cure” the bricks so I will do the same just to be safe.

I just found lots of helpful info at the UNH Cooperative Extension site, so go there if you have questions about heating with a wood stove.

18 Wheelers On The Road: I am not Happy

I have heard that 200 acres of land is being cleared in my neighborhood. Someplace back in the woods – way out – I can hear the equipment working and the evidence of destruction passes my house all day long. 18-Wheelers full of wood chips and logging trucks full of freshly cut huge trees pass by from around 4:30 am until whenever they finish for the day.

There is a tree farm way out a little, one lane road and I assume that is where the trees are coming from. I can’t even imagine how these monstrous trucks are getting out there.

The thing is, last winter – all winter- the same thing was happening, but the trees were coming from another area. Supposedly these trucks will stop once the snow falls. They won’t be able to get to the area where the cutting is taking place.

So I’ve heard.

I know that people have to make money and that trees are needed for building supplies, etc., but it is still sad to think of a forest being destroyed.
And I really dislike meeting up with these trucks on my small dirt road…as you can see in my photo – it’s not a very wide roadway and I especially dislike the fact that the school bus must also pass them!

I love living in the country, but there is a price to pay.

Make Your Own Suet

It’s November and was only 27° this morning so I started to feed the birds. I had made up some suet about a month ago and kept it in the freezer to use this winter. The birds seem to like my homemade suet much better than the store bought kind.

Although we don’t eat much bacon, I save the grease in a can in the fridge to use for making suet. When I have a full can, I add it to store bought fat (beef usually) and melt it on low heat. Then I add peanut butter, and whatever else I have to bind it together – such as old bread, cornmeal, crackers, cereal, etc.

I’ve found that using a disposable tin pan is best, since clean up can be a chore, and a nice square or rectangular one is perfect for cutting the suet (once it’s cold) into the right size for my feeders.

I don’t add seeds of any kind to my suet as it is intended mainly for woodpeckers. I put out plenty of sunflower and thistle seeds for the seed eating birds so I don’t waste it in the suet.

A tail prop feeder works best for woodpeckers since they use their tails for balance. Also the upside down suet feeders are good for keeping the squirrels from chowing down.

My Garden Carrots

I finally pulled up all my carrots. None of them look like “real” carrots and they are too bitter to eat. Earlier in the season I did use some of them in stew, but they never really did very well. I threw them into the compost pile where they might be of some future help to my garden soil.

I know that carrots don’t like rocky soil and although I tried to get most of the rocks out of my new garden, I do live in the Granite State (New Hampshire), so rocks abound. And even though the ones from this season were not edible I will probably try again next year because they are simple to grow and don’t take up much space. We’ll see.