Stoke it up!

One of the nicer aspects of Winter is that the stove is lit. You can see on the right our wood-burning stove in all its glory. It is an old Franco-Belge with a cast-iron top cooking plate and is shown in the act of cooking a tasty dish and heating two great kettles of water. What you cannot see is that it is also keeping the kitchen warm, typically at 23degC and spreading its heat throughout the house. The smoke and waste heat rises up the stove-pipe which  you see in the photo, and then goes up the stone chimney which acts as a storage radiator.
  It`s also easy to manage, once you have got used to stoking a wood-burner. The firebox, located under a hinged plate under the frying pan takes large logs up to 30cm long. Once the fire has been lit in the Autumn we usually keep it going till the Spring. Most of the original controls have disappeared or jammed and I regulate it by the size and number of logs inserted! Last thing at night I put on the largest log it can hold which smolders until morning. When I come down, to a warm kitchen, I give the embers a good poke to clear the ash a little (not too much, a wood fire needs an ash bed) ,open the ash door at the bottom to increase the draught, and add small logs or sticks if it`s a little low. Once it is going merrily, I add larger logs and close the draught.Once a week or so, I take out the ash tray underneath and dispose of the ash, it goes well on the garden. Once a day I carry in a good armful of logs. Really,it`s as simple as that!
  However, it does have its moments, if you don`t know what you are doing. If re-lighting it from cold, it has been known to send up a column of choking smoke through the log door instead of up the chimney and it is very difficult to stop it, short of emptying a pan of water on the fire and starting again! I have learned to pre-warm the chimney with a hot-air paint-stripper...Kim used to be terrified of it and it reserved its worst behaviour for her!
  The nice thing about the cast-iron cooking surface is that it offers graduated heat. A pan or kettle  boils quickly on the left, just above the fire, and can be progressively moved right for gentler temperatures or simmering. There is room for LOTS of pans on the plate.
  The final advantage is that wood is cheaper than oil or gas and is a green fuel, beloved of conservationists. And I just like the feeling of not using irreplaceable fuels.
  I will admit it does cause dust and wood has to be bought, stocked and sawed. Everything has its downside but taken by and large, I`m glad we use wood.
    Bye for now, going to stir a tasty stew simmering on the stove!