Who Stokes the fire

Fortunately, no one has to get up at any time during the night to take care of the fire. It holds hot coals til morning quite nicely, unless we have junk wood. We have only had the fire not last once, and I was up at 5 starting a new one.

I think since I am home, I do most of it, but when we are both home, it is an equally shared responsibility. In fact, I think we both enjoy it.

The first couple of fires we "fight" over who gets to light it because we're excited to have a fire going. Whoever isn't actually building the fire likes to offer unwanted tips and instruction. It gets heated

Then after a few fires we calm down and whoever's handy tends it, including dumping ashes, carrying wood, etc. Our pointers and tips turn into compliments such as "Nice fire, hon, thanks for that."

He stays up later than I do so he'll fill the stove before coming to bed. I usually get up in the night to go to the bathroom so if it needs more wood I'll put some in then.

Of course, we're both home about equal amounts of time and have about the same amount of free time. If that changed I'd expect whoever's more free would do more fire tending. It's just the way of things around here. Wow, I'm a lucky woman.

__________________
Our homestead-in-the-making: Palazzo Rospo
Eating the dream

I fire up at 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., if the temperatures are above 30 degrees the 8:00 a.m. fireing isn't necessary. I burn Hickory, Beech, and Oak at night and sassafras, maple, and walnut, during the daytime. Ashes come out around twice a week.

"O"

If it gets too cold, the furnace kicks on and hubby builds me a fire in the morning.

Up here on the ridge the young one cuts the wood. I usually stoke it about three AM. I just can not get it to stay all night. Evryone here has a little pyro maniac in em as we all like to get it going.

__________________
:cool: :angel: TRUTH & MERCY
www.dixieflowersoap.com
www.mollyjogger.com
Big D Farm Blog

The three am shift used to be mine when we heated with the indoor furnace. Now witht eh outdoor boiler it's a twice to three time a day chore that is split between me my son and occasioanlly my brother. Noy sure my wife could pick up the logs!

__________________
Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup........

Dh adds wood during the night when he uses the bathroom. I do it the rest of the time, but he will if he goes by and it needs it. I clean out the ashes about once a week.

Ours doesn't burn down that far in the night.

Whoever is up first stokes the fire.

Whoever gets in the mood to clean ashes does it when necessary, which is only every couple of weeks.

__________________
Alice
* * *
"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

How do you manage that?! We have a Fisher as well and it's a great stove, BUT it burns up the wood by the middle of the night. Am I just not packing it full enough?

To answer the question, I do unless DH happens to be awake in the middle of the night for whatever reason. I also clean out the ashes and put them in the bucket, then my bys carry them outside. Can ashes be used for anything? I hate to throw out something that is usable.

You can use the ashes on your garden. Spread them out a bit. They'll increase the ph a bit (less acid).

__________________
Our homestead-in-the-making: Palazzo Rospo
Eating the dream

FarmerWilly an ash man, whoda thunk it??? Thanks for the giggle.

I don't get home from work until 1 am or later (earlier however you want to view it) so I stoke it before I go to bed. I get up around 8 am so I usually build the fire up in the morning too.

Tell me about it. At least mother nature's little middle of night mandate for middle aged men means I dont wake up in morning with the house at 30 degrees. Tried training one of cats to take care of fire but they werent interested.....

__________________
"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

Fire good. Big fire better. Man like big fire. Woman no like fire. Man like to poke fire. Man like to play with fire. Only man allowed to touch fire. Hmmph, 3:00 am. No idea. Never been up that early.

Sorry. Seriously, we have a Harman coal stove. The manual kind, not a stoker. We burn wood fall & spring, and coal through the dead of winter. The fire never needs stoking in the middle of the night. I'll throw a couple of good sized logs on, and damp her down. There are enough coals left in the morning to fire up new kindling, and we start all over again. And only once have I seen 3:00 am, when we were newlyweds and impulsively drove to the Jersey shore with friends to watch the sunrise after a night of dancing & drinking. Long, long, long time ago.

__________________
The government can't give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
--Dr. Adrian Rogers

Right now, in an apt, so no wood stove.

Back at the house in NM, airtight wood stove, large log at 2200, then damp i tdown.

at 0700, house temp would be about 45°, add w66d, c3ean 64t the ash b6x. Oops, numloock on.

__________________
We will meet in the golden city, called the New Jerusalem,
All our pain and all our tears will be no more.....

ME, who else!!!. I get up first, clean out the ashes if needed, build the fire and keep it going all day with a little help from my 20 yo dd if she's around.
Dh and our 2 sons, get the wood, chop it stack it and then mostly I, or my dd or my 18 yo son bring it from the wood pile to the house and stack it on the back deck where we keep a pile covered for use in the house.

Dh also has to split the kindling and he usually puts it on the back deck so I can take it in the house.

When my oldest dd lived at home, she never could understand the concept of you have to tend a fire. She wounld't do a thing to it until she heard me come home from whatever errand I was running and then would throw the biggest piece of wood she could find on a almost coaless fire. Then I would say,' it's cold in here' and look in the stove and give her a lecture. She is a RN but holpeless in fire tending. I told her dh to forget woodstoves in his house. She'll freeze to death.

__________________
Raising grass-fed beef and lamb.

Last to bed and first to wake tends the fire. It doesn't have to be filled during the night. The ashes are cleaned out once a week or so by the person tending the fire when it needs to be cleaned. I build fires. DH was never a Girl Scout.

__________________
Robin

I clean the ashes out about twice a winter. There is not much ash in good wood burning. Minimize the use of paper, bark, etc.

I only light the stove during the day. In the morning if it is particularly cold and in the evening. On cold days I'll put some more wood in during the day. The wood stove is our heat source. We don't have propane, electric, gas or home heating oil for heat. The trick is we burn hot fires in a small stove that has a large amount of thermal mass around it. The stone soaks up the heat and stores it. Our house is also small so it does not need much heating even here in the mountains of central northern Vermont.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa

__________________
SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

Ditto..here. Only one fire. Truthfully, DH tends it at night.... 'cause nature calls. I hardly ever wake of the night. BUT, I usually take out the ashes. And we all (me, DH, DS12, DS10) are responsible for cutting, busting, and hauling wood to the house. Although both DSs are responsible for bringing it into the house from the outside. So....I guess we have a pretty good system going.......

__________________
Stephanie

Wife, Mom to 4 ( 2 in Tn, 2 in Gloryland), caretaker of chickens, rabbits, kittys, 2 dogs, 2 milk goats, 2 jersey cows, and 1 messy house

Nobody has to tend it in the middle of the night. We burn a combination of wood and coal. DH usually takes care of the fire, though I know how and am perfectly capable of keeping it maintained if he is working out of town. I'm just not looking for more work, and he likes doing it.

__________________
Goat's Milk Soap, Lip Balm & Gardener's Hand Balm
www.brushwoodfarm.com

Like beaglady, no one needs to get up in the night here either: