New wood stove

As I write, I can hear the gentle crackle of wood burning, see smoke swirling outside my window, and, best of all, feel the entire right side of my body getting warmer by the minute. I am happy.

I like to think I’m tough in a lot of ways–I love chopping wood (despite not being terribly good at it), I don’t complain (much) about living without running water, I love working hard. But I am not tough when it comes to the cold. Have you read the children’s book, The Penguin Who Hated the Cold? I’m that penguin. I’m always cold. A couple weeks ago Tim and I stopped at a diner during a road trip and I swear the whole place was refrigerated. I wore a fleece jacket, a down vest, a scarf, and a winter hat the whole time we were there, watching incredulously as other women enjoyed their meals in flirty tank tops and cute skirts. And that was in a (supposedly) heated restaurant. Needless to say, as November approaches, I’ve been chilly in our mostly-roofed, partially insulated little office.

Thus, I’m very excited about our new wood stove. Tim found it on Craiglist, bargained for a great price, and brought it to our office. I cleaned it up with metal polish, stove polish, and an old sponge. Check out these pictures to see how Tim built a hearth. After that, he drilled a hole in the roof and installed the stove pipe. We had the inaugural fire last night and cooked scrambled eggs (our neighbors gave us a fresh dozen), nachos grilled in tin foil, and hot chocolate.

I’m still wearing five layers, but I’m okay with that.

First, Tim built a wooden frame and put down a layer of scrap pink insulation, just to give the hearth some height.

Next, he covered the insulation with a couple inches of cement (pink insulation will melt if it gets too hot). Aries supervised.

Here he’s placing flat stones into the wet cement.

After the cement dried, we moved the stove onto the new hearth. Look how level it is!

And we have fire! Tim drilled a hole in the roof and installed the chimney straight up through it.

Painting

We took advantage of the beautiful weather this past weekend to paint the office. We chose a color called “new squash” (as opposed to rotten squash?)–it’s a light golden yellow, the color of maple wood that’s just been cut, before it’s been weathered by rain or baked by the sun. We bought two gallons, which was almost enough. Perhaps if I hadn’t dripped so much on the ground (and on the dog, who insisted on lying right under where I was working), it would have been perfect, but we ended up with one small section left to complete.

Since this is the first time you’re seeing the office, you should know that it’s post-and-beam construction. Tim milled all the lumber using our new (used) sawmill, so the only materials not coming from our land are the nails, windows, and roof. Stay tuned for a short video showing how he did it!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Our New Arrival

Fall has arrived in southern Vermont … last night I went to bed wearing two sweaters, a hat, a scarf, and two pairs of socks. I drifted off to sleep while contemplating getting a third pair of socks to wear on my hands (there were no mittens handy). The “crisp” (to put it mildly) weather makes me even more excited that something besides fall has arrived in southern Vermont: our new composting toilet! Once it’s installed in the home office Tim’s building, I can put aside the dread of midnight treks over frost-bitten grass and look forward to settling into our cozy space. This may seem like an odd topic for a first blog post, but I’m genuinely excited about it. Here’s why:

1. Installing the composting toilet and getting Internet hooked up are the final two big things we need to do before the office is ready for use!

2. Opting for a composting toilet is a big step toward self-sufficiency. Until this summer, Tim and I were planning to install a traditional mound septic system designed for a three-bedroom home … and then we found out it would cost us about $30,000! Besides the cost, it would leave a big ugly mound in the middle of what we plan to make our fruit orchard. The composting unit that we purchased isn’t exactly cheap ($1,316.79, to be exact–this is with a drugstore.com 20% off coupon for first-time buyers), but in comparison, it’s a bargain. If we like it, we’ll use these for the main house when it’s built and be saving roughly $25,000.

3. The unit that we bought is self-contained, so maintenance should be very minimal.

If you’re ambitious and not racing the calendar to get a thousand things done before snow flies, you can make your own composting toilet! I won’t go into detail in this post, but it’s covered in my Homesteading book if you’re curious.

Happy Fall!

Our brand new composting toilet!

Welcome to Back to Basics Living!

If you love the idea of picking ripe tomatoes from your own garden, gathering eggs from chickens in your backyard, sewing a quilt from scraps of material in your attic, or baking a fresh loaf of bread for your loved ones, you’ll be right at home in our community. We’re an eclectic group of bloggers, but we have a couple things in common: we’re passionate about self-sufficient living and we love writing about it. Here you’ll read about our adventures and misadventures and find exciting tips, recipes, projects, and ideas to keep you inspired as your pursue your own version of the good life. We love questions, suggestions, and new ideas, so please share with us!