The farm house is nearly a thousand square feet larger than our city house, which means our gas bills have been rather outrageous during this wicked winter. In an attempt to stave off the financial blood-letting, we’re trying to depend more on the trusty Jotel wood-burning stove. At $80 per half cord, wood is much cheaper than gas. So we’ve set the thermostat down to 55, keep to Jotel running all day and sleep in long johns under a down comforter. There’s a space heater in Alston’s room, so as not to have a kid-cicle, although most nights he ends up cuddled up to me by 4 AM anyway.
We won’t know if it’s helped until a month from now, but I must admit the air feels less dry than it did when the furnace was blowing at full blast. An added bonus is always having a hot surface for some basic cooking – most often in the form of an ever-ready tea kettle, but we’ve also taken to defrosting last summer’s bounty by placing the frozen jars in a pot of water on the stove. I’m sure the gas we use for cooking is miniscule, but every little bit helps, right?
Especially as we just placed a nearly $900 order for seeds. Yikes!
