The Deer Hunter built the first fire of the year this week. It’s an event we all look forward to. That first fire really helps us move from a summer mindset to a winter one.
And somehow the first fire of the year just feels so good. The whole house takes on a warm cozy feeling and I love smelling woodsmoke every time the door opens or I go outside.
We’ve had our first freezing temperatures this week so it’s time to get back into the rhythm of feeding the woodstove.
Papaw Tony gave us the stove way back when we first moved into our house. It was in his house when he moved into it. The Deer Hunter said it is a homemade stove made similar to a Fisher stove. It surely has served us well all these years.
Warming by the stove and talking is one of our favorite things to do as a family during the winter months.
Here’s a few “fire” posts from the archives.
Last night’s video: Traditional Appalachian Supper: Soup Beans, Greens, Kraut and Weenies & Cornbread.
Tipper
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We had our fist fire last night too! Temp was 30* this morning, here in E Central IL. A fire is for reminiscing, and boy did we, mostly bc today is our 44 Anniversary (of our first date, on Oct 17, 1980,) and our 40th wedding anniversary was on Mar 17th this year.
Lorie-congratulations to you both 🙂 So wonderful!
Fall fell in central Texas yesterday.
We were having daytime temperatures in the high 90s and above . . . very hot so late in the year. On Tuesday, the high was 100; Wednesday it was 70. We haven’t dropped into the 40s yet, and I don’t expect that until about Thanksgiving. We’re not likely to get a freeze before January (‘tho we do get them in December sometimes) and Spring will show up in February if the past 25 years are indicative.
I to, like burning wood. I just don’t like keeping it going all night. It does seem so cozy and warms the house up. We had a frost the past 2 mornings.
I miss having a wood stove. It was the best heat we ever had and it wasn’t as messy as people think as long as you kept the stove area cleaned. Fall is definitely here y’all!
Prayers continue for all the hurricane victims.
I well remember the feel, sound and scent of a wood stove growing up and later as a bride – there is just something cozy, peaceful, calming a wood stove bring – it’s like we all ‘slow down’ not just in body but thoughts too. Living in a concrete jungle 16th floor apartment I do not use wood for heat, but my local TV station, over the winter months adds a channel that is an actual live recording of a fireplace, and I love to turn that on to have snapping and crackling in the background of my evenings. Since it is a live recording one see’s the owner poking the chunks of burned wood to rearrange them from time to time or adding wood as needed. Closest I can get to the real thing. I am praying everyone will have a warm and dry place to be throughout this colder season!!
We had our first fire yesterday afternoon after a rainy day spent in town tending to appts and errands. We’re supposed to get a frost tonight. I’m ready.
We got down in the 30’s last night so we had to turn on our heat. We have a fireplace, but it has gas logs. I remember daddy’s wood stove and there’s nothing like the first wood burning of the season. I always loved the smell and the warmth it brought. It lets you know that winter is on its way. That’s a wonderful family tradition that you have, and the stove having been Papaw Tony’s makes it even more special. Anyone remember the old potbellied stoves in the country stores and folks would come in and sit on wooden drink crates if there was nothing else to sit on and warm up before heading back home?
We had a big fireplace for years when we lived in Edgefield, SC, but then I read or heard of a Buffalo brand fireplace insert being manufactured in Greenville, SC. I went looking and brought one home for final assembly. I mixed some material they supplied for the floor of the steel firebox, attached the fan motor, put the gasket on the cast iron door, which had attractive buffalo art on it, and got help sliding the insert into place. The last step was adding the supplied trim panels and filling the gaps with mortar to make everything air tight and smokeless. What an improvement in heating efficiency over the fireplace alone! The family enjoyed a warm house every winter. During ice storms and power outages, that old Buffalo really saved our bacon.
When I was growing up in the 50-60’s we had a fireplace and a Seigler oil heater. I loved laying in front of the fireplace with Daddy laying beside of me and eating parched/roasted peanuts cooked from peanuts we had grew. Later on Daddy did away with the oil heater, closed up the fireplace and bought a free standing wood heater and ran the stove pipe through an opening in the closed up fireplace. It was a lot more efficient than an open fireplace.
I don’t remember you in our house, Randy. 🙂
The house I grew up in was built around 1900. It had 2 chimneys, one of which served back to back fireplaces on the first and second floor. The other served what was built as the master bedroom downstairs. We only ever used 2 of the fireplaces, one in the ‘front room’ and the other in the next room which served as our dining room. When I was an early teenager, we added a Siegler oil heater in the dining room. During cold weather, we heated the dining room and the adjoining kitchen heated itself from cooking. Those were the warm rooms; the rest were cold, sometimes cold enough to freeze water. Living in town, we had coal delivered for the fireplaces instead of burning wood.
My favorite wood stove was a Fisher insert, which heated our 1,300 sq. ft. house. We got a good deal on the stove used, but the new piping was crazy expensive. That stove served us for nearly 25 years, but unfortunately the brick chimney did not. It was a sad day for our family when that system had to be retired. You’re right. So many memories and so many times that old stove and chimney protected our family.
We built our first fire in our outdoor wood stove last Wednesday, Oct 9th. This was so unusual, as last year we built that fire on Sept 1 and kept it going till Spring. I love wood heat. We also have a wood stove in our basement and use it only if it’s below zero a while and the floors need heated. It’s an Earth stove that we purchased way back when we were first married and lived in our little trailer—so it’s about 43 years old. I used to cook pots of soup on it back then, especially if our electric would go out. Our outdoor wood stove keeps our home nice and cozy. I am so thankful my hubby enjoys cutting wood to keep us comfy all winter. I love watching the videos you make around your wood stove. Have a wonderful day everyone.
I’ve been itchin’ to lay our first fire of the season. We’ve had low 30s here in Michigan. We have heating to take the chill off. We try to wait until November to use the fireplace because our winters run so long and we only have so much firewood for the season. The mast crop this fall has been bigger than I’ve ever seen. That tells me we’re in for a very long, very snowy winter. Winter lasts so long here we can’t even consider planting anything until after Mother’s’ Day. Something tells me we’re gonna have to take a winter vacation someplace warm come March.
hubby built the first fire night before last here in East TN, definitely was a blessing to have.. i agree with many others there ain’t no other heat good as wood heat…
I love the Fall! Your post makes me ready to build and sit by the fire. So much love to y’all! Have a great day! Jane in SC♥️
Nothing like sitting by a nice fire on a chilly Fall day or evening. Enjoy!
We use my grandmother’s woodstove insert; even without the blowers on, it will warm up the house to well above 70 if we use it consistently, and in a pinch I can even cook on top of it, after a fashion. The room where it sits is my wintertime den; when the fire is going, that’s where I stay!
Hard for me to adjust to it being mid-October. Leaves are scarcely turning and they are not falling much. This shapes up like one of those years when 80% of them come down in about three heavy falls. But these 30-some degree nights are wood smoke weather. I love the smell of wood smoke. It says fall, bbq, warmth, home, family and even beauty. I have a lot of memories related to wood smoke. I wonder if Corey could make a sweet wood smoke soap. And I wonder what kind of wood the black powder makers preferred in pioneer days. I’ll bet somebody knows.
Can’t wait to see your hot chocolate videos!
We got our first heavy frost of the year this morning. I’d seen some spots that looked like frost for the past few mornings but this morning’s looked like a skiff of snow.
Your stories always paint beautiful pictures for us to see & feel in our minds & souls. You have gift from God to be able to put into words what you really feel in your heart. Thank you Tipper for brighten our lives each day.
We, here in southern Virginia, have been having cold nights too. Last night went down to 37 and tonight there’s a freeze warning. We moved to this house nine years ago from Charlottesville. There we had two fireplaces, here we have none. I really miss them. We took some of our potted plants in the basement two days ago and took down the porch furniture too. The hummingbirds left last week. I always feel sad when they leave. It’s a sign that summer is over. I’m a spring and summer girl. I love the long days. Have a blessed day everyone.
It is 37 degrees in Greenville, SC this morning, usually it will be a few degrees colder at my home out in the country. I thought Tipper’s stove was a Fisher stove, I did not know it was homemade. My parents heated their home with a Fisher stove. Daddy would always have an old time cast iron kettle of water sitting on top of his stove. Back when Daddy was alive, I kept him a year’s supply supply of wood cut ahead, the wood I cut this year would be for next year. He would sometimes cook pots of beans on top of the stove during the winter. To me there is no heat that feels better than wood heat. BTW when looking out my window I do not see frost, I guess the wind blew enough to keep from having any.
Wasn’t the Fisher stoves made in northern Georgia and their size named after bears… baby bear, mama bear and papa bear?
That is a special stove and sounds like a wonderful family tradition to have. We had the first fire pit of the season this week too. I agree the smell of a wood fire burning and the warmth it provides is something to look forward to and a blessing. May everyone have the warmth and protection they need as the temperatures seem to jump from summer straight on into winter.