Marjorie Comes Out of Her Summer Retirement

Our weather has finally turned a little cooler; in fact, we are supposed to have lows in the upper 40s tonight.  The air is much drier than it has been too, so I couldn't resist starting a fire in Marjorie the Margin Gem cookstove.  I have not had a single fire in the stove since May 27th.  This is the longest stretch of time I've been away from cooking over wood since 2002!

First I swept the chimney, cleaned out the stovepipe, and cleaned out the oven flues.  I always kind of enjoy the first chimney cleaning at the end of the summer.  Since the stove has been unused for such a long time, much of the hard creosote has loosened, so I'm able to do the best job possible.

I've been really hungry for Popovers Fontaine for quite a while, so these were my supper.

The popovers coming out of the oven.  Doesn't
Marjorie look nice in this photo?  Her lovely
appearance is due to my uncle Glen and my
mother-in-law having given her a good shine
for our family reunion back in the first part of July.

I also used the fire to cook some wild plums for making jelly later.

Wild plums from the road ditch cooking on the Margin Gem.

The small, short fire created enough hot water to wash a load of tablecloths and do up a few dishes, too.  Gotta love the efficiency of a wood cookstove!

Nancy was worried that it would get too hot in the house, but the thermometer in the living room only topped out at 70ºF, so we were more than comfortable.

I'm excited because our forecast has very reasonable temperatures for the next several days.  I told Nancy tonight that my goal is to switch off the electric water heater on Sept. 18 this year.  That is the day after the last Monday Market (Monday Market days are really crazy baking days here, but the baking is now all done in electric and gas ovens in order to keep my help--our mothers--from revolting due to the temperature of the kitchen.).  The two things that will have the biggest effect on my goal are temperatures and fuel status.  I'll keep you all posted.