Today, I was supposed to get up at
4am with the family to do my first boiling test on the wood stove. However, I
did not sleep well the night before. I actually ended up putting earplugs in
around midnight just so I could get a few hours of sleep. It was a bad idea
because then I couldn’t hear everyone when they got up. Therefore, I did not
get up until a little before 5. I had a little prep work to do but was finally
ready to light the fire around 5:20. The first “test” I did was an epic
failure. My timer was at almost 45 minutes and the water was still about 30C
away from boiling. When I asked Dona Polo, she laughed and told me water
normally takes 15 minutes to boil on a cold stove in the morning.
At that point, I decided to call
the morning a bust since I was interfering with their morning schedule. I
needed more practice. However, both women assured me that I was not interfering
with them, and they wanted me to try again. They also had some advice for me.
They informed me that I was being too frugal with my wood usage and that I
should really be breaking the wood in half. After removing all the hot coals
from the stove and weighing out more wood and water, I was ready to go again.
This time the first part of the
test was a success. The water only took 20 minutes to boil. However, I hit
another snag when I realized how inefficient my weighing system was. I have to
weigh the water and wood before and after the test. The water is obviously in a
pot and after the test, is very hot. I also have to weigh the hot coals to see
how much wood is consumed. I do not have an actual balance, so I am using a luggage
scale. It basically has a hook on it and you hang the weight from it. I had
made “baskets” for everything out of rope, but soon realized that the cheap
rope was melting. Speed is really important between the three different parts
and when all was said and done way too much time was spent. Then, once I
finally did start part 2, it took over 40 minutes to boil the water again
because the wood was a little wet from the storm from the night before.
The second test ended up being a
bust also, but I learned a lot of valuable lessons from this experience.
1. When
in doubt, I just need to ask. Clearly, the women of my household really want to
help me and have a lot of experience.
2. Metal
is a much better choice than plastic rope for baskets. I went out and bought
wire.
3. Practice
is really important.
4. I
would NEVER want to cook with a wood burning stove. I burned my finger and
inhaled copious amounts of smoke during the four hours I was testing. I can’t
imagine using one for my entire lifetime.
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