I got my daughter to video me, but really having trouble uploading it. It looks like it should be as easy as posting a pic, which I only just learned how to do that.
Okay, I was able to post the video on youtube, but can't (at the moment anyway) post it here, but if anyone wants to view it, or drag it here, its called Rhoda's Terra-Cotta Tea Candle Heater.
Hi. Recently moved to Europe and not used to the cold!
Always had wood burners before and am hating central heating and oil burners!
Wood is great and eco friendly too, as a tree has been taking in carbon dioxide and creating oxygen. A carbon neutral fuel Even better is topping tree's, then the tree continues to do so while we get to enjoy the wood and heating/cooking.
In 2 days it will be 30 years I am married and we used a boxwood stove from the very beginning and now use a potbelly. We only cut down one single tree in all those years and it was the first. Looking back, it saddens me to have taken down that tree and I can only say we did it from youth and ignorance and should have been better advised. Furthermore, judging from the location it came from, I now realize we shouldn't even been there to begin with.
We have plenty of wood to harvest from, just with what all Mother Nature drops down for us after every storm.
We do sometimes get invited to a tree that has to come down regardless because of it being a nuisance tree, which I am fine with because it was going to come down regardless, but we are very selective, so I think we have been very kind to nature, for the most part.
We normally have a very mild winter regardless, with only a hard freeze occurring once every 7 years or so and sometimes we might just get through a winter with a large branch of a giant oak or pecan that happened to crack or fall in a friend's yard.
But it does give me a huge sense of satisfaction to see my utility bills and know they are within reason, because we were able to keep comfy with just our potbelly.
I've gone and moved to a house with no fireplace/stove And last week, right in time for our coldest temperatures so far this winter, our heating oil tank sprung a leak and we lost all the oil. I haven't had time to replace it, so are freezing and dreaming of fire places here at the moment lol And to add insult to injury, there is an abundant supply of wood everywhere around here. Free for collecting.