Cooking on a Wood Burning Stove IN SUMMER!

[NZAmish]

Anyone else here do this or am I the only idiot who does

[farmerdrea]

Hi, NZAmish - and welcome to the forum from another down under! We used to live near a thriving Amish community in upstate New York. Lovely sight to see, those Amish quilts hanging on the washline, from the gable end of the barn, to a pole in the ground on the other side of the barnyard....

In answer to your query, no, we don't, but we're in the planning stages of setting up a summer kitchen out the back of the house, with a gas cooker in a shed. We were thinking of a woodstove, but since this area is being built up, we're a bit worried about townies complaining about the fire hazard in the summertime. We wouldn't use it irresponsibly, but I've seen the local results of accidents with fires (and people not thinking when they start a burn-off in a howling Norwester!!). So we thought to go with a gas cooktop in a shed. Some people we know have one set up in their garage, a gas hob set in an old computer desk of all things! It cost them about $50 to put together, and they run it off LPG, 9kgs lasting them about 6 months.

Anyway, just ramblin' on. In shock, I think, to finally see summer in North Canterbury!

Cheers
Andrea
NZ

[the.fee.fairy]

i don't, but only cos i haven't got one!

i have got a chimenea thingy...dn't know how to use it properly though!

[Thomzo]

Hi NZAmish
No, you are not the only one. I used to do it (so I voted yes). I can't now cos I haven't got one any more (but I really miss it). When I did have one I used to light it on cooler summer evenings and then pop a saucepan on it as an excuse for lighting the stove in July.

Seriously though, I used to live near the Severn Bridge when the new one was being built and our power used to get cut off at least once a week. So it was a real godsend having the wood burning stove and I used to keep it in when the power was off so that we could have a cup of tea or some hot dinner.

The house was a big old stone farmhouse with 2 foot thick walls so it never got that hot inside no matter what the weather.

Cheers
Zoe

[yugogypsy]

Only when the power goes out!

Lois

[Cornelian]

I lived through Australian summers with a wood burning stove as our only source of food and hot water and no, I would never ever in a million years, not even to save the planet, not even to save the entire solar system, would I do that again. It was a nightmare of astronomical proportions. 45 C outside and we had to have our house heated to 55C to cook a damned egg let alone have a bath.

When I moved into this house I gave away its wood burning stove on freecycle. Never ever, ever ever ever again.

(Do you get the feeling I'm a tad against it?)

It might be OK in a climate less hot than ours in the summer, but ... I've watched back to basics people install a wood burning stove for heating/cooking/hot water here in Australia and lose every last one of their environmental principles within 2 summers.

[Millymollymandy]

My mother would agree with you Cornelian - at any time of year cooking over a wood range in Fiji is not fun! There was no other option at that time although later I think they got a bottled gas cooker. I was but a little kid so don't remember these things, just mum moaning about it!

[contadino]

Our stove doesn't get lit from April to November. We cook in the wood fired oven throughout the Summer though, but it's pretty tortuous at the height of summer cos it belts out heat into the kitchen.

One day I'll build another, outdoor one...

[Andy Hamilton]

I put no, but I do cook over a fire when I can. I intend to build a few variations of the solar oven and solar hot plate over the summer to try them out so I can write about them. Will post when I do!

[burek]

It's standard practice here in rural bosnia to have an outside 'summer kitchen' to use the stove during the hot summers. It varies from a solid brick built structure to a ramshackle shed. In town apartments I've noticed that there is always an electric oven in kitchens too for summer use!