Warm and Dry and Getting Settled In
Now that we are in our root cellar and the winter weather is looming, we’ve turned most of our focus toward hunkering down and settling in, trying to get as comfortable as possible in our cramped quarters.
We’ve received a lot of questions as to whether we are warm and dry. Let me assure you, we are!
As mentioned in a previous article, we have a 1940’s trash burner stove in the root cellar. It, combined with the insulating power of the earth, and a full roof of straw bales, has actually made it difficult to cook in the evening: the heat required to cook much besides ham and eggs or a small pot of soup makes it too hot to sleep at night! We consider this a good problem to have, but cooking in the elements also has its drawbacks. To help mitigate them, we hauled over the extra carport frame, our “porch” and strapped a huge tarp over it. This provided the perfect place to set up the camp stove, allowing us to cook outside and sleep comfortable within.
On top of our straw bale insulated roof we stretched a pond liner, which extends past the sides enough that no water seeps down to dampen the concrete. A new wrinkle has arisen, however: rain still makes it into the porch between the cellar and the porch, and the sloped cellar floor invites rain water to run down it. The children are fascinated by the result: because our interior floor is a solid sheet of vinyl laid on plywood, the water stays under the floor, we stay dry, but the floor makes funny noises when walked on. Spencer found the answer, however, and used some of the clear plastic we’ve covered the bathhouse walls with to divert the water and ban the squishy monster under the floor.
Speaking of the bathhouse, that is well underway! After a false start, and despite the inclement weather, Spencer has been able to make good progress on it, and the walls are almost completely up and ready for a roof. We are excited to see its completion!
Colder weather means more clothing and more shoes. This was a problem for a while, since there was nowhere to hang coats and stash boots. Spencer solved that however, with two ¾” pieces of plywood, a piano hinge, and a set of coat hooks, and we are now happy to use our coat and boot bench.
Something else we’ve been experimenting with is a hot water heater powered by the stove. Spencer took a length of copper tubing and wound it into a coil which he inserted in the chimney. Then he valved it into an old metal barrel we had batting around since who knows when and set the whole thing on a shelf by the stove. It is still a work in progress, as we need to add a splitter to get the hot water out. But it does heat water. Rest assured of that!
We are so blessed to be warm and dry, and we’re grateful for the kind concern of friends and neighbors on our behalf!
Happy holidays!
