Keeping the Home Fires Burning: From Prometheus to Central Heat
Small Farmer's Journal, Winter 2007, Vol. 31, No. 1

(To see pictures submitted with the article,
click on the IMAGES button below)

A sharp knock on the door jolted me out of my reverie. We live far enough off the beaten path that nobody up here bothers to install a doorbell, and it’s relatively rare for a knock to be anyone other than the mail carrier, or a neighbor.

The heavy, two inch thick, oak door groaned on ancient hinges as it opened onto a fashionably dressed young woman in her mid-30’s – high heels tottering dangerously on the uneven granite slab which serves as a threshold. Our house is built of cordwood, stacked over a course of masonry. The walls stand 22 inches thick, and the front door, with a lancet arch at the top, was scavenged from a Greek Orthodox Church in Montreal. Admittedly, the whole structure looks a bit like something out of “The Hobbit”. I swung the door wide, and encouraged her to watch her step as she came in.

 

(To read more, click on the TEXT button below)