What's happening?

This year we started to burn kerosene again. We went four years on only electric and it just wasn’t warm enough in the house. There is no comparison to the quality of heat which comes from a real fire.

We gave up on kerosene for several reasons (the smell, going to fill the tanks and refill again and again, etc..) including the ecology of fossil fuels.

What can we do to lessen the damage, increase the usability and elevate the fun? Oldschool kerosene stove; the kind we can put a kettle on top. Very nice solution.

The 3 liter kettle puts much needed moisture into the air and provides water for quick, warm drinks. The kettle in combination with a 3 liter thermos bottle provides many options. Each hot water bottle we keep in bed at night takes 1.5 liters and stays warm until the next day. 

Any water left goes into the bath. Bathwater stays warmish all night and is pumped into the washing machine for first cycle wash.

It’s fun to take the heat energy as far as possible with as little waste as possible. Water boiled in the morning provided warm drinks and soup all day and the remainder of the water was used to cook pasta for dinner.

The stovetop is also super useful and fun for cooking when the kettle isn’t sitting there. We use a dutch oven, a fry pan, a screen for toasting, cooked sweet potatoes wrapped in foil...it’s like camping in the living room.

Very fun winter this year.

And warm, thank god.