First snow of the season! Power out, but we're toasty warm thanks to the woodstoves!

[peacebird]

Just cooked breakfast in my old cast iron skillet atop the woodstove after playing in the snow with Jake, our chocolate lab puppy! Life is good!
Oh, and we have a solar powered battery backup system so the essentials all work - the freezers and fridge are safe, we have a few electric outlets "hot" so there is coffee, and the pump works so the well can still give us water!

[Little Star]

1. Where are you?

[peacebird]

3. About 20 minutes southwest of Charlottesville, Va near Afton mountain

[Ilsa]

2. That is awesome!

It sounds like you've prepared well for minimalist, but comfortable living.

On edit, never mind the edit.

[geckosfeet]

4. Nice. How long will the batteries last? Will the charging system keep up?

on edit: Do the wood stoves have electric blowers that run off the batteries or are the radiant?

[peacebird]

11. My main woodstove is a six foot tall Tulikivi soapstone, which gets hot to the touch on a couple

Loads and puts off heat for over 24 hours. It keeps the whole house about 64, and then i use the small cast iron stove in the living room for making things cozy quickly. The cast iron has an ecofan sitting atop it, which spins and blows warm air into the room whenever the stove is hot.
The solar panels are about 80% free of snow now, so they are charging the batteries up again. We've had the solar panels for just over seven years now, and the battery backup for about five.

[tech3149]

5. All we've had for snow this year is nothing but a dusting

I miss the good ol' days of shoveling snow into piles 9ft high. Or not being able to go anywhere if you didn't have chains or studs.
I think even more than that I miss that beautiful quiet as the snow falls on your face.

[Uben]

6. That's why I have a wood stove

I use it mostly just for the ambiance of having a fire and not heating, but if the power went out, I would have it to heat and cook on.
I also have an 1100 watt generator that would provide electicity in case of emergency. It is comforting to know I have this stuff even though the chance of my ever needing it is minimal. Living rurally has it's challenges, but I think it turns into an advantage if faced with long term power outages, and you are prepared.

[HillWilliam]

7. We got about 3" just south of Danvile

Pretty! The roads are good and we have power, so I'm enjoying the show.

[DCKit]

8. "It'll never work" - the DU nuke-u-lar brigade.

Good on you guys!

Guess I'm going to have to make the trip this week to check on our system. The batteries must need water by now.

[LiberalEsto]

9. Nary a flake in Central Maryland

stay warm!

[Nay]

10. 7 inches here in Richmond, but it's melting off fast. Grandson Nay and I had a great time playing.

Power was out from 11 PM last night until 6 AM this morning.

[peacebird]

12. Our power went out early in the evening and is still out. But at least the internet is back up!

[bvar22]

13. Wood Stove is the primary source of heat for our cabin.

We love it, but it gets very hungry when the weather turns cold.

Finding, cutting, hauling, splitting and storing fire wood has become a year round obsession.
Oak and Hickory is plentiful in this area, but it IS heavy and hard to split.
We currently split by hand using a maul and wedges for Winter exercise,
but will eventually be forced to buy a splitter when I get to old to swing the maul.

So far, so good.

[peacebird]

14. We bought a gadget that has a maul wedge on a long pole, put the pole securely into a base, set

a log upright against the pole and drop the wedge. Even *I* can split wood with it! It is a pretty cool little tool, you might want to consider when swinging the maul becomes too daunting....

[bvar22]

16. That sound cool.

A neighbor has a manual wood splitter that is like the horizontal splitters with a small engine and a hydraulic ram,
but instead of the engine, it has a manual pump that is operated by two upright levers like a Nordic Track.

Bit THIS is the one I would like to be able to "borrow" from a neighbor for a weekend!

[peacebird]

17. Wow! Now THAT is a wood splitter...! : )

You are talking serious wood splitting with a beast like that!

[fascisthunter]

15. congrats

hoping to go solar in the next few years!