Sounds like a good setup. Some people up here with split levels and fireplaces on the lower floors have problems with the thermostats not coming on on the lower level and pipes at the far upper level freezing.

Yikes, $1000 per month !!! (I think it's bad when we hit $200 or so... ) We have natural gas heat now, but for years heated our ranch-style house (about 1500 sq ft at the time, somewhat larger now after a couple of add-ons, with just a "regular" wood stove -- and in a lot of ways I still miss it. Many people here use the pellet stoves, seems like a really good alternative without the hassle of cutting and hauling the firewood!

And the mess. But I do love a nice roaring fire and even the smell of the smoke (to an extent.) We have one of those wimpy natural gas fireplaces pretty much for ambiance. It does have a fan and when it gets warm it blows warm air into the room.

Weedwhacker said: ... with just a "regular" wood stove -- and in a lot of ways I still miss it. Many people here use the pellet stoves, seems like a really good alternative without the hassle of cutting and hauling the firewood!

I used to think that way, until I realized one reason I wanted a wood stove was in case of a lengthy electrical power outage.

No electrical power, no pellet stove. Mine has an auger to feed pellets plus one or two fans to keep the pellets burning and to circulate warm air into the room.

Also, I like splitting lots of tinder and kindling and seeing it blaze up when first lit (and clean the chimney).

I have a log splitter, after 3 years of splitting by hand, I decided I saved enough on gas bills to afford a splitter. Sure makes fast work out of that process!

RickCorey said:

I used to think that way, until I realized one reason I wanted a wood stove was in case of a lengthy electrical power outage.

No electrical power, no pellet stove. Mine has an auger to feed pellets plus one or two fans to keep the pellets burning and to circulate warm air into the room.

Also, I like splitting lots of tinder and kindling and seeing it blaze up when first lit (and clean the chimney).

Ah, so true... our wood stove didn't have a blower or any other electrical amenities. And, I have to admit I like splitting the kindling wood too -- the big stuff, not so much, even WITH a splitter! However, having a splitter has to be a HUGE improvement from not having one, Tom !

We once sent a big box of nice split white cedar kindling to our relatives in Florida who have a fireplace -- made a tag for it that read "UP Skinnywood" (as opposed to the "Georgia Fatwood" that is sold in a lot of the gift catalogs).

I've some bright green elephant garlic shoots poking up since fall, and swiss chard is hanging on, the color saturated and darkened from the cold. I'm going to move them all to one spot in spring. I may not need to plant any more, but I've plenty of seeds in case.

Both (true) garlic and elephant garlic (a leek) grows through the fall and winter. I have never tried to grow elephant garlic since it is not really a garlic, but grow lots of heirloom, gourmet garlic and grow it all 100% organically. That's my "cash" crop.

It's a leek, eh? It's a very strong-smelling leek, I say! I'm thinking of moving it to grow it for the flowers, near my roses, since I hear it may deter pests that don't like the smell of garlic.

It is too bad someone along the way decided to call it a garlic, when it is certainly not. Talk about false advertising! You need to compare the taste/pungency of one of the garlics I grow and compare that to the elephant "onion". Heirloom, gourmet garlic will knock your socks off! You might be on to something about growing those elephant bulbs close to other flowers. I have never seen a pest and animals don't seem to touch my garlic while growing.

I planted garlic for the first time last fall. I was explaining how it is grown to my husband and he was quite perplexed about why I couldn't grow it starting in the spring. "Well you just can't" was a very good answer. I told him it would rot. So now I am anxiously waiting (at least two more months) to see if mine will grow. There was some conjecture about it growing in raised beds near to the sides. I guess we will see. Anyone out there grow it who lives in a colder area. Canada, Minn, UP Mich, etc.

Mary Stella, as far as I'm concerned, I live in one of those cold areas. I know, all you folks up north will laugh at me for saying this, but gosh, it is just cold down here. Cold and damp!

Like you, I would love to have some input from those who plant garlic in the northern tier of states. When do you plant, when do your harvest. I plant all mine mid to late October, and will harvest the hardneck in mid to late May and the softneck and Creole a couple of weeks later.

I wrote down you information Ken. Will put it in my database under garlic. I bought my seed stuff from Hood River Garlic. No way I am giving up the wonderful stuff bought from you in planting. Maybe next year depending on how this works out. I also planted about mid-Oct. Ground starts gets hard well before snowfall. I will report what I see when the snow departs and when I see sprouts and so forth. Oh, and I didn't bury them very deep. Maybe 2-3" as that is what the lady at the cooperative extension said was optimal for here. Then covered them further with some home ground mulch. All an experiment. Just wish it didn't take so long to see if it works.

drdawg said:Mary Stella, as far as I'm concerned, I live in one of those cold areas. I know, all you folks up north will laugh at me for saying this, but gosh, it is just cold down here. Cold and damp!

Ken, you need to come up here for the month of February... and maybe talk to some of the people in the town near me (Escanaba) who were without power for for about 30 hours a couple of days ago, with temps around 0-15 F.

Thanks for the offer, Sandi. I am cold enough already. Heck, I just got 100 orchids in from Hawaii and the box is sitting in the garage to unpack. I have an LP heater going full blast. When the temperature gets up to around 70F, I will go to work unpacking everything. With me at least, with old age comes cold sensitivity.

Ken, I can definitely agree that you shouldn't bring the orchids with you... I don't think they'd like it here right now!

But you can come up to the UP and we'll take a road trip up to Houghton, where Michigan Tech is having their annual winter ice sculpture contest... doesn't that sound like fun? LOL, no, it doesn't to me, either

Have you been to the ice sculpture contest before? It's actually fascinating to me... you know, in pictures...

An ice sculpture is what I'll look like tomorrow when I come in after feeding the horses, supposed to be -7 degrees tomorrow, but that means most likely it will be 12 or more below.

tveguy3 said:An ice sculpture is what I'll look like tomorrow when I come in after feeding the horses, supposed to be -7 degrees tomorrow, but that means most likely it will be 12 or more below.

I my gosh. I don't know how you can stand it.