Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Fuego

As the onset of Winter begins, the weather in Labranza is starting to get a bit colder. Like most other homes in the area, we don't have a central heating system so I decided to make a fire the other morning. (I find it particularly ironic that Labranza is the coldest place I've ever lived, yet the only place without a gas heating system set up.)

The stove is located in our kitchen and in order to take advantage of all the heat it generates, I ended up dragging in a chair from the living room, closing the doors, and bundling up with some scarves and my beanie. It probably looked quite ridiculous. Too bad no one else was up to take a photo to share.

As the fire heated up the room, making it nice and cozy, I couldn't help but feel a little guilty- at $3 per sack, price is not an issue, but I've grown up hearing time and time again that burning wood creates a lot of pollution. Was my comfort worth it?

Despite my initial reaction, as the morning progressed, I started realizing how versatile and useful our wood fire was. Not only did it warm up the house, but my housemate and I also ended up cooking lunch and treating ourselves to nice warm showers using the heat it generated. Maybe creating a fire for a few hours isn't as wasteful as I originally thought.

Fire


Getting Started


Starting fires always reminds me of the summers I've spent volunteering as a camp counselor in the Sierra Mountains. To my dismay, I may have lost my magical touch- it took me about 15 minutes to get this one going...



Morning Latte
I've also started boiling milk on the stove...takes a bit more work than using a microwave, but definitely worth it!

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