Cookstove Manuals

When you picture a cookstove, what do you see? An old, dusty piece of equipment from a time gone by? An oddly shaped woodstove? Or maybe just an ordinary old stove? Like most people new to cookstoves, chances are you have a few misconceptions about what’s out there and what will work best for your living situation. In the following, we’ve compiled a short list of cookstoves that demonstrate the variety in design and quality that cookstoves have to offer today.

Living the self-sufficient lifestyle means, among other things, knowing how to store your wood and properly operate a woodstove or cookstove. But what about gathering firewood? It’s the crucial first step in the process of creating total independence for yourself when it comes to heating, but it’s also arguably the hardest part. For many, the…

Today, many homes in North America have some kind of backyard entertainment area, be it a patio, a gazebo, a simple pergola-covered patch of stone or brickwork, or something similar. It’s a place for families and friends to converge, socialize, and often most importantly, share food. That’s where the pizza oven comes in, a massively popular centerpiece for any outdoor area that’s as easy to buy today as a new lawnmower.

If you’re new to wood heat, you might be tempted to just grab the nearest block of wood, throw it in the fire, and call it good for the day. But those of us who have lived season after season by the light of the fire know the most important aspect of wood heat: Firewood. Here are six tips to help you get the most out of your firewood and keep that fire burning bright and hot all winter long.