In the good old days, the kitchen was the heart of the home. In many cases, this is still the case today. When I first moved to Hickory Heights, there was a Home Comfort stove in the kitchen. He was burning wood. I didn’t know how to use it, but I learned. I had to because I didn’t have another stove.
The stove was not one of the prettiest ones often seen in kitchens of old. It was utilitarian. He did what had to be done. There were two doors on the top near where the heat came out. It was the hot oven. It was great to keep things warm. I might also leave something on top of the burner to keep it hot.
The thing about a wood stove is that you really had to watch it. You had to add wood when it started to drop. You had to open the damper if you wanted the heat to increase. You closed the valve to extinguish the fire.
My son was in kindergarten. At that time, kindergarten only lasted half a day. I had to take her to school around noon. That meant he had to eat his lunch first. I turned up the heat to warm his lunch. Remember that was fifty years ago and there were no microwaves back then. After his lunch was hot, I had to cool the stove to dare to leave him to make the trip to school.
This stove was also our heater. The old wood oven has been removed and we had not yet replaced it with an oil oven. I found I enjoyed it once how I learned to perform it. After the nightly chores, my husband opened the oven door and put his feet in it to warm up. We have used this stove for over six months. He must have left when they started fixing the kitchen. This stove made the kitchen too hot when part of the wall had to be recreated.
I learned very quickly that cooking in the past took a lot of time. The good part was that I could keep my meals warm with the warming section of the stove. There was always hot water as there was a tank on the side of the wooden box.
Of course, there was maintenance. The ashes had to be removed and taken outside. They were hot so you had to be careful where you put them. You didn’t want to start a fire.
I have done almost everything on this wood stove. At Thanksgiving I didn’t dare try to cook a turkey because I wasn’t sure I was keeping the oven at the temperature I needed. I opted for pork chops as they didn’t take that long to cook. Grandma was sick that year, so the family did not get together. His sister was there to help him. I learned to make french fries with his sister. They were so good that I haven’t stopped making them since.
I had no refrigerator. I used the cellar cool to keep things cool. My husband brought milk from the farm every evening so that we had fresh milk. I still had food in my mother-in-law’s freezer so I could pick it up and bring it up to cook. I was careful what I bought. My cool stuff had to be able to stay out of the fridge.
When I think back on it, I wonder how I could have done it. I was a city girl with no country experience. I just had to learn so we could live here. I had previously lived in a mobile home which we had kind of outgrown with our two children. Each of the children needed their own room. We also needed a functional room.
It needed some repairs, but we were finally able to sleep upstairs. The beds were moved and we started sleeping in the only room upstairs that had a solid ceiling. The roof had leaked and the plaster had fallen off in most rooms. Our first bedroom is now the upstairs bathroom.
We didn’t put that on until the kids grew up. By then I was tired of running downstairs and around the house to get to the bathroom. You know, old people have to get up at night!
FRENCH FRIES
Cut five or six apples into rings and put them in a pan with a little butter. Cook slowly until tender. Add cinnamon and a little sugar. They are ready to eat! It makes a great side dish with pork.
Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell, Pennsylvania. Contact [email protected].
