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Tucking in for the Winter
by Danielle French South Pond Farms www.southpondfarms.ca
I fell in love with this farmland when we drove up the laneway in 2006. The traditional Ontario red
brick farm house was set back from the road and there were the slopes to the roof and the door at the side like so many of these homes built in the 1860’s. The house looked a little run down in parts and over time additions had been made with various types of construction materials here and there. It was an early fall day and the girls were packed in the car with our dog, Molly. I remember it being hot and we had been driving for a distance returning from a cottage up north. We got out of the car and I felt a rush of country air hit me like it does when I go home to Vermont. It smells like leaves and warm earth. I felt like I was home. We moved to the Kawarthas after school finished for the girls at the beginning of summer. It was a beautiful time, we planted a garden, harvested vegetables, gathered eggs from our laying hens and I researched heritage varieties of seeds where I could put a flower garden around the house. The wood stove that I found replicating my grandmother’s cookstove was happily ensconced in the kitchen. On rainy days, I would start it up to get the dampness out of the house. I loved cooking with my cast iron skillet on top of the cookstove. The girls started the new schools, the darkness set in earlier, the temperatures cooled and we began to realize how drafty the house was. It I remembered my grandparents house with their wood stove in the kitchen but the upstairs did not have any heat. It certainly seemed like we didn’t have any heat either so I investigated. It didn’t take long to figure out that there was no insulation in walls - typical for these houses - and with half of the house sitting on an earthen crawl space, the cold air found its way up through the floor. The heating ducts were old and ill placed so it didn’t matter much or how far we turned the heat up - it wasn’t going to get any warmer. I had ordered wood to feed the cook stove but, at that time, there was no wood shed. With my time running the girls in all different directions, settling into our new lives, and all the issues that one faces with young children, I didn’t cover the wood up in time for the rain rendering it nearly useless for burning. We froze that first year. I’m not sure the girls being so little realized it but I certainly did. I learned my lesson and we piled wood every fall or spring to get ahead of the cold. Once I started my business, South Pond Farms, I wanted to
stack the wood in different formations so it would be a feature on the property - my favorite being a holzhausen. I abandoned that method after a few years, realizing it was too difficult to keep the pile covered from the elements. Tucking into winter is a pleasurable task. It sounds strange but it’s like the satisfaction you might feel filling your pantry with preserves, making stock for the freezer, re-organizing a cupboard to allow room for winter sweaters. For me, it means knowing we will be warm with enough wood to keep the stove going around the clock. We have more than one stove now, but the cook stove in the kitchen is the main source of heat and keeps us well fed with stews slow cooking in the oven all day. One of my favorite dishes is a simple onion and beef stew braised with white wine, salt, pepper and a sprig of thyme. The trick is to have lots of onions on hand to saute beforehand. I think my girls know that when the stew is on the table, winter is about to set in. Interestingly, I just made that stew today as we find ourselves under a few inches of fresh snow. I may just get my cross-country skis out early this year and before I head out - throw another log on the fire! Page 19
