A Great Farm Diary: Womerlippi Homestead Annals: Brass Monkey Weather

Friday, January 4, 2008

Brass Monkey Weather

Yorkshire folk have a saying "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey." This is one of those sayings whose origin is thankfully lost to history. It's pretty much "brass monkey weather" out there right now.

Kitchen wood stove went out overnight and so I had to get up and start it anew. In the meantime, to protect the pipes, I turned up the thermostat for the oil burner in the basement, from 55 to 61 degrees. So far this winter, we've used only 30 gallons of oil, and the beast in this photo is why. Not particularly efficient, but effective, this "Englander" forced air wood furnace drives away the chill with a vengeance. Together with the kitchen stove, it will consume about five cords of wood this year. It also heats my shop, which means I can work in the winter on carpentry and other projects.

Arguably, because we have 15.5 acres of combined woodland and pasture, growing roughly 10-15 cords of wood a year, this heating system is sustainable. Except for the 30 gallons of #2 heat oil.

Oh well.

4 comments:

Susan HarwoodJanuary 5, 2008 at 3:53 AM
My understanding is this (though I can't guarantee it is the right explanation) . . . that cannon balls used to be stored on large brass triangles called 'monkeys'. During the Crimean War, it was so cold, the metal was distorted . . . so the balls rolled off - hence the expression.
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AnonymousMay 27, 2009 at 1:04 PM
I am thinking about purchasing an "Englander" for my 250 yr old farm house in Orange county NY with only half of the house insulated (the upper half) the living space is about 1500 square ft. and almost 2000 with the cellar. I have a 38 year old Jotul (118) now and it barely makes enough heat for the 1st floor although it keeps the basement at 85 yo 90 degrees. With the cracks in the cast iron I need to upgrade my system for safety sake. I am used to cutting about 6 cord of wood a season. Does anyone have something good to say about the furnace and the company? (customer service, etc.)
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MickMay 28, 2009 at 2:43 AM
I can say that it works. It makes a lot of forced air, which heats the house pretty well, considering all we're using is firewood. But it does go through a lot of wood, about four cords in our case, and we only use it for the two coldest months. It is designed to add on to a regular forced air plenum. We have just such an oil forced air furnace in our basement, but I didn't put the Englander down there because I didn't like the thought of having a hot stove under the house with all that tinder dry building lumber and a low basement ceiling. Instead I put it in the garage and ran a separate air duct system through the house.

If I were you, I'd do some more insulation first, and then get a replacement for the Jotul, and then think about adding a furnace after that. That's the correct order of cost-effectiveness. The Englander seems cheap at only $1,000, but even if you cut all your own wood, that wood is still worth real money and could be sold: $250 a cord here in Maine right now.
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AnonymousMay 29, 2009 at 11:27 AM
Thank you....Wow, 4 cord in 2 months! I spoke to an older "salty" stove fellow and he said get one if your homeowners is paid up! Your input was similar to his (moving it to the garage)..so I will happily follow both of your suggestions.
Take a step back, insulate, make sure my combustible clearances are secure and make a good decision for my families safety.

We are just starting to get to $190 for a full cord here...if I get into a pinch I know a fella that will sell it for $135 a full cord. Otherwise I will do it myself, my neighbor has a trucking company and he gets rejects from a local saw mill that runs a bandsaw. Any metal in the wood no matter the species (oak, maple, etc.) it is put aside for burning BIG Logs too!
Thank you agin for the input, happy Gardening woodcutting season.
DUFF
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Welcome to our Farm Blog.
The purpose of this blog is for Aimee and I to communicate with friends and family, with those of our students, and other folks in general who are interested in homesteading and farming activities.

The earliest posts, at the very end of the blog, tell the story of the Great Farm, our purchase of a fragment of that farm, the renovation of the homestead and its populating with people and animals. Go all the way to the last post in the archive and read backwards from there to get it in chronological order.

After getting tired of spam comments (up to a dozen or more per day), I required commentators to be Google "registered users". You can write me at mwomersley@unity.edu if you have a serious comment or question and are not a registered user.

Spammers -- don't bother writing -- there's no way I will post your spam to my blog. Just go away.

The Farm

The "Womerlippi Farm" is actually a homestead or smallholding where most of the food is grown for our own consumption and that of our friends and family. We raise Corriedale/Romney-cross sheep, feeder pigs in season, and Golden Comet, Aruacuna, Black Laced Wyandotte, Brahma, and Buff Orpington hens. We have wooded pasture, old apple trees, and a large kitchen garden. We build and maintain our own energy-efficient buildings, service and fix our own vehicles and farm equipment, and generally live a thoroughly self-reliant lifestyle. Our farm goals are less economic and more psychological/spiritual and lifestyle oriented. We like an independent, quiet home life with a lot of interaction with animals and the earth. Farming, building and energy-related engineering were also part of our education work at the former Unity College. Having said all that, we're practical people and grow a lot of pretty solid food and fiber. We're also happy to sell you some eggs or yarn or lambs.

PS: "Womerlippi" is a combination of our last names, "Womersley" and "Phillippi." The one is broad Yorkshire, the other Greek, although Aimee's ancestry and home culture is Pennsylvania Dutch/Shenandoah Valley Church of the Brethren. When Aimee and I married, she didn't take my name. She said she "wasn't trading up."

Why is this "A Great Farm Diary?"

Because the setting for the events recorded here is the "Great Farm" of Jackson, Maine, that's why. (Not because this is such a great farm, although we like it.)

Started by privateer and financier Israel Thorndike in 1806 as a vacation home, the famous Great Farm of Jackson was an agricultural showcase for this area of Maine, and Thorndike used it as such, an advertisement for his private land office business, as he disposed of the famous Waldo Patent, in which he was a part owner. Land purchasers could work off their mortgages as laborers on the Great Farm. Most deeds in Waldo County trace back to Israel Thorndike.

Thorndike, born to a family of modest means, went to sea to make his fortune. He captained a privateering vessel during the Revolutionary War, and tweaked the nose of the great Royal Navy more than once. He then settled to a life as a financier, merchant, and captain of industry in Boston. He remains listed as one of the fifty richest Americans of all time. He was the author, with Eldridge Gerry, of the first recorded gerrymander, and so his name went down in history for that peculiarly undemocratic deed too.

He was, in short, a rich, arrogant, unrequited arse, whose primary redeeming feature was impressive ambition. If you are such a person, you should feel ashamed. My work in academia has introduced me to many such wealthy people, and frankly, I'm tired of them. The world doesn't revolve around you and your silly ideas of what is important. Grow up.

Our own much smaller farm sits on a few acres of the original 2,000 that Thorndike developed as an agricultural showcase. As he was a famous Federalist, while Aimee and I are obvious neo-Jeffersonians, of sorts, I doubt he'd be pleased with what we've done with the place. But we don't give a rat's wotsit. As I said, we like it this way.

Read the very last posts in the archive for more details, or use search terms like Israel Thorndike or "Great Farm history" in the Google Blogger search engine (above, on the left).

How this Diary is Arranged:

From Mick:

The purpose of this blog is for Aimee and I to communicate with friends and family, with those of our students, and other folks in general who are interested in homesteading and farming activities.

The earliest posts, at the very end of the blog, tell the story of the Great Farm, our purchase of a fragment of that farm, the renovation of the homestead and its populating with people and animals. Go all the way to the last post in the archive below, click on the link provided, and read backwards from there to get it all in chronological order.

To find out what is happening right now, read the first post first.

Other blogs by Mick: UC SAR, UC Sustainability, Farm Diary

Enjoy.

Farm Produce

Purchasing Womerlippi Farm produce in season can be done by email arrangement, and/or by shopping at the Marsh River Coop in Brooks.

We sell yarn, fleece, lamb, and livestock for meat or breeding.

The yarn is Bartlett Yarn's 4-ply, a medium-thick yarn, in natural gray and brown, as well as natural dyes. It is soft and bulky, and makes nice old-fashioned knitwear. You can buy it for $7.50 a skein by emailing womersleymick8984@gmail.com. We ship priority mail, minimum four skeins at a time. The shipping is extra. We also have raw white and brown (natural colored) fleece in large quantities each spring, unwashed, untreated. Email us at mwomersley@unity.edu and name your price. Expect to pay shipping or pick up in person. Coming to the farm itself without prior appointment is not recommended. We have a child. We also have a dog who bites. We like that he bites, because we have a child we want to protect. If you come unexpectedly to the farm, stay behind any temporary hot-wire gate or fence, or park in the driveway, until someone comes. We'll know you're there because the dog will tell us. Loudly. Annoyingly. They will wake us or our kid, if we are asleep. We will be mad about this.

If no-one comes, we're not home. Go Away.

If you are yet more foolish and try to get out of your car and/or cross a gate or fence, expect to get bitten by a shepherd dog, rammed by a ram, or chewed out by a shepherd.

A Great Farm Diary: Womerlippi Homestead Annals