A reader brought it to my attention that you can’t leave comments on this blog without registering, which I actually hadn’t realized until now. I’d like to try opening up commenting to anyone without the need to register, so if you’ve been reluctant up until now, there ya go! Thanks.
The Morso 1410 is a very small, clean-burning wood stove
The Morso 1410 “Squirrel” is a sleek, small wood stove. And I’m very glad to have its company. It’s been getting a fair workout these days, and I’m happy with its performance. Here’s a little rundown on my experience with the small wood stove out of Denmark.
I suppose I’m a sucker for reciprocal roofs. After much thought, April and I decided to go ahead with building a reciprocal roof over the woodshed. The original plan was to make a shed roof, but alas, I couldn’t bring myself to build a shed roof. I just really don’t like them. In the end, a reciprocal roof seemed to serve us best, aesthetically and functionally.
Wow, it’s been a while… Time flies when the days are short and there’s firewood to chop, and move… and chop and move some more.
Wow, it’s been a goodly long while since the first (and only) cob wood shed post. Much has happened since then, including the finishing of the cob walls and the reciprocal roof frame, but here’s a few older photos of things in the works.
April and I are definitely enjoying the Morso 1410 Squirrel stove. I’m happy with the performance of the tiny stove, and it’s beautiful, too, especially when a big ol’ fire is roaring inside.We have started cooking on the Squirrel as well, and it’s proving to be very capable.
Here’s something interesting from the New York Times. Michael Pollan has written up an essay about a 36 hour dinner party, based around the use of a cob oven, no less. Pollan notes that the party’s inspiration was ” the communal ovens still found burning in some towns around the Mediterranean, centers of social gravity where, each morning, people bring their proofed, or risen, loaves to be baked. (Each loaf bears a signature slash so you can be sure the one you get back is your own.) But after the bread is out of the oven, people show up with a variety of other dishes to wring every last B.T.U. from the day’s fire: pizzas while the oven is still blazing and then, as the day goes on, gentle braises or even pots of yogurt to capture the last heat and flavors of the dying embers.”
I love stuff like this. I love food, people getting together to cook, using wood heat, quality ingredients, mmm, yea. Interesting. And of course, it’s especially cool that this group used an outdoor cob oven for their cooking!
Don’t forget to check out my how to build your own outdoor cob oven for pizza and bread.
I’ve been enjoying the addition of the completed mud room to the house. It makes for a convenient place to kick off shoes, hang up jackets and other items that don’t clutter the house, create a better transition inside, and it gives us a tiny extra boost in the storage department! Click ahead for a few photos of the final room.
Test firing the Morso 1410
It’s done! We’ve got a fully functioning woodstove, with the stovepipe penetrating the living roof of the house, all sealed up and complete. So how did we do it? How did we send a stovepipe through the EPDM liner of our living roof?
A couple of weeks ago, we got around to re-plastering the north side of the house (most of the plaster on the lower half of the wall was completely weathered away), the east, and the finished mud room. April slaved away on this mosaic above the bench and around the window that day, and I think the final product is really swell. The stones are from a Tennessee river bed and the white pieces are broken tile.
The grape vine (to the left in the photo) exploded with all of the rain this year, and it frames this mini seating area and has climbed well up onto the roof. The bench itself is cantilevered in the wall — two roundwood branches (one osage orange, one black locust), and the boards are hand-planed and oiled black walnut. It’s cozy!
About The Year of Mud
Hi there, I’m Ziggy. In 2008, I launched The Year of Mud while building my first natural home. This blog is a collection of personal stories and experiences building with clay, straw, and wood over the past 15+ years. A few of the things that get me fired up are natural plasters, timber framing, & Japanese architecture. Since 2012, we’ve been hosting Natural Building Workshops so you can learn essential skills to build your own natural home.
