Question I'm going to post in seniors and elsewhere to get a comparative viewpoint?

Question

Would you take the woodburning stove to cook and heat, the 12+ hours manual labor to the electric heat, and office jobs...the nostaligia and hard life, but "more laid back times" or the modern and easier physical work, but "stressful existence"?

Answer 1

Nope.
You can have the good ol' days.

I just deleted a bunch of my thoughts about the good ol' days, they probably would not have been appropriate.

I guess what I want to say is that being laid back and a less stressful life does not mean we have to give the conveniences of 'modern' life.

Although I once was told as I was swinging a double-bitted axe, chopping firewood warms you twice, once when you burn it and once when you cut it.

Answer 2

For what it's worth in my opinion there are good things to say about each way of life. Modern society and easier for some may not work for those who have had access to the older ways, yet work better today for some of us because of disabilities and such. However, living in the forest somewhere with a good woodburning stove and having a second floor was great. Heat rises and that one stove being used to cook and such also kept the upstairs so warm most cold freezing night that even wearing a blanket would cause you to sweat. So, some of the old days were great too. What I didn't like was getting up at 4am and going out to chop a couple of cords of wood, but it was in the long run well worth the effort and I miss those days today. Healthier too.

Answer 3

No, I like these times just fine. I had a wood burning stove at one time for cooking and one for heat. No fun, lots of work ! Manual labor is still done by many, many people today, usually eight hours a day though. Stress only gets to you if you let it. I like my modern conveniences.

I will say this: Food cooked in the oven of a wood burning stove does taste better. ( if you don't forget to keep the fire burning )

Answer 4

I've had wood heat and cooking for some years of my life, here and there, and enjoy it. I like the whole life, but as others have said, I still have to have a job that makes money. If you live out in the sticks, it means long drives in the car to whatever job you can find, and few hours at home enjoying your back-to-nature existence. Besides all the work that needs to be done there. When I was little, my Dad had to be up at 4 am to feed the animals and then drive the country roads to work at a factory, then come home and take care of the animals again.

Answer 5

I love wood heat. It's work to get up wood but it's worth it. Here almost everyone ( all the natives ) has a woodstove for back up heat when there is no electricity to run the furnace. Some have a wood stove as their primary source for heat . It may have been a hard life as you say but we didn't think it was hard growing up .It was entirely different world. I learned to cook on a wood stove which isn't easy.

Answer 6

I love cooking over a wood stove and fireplace, and I would welcome the manual labor, that kind of thing keeps me in shape and makes me the "good kind" of tired. I wouldn't mind it a bit, and would deal with it as it came,if I had to. But I am spoiled by the mod cons, and as long as it isn't necessary, it aint gonna happen. And I think nostalgia is great: looking at the past from the wrong end of the telescope with rose colored lenses, we remember the good things that make us feel warm and fuzzy; but the past had stresses of it's own. Without medical advances, there were more deaths and sickness and work was harder. I would rather have the 21st century than the "good old days" anytime.

Answer 7

In my younger days I was what's known as a "back to the lander." I really tried to be totally self-sufficient but it is very difficult to do this. I did raise some of my own food and also canned much of it. I cleared land, built fences, stacked wood. I used a wood stove to heat my home.....Lived in a little rustic in the Maine woods on 10 acres. Had to park my old clunker at the top of a very long and steep drive and "skate" to the bottom during to ice storms. As I got older I just couldn't do what was necessary to keep up this life style. I prefer it and I still miss it....I really don't care much for how things are in the 21st century.....I find that doing the 9-5 and everything that entails is every bit as stressful as being a back to the lander and not nearly as fulfilling nor satisfying.

Answer 8

My ex and I heated our old farm house with 2 wood stoves. We spent alot of our free time cutting, splitting & hauling the seasoned wood to the porches to be ready to burn. I never felt any of that was stressful.The cold weather and work always was fullfilling and made me sleep better plus, I love the snug feeling the heat from a wood stove produces.I don't have a wood stove now, but I have a stress free existence. I am a laid back person.

Answer 9

My grandmother cooked on woodburning stove when I was little. When her house was wired for electricity she got an electric stove but kept woodburner in kitchen. In summer, it was electric, in winter or for special things she used the old one. I loved the warming oven above the cook area. It always held good snacks.

Would I want to go back? 20 yrs.ago .... maybe but I'm to old to care for one now and anyway, I doubt my HOA would like it.

Answer 10

well i will try to get you my view on the subject -- for 20 years i had a easy life in the air force and than i work about 17or so years in a very high stressful life chasing the dollar than i return to the farm and build it up -- yes the work is harder and i do use wood stove to heat and cut my own wood -- i have a small working farm with many animals and it keeps me hopping every day and i mean every day exept when i out source and take trips but i would not change a thing -- yes i love my ice make and the keg cooler but i could give these up if forced!!!

to add to poster three answer i paid 2500 for my stove and i had to install it my self!!!