Winter is coming, and the Amish families of Holmes County, Ohio,
are stacking firewood and coal beside their homes. Soon we’ll see lines of gray smoke from all
of the chimneys. A typical family might
have two wood stoves to heat the house, and at least one kitchen stove,
too. Sometimes the aromas of wood fires
in Holmes County drift everywhere across the countryside, and if you find the
right spot - with a long view over a wide valley - you can count the numerous lines
of smoke against a blue January sky and know that it is quiet and warm inside all
the homes. Woods fires speak of peace
and serenity on cold winter days. At
least they do to me.
It is the wood stoves that are the key to it all. You can buy them in many of the stores around
here, but my favorite place is Erb’s Stove
Center, on Route 39, east of Berlin. I know how to get there without having to
travel through the carnival of tourism that has overrun Berlin, and I find myself at Erb’s more than
I need to be, just because I like looking at the latest offerings for heat,
cooking and barbequing. The showplace
inside offers a treat of the very best heat stoves, fireplaces, inserts, barbeque
grills, and kitchen stoves.
My recent favorite stove at Erb’s has to be the old Glenwood
model N.
This one is from the early
twentieth century. It has been
completely refurbished, and it sells for $6500.
It is a kitchen stove that will burn either wood or natural gas, and it
is substantial. I suspect an engineer
would need to determine if the floor in a kitchen could take the weight of its 900
pounds. And as massive as it is, I
suspect you’ll agree that once the ovens are ready for baking, the heat from
the Glenwood N would keep a kitchen and most of the first floor of a house
comfortably warm throughout most of the day.
The trick would be to keep something cooking on the stove all the
time. If you’ve been to an Amish
restaurant recently, you’ll probably agree that for Amish families, that is not
a problem.
I’ve thought about having that Glenwood N shipped to my
house in town. I’ve wondered what it
would be like to cook at home with wood.
I have also wondered if it wouldn’t be prudent to have that wood stove
capability if - as some Amish people have warned me might soon happen - we find
ourselves someday without electricity for long periods of time. After all, many English folk around here
already use wood stoves for supplemental heat.
So, why not take it to the next step, and cook with wood, too? Why not cook on the Glenwood N, and be
prepared if we find ourselves living in one of those futuristic dystopian
societies depicted so often in the movies?
I don’t really advocate wood cooking for families in town, but I promise
you, after a trip to Erb’s Stove
Center, you’ll wonder why
it isn’t a great idea.
And Erb’s will be more than happy to sell you this Glenwood
N. Then they will be happy to sell you
the wood, too. Amish sawmills nearby
have been making pressed hardwood bricks from the sawdust they generate, and
Erb’s will sell you a one-ton stack of pressed Eco-Bricks for your stove,
whether it’s a heater or a cooker.
Eco-Bricks are easy to stack and clean to burn, and Erb’s sells quite a
lot of them. We’ll probably burn through
a whole ton this winter at our house.
And if we need more, it is an easy trip to Erb’s next spring. That is probably about when I’ll be thinking
I need a new gas grill for the backyard.
Erb’s will be happy to sell me one of those, too. Just in time for summer.
Labels: Amish, Amish Culture, Amish-Country Mysteries, Holmes County, P. L. Gaus
