I checked the temperature of the active compost pile around sunset yesterday, and it was 136°F!
I also covered the Kale last night, as it was predicted to get cold. It did, and was about 18°F this morning. That was after two nights of predicted temps in the low 20s and actual lows around 30.
Which was lucky, since I had done some exterior concrete work 3 days ago, and it would not have been good for it to freeze.
I’m pretty disgusted with our wood stove. I don’t think the cat converter is working at all — when you try to force the smoke through it, nothing happens except you can smell smoke in the house.
That may be my fault — I did not open the damper before I swept the chimney last time around, so all that gunk fell down onto the cat converter. I did try to vacuum it out of there afterwards, but I don’t know how successful I was. I need to take it out of there and clean it.
I was looking at a Vogelzang Durango woodstove as a possible replacement. It’s EPA-certified, will take 26" long logs, is non-catalytic, and Menards has them on sale for $600. But then I read that the steel plate they use is only 3/16" thick, not the more common 1/4", and that’s probably why it’s inexpensive. I don’t know if I should be concerned about that or not — they do line it with firebrick.
Ending and Beginning 