Heat

Our two sources of heat were the wood burning kitchen stove and the coal furnace. The coal furnace was only used in very cold weather. The furnace was started with wood and then coal would be put on to last for hours. A coal furnace required a coal bin. This was a closed off room in the corner of the basement. Coal was purchased by the truck load and emptied into the basement window into the coal bin. Coal is very black and coal dust on pieces of coal stuck to anything that touched it like your hands and clothes so one had to be very careful around coal or get very dirty. The kitchen wood stove was used to cook and bake. In winter this was a bonus as the kitchen was always toasty warm. The wood stove had beside it a wood box filled with different kinds of wood depending on how long and how hot you wanted your stove to get. Mom usually made 12 loaves of bread at a time. ( I had 3 brothers 1 sister and a Dad). This would mean the stove was on for a good while, first to have the bread rise in the warming oven over the stove, and then the real hot oven at the bottom of the stove. Of course breakfast lunch and dinner were also produced on the wood stove. In summer it wasn't so comfortable to have as the stove on made everything too hot, but cooking still had to happen.