Join us on a tour or tasting

JoliSoleil organizes wine tours and wine tastings in or near Gerardmer, in the Netherlands and in California.

Cast iron stoves and wood burning

Wood burning has gotten a bad reputation in Holland, because of pollution and "fine dust". Here where I live in France, it is what you do to stay warm and cook in winter though. And if there is one thing I have learned over the years, is that you should not fight nature but comply with it. 

Forests everywhere, wood everywhere.....This is what people have been doing here for centuries. Dry wood....right size..right temperature. .

Only heating my radiators with fuel costs me a fortune and the big space in the farm still stays chilly. Warming up the cast iron in the Rayburn woodstove in the kitchen and in the chimney of the big fire place in the main room gives a nice warmth that stays for 16-24 hours without adding new wood. That means you normally pick up in the morning where you have left in the evening. And it stays comfy. Of course we also roast and bbq in the big fire place.