March 2026 SOLC–Day 10
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While many of you may be cranking open the windows, donning short sleeves or tank tops, and bearing your ankles or even (gasp!) legs to the air, I’m still restoking my wood stove every morning. Yup. It’s almost springtime in Maine.
This morning as I squat and feed logs into the wood stove, it occurs to me that I won’t be doing this for that much longer. Daylight savings has arrived and coincidentally, the past several mornings have been warmer. It was even 43˚F on Sunday morning, which is quite warm by March in Maine standards. (I’m willfully ignoring the forecast which has inches of snow arriving overnight on Saturday and highs below freezing again next week.)
I love our wood stove. I could write an ode to it. (Has anyone ever written an ode to a wood stove? I jot that question down in my notebook to check out later.) Having a back up source of heat is essential in Maine, where winter storms can knock out power for days on end. While I appreciate the dependability, it’s not what I love most about our stove. Our wood stove not only provides heat, but also sets a tone of pure comfort. It offers an invitation to settle in and relax. Its cheerful orange glow on dark winter mornings is a faithful companion, and its steady tick accompanies the scratch of my pen in my notebook. There’s a generosity to its radiating heat against my back.
Wasn’t it Benjamin Franklin who invented the wood stove? I wonder idly. I google it and confirm that random thought. Apparently Franklin was urged to take out a patent for his design. He refused to do so, and I further discover that he didn’t patent any of his many inventions. Then I read an accompanying quote from his autobiography: “…that as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.”
Wow. Now that’s a refreshing stance.
Maybe I should write an ode to Franklin!
Nix the comfort zone 
I wrote an ode for today’s slice, so I say GO FOR IT and write the ode to Franklin!
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I’ll have to go check out your ode! I was pretty impressed by Franklin’s stance. It’s definitely ode-worthy!
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When we moved from Arizona in 1982, we were all in being woodstove folks. Nothing like coming into the house on a winter’s day and being instantly warmed by our woodstove. I’m guessing you put a pan of water on your stove to humidify the air, yes? Predictably, we turned soft and eventually went the propane route. Cheers to the wood stove folk in our lives.
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We only sometimes put water on the wood stove. Rarely, if I’m being honest. There are too many times that it boiled down and I didn’t notice…Still, dry air and all, I love our wood stoves!
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I had a wood stove for years and loved it, but my husband did not want a fireplace when we built our home back in 1998, so I have been w/out one all these years. You have me longing for an upgrade on a cold Idaho morning.
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I am a total fan of wood stoves and especially those with glass fronts so you can see the flames. We have two of them. Idaho is perfect for a woodstove!
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Molly, enjoy these last few mornings! Your ode is lovely. So many details that warmed my heart as it is warming your body! My husband just commented that this might be our last morning for a fire. It’s supposed to warm up a lot this week. I had to go back and look at my old blog to see if I, in fact, did ever write an ode to my wood stove. (I do love it.) I didn’t, but I found a list of APPRECIATIONS, and the number 1 item was: “The wood burning stove in our home.”
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I love that your number 1 appreciation was your wood stove. They are pretty awesome at warming and creating a welcoming atmosphere! Maybe we both need to write odes!
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The clock’s changing made us all think about weather/seasons! I love wood burning stoves and miss the one I grew up with.
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I’ve noticed all the weather/season posts as well. I guess Daylight Savings pushed all that thinking to the forefront.
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Your descriptions of cold are so compelling–and the sources of heat that go with them. Here’s my favorite line: “Our wood stove not only provides heat, but also sets a tone of pure comfort. It offers an invitation to settle in and relax.”
Looking forward to the ode!
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I’ll get right on it! (maybe…)
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During the 1980s-1990s we heated solely with a wood stove. I love to back up to a wood stove. I love the small of a wood fire. I loved my potpourri pot. Sometimes I miss it, especially on a very cold day.
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The warmth from a wood stove is so much richer than from a furnace!
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