rocket stove cooking

I love my Rocket Stove.  I’d seen them here and there before, mainly home made affairs, cobbled together with old baked bean cans and old oil canisters and I’d had it in mind to build one of my own one day.  In Dorset I was caught with my guard down, at the Scythe Fair, where I saw a professionally forged, easily transportable, robust affair which I bought it without a second thought.  

How right I was.

Since getting back to France I use it most of the time for cooking meals, not just for myself but for four or five people at a time.  Mainly pot meals that require simmering for a while, but also fry ups and dishes that require a proper amount of heat.

Lighting it was tricky to start and then getting the burn temperature right.  I’ve since improved my wood drying technique and shan’t ever need to cut down another tree to cook with it.  It’s a joy to gather those fallen twigs and small branches and know that they have a serious role to play and also to be able to cook on free, easily gathered material at almost a moments notice.  I’ll need to be more prepared for when the weather turns and keep a good supply of well dried twigs available for cooking.

Thinking about how much wood I would use on a traditional fire, or the gas I would burn to achieve the same result is absurd.  A small bundle of kindling is enough to cook dinner and provide a nice cup of tea to wash it all down.  I’ll be heating my shower water with it soon and filling my hot water bottle with it when the nights get cold.  The gas stove will always be a welcome alternative for when the weather is foul, an oven is needed or speed is of the essence, but ongoing, my rocket stove cooking is becoming an integral part of my daily routine.  

The wheelbarrow in the photos is a makeshift wind deflector, self standing, easily positionable and has many other uses.  Ideal

dinner in the making

the twigs are burning within the metal tubing

a mini furnace

a near complete burn with no smoke and hardly any ash

MMMmmmmmm  lentil, tomato and nettle stew nearly done

improved facilities

I have guests coming.  Well, now that I write a family of five have just spent a great weekend with me, they camped and we ate, drank and had a great time  around and about, including two great evenings in the comfort of my new garden shed/chalet.  Facilities were needed, something better than a chair with a hole, a bucket and a windbreak.  Thanks Dad, it was a brilliant start and will remain an emergency second, but things are moving on quickly in some departments and a better dunny is called for.  So I set too:

a collection of pallets and salvaged wood awaiting inspiration 

a path in the woods with no destination

I checked on the ground to see that the pallet base fitted

but not in the trees above.  The structure had to be moved to fit the walls and roof

a round hole in some planks to provide a comfortable seat

With a bucket below and a well fitting lid to keep everything where it belongs.  An old enamel saucepan to keep the sawdust and toilet paper dry and when I find one, a little brush to tidy the seat.

I finished the main construction with four hours to spare, the driveway had preoccupied me somewhat during the last week or so and I used a sheet of groundcover plastic as a temporary door.  Got a real one at a local junk shop over the weekend but haven’t had time to fit it yet.

It works like a dream, is comfortable, private and won't blow way in the breeze.