The very first moment I walked in to our new farmhouse, I was struck with what a “Christmas home” it was.  I could already see that garland on the big oak staircase, the lights around the century old windows, and the fire roaring in the fireplace.  I knew right then and there that this home was going to be ours to spend many Christmas’s in.  As luck (or fate) would have it, I was right.

This is our first winter in our new home.  And while I have carefully strung garland and placed lights and am truly enjoying and grateful for each and every minute – there was one thing I hadn’t fully considered.  Our house was COLD.

Those gorgeous century windows (with the pretty lights carefully placed) just might be to blame.  Or the sheer size of this lovely old home.  Whatever the reason, it was definitely chilly.  So when the opportunity arose to review a wood stove insert, I was beyond happy.  Jumping for joy (and for warmth).

Supreme Fireplaces was so generous to provide our family with a Volcano Plus Wood Stove Insert.  A gorgeous wood stove that fits right inside our original wood burning fireplace.  We can keep the real wood fire, and now the heat too!

I loved our original wood burning fireplace, and would keep it roaring all day long.  But the problem arose when the fire would die out.  We would have to leave the flu open until all of the ashes cooled to prevent the smoke from staying inside.  But this meant keeping a gaping whole open to the winter wind for many hours … very counterproductive to warming my family.  Not to mention all the heat that was escaping through that flu all day long.

Our Volcano Plus Wood Insert has an automatic air control, which will automatically adjust the flu for the level of heat in the wood stove, ensuring our house stays toasty warm – with no gaping holes to the winter winds.

I really love that this wood stove sits inside our fireplace opening.  With 3 children, two of which are rambunctious little boys, the idea of a big hot wood stove in the middle of our family room was not appealing.  This insert of course still gets very hot, but it only sticks out from the wall an inch or so, making it far safer for my little ones.

And the warmth!  We put our Volcano Plus Fireplace to the test a few days ago.  My to-do list is always quite long, and we are quite new at living in the country. So for this reason, the priorities on my to-do list are not always placed in the right order. On that list was “call propane company”.  What should have been on that list was, “call propane company or you will run out of propane during the first snow storm and have no heat” … perhaps that would have gotten dealt with before “clean the tub” (Who am I kidding, that didn’t get dealt with either).

Regardless of my to-do list, we ran out of propane – which meant for 2 entire days and nights we were without heat.  This would have terrified me as a country-living Mama, if not for our Volcano Plus.  Luckily we had wood and our stove insert.  While the upstairs (which is a converted attic) and the basement were very chilly, our main floor stayed comfortable for the entire 48 hours.  We were very  impressed!  It is a real blessing to know that we have a back up heat source just-in-case.

One of the main reasons we wanted to move to a farm was to become more self-sufficient.  We want to grow our own food and live simply.  We are very fortunate to have lovely neighbours who have offered us their woods for lumber.  While we need the wood to be dry and seasoned (which I have learned means cut a year ago — See?  I’m becoming a farmer), it means that in the years to come we will be heating our home at practically no financial cost.  Our master plan is to keep our propane furnace on, but at a very low temperature so that when our wood stove needs a little help in this cold Canadian winter, it will pop on and keep us snug.

We are so grateful to have received our Volcano plus woodstove insert, and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an affordable alternative to home heating, anyone with young children, and anyone looking to be more self-sufficient.  Calling all my homesteading friends!

You can read more about Supreme Fireplaces and our Volcano Plus Insert at www.supremem.com.