For the past few days, the highs in our part of the Ozarks have been above 100, with lows never dipping past the mid-seventies. Though it sounds intolerable, this sort of weather is not intolerable if you know how to manage your house and your own activity. We drink and provide a lot of water to all the creatures on our farm, and, in turn, take cues from our animals. We take breaks during the hottest parts of the day, just like they do (whoever came up with siesta was BRILLIANT, let me tell you).
But meals can be another issue. We cook all of our own food...and in order to cook, you often need a heat source. I try to do as much cooking as I can during the "cool" of the morning, but when it comes time for lunch, sometimes you just gotta make something hot. In our current little trailer, before we get our house built, running the stove is a bit of a death-sentence. In such a small space, that source of heat fills the whole house fast! We remedied this for a while during our first month on the homestead by cooking over a fire in the back yard (and fending off curiously hungry chickens).
(Tiger REALLY wanted my cabbage and dumplings...)
But Andrew's a problem-solver and a builder, and with that glorious combination, he's been crafting a much better solution than squatting over a fire pit. He's been building an outdoor kitchen space that will be WONDERFUL in the heat of the summer. Eventually, we'll be able to cook, bake, and make wonderful meals no matter how hot it is outside, all the while protecting what precious cool there is in our (poorly designed, yet wonderfully provided until the house is done) trailer.
Here's part one of the series! Watch along as we build this project from the ground up!
As always, thanks for reading and watching!
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