Hey ya’ll, I’m Jess from Roots & Refuge Farm
Welcome to a place that feels like home. A small farm with a big family. We hope you’ll pull up a chair, grab some coffee and visit awhile.
There was a time that all I wanted in the world was a little farm where I could raise my family and grow our food. Now, that is exactly what exists outside my door. In watching it unfold, a new dream was formed in my heart – to share this beautiful life with others and teach them the lessons we’ve learned along the way. Welcome to our journey, friend. I am so glad you’re here.
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WHERE TO FIND US (Some of the links here are affiliate links. If you purchase through our links we’ll receive a small commission but the price remains the same – OR BETTER – for you! Be sure to check for any mentioned discount codes.)
– Our Website: https://rootsandrefuge.com
– Sign up for our newsletter: https://rootsandrefuge.com/yt-signup
– Join our Patreon to get early access to podcasts and other information, plus monthly LIVES with me and Miah: https://patreon.com/rootsandrefuge
– Abundance+ (Grab a FREE 7-day trial): https://rootsandrefuge.com/yt-wilder-still
– Shop our Stickers & Shirts: https://rootsandrefuge.com/yt-shop
– Order my first book, “First Time Gardener”: https://rootsandrefuge.com/yt-ftgbook
– Order my second book, “First Time Homesteader”: https://rootsandrefuge.com/first-time-homesteader-yt
– Instagram: www.instagram.com/roots_and_refuge
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rootsandrefugefarm
– Email Us: rootsandrefuge@yahoo.com
– To drop us a line:
PO Box 4239
Leesville SC 29070
– To have a gift sent to our house from our Amazon wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/SFA0IZHZRCOZ?ref_=wl_share
– To support us through PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jessicasowards
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PRODUCTS WE LOVE – You’ve probably heard me talk about these things a million times, so here’s where you can order them (and get a discount with my code!):
– Greenstalk Vertical Gardens (Use code “ROOTS10” for $10 off your order): https://rootsandrefuge.com/yt-greenstalk
– Squizito Tasting Room (Use code “ROOTS” for 10% off your order): https://rootsandrefuge.com/yt-squizito
– ButcherBox: https://rootsandrefuge.com/butcherbox
– Growers Solution: https://rootsandrefuge.com/growers-solution
– Neptune’s Harvest Fertilizer: https://rootsandrefuge.com/neptunes-harvest-fertilizer
#rootsandrefuge
41 Comments
We have a Quadra-Fire wood stove and really use it to heat our home. I think it does a really great job. It sits in our basement and heats each floor of our home to different temperatures, of course. The second story of our house is the least heated but the main floor is definitely as warm as we want it to be and our basement floor which is a family room and office space is often warmer than it needs to be. Basically, the size of the box controls how much wood you can put inside, which mostly should determine length of burn times. Other features should allow you to control how hot it burns. So for size, think of length of time. We are in PA and typically keep it burning 24 7 in the winter months. I hope that helped.
I would do a fireplace insert not a open fireplace you lose so much heat. We have a freedom bay that has a blower.
Here's another vote for Soapstone. We used a wood burning soapstone stove to heat our home when we were first married. It radiates heat and is wonderful as a function and beautiful aesthetically.
I have a concern. While cold sores cannot turn into cancer, lip cancer sometimes resembles a cold sore. Please don't panic everyone. I mention this out of concern and an experience. Long story short, my father in law had what looked like a cold sore on his lip that would come and go. The doctor kept dismissing it as a cold sore. He would still be with us today if the doctor had just taken a skin sample for biopsy. It turned out to be squamous cell carcinoma and an unusually aggressive one at that. Most are not aggressive so if you have had lots of sun exposure, please consider getting a little skin sample off to biopsy, just in case. This comes from the heart. ❤
Wish I could help but they put a wood stove in our house and we were stopped from ever using it and not sure why. Oh well we are in the desert and it is usually hot. ❤️
So funny, I just thought you bit your lip 😂
Modern homestead Alaska talks a lot about her cook stove that she
uses. Her husband and family built their house. As far as a wood stove you can’t go wrong with a blaze king. I’m so happy for you and your family getting to build your forever home. 💚
One thing about cold sores in a house too is being careful not to share drinking glasses and different things with others.
Thanks Jess
Carolyn from Homesteading Family has a wood cook stove and I think she would be a really good resource. They are in Idaho which is obviously totally different climate, but really think she would have some good advice.
What about solar cookers, you have the sun…. i mean for emergencies too… A solar hot water heater would change your bill if you can. But then I remember my Gram and her wood stove that had a couple of pipes that ran the water behind the stove to heat it while she cooked. It was lovely and had four burners and 2 ovens and shelves up above, around the stove pipe, to heat stuff. It was small too, yellow enamel in parts. Love your Family. Take care of yourself sweetheart.
Living Traditions has a woodstove for heat, and they love it. They also have a propane furnace because they live in Missouri and sometimes it gets really cold in the winter. That makes a good backup if you travel in the winter and can keep the house warmish (when we travel, we hold our temp at 65)
Wilted spinach salad is good as a main course. Homemade croutons, 7 min eggs, bacon and a good Parmesan cheese. There are lots of recipes for the sweet and sour vinegar dressing that you top it with.
I have no woodstove experience, but am planning to get one this year. We have settled on the Magnum wood cook stove with the soapstone option, as we want it to function as a wood burner that will comfortably heat our house, and a stove. I'd like to also set up a hot water tank for it, but that's for later down the road. I would think if you wanted a stove that was large and had a lot of burners, then you would want to set up an outdoor kitchen. My family is small, but a formerly Amish neighbor of ours with 10 children tells us that he prefers an outdoor cookstove so the house doesn't get stiflingly hot when cooking for his big family. We also live in the US South, so I imagine our temperatures are similar to yours.
We had a Fischer wood stove for many years. One thing to consider is our stove was sitting on a raised brick hearth which was a trip hazard. Having it level with the floor would be better. This was a stove that provided heat to our 1800 sq foot home on two levels. We still had a propane furnace.
Do both! Have an outdoor kitchen with a small wood stove. Have a big woodstove in your regular kitchen that can heat your house.
Do you have mistletoe in some of your trees?
I feel ya with the whole mouth sore thing. It's good yours are off to the side. I worked for a stockbrokerage firm as receptionist and would get fever blisters smack in the center of my bottom lip, the part that stretches the most. One day as I smiled and greeting one of our clients my lip solution open sending blood down my chin. I couldn't feel it so had no idea until the client alerted me I was bleeding. I about died, but was so thankful he let me know.
I wish I had some wisdom for you regarding your question. Praying you'll find the answer you need.
What essential oils do you use for your lips? My husband gets cold sores too
Check out Walker Farm Fam for his double door fireplace/woodstove. You can fill from the outside and save all the mess from getting in the house. I really like that option.
You are a natural beauty and you don’t even need makeup. I look dead without it, but you, my dear don’t need it. Hugs Jess❤
Your seeds are looking more chaotic now. 🌼
I was wondering why you wanted a wood cook stove. Thanks for explaining that. The thing to remember with both those stoves is that although there are only two burners above the fire box, the whole surface is a burner. The two above the fire box are simply "Hi" burners and as you move away, they cool down to low. I feel that both of the stoves you mentioned will work although neither has the water warmer from what I seen on the articles I looked at. Personally, with both being very similar, I have to say I like the Milly more just because it looks more "traditional". I have a friend and content creator who uses an Elmira Oval in her log home and cooks for her very large family on it. She loves it! As for the living room one, Although the soapstone may be efficient and preferred, it heats the space the slowest and stays warmest the longest – do you really want it to take its time about heating a room and then pushing out heat for 16 ish hours? Cast will heat faster and be cool by morning. But with both of these, the fire box on them are welded unlike a steel stove which is formed. And although the steel stove may not retain heat well, it will heat a room the fastest and I dare say the stove will last the longest. The other thing to consider is that with the cast and steel you can put a pot on the stove to act like a slow cooker. And honestly, the cost savings are worth considering because you can put the savings to other things in your home. And for me, based on the amount you will use it, I would suggest the steel.. with a nice mantle and platform. At least, that is what I will be putting in when my Valley Comfort wood stove bites the bullet. Sorry for the long winded comment. Take care of yourself. Thanks for sharing the process.
We have had a Pioneer Princess for years & love it. It heats our house & we cook on it. It has an oven & a water tank (don’t use the water tank). Great cook stove!
Venison for dinner recently put in a wood cook stove that looks beautiful and very functional. She has a video on YT about it. It looks great. Big family but in cold Canada.
We have a block-building tiny house that we use as a summer kitchen. That way we don't heat up the main farmhouse as much during our coastal Florida summers! We have a wood stove in there as well that has a cook top in case of emergencies like hurricanes etc where we could lose power. We have a massive Lodge cast dutch oven that can be used to bake biscuits pies, cakes, etc in a pinch.
Jess I used to have them all the time and that is the truth. I started taking zinc 50 mg. and D3 and they totally stopped and I haven't had any since. That's been a couple years now. I kept them and they do hurt!
Try Lysine supplement for the cold sores. This worked for me. Love your smile and your authentic self. By the way, I refer to you as “ My friend” and joke to my husband about this. You have been such a blessing even though we have never met. Keep being your authentic self!
I never have to worry about farm animal multiplication. All my babies DIE!!! I haven't had a lamb make it to 1 year old in 3 years. I raised a bottle baby 2022 and it was laying in the field dead on morning at around 8 months old. Raised another bottle baby last year and found her dead 2 days ago.. Absolutely no sign of illness or injury; just DEAD. All the other lambs that were born, died in less than a week, most the day they were born. 3 years, 12 dead lambs.
L-lysine, Jess. Suffered with horrifying cold sores that would spread from nose to chin since childhood. Triggers were stress, drying winds, and bubblegum. Chiropractor recommended L-lysine for shingles, which are related (all forms of herpes). It cured my cold sores. It prevents replication of the virus, which shortens the duration and severity by leaps and bounds. Local health food store, Vitacost, Vitamin Shoppe, Life Extension. Best to you!
It gives me soooo much pure JOY watching yall make your dreams come true!! It's very reassuring to me that I can as well. As always THANK YOU for being you and sharing your life and thoughts with us. It's very appreciated. ❤
We have never bought a woodstove, but we have bought three homes that already had them. We used all three extensively in the winter months. The one we have currently is by far our favorite. It’s a Kuma freestanding stove. It is very responsive—easy to get a low, slow burn for overnight heating—and has a built-in fan that helps circulate heat throughout our living area.
We suggest dimmer dial on the light switches in the main area. An extra light switch over your head in bedroom. A water tap over your stove and insulation (noise) in your internal walls (between toilet and bedroom walls/media walls). God bless
DoTerra tea tree oil for the cold sore!
Jess when you feel a cold sore coming on start taking high doses of L-Lysine 1000mg. Start with three a day it drys them up from the inside out. My husband use to get them all the time Dr. told hm to us this and it works he rarely get one anymore your lacking this amino in your body. Good luck i have never had one knock on wood.
Catching Up With the Walkers and The WalkerFarmFam YT channels have a wood stove for those who have allergies that heats the house that you load from the outside so no fumes are inside.But I would think if you have put smaller ones through out the house it should be ok!
Unless you’re going to cook on it all the time I’d choose the La Nordica Milly.
Its good to try to decide on the stoves before the build, because you can look at space, choose non combustables to decrease clearances and choose a stove with heat shields etc., but you also need to find out ahead and plan for access to clean outs and other maintenance. Even if can't make a final decision, maybe you can pick a few and make sure you have adequate space for those , and then have more time to decide.
Our Woodstock is in he basement and the heat goes through the duct work. It's nice bc it doesn't cook you out of house and home and keeps the mess in the basement. Then I'd do a fireplace in the living room for the prettiness of it
You are beautiful no matter how you feel about yourself.
Three years ago, we bought a house that has a central fireplace with the tiniest little firebox I've ever seen. We basically had one choice for a wood-burning insert stove with a fan unless we wanted to dismantle and rebuild the fireplace. It was about 4K to purchase and install, and I was initially worried it wouldn't be able to heat our downstairs. Boy, was I wrong. We live in the frozen north (on a mountain), and it is very nearly the only heat we use all winter long. The rocks heat up and just radiate heat, and the fan is great at keeping things circulating. So, if you don't intend to have a lot of rocks around your stove and don't use a fan, in my experience, you wouldn't get nearly as much heat from it. But I don't think the size of the stove itself is as critical. I've vacationed in a house with an enormous fireplace that produced almost no heat out into the room.