Originally Posted by
cricket_iscute
Carrie, if there ever is a time when there is no electricity for an extended time, you will be the one laughing at them if you have this machine and your food supplies. I'd say go for it! I went without electricity and heat a week due to a bad storm several years ago, and that experience makes this machine look all the more attractive. I did use my Singer 127 treadle a lot during that time, and sewed by the light from the window.
I had been lobbying unsuccessfully for a wood cookstove (Grandma taught me to cook on hers) or at least a wood heat stove on which to do minimal cooking, and being in the cold all that time let me know I was right. Hubby doesn't think so, though. Hmmmmmm..... Any advice?
Cricket
I agree with getting a wood stove. I convinced a friend of mine that it should be on her list of must have items because of where she lives and realistic "apocalypse" scenarios. Back when government shut down, her mother was in a panic and insisted we all needed to buy guns. I am not against guns but in a situation of power outages and food shortages, a gun won't help. She now owns a generator.
I am in an apartment so a wood stove isn't an option but i would love one. I could easily adapt to a pioneer woman type life. I wouldn't be happy at first but i wouldn't be miserable either. I once lived in a house with a morning glory heatrola. No furnace. We had to load coal into it by hand every few hours and it almost always went out while we slept. I wouldn't mind going back to that. In the end it was less expensive than other forms of heat and it didn't require electricity of any kind. When there were blackouts from ice and rain, we were still warm. I couldn't cook on top of it but it was sure nice for drying laundry and making the bread rise.
If there's a massive power outage here, i have an old singer 31-19. Its mounted to a table with electric but i joke that i will make my youngest daughter stand there and turn the wheel for me since it doesn't have a hand crank
