Celebrate Valentine's Day with these simple gift ideas from our Hillsville Store (and spread the word that we're hiring)

Heart Cookie Cutters $2.99 Each | Tin Heart Cookie Cutter Set $4.39

 

Tin Heart Cookie Cutter Set $4.39 | Cupcake Carousel $25 | Nancy's Fudge Squares .99 cents each

   

Chocolate Rocks $2.59 | Jelly Beans $5.49 / lb

  

Goat's Milk Soap $3.99 and Lotions $10.50
   

Apple Butter $4.99 | Sugar Free Apple Butter $5.99 | Long-Stem Strike-on-box Matches $2.99

Do you know how to start a fire in a Woodstove? Long-stem matches are perfect for starting fires in wood burning stoves. Open the stove pipe damper before starting a fire. If the fire burns too slowly, the draft levers should be opened wider. Adjusting the draft with the damper and adding frequent but small amounts of wood make an even burning and continuous fire. Watching the temperature gauge on a Magnetic Stove Thermometer attached to stovepipe shows you how much heat your furnace is producing.

We're hiring web developers in Hillsville, Virginia to join our team.
Click http://www.redhillgeneralstore.com/joinus.htm for job descriptions and how to apply.

How can you make affordable energy efficiency improvements in your home? Check out this Energy Savings Action Center to discover an interactive map of energy efficiency programs and incentives in Appalachia. There is incredible potential in our region for residential energy savings, which will keep more money in our communities, create thousands of new jobs, and build a flourishing energy services sector in Appalachia. 

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We Just Couldn't Do It...

By now most of you have taken down your Christmas Tree and some of you are in the process or getting ready to take it down, and put away all those wonderful Christmas decorations.  But we just couldn't do it, the tree looks so pretty and green (it's artificial so it'll stay green for quite some time).  We decided to upcycle our tree into a cozy winter scene:

We have our scene complete with a sled, cardinals, faux snow, and a fauxman (snowman).  But this is only one way a tree can be upcycled/recycled.  There are tons of things you can do with your REAL tree once the decorations are off of it other than have it hauled off to the landfill. (These ideas are not intended for artificial trees)

If there is a lot of snow where you are, consider using your tree to make a bird habitat, once all the decorations, tinsel, etc., is off of your tree, haul it out to your backyard and securely stake it so that it is standing.  Then you can "decorate" the tree by hanging strings of popcorn, fruit, veggie slices, or suet holders.  This provides birds a place to rest with plenty of food nearby, which I'm sure they'll appreciate when there is snow on the ground and they cannot get to their natural feeding spots.  Karma points all around for this one, recycling and helping out mother nature!

Do you have flower beds that will need mulch come spring? (Ah, spring you seem so far away.)  Then you can use a wood chipper and turn your tree into mulch that will help out your flowers.  Hmmm...you already paid for the tree, why not do this and save yourself a little extra cash later this year?

Also you can always trim off those branches to dry out and use for kindling your wood stove.  If the weather goes back to what it was just a couple've weeks ago then this use would definitely come in handy this winter.

Did you upcycle/recycle your tree?  If so what did you do with it?  We are always hungry for more ideas on how to keep things out of the landfills!

Heating Safely...

Got a couple of tips for those of you needing heat this year:

 1.  Do not use any fuel-burning space heater indoors, e.g. gas stove, grill, camp stove, etc. This is very dangerous when these items are left unattended.  Find a family member or friend to stay with instead.  However, if there is no other option due to inclement weather, etc. if you decide to use these heating sources do so with extreme caution.  Use plenty of ventilation, common sense, and turn them off if you feel unsafe at any point.

2. Be sure any furnaces or wood stoves have been inspected regularly and had any problems properly fixed.  Also be sure to inspect the stovepipe on wood stoves regularly, and if any needs replacing know what type of pipe you have whether it is single wall stove pipe, or double wall stove pipe.  Also check your wood stove gasket to be sure it doesn't need replacing before using it each winter.


3. If you do use kerosene heaters make sure you have kerosene heater wicks, heater wicks come in cotton and fiberglass wicks.  Also make sure you have your manual to your kerosene heater or know where to find one online.  Red Hill General Store has several kerosene heater manuals for your use on their kerosene heater questions page.

4.  If a power outage is not expected to last very long, the best place could be to share body heat with family members snuggled up in bed and bundled in coats and warm clothing.

5.  Another tip is for those that have wood stoves, if your power is out for very long you may have to resort to using the wood stove to cook on.  In that case, use proper woodstove cookware and be sure food is cooked thoroughly as you do not want to add food poisoning to a power outage situation.

These are just a few safety tips for keeping warm this winter.  There are many more, and each tip might vary on your particular situation.  Please share other tips, or experiences with using emergency heat in our comments.