Because we heat primarily with wood (our other sources being candles, personal body heat, and inefficient and as yet unused electric baseboard units) our air in the house is pretty dry. The best ways I know of to combat this are (in combination though not necessarily in order of importance) to A) keep a pot of water on top of the wood stove, B) keep house plants abundantly though not over watered, and to C) invite people in to play music or otherwise be engaged in pleasant conversation (human exhalation contributes in a nice way). No problem watering the house plants, and we've got a nice group of fellow musicians who come to play at the Tuesday jam... but the pot on the woodstove hadn't quite been worked out. We put a kitchen pot on, but ended up with some pesky mineral deposits... and were then minus the pot we'd use to cook our dinner.
Some time during the past couple of weeks, Richard was off to do errands in town, and I added to his list "pot for the woodstove". We had received a Gift Card to L.L. Bean's (thanks Greg, Lisa & boys), and I know that they have a nice dish made especially for this purpose. I tried to describe what I wanted, and I'm not sure if I was ever really clear, but it didn't work out that he found ANYTHING suitable. Imagine my surprise and delight to open this "Stovetop Steamer" which is EXACTLY what I wanted! We fill it every day, it quietly puts moisture into the air as the woodstove burns it's cheery flames, and our combination of "best ways" to keep our humidity levels balanced in the winter is now in harmony.
Thank you Jen & Jason for this lovely and practical Christmas gift!
Steamboat Quickstep can be found in the New England Fiddler's Repertoire... also known in some circles as "The Brown Book".
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