Workshops & Events

Dates: January 25 – February 1, 2012

Location: Unity, Maine

Details: Albie Barden, Heater Builder and Co-Owner of Maine Wood Heat Co., will be working on a masonry heater with an upper chamber bake oven, heated bench and brick veneer in Unity, Maine during the last week of January. The project will be structured as a workshop hosted by the homeowner and taught by Albie. Any interested mason (beginner, intermediate or advanced) is welcome to join in. The cost of the workshop ...

We are proud to announce the recent opening and new series of hands-on culinary workshops with Peter Berley, a world-renowned chef and award wining cookbook author, held in the comfort of his own home kitchen in South Jamesport, Long Island. The workshop are based around his Le Panyol model 83, and are limited to 8 students so if you’re interested, check out Peter’s Web site for more information or register online. We’ll be sure to follow Peter and ...

Suffolk Downs saw its share of horsepower a few weeks ago as New England’s leading home and garden professionals arrived at the annual Boston Home Show.

We were invited by, and proud to team up with our partner, Joe Ventriglia of Terrascaping & Construction, an expert in designing and building masonry ovens, fireplaces and custom outdoor living spaces ...

Five years ago, Albie traveled in cold weather to Livingston Manor, New York to build a masonry heater and cookstove for Amy and Wes Gillingham and their children Roan and Iris. The land that Amy and Wes live on is about 100 acres of Hemlock and hardwood forest straddling a long bluestone ridge. Their 1/2 mile long driveway leaves Cattail Road and travels down across gravel and glacially scoured bedrock to an old homestead, remnants of which provided Amy and ...

The Common Ground Country Fair was another fun and successful outing for us here at Maine Wood Heat Co. Having attended the fair each year since it began 34 years ago, we always look forward to seeing the bright medieval flags wave to us as we walk through the gates, the smell of wholesome, fresh food that fills the first breathes we take, ...

John Stacy and Shirl Ireland met me after dark at the Bozeman, Montana airport to drive me to their home in Gardiner, Montana for the recent masonry heater workshop we held there in October of 2010. Getting all the cardinal directions clear in the dark and seeing where we were was difficult because, as usual, I hadn’t carefully studied any maps before this long awaited trip. Driving up the Paradise Valley towards Gardiner we kept a steady lookout for elk ...

Date: October 18th – 29th, 2010
Location: Wilton, ME
Cost: $500.00

Albie Barden, Master Builder and President of Maine Wood Heat Co., will be working on a stone veneer see-through masonry heater at the Cram residence in Wilton, ME during the last two weeks of October, and welcomes any interested mason (beginner, intermediate or advanced) to ...

From seed to loaf…How do we get there from here?

Bakers from all over the country joined together with millers, grain growers, and experts in soil and sustainable farming practices last month for the 2010 Kneading Conference held in Skowhegan, Maine. We were honored to take part, arriving each day as the sun was rising to fire up our Le ...

The countdown begins…

All of us here at Maine Wood Heat Co. are getting “fired up” about this year’s Kneading Conference and Maine Artisan Bread Fair coming up July 29^th – 30^th. The countdown has begun, the schedule is set, the presenter’s are lined up, and the ovens are ready ...

Our old friend of over thirty years, Heikki Hyytiainen, came to Wild Acres this year in Little Switzerland as a speaker and presenter at the annual Masonry Heater Association retreat. Heikki was our first significant contact in Europe who graciously introduced Doug Wood and Albie Barden to the world of Finnish Contraflow heaters in the winter of 1979. In the spring of 1979, ...