Burn, Baby, Burn!

As one of our astute blog readers recently pointed out (we have readers!), there are some definite benefits to having all of the leaves fall off of the trees at the same time: you only have to rake once! We spent Sunday working outside, raking leaves and planting bulbs for spring.

But with that many leaves, what to do with them? The following exchange is entirely fictional:

City boy:  So where do people around here take their yard waste?
Local:  Yard waste? You mean them there leaves and sticks and stuff?
CB:  Yeah - does the county take them to convert them to mulch or something like that?
L:  The county? Why would you give it to them? Are you some kinda big-government Democrat or somethin'? If ya want, I can bring over my wood-chipper and we can shred 'em; or throw 'em out back with the voles; but if you really wanna have fun, just burn it!

When we first moved to the area, I was a bit confused by all of the "Burn Ban" signs we saw. They were everywhere, and that's all they said. People in a city wouldn't dream of burning their yard waste; and if they did, their neighbors would call 911. But out here in the country, that seems to be one of the primary modes of disposal for yard waste out here. You don't even need a permit of any sort. As long as a "burn ban" isn't in effect - primarily enacted during the dry summer months - just burn away!

So after the raking was done (or almost done), I built my first burn pile. It took a bit to get the hang of it, but once I did, we were smokin'. Literally.


Burn, Baby, Burn! These burned for about 7-8 hours; in the end, two had to be put out before they had run out of fuel. And there are still three large piles of leaves on the other end of the yard, just waiting for a match.

On a related note: Betsy and Lane, aka "the landlords" (who are really great), stopped by on Saturday to drop off our new propane heating stove. This stove replaces the old wood-burning stove that they removed shortly after we moved in. The propane stove will, as they put it, "keep out the bugs and snakes that came in with the wood." It will be another week or so before it is installed, and we can't wait! It's getting cold!

- Mike (& Corinne)