What Are Weeds Good For ?

From my earliest memories I had a fondness for fire and a distaste for weeds.  Despite the obvious solution that combines these two things, it is only recently that I have put two and two together.

Temporary fire pit

In our expansive backyard, we've recently uncovered an area where there is no vegetation whatsoever, just dirt.  Although not perfectly flat, I leveled the area reasonably well and created a small, temporary fire pit.  I am sure a more permanent one will be constructed, but for now this little test refinery will work just fine.

Josh and Ben
enjoying the fire

When fully dried out, weeds are not only an excellent fire starter source, but they also burn quickly and very hot.  So over the past year or so, I've accumulated a few piles of weeds in corners of our backyard, and they have dried out entirely.  This past week, after a good afternoon rainstorm that saturated the surrounding grounds, I proceeded to kill two birds with one stone: weed piles gone and pyromaniac tendencies satiated.

coals from the fire

My oldest sons helped me manage the fire (as much as I love playing with fire, I'm actually VERY careful with it and respect that it has a mind of it's own).  The boys got some great pictures of the glowing coals for background photos on their iDevices too.


Song Of The Day:
Not only is "Burn" by Ellie Goulding a great new song, but it fits perfectly with today's post.  Our WiFi stretches out to the fire pit area and this song came on my Songza app while we were tending the flames.  My eyes lighted up as she sang "cause we got that fire, fire, fire ... and we're gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn gonna let it burn, burn, burn."  I'm confident my boys enjoyed it too!  :)

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