Thankfully, it wasn’t too windy, and I was able to get a fire going to do some charring.
Not until after dragging the hose over, raking around the fire pit and hosing down the bricks surrounding it, half of which were hidden under ash and soil.
I’ve decided on a use for all those rocks I’ve been pulling out of the garden bed. I’m going to pull the glazed bricks around the fire pit, that get super slippery, and replace them with rocks.
But not for a while, yet.
There wasn’t a lot of wind, but there was some, and it kept changing directions! I was constantly having to shift around while I worked. I started off by charring the sharpened tips, trying to char as close to half of the stakes in the process. I was not particularly successful with getting them half done. It was just too hot, though it was at least a bit easier with the longer stakes.
In the second picture, they have all had their sharpened ends charred.
Before doing the blunt ends, I wiped down all the charred ends with a rag to get the loose ash and soot off, which you can see in the next image. I hosed down the rag to get the soot off, then used it to hold the charred ends and protect my hand from heat while charring the blunt ends.
Once I got them all completely charred, I wiped them down again with the damp rag. In the next image, all the longer ones were done, and I was starting on the shorter ones.
By this point, the fire had mostly burned down, but still had a ways to go, so I broke up the bigger pieces and set things to burn down faster. Since I’d used a damp rag to wipe down the stakes, I set them all on the grill and swung it above the fire, so they could dry out, which you can see in the last image. I spent the next while tending the coals and shifting the grill back and forth, so nothing would get hot enough to catch fire – while also watering the nearby flower bed, in between tending the fire and the stakes. Earlier, I’d raked away most of the dead material over the lilies, so the emerging leaves can get more light. They had been completely smothered and hidden by last year’s growth.
Eventually, things burned down enough that I used the hose to put it out. The stakes are now near the garden bed they will be used for. I’m hoping to be able to do this again, once I gather enough stakes for the other side and the ends of the garden bed. I’ll do that after I’ve built up the wall against the chain link fence. That will give me an idea of how much more material I need to gather for the other walls, or if I even have enough to do the back wall.
Whether or not I can char any other stakes will depend on how windy things are, and if any fire bans on open fires kick in. At this point, there are no fire bans of any kind listed on the municipal website, so that’s good news. Usually, there is at least a partial fire ban, on controlled burns, by now.
So that is progress so far. Since I’ll be heading to the city tomorrow, I am not likely to be able to work on the garden bed again until Tuesday.
By which point, I should have my new walker handy while I work!
I’m so looking forward to that thing. 😁
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 