My First Time Burning Weeds

We've been fighting the weeds in our "yard" for awhile.  We spend over $100.00 on weed killers and I personally would take a shovel to clear them away, but there were too many of them and too few of me.  My neighbor felt bad for me because she could see how much I hated them.  After the weeds in our front yard died off, I told the neighbor boys to ride their 4-wheeler all they wanted over the dead brush- they took that one step further and tied a metal grate to the back of the 4 wheeler and dragged my front yard until it was clear.  Bless them.

The backyard was another story.  The weeds drank that weed-poisen like it was kool-aid and settled in deeper.  We lost that battle when we left for a few weeks in the summer. Other than the small path I had cleared to and around our little garden, all you could see was weeds (and who knows what the heck could be hiding in brush that thick?  I wasn't going to be the one to find out!).

Then came Fall.  That's right, the fall of the weed-empire.  Their thick green stems turned crispy brown and I took courage.  One coolish day in November, I took my rake and shovel and headed for the back yard.  The weeds pulled out of the ground easily.  So, I began to make piles of dead weeds, with the intention of putting the pile into my garbage can.  The neighbor boys saw I was up to something, and came over to whack at some weeds too.  Well, the pile grew until it was in no way manageable and I was stuck.  I semi-hoped the wind would blow like crazy at night and take the weeds into the empty lots next to us.  No such luck. And I was tired.

Then my neighbor tells me that we should burn our weeds (my gigantor piles and her measly sprigs).  Of course I loved the idea.  I called the county and they told me I'd have to get approval to burn from the fire marshall.  I called the fire marshall and he was out of town for a week.  I told my neighbor the bad news.  The next day I hear Amara say, "There's a fire out there."  I look and there's my neighbor burning weeds.  I grabbed my rake and ran to help her.  She told me that her coworkers said that it's okay to burn and they just did it a few days ago without permission.  I figured that's good enough for me, and I began adding weeds to her pile.  Soon we were in the weed burning business.  We burned from 1-4, then Steve got home and we finished the fires from 4-5:30.  That fire consumed those weeds so fast!  I had a great time watching those manacing-money-eaters burn!  

 Above is the Before.  Below is the After.

Another after shot...

Another before and after...

Watching from inside...

And more burning into the night

Whew!  Strangely enough, I felt like this fire was a rite of passage for me.  I now feel more a part of this rural community.