True, some of that gets to just lie there and break down into mulch, but an awful lot of it - especially anything within a hundred yards/metres of the house - has to be disposed of one way or another before the next bushfire season.
Especially my arch nemesis the bloody Coffee Bush.
Mind you ... even though I had done a lot of pre-purchase research, I still bought a block that hadn't been adequately cleared for about a decade, and moved in on the first day of Summer.
Not the best of timing because I learned very quickly that one doesn't go blundering around in knee-high vegetation in snake season
... not unless one has a death wish... or is very very stupid
... or doesn't think they need to listen to the veteran bushie living next door
I've been playing catchup in autumn / winter pretty much ever since.
It will possibly not have escaped the attention of longtime blog readers that, just prior to LAST bushfire season, I had multiple major surgeries and a slowish recuperation
so basically I'm almost a year behind in the grand plan
but this is okay
I rarely need an excuse for a good bonfiring [ in the proper season of course ]My inner pyromaniac has been having a wonderful couple of weeks
My back not so much, but I figure that's what industrial strength pain killers were invented for, right?Rosie is helping
so is Bear
the cats are - of course - above such menial tasks and have opted for a supervisory role from the back of the couch
Two helpers out of 8 - could be better, but that is a very content looking goat and Bear looks very eager to please. No doubt the cats will show their appreciation for your wood gathering skills by taking the best spots in front of the fireplace.
ReplyDeleteIs your email address the same?
ReplyDeleteIt's against the law here to burn lawn debris. I remember the smell of burning twigs and leaves when I was a kid. I loved it. Now, we have to bag it all up after composting what we can.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised the animals aren't more afraid of the fire.
4 words Donna Lee :]
ReplyDelete... bush ... fire ... fuel ... reduction
[ and yes burning off - in town/city environments - has been long illegal and for good reason, but I'm very definitely not in town ]
So living in the country is not so "quiet and peaceful" and "fun" as the Playschool song says?
ReplyDeleteahhh Lynnie I've obviously given you the wrong impression -'t'is very quiet - except for birdsong and goat chorus - and peaceful, and LOTS of fun, if you're not afraid of hard yakka [ albeit sometimes a bit lonely.
ReplyDeleteBeen there, done that, including getting up in the middle of a winter's night, sub-zero temperatures, to give the pile a rake around so it continued to burn all the detritus as you called it.
ReplyDeleteHave also done burning off up the mountain side at the back of the house. Layers of sandstone which caught all the leaves, then another layer 10 metres up, and so on to top.
Have also fought a fire on the main property which threatened the smaller properties. CFA volunteers have my wholehearted admiration for fighting fires which in comparison are massive in their size and strength. This one was lit buy the secretary of the local bushfire brigade one late autumn morning. He did not take into account the unseasonal warmth of the day, not the forecast strong hot northerly which developed later. It got away.
Donna Lee: no burning off in most major cities here either. This is not burning lawn debris. This is clearing fuel for a fire in summer which could very easily destroy not only a house but a district.
Take care Mother Bear...
ReplyDeleteWatch that back.
Oh that there were teenagers in this world who would work for pocket money....
Yeah....tis a joke.