My neighbor brought this home for me earlier this year. I was tired of the unsightly piles of charred wood scattered throughout my back yard and decided it was time to beautify it and go old school in the burning shit department.
I drilled 1/2″ diameter holes all around with a step bit in my DeWalt corded drill. There’s one in the bottom for drainage and three placed vertically at every quarter point around the perimeter to allow for air flow. The result is what you see here. I only started using it yesterday and I must say, it works pretty darned good.
As you can see in the background, I have quite a collection of yard debris to torch. What you see on the right hand side is the pile of saplings I cut down to make room for my shed (I recessed it in a pocket at the edge of the woods). On the left side is the stuff from the front yard I threw over the fence to add to the party. I’ve got a ways to go. We burned yesterday and today and have barely made a dent.
I’m on the lookout for a cheap metal garbage can with a lid so I can store the ashes. When the soil gets too acidic I will use it to even out the PH. It also works great for tomatoes – just drop about a quarter cup full in the bottom of the hole before you plant. And I can use it to make soap – which I will be trying … at some point. Oh yeah, and I’ll be sprinkling it around the perimeters of my planter boxes to keep the slugs and snails out.
I want to go get some cinder blocks and build a level base for it. The barrel will actually sit on some fire bricks though, so it’s suspended above the cinder blocks to keep the heat from cracking them. That will probably get done after the planter boxes get finished.
And speaking of planter boxes, one of the businesses in the building I work in threw out a bunch of tubs that looked like they were made of fiberglass or some kind of thick plastic. I’m going to go check them out tomorrow. If they’ll work for me, all I’ll have to do is sink them into the ground and fill them with soil.
We shall see!
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