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Each year, lots of people in the Cariboo burn their grass. We’d actually love to be able to burn the pasture in front of the house, because it would rejuvenate the field. It would burn up all that trampled down grass and it would clean the field. It would also burn all those willows out there; that would be great. However, we are never willing to take the chance that a big fire might break out and spread up and down the Valley.
So we restrict ourselves to small burns, like this area. We call this the Animal garden, because when we used to have pigs, we would plant this area full of veggies and then we would either harvest them ourselves for the piggies or even just let them in there to get their own dinner. It worked well and the pigs would add manure which would enrich the soil.
No piggies for us this year, and none last year. That means this area is a mess full of tall dead grass and weeds. Since we need to plant veggies in here for the Farmer’s Market, Graham burned off all the grass and weeds. Amazing how quick that stuff will burn.
You can see the pasture in the background. We only burn when the field is flooded, can you see the water?
The Animal garden after burning; it looks a lot better.
More burning…
Graham uses a propane tank attached to a tiger torch, like the one above. Tiger torches are very handy and are one of those tools that every homestead should have on hand.
We always have garden hoses ready when we burn. Sometimes we have to connect 3 or 4 together, depending on how far away the burn area is. Always be prepared, burning can easily get out of hand. While he burns, I stand ready with the hoses and wet down the edges of the area. Since we don’t live in an area served by fire protection, we need to be extremely careful.