Autumn Bonfires

We had a bonfire area that needed resiting, in a space that we wanted to use for tree planting.

It was unsightly, and over time had grown wider and wider. The whole bonfire site had grown to about 5 metres square, and nettles grew all around the edges.

The decision was made to move it to the very end of the meadow. Not so convenient, but as we had begun to recycle as much waste as we could by composting, or logging it up and storing for the wood stove, or shredding for mulch, we had fewer bonfires and the original site had become an eyesore.
In a country garden of these proportions, quite honestly an occasional bonfire of dry garden waste in an out of the way place on a still evening was the only option.

There remained a large heap of wood ash where the old bonfire had been. It had been well rained on and was deposited around the garden as mulch to help lighten up the structure of the heavy clay soil. Any odd bits of wood amongst the ash were carted down to the new bonfire and the whole area raked and levelled for grass seeding and eventual tree planting.

Four old charred oak boughs were used to create a smaller, more compact outline for the new bonfire. Later we made the most of the calm weather and lit it. Slow to start, but with careful tending it soon caught, and as the sun went down was crackling away nicely.

Sitting on wobbly green plastic chairs, listening to the church bells ringing in the distance across the valley. Smoke rising through the ancient beech tree, and away, casting a haze over the big cedar tree two fields away, where the crows nest and bring up generations of their young. When they are grown enough to fly the distance, they bring them back in all their shiny newness to feed on scraps near our house.