Burning Off

You may have heard about the horrific bush fires happening over the past few days in New South Wales. The heat and winds have stirred up a nightmare up there - and we watch the news with the understanding that it's only mid-spring - summer is yet to come.

It's time for people in our area to prepare for summer - and the bushfire season.  That means getting rid of any dead, dried material, the stuff the Country Fire Authority (CFA) refers to as "fuel".

An enormous amount of material falls from the trees here over the winter. Leaves, bark, branches and twigs litter the ground - so much that in places where the ground is sloping, it can be a little hazardous walking if the debris isn't raked aside. There's also a fair number of tree fern fronds which have dried up and broken off - all in all, our property is something of a mess by the time winter has come to an end.

It's been quite some time since burning off has been permitted this spring, but we just somehow never managed to get to it. On the days when it was convenient for us to do it, it would rain, or would have just rained recently, making the material we want to get rid of damp.  But last weekend it all came good.  It was nice on Friday and Saturday as well - the piles of branches and whatnot that Stephen had collected here and there around the yard were quite dry.  There was a little bit of wind, but not much, really, and so conditions were perfect.

We got up, had breakfast and headed out right away.  The weather bureau was predicting a high in the mid-20's, so we wanted to get as much done as possible when it was cool.

One of the problems with burning off is the smoke that is generated. But the material we were working with was so dry that it burned fast, hot and clean - very little smoke. Had you driven by our place it's unlikely you would have known what we were doing. Most of the time there was no smoke at all.

So we've made a start. There's still a lot yet to do, but we put a serious dent in it.