2 matches and a scrap of paper later...

Let me just preface this post by saying that we live in a swamp where nothing ever burns. The few times I've tried to set brush fires, it's taken forever to burn even the slightest portion of the pile. So one day last week I decided to take advantage of the drier than usual weather and see if I couldn't burn a little more off that pile that's been collecting for several years now.
About 2 minutes into the burn I decided it was going well enough that perhaps I did need a way to put the flames down just in case... by the time I called the kids to bring out a few buckets and the hose not only had the entire 6 foot wide pile gone up in a puff, but also 10 feet of surrounding underbrush had gone up with it. Eek.
Fortunately we managed to get everything under control before it got too wild and scary. Nothing we cared about got burned, infact the wildflowers and raspberries and all of our grass that were growing inches from the front edge of the flames survived the heat just fine. The kids even had a great time playing fireman.

So if you take a tour of my garden, please excuse the 10 x 10 black scar of charred wood and blackened soil that is rather noticable, even if it is tucked into the back corner...

And while your at it, please do not tell the local fire department (or my dad!) about our little mishap. If they knew, they would surely give me a really hard time for not having the water handy before I started the blaze. The last thing I need is to have my fire safety merrit badge taken away.

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