Scribblings from a twenty-year homeschool veteran about homeschooling, life after homeschooling, occasional peeks into the world of writing for children, and the ups and downs of life in general.
Oh, boy! Another fun meme from Mary! Click the graphic to glean hints to save time and money.
I posted this entry over on Homesteadblogger a couple months ago, but for those of you who have never seen it, this is one of my favorite offerings from The Tightwad Gazette. I was always so frustrated trying to start an outside trash fire or a fire in the wood burner--blowing, threatening to toss gasoline on it, and so on, so here is something that really works to start fires.
Are you tired of saving all those newspapers for fire starters? Tired of scrounging up bundles and bundles of cedar kindling to get that early morning winter fire going? Well, here is a sure-fire way to get a roaring fire going in no time at all. Pine Cone Fire Starters!
First you need some nice, large pine cones (we use Ponderosa pine cones). We collect them when they are nice and dry. Make SURE they are completely dry or this will not work.
Then you need some parraffin and...
...and an old, large (large enough to dip the pine cone in) coffee can. Break up the parraffin and put it in the can.
You need a heat source...something to melt the wax.
When the wax is melted, you dip the pine cones in the melted wax, lightly coating them. Then lay them aside to dry. Once dry, we keep them piled in a box next to the wood burning stove.
How to start a fire with pine cones:
1) Place a couple of pine cones on the bottom of the woodburner
2) Pile 2 or 3 logs on top of the pine cones.
3) Light the pine cone.
4) You're done. Truly...in less than a minute, you've got yourself a REAL fire! No newspaper, no kindling, no BLOWING a dying fire. It works!
Note: These pine cone starters work well to start outside, brush-burning fires also.
