Well here we are just about March - some of ya all will be hitting shoulder season if not already be a couple or more weeks here yet. 60 gallons of ash shoveled out of the NC30 since last fall , less than a a third of a cord of Hickory left - negative temps next couple nights with a slight warm up for the weekend. Not out of wood just everything else is jumbled together from Silver Maple- on up the BTU scale so its pick and choose for the temps expected on a semi daily basis.
Maybe oak, poplar, & pear produces more ash, which is what I've burned between SS and the extreme cold this year, but I'm nearly full on my second 45 gal can. This doesn't include spreading ash on the driveway either.
My 30 gallon can is almost full. I dumped a few buckets down by the drainage ditch where the culvert pipe goes under the road, just to see if it would wash away. It didn't, despite thousands of gallons of water washing over it. Ashes are strange that way. We should be back to burning 2 loads a day by next Wednesday and sitting out on the patio by the propane heater. I'm ready for it.
I have no idea how much I've gotten, most of it's on my driveway to deal with all of the snow and ice.
I give my ashes to a neighbor who has quite a few chickens. They love to dust in the ashes during the winter months. Also dump some ash on icy spots in the driveway.
Probably around 30 gallons here also. I spread mine after they cool though. Put the ashes in all my gardens................ vegetable and flower and rose gardens. I spread them right over the snow, so incase there's still a hot one, it goes out quickly.
I just cleaned out my 30 gallon ash pail and spread it on my driveway to help with the ice this past weekend.
I don't save any ashes , snow on the ground, they go from the stove to the woods , no snow , they stay in the bucket a couple days then to the woods
I'll be topping off the second filling of the 30gal can tomorrow morning. Hoping to not fill it a third time!
I'm not entirely sure I'd be doing that, i could be wrong but i think dnr may or may not throw a fit if they ever found out. I'm not sure I'm just thinking that sounds like something someone might not like
I've been using mine for the BBQ for several years but when my new DIY hobby smelter comes together I plan on using some for it as well
Works great for buffering the soil if you have lots of conifers near your garden. I have neighbors lined up to get ashes from me.
Yup. Ashes are just one of the things we have to take care of when burning wood, but for most folks it is not a problem. We usually dump on vegetable gardens just before tilling or else we take them in back and spread on food plots. I've gone out on a limb by saying tonight will be our last below zero night for this year. Hope it comes to pass too.
I keep a 30 gallon lidded galvanized metal can outside at NE corner of house next to driveway.When it gets within a couple inches from being full about half (after its cold of course) is shoveled into a 50lb cat litter or bird seed bag then that's set inside the trash cart to be hauled away. Monday 2/23 I removed about half,last time before that was 1 month ago when half of previous amount that I dumped in dumpster that neighbor had rented before he moved.All that work I did for him cleaning out his garage & backyard full of brush,old sheetrock etc I knew he wouldn't care. Guessing I've disposed of close to 50 gallons worth so far since early November.I keep a little in the can in case driveway has some slick spots. One thing I've noticed is that old ugly dead mostly red/white oak with a little hickory & mulberry I've been burning for the past 3 weeks leaves less ashes than the 1-2 yr old Silver Maple,Green Ash etc that gets burned when its warmer.Its like a real fine powder.
Out here I can't use ash on my garden because of our alkaline soil. Have any of you had issues frying your ground by over applications of ash? Fortunately I can get rid of my 60-70 gallons of ash on a farmer friends rock piles out in his pasture, just have to wait for May to make it out to them n not get stucked.
I've already emptied my 30 gal can once. I just take it out to the yard and spread it in the grass. Did this last year and my grass was noticeably greener and thicker come summer in that area. I'll probably fill up the can with another 30 gallons by the end of the burning season.
