HoundsGood: Chronicles of a Virtual Volunteer

Where has the summer gone? The last few weekends, it was an unbearable 95 degrees. This weekend, I was wearing a sweater. Often, it is not the actual temperature that is cold. “On paper” it is quite temperate. It is the sudden drop that our bodies react to. What really was nice this summer was having a nice fire going. Something like the Sojoe Fire Pit would keep things a bit more user friendly and off the ground. For the first part of the summer, we just dug a hole. That worked okay for awhile, but it tended to entice the kids to get close to it. The next time, it was not much better. We just put a ring of metal in the ground. That contained it from spreading to the grass, but was a bit unsightly.

The reason why I was looking at Sojoe Fire Pits primarily had to do with safety and portability. Sure, you wouldn’t want to be lugging a 65 lb fire pit around on your back, but you could relocate it easily at the end of the season. It is meant to develop a rich patina from the flames and the elements, and includes a cover, but you may want to make way for snowmen in the winter. It would require no digging up of leftover logs or ashes. You also wouldn’t have that telltale spot in the yard where grass doesn’t grow. Conventional farmer wisdom says that the ashes actually fertilize the grass because of the potassium content in burned wood. However, it does not always help if there is no grass to be found. The other factor is if the soil has a high alkaline content, it will actually do more harm than good and burn the grass.  You can recycle the ashes by studying which flowers and veggies prefer the potassium.  Roses could be one of them, as they say they enjoy a banana peal buried near their roots every now and again.

While the Sojoe Fire Pit is beautiful to look at, and you can order it with a variety of design motifs. The cut outs of cranes, moons and stars, wildlife, or kokopelli are not only decorative elements, but also serve to increase the ventilation. The fire keeps going by itself.  You can use a poker, but you don’t have to stoke it nearly as much as with a completely closed unit.

The fire pit comes with a poker, vinyl cover, and a fire screen.  Even with that, ground shipping is included in the price by Outdora.com.   I always am frustrated looking at larger items online, knowing that shipping would be an arm and a leg.  This was definitely a welcomed surprise.

Chimneas and fire pits are a great way to share good times with friends, and stay warm on those unexpectedly cold nights.   What have you done this summer to stay warm?

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