Ash disposal?

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gyrfalcon

gyrfalcon

Minister of Fire
Dec 25, 2007
1,836
Champlain Valley, Vermont
OK, what does everybody do with their ashes? Especially folks in the snowy north, where a couple of feet of snow on the ground make tromping out to the edges of your property to dump (cold, of course) ashes in some obscure spot pretty impossible for most of the winter.

I dumped some around my lilac bushes last winter, but paid a price with a pretty ugly mess, especially once the snow melted.
 
I have no idea how often you need to empty your ashes, but go out and buy yourself one of those ash cans with a lid on it. Empty your ashes in that and let it sit outside for at least three days or as long as possible. Then dump them into a non flamable container closer to your house until better weather.
 
gyrfalcon said:
OK, what does everybody do with their ashes? Especially folks in the snowy north, where a couple of feet of snow on the ground make tromping out to the edges of your property to dump (cold, of course) ashes in some obscure spot pretty impossible for most of the winter.

I dumped some around my lilac bushes last winter, but paid a price with a pretty ugly mess, especially once the snow melted.
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I dump my ashes into my hosta garden area right on top of the snow!

The hosta are bigger than ever this year and wont show any mess after they bush out.
 
Most of the time I fling the ashes around our property, 5 acres and slightly acidic soil, so it is a good fertilizer. But in especially snowy and icy times, I have found that ashes are a great thing to spread on the driveway. We have a gravel driveway, tends to ice up in the thawing/freezing cycles. I believe that the ashes have some sort of chemical property to help melt the ice, been too long since I taught chemistry, so I could just be imagining that. In any event, they add traction and the dark color helps the ice melt. So wherever I have spread the ashes on the driveway it is much safer to walk than where I haven't. Probably wouldn't help as much with a blacktop driveway, and might mess up a concrete one, but would still help with traction, being gritty.
 
Some Like It Hot said:
Most of the time I fling the ashes around our property, 5 acres and slightly acidic soil, so it is a good fertilizer. But in especially snowy and icy times, I have found that ashes are a great thing to spread on the driveway. We have a gravel driveway, tends to ice up in the thawing/freezing cycles. I believe that the ashes have some sort of chemical property to help melt the ice, been too long since I taught chemistry, so I could just be imagining that. In any event, they add traction and the dark color helps the ice melt. So wherever I have spread the ashes on the driveway it is much safer to walk than where I haven't. Probably wouldn't help as much with a blacktop driveway, and might mess up a concrete one, but would still help with traction, being gritty.
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I've seen them spread ashes on the roads in South Western PA many times during snowy and icy conditions.
 
Backroads said:
Some Like It Hot said:
Most of the time I fling the ashes around our property, 5 acres and slightly acidic soil, so it is a good fertilizer. But in especially snowy and icy times, I have found that ashes are a great thing to spread on the driveway. We have a gravel driveway, tends to ice up in the thawing/freezing cycles. I believe that the ashes have some sort of chemical property to help melt the ice, been too long since I taught chemistry, so I could just be imagining that. In any event, they add traction and the dark color helps the ice melt. So wherever I have spread the ashes on the driveway it is much safer to walk than where I haven't. Probably wouldn't help as much with a blacktop driveway, and might mess up a concrete one, but would still help with traction, being gritty.
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I've seen them spread ashes on the roads in South Western PA many times during snowy and icy conditions.
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LOL thats not the same thing.. :cheese:
 
I didn't get out and look at them, what's the difference?
 
We throw our wood ashes in the driveway when it's icy...the rest go in the garden. When the snow is too deep the cold ashes go into a 30gal trash barrel.
 
Backroads said:
I didn't get out and look at them, what's the difference?
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I belive they use coal ashes on the road.
 
Our ashes go into the flower garden one garden (our gardens a large and numerous) per cleaning and then the rest goes in the veg. garden. But I would agree in the event that it gets real snowy a metal trashcan would make a great intermediate disposal.
 
Mine go into a metal pail that sits for several days, then its over the bank and into the snow.

I only need to empty them once per week, so its no biggy.
 
I add my wood stove ashes to the compost bin.
 
I put a lot of ashes in the garden, some around the trees and bushes, and driveway if needed. (I hate tracking ashes in the house cause I spread them on the drive)

Exception....when I clean the chimney or stove pipe I don't spread the creosote. I heard that it will kill plants, not sure if it's true or not but I am not taking any chances.
 
Thanks for all the ideas, guys. I like the driveway, which I sure hadn't thought of. My house sits on the side of a ridge, so the whole property is pretty sloped, and the gravel driveway is steep enough that it's only reliably navigable in winter with four-wheel-drive. The ashes, being so much ligher than sand, should be a big help there. The property is not only sloped, but there's a good 100 feet of lawn on all four sides, so a long difficult slog to get to a place I can dump the ashes (without leaving an ugly mess for summer) when there's snow on the ground, pretty much impossible with the 2-feet-plus we usually have for most of the winter.
 
I just dump it in the trash can and send them to the land fill.
 
rdrcr56 said:
I just dump it in the trash can and send them to the land fill.
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Heh. No trash pick-up in the country, and we pay by the bag at the transfer point to throw stuff away.
 
Get yourself a 30 gallon galvanized trash can. Just dump your ashes in it all winter, then haul it off to the back 40 after the snow melts.
 
neverrude said:
Backroads said:
I didn't get out and look at them, what's the difference?
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I belive they use coal ashes on the road.
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Ya, I believe they use coal also, but I was refering too ashes are ashes and they use them on the road for traction. Obviously they aren't going to collect everyones wood waste, lol.
 
We keep our ashes in a double walled bucket by the stove and once a month or so when it is full I carry it outside into the pine trees and dump it. No problems other than if the wind is blowing you want it to be blowing away from you. :)

We usually get 2 or more feet of snow on the ground but this can easily be waded through. Some days we get that much drifted about the drive and walks but I don't get it cleaned up till after work or next day and we are used to it.
 
We keep all of our ashes in urns, one per burning season (and so labeled)...some rather plain, some very ornate...carefully arrayed in an elegantly simple stone mausoleum located at a quiet, secluded spot on our property. Once a year (in the Fall, prior to burning) we hold the Festival of the Ashes, when we burn incense and we eat grilled brats and drink beer in silence, and give thanks to the ashes for the warmth and comfort they brought into our lives, and express our hope that the wood we're about to burn will bring us the same. Rick
 
Make sure the ashes are cold before sitting the can on the snow and walking away. :)
 

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fossil said:
We keep all of our ashes in urns, one per burning season (and so labeled)...some rather plain, some very ornate...carefully arrayed in an elegantly simple stone mausoleum located at a quiet, secluded spot on our property. Once a year (in the Fall, prior to burning) we hold the Festival of the Ashes, when we burn incense and we eat grilled brats and drink beer in silence, and give thanks to the ashes for the warmth and comfort they brought into our lives, and express our hope that the wood we're about to burn will bring us the same. Rick
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That actually sounds like a fine idea. Do you separate out the weasel ashes or have a mixed ceremony?

BTW, there was a thread a while back about critters seen while cutting/stacking firewood, and I think I've now got you all beat. The other day, I had two full-grown bobcats, obvious male and female, parade across my lawn not 100 feet from me in broad daylight. I would have choked on the insects that flew into my open mouth while I was standing there, except that I had luckily stopped breathing also.
 
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