Bonfire Starters

So I get on Pinterest every so often, pin a ton of ideas, and try very few. This one though I am so pleased with I am now telling everyone about it!  We start a bonfire almost once a week.  To cook supper, have marshmallows for dessert, or to help boil water for processing.  It always took FOREVER to get the fire going.  Then I read about egg carton fire starters.  We had all the materials, which was an awesome bonus.  Frequently I am greeted by friends, public librarians, neighbors, and customers with egg cartons.  We have a large collection of them growing and some of the cardboard ones have seen better days.  I am so glad I found this pin to use simple waste products instead of throwing them away.

You need:

Cardboard egg cartons, the older the better-save them from the recycling
Old candles or leftover wax
Dryer lint-this adds up quickly
An old double boiler - or I used a large old pot with a missing handle, and a smaller pot that used to be part of a double boiler

Get your water boiling, put the wax pieces or old candles in the top pot and place it over the boiling water pot. 




Just some of the cartons ready to be reused.

 Lovely lint from the dryer.

Some old candles from home, some saved by friends, and some found at thrift stores for cheap.



Candles melting down in my make-shift double boiler.




 While the wax is melting, stuff a small amount of lint in each egg space. 

 I used an old candle jar to pour the hot wax into and then into the carton.  This helped from getting it on the stove top. 

 

Then you let the wax harden, store the extras, and start a bonfire!

 

On this day it had rained in the morning.  You can see the fire starter lit and blazing.  I had pretty dry wood saved, but some was wet and still lit!



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The fire blazing, with a soaked ground from the rain.  I am so very please with how these work!  Try it for your home bon fire, or camping trip.  Totally worth the time it takes to heat the wax!

What's up, growing up that is, on the land.....

Some updates on what's growing around here!

 

I knew strawberries did better the second year, but OH BOY!  This is part of a second bowl full we've gotten recently.  It is so perfect!  The taste is miles better than any you could get from the store right now, just lovely.  I can't wait for more of these gems to be found! 

This large brown patch now has fast growing seedlings everywhere!  Beans along the fence, tons of squash, yellow, acorn, butternut, green squash, zucchini, and pumpkins.  I am a bit disappointed at the watermelon, but three little tiny seedlings are finally taking off up on the right.  We have rows and rows of different kinds of tomatoes to the left of the squash, potatoes and sweet potatoes on the far left, and cucumbers too mixed around towards the far end.  Mr. Hopewell randomly planted more squash, eggplant, and some random seeds towards the far end, it will be surprise gardening!

I am soooo pleased with these squash plants!

  Some of our tomatoes are now really taking off, there are bigger ones than this now that we had a week of rain, ending with sun and humidity. 

 

 Some cucumber and squash seeds that were directly sown. 

Nice little yellow squash growing strong. 

 We have sun flowers at each short end, and marigolds throughout the garden.  The newest plant in our collection was Rhubarb from the market this past weekend.  I can't wait for strawberry rhubarb pie!  My mouth is already watering!