A legend in the making……The Pit.

We have been based here in Southern Alberta for 18 months now…… (wow is it that long..!!). When we bought this property, one of its ……’quirks’……. was the monster woodpile project acquired along with the land.

Recap. Milk River used to have three grain elevators. In 2019 Parrish and Heimbecker demolished them. The owner of our place prior to us (the people we bought from) had done a deal with P&H to take the debris from this demolition. We think he had the idea there was a fortune to be made from reclaiming the lumber……and although there is some usable timber in the pile…

We have had some fun foraging for chunks to burn in our fireplace, and interesting pieces for some woodworking projects.

…..but mostly this lovely old wood had been shattered to chips by the demolition……… and was then transported to the southern portion of our property (the neighbours tell us the dump trucks were running through town constantly for weeks!!!)

Originally the deal was the wood was not to be burned but salvaged, hence the process has been mostly obtaining permissions…from the county, and from the fire chief…(Thanks Mark…!!)….to start the work in earnest by having a burn pit dug out and filled (for the first of many, many fills)

Fall 2023 we got the go ahead to begin.

Big excitement on the day the county guys hauled in the big CAT machine to dig ‘the hole’

It arrived over the hill on a big truck

….and the digging commenced……

It took 8 and a half hours for him to complete the 15ft deep, 12ft wide, 83 ft long pit. 😁😁

My blogtographer wanted me in there ……’for scale’……. 🤣.

It was quite the thing…..LOL….

Then filling it.

Clearing the big poles with the tractor resulted in someone (!!) finding one of those huge badger holes (North American badgers are seriously scary beasts and they dig huge holes hidden mostly by the grasses)

….but he bravely carries on….back on the tractor he goes….!!!

The weather miraculously held for us through November and December, so we managed to get it about a third full (and cleared about 1% of the pile)

Now we were ready to apply for the first burn permit, which required enough moisture/snow coverage to keep the thing safe and prevent the embers spreading fire to neighboring properties.

A little bit of diesel fuel to get the fire started in subzero temps (one of the many things we never could have foreseen us doing)

Lighting the torch, which was really only a piece of 2×4 from the pile wrapped in fabric, soaked in diesel then lit.

and now we had to watch to see if it would actually take hold…. there was a fair bit of snow in there, so I was not convinced.

…but it did indeed….

…and before too long it was a-blazin’…….

….and then very quickly too hot to be anywhere close.

…with a plume of dark smoke……

Later …after dark we went down to see how cool the whole thing looked in the dark, it did not disappoint

Then waiting for it to be done.

Despite the snow and the cold…..it continued to smoke for a full 14 days……gives you pause re the zombie fires in BC and Northen Alberta.

Now we just have to fill it and do it all over again……!!!!

Two weeks later it finally stopped smoking.