Hosting a Burn Pile in Texas Summer, Cooking Hot Dogs, and Drinking Wine

During the last blog, I wired my well pump so that I have a reliable source of water. Not only will I need water to live on the land, but I also can use it as a resource for my burn piles. I have a lot of clearing that needs to happen, and burning the wood along the way is way better than just piling it up on my property. “Just piling it up” is exactly what we did the last time we cleared some of the land, and I had two huge piles of limbs and sticks in the middle of my septic field.

I invited some friends, and we got to work. Becky, Nathan, and Debby focused on removing the weeds in the front area of the property. These weeds are as tall as me. They’ve really gotten out of hand, and it’s crazy. It was very rewarding to burn them.

Debby and Phil got the fire started. It had rained the day before, which was good from a safety perspective, but that meant that all of our kindle was wet. They managed to make it work while Doug and I refilled his tractor and a bunch of tanks full of gas.

Quick note on buying gas: I own an electric car. Filling up on gas is something I didn’t think you could lose practice with. It was difficult. You can watch the video for the full story. It was annoying.

When we arrived on the property, Tom was watching the fire and making sure the rest of the property didn’t burn up. With the tractor in tow, we decided to make our path along the fence line the width of the tractor. This way we’d have a trail that was easy enough to maneuver and we could easily build a fence with that much space.

Phil and Doug were on chainsaw duty. I refuse to use a chainsaw. They’re just too dangerous! We cut down a ton of trees, but this time we could pile the limbs in the bucket of the tractor and Doug would drop them off on the burn pile. This made things way easer than manually dragging limbs to the pile. The biggest thing I realized after these hard labor days is I LOVE tractors. They make life so much easier.

It seemed counterintuitive to start a huge fire in the middle of Texas summer. We wore long sleeves and pants because of the poison oak and just fire safety in general. Needless to say: it was HOT. We drank plenty of water. Becky had a really cool device that looked like headphones that went around her neck. It was a fan! Such a cool idea (🥁). Thankfully there are plenty of trees on my property, so we were able to always place our chairs in some shade.

Tom, Phil, and Debby had to leave around noon for other commitments. Adam (of riding lawn mower fame) stopped by to drop off a couple of wheelbarrows and some spare lumber he wanted to get rid of. Little did I know that Adam and Valerie getting rid of their rental property would be so fortuitous for me. 😄

We cooked hotdogs over the fire and enjoyed some delicious Norman Creek Vineyard whites, a Viognier and an Estate White. Such a great reward for a hard day’s work. Becky and Nathan left around 2:30 or 3, so Doug and I got back to it. We quickly learned that clearing land is way harder with just two people. We cleaned up a few more trees and then decided to move on to other tasks. Luckily, we had a welcome distraction by the name of Scot who had been windsurfing nearby. He stopped by to see the progress, and we had a good chat/break.

After Scot left, Doug used the box blade attachment of his tractor to smooth out the dirt from the trench we dug last time. I used a weed whacker mower to clear out the weeds that were hiding my septic system. I have a lot of, what I now know is called, hedge parsley aka Beggar’s Tick aka Sock Destroyer. Oh, what a name because these weeds are the WORST. My whole body was covered in them, but especially my socks. I had to throw them away. RIP socks. You got me through the Inca Trail, Big Bend, and Kay Acres. You served me well.

Debby came back with much needed sodas and beers, and we had another round of hotdogs.

Before dark, we packed up and headed out making sure the burn pile was safe to leave. I came back the next morning, and my neighbor’s dog was just chilling by the burn pile. ❤️

The burn pile days are tough but so rewarding. It’s always a little bit of progress, but progress nonetheless. Next time, we’ll clear even more of the fence line and then eventually build the fence. As for the tiny house, I just purchased the metal to attach to the bottom of the trailer. Let the metal and welding festivities begin!

Watch the adventures on my channel:

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