It's big...

In the nine years that I have been hanging out on the farm, we have had only two big bon fires.  The first was New Year's Eve the year that my husband and I were dating.  He spent all afternoon stacking up some old cedar posts, kind of like a log cabin, around some brush in the middle.  What I did not know was that he then sprinkled a line of gunpowder out from the brush pile about 15 feet and doused the pile with kerosene.  We had some friends out for dinner at my in-laws and then went out to watch the bon fire.  When he lit a piece of string at the end of the trail of gunpowder, we watched in amazement as the trail of fire traveled toward the brush and then the whole pile burst into flames when the fire reached it.  It was quite a sight.

About 4 years ago we company out for Christmas and decided to have a hay ride and bonfire.  Again, my husband (with the help of my brother-in-law and dad) piled up old logs and brush in the middle of the pasture.  Although the lighting of the fire wasn't as spectacular, it was a big fire.  The fire was so hot that instead of roasting hot dogs in the fire, my husband grilled them on the grill because it was too hot to get near.

We have had other small fires to burn leaves and brush or clear fence lines, but nothing quite like today.....

Throughout the past 6 months that we have been renovating our home, our "brush pile" has increased in size to a brush "mountain."  Old door frames, wood trim, pallets and trash were piled high over the fence, into the pasture behind our house.  There were also a lot of old trees and rotten wood from one of the old barns that we pushed up onto the pile.

Here is the pile before today....

This is the combustible trash that was left over after we rented (and filled to capacity) a large dumpster to haul away the old roof shingles, sheetrock and other construction waste.

Some more pictures of today's festivities:

We had to stay back at least 20-30 feet due to the heat coming from the fire and my husband stayed nearby with a water hose to keep the ground moist and keep it under control because this fire was only about 50 feet away from the house.

After about an hour this is what was left....

So, with two babies sleeping and two bigger kids outside with daddy monitoring the big fire, I have had quite a peaceful afternoon.