If you burn a lot of wood for your winter heat, as I do, then you also have lots of ashes. I used to view them as a cumbersome thing to be gotten rid of once I knew they were cold. It turns out that wood ashes have many interesting uses. They are great for renewing minerals and micro-nutrients back into the soil, this is done by application to the garden/yard either by hand sprinkling or you can use the same type of spreader you would use for lime and prepared fertilizers. If you are interested in the chemical components check out this article: http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~blpprt/bestwoodash.html
Another interesting use of wood ash that is no longer common knowledge in our society is making lye from wood ashes and then using the lye to make soap. Upcoming blog entries will discuss how to do this, how to tell when its "done" and will relate my 1st soap making experience. For right now, I would really like to hear how you have used wood ashes and if you know of any other ways to recycle & reuse this handy byproduct of wood heat.
Well, Grandma was known to use them when she had them to sprinkle on the sidewalk as a non-slip de-icer back at 1002 5th Ave N. We didn't always have them, but I know when she was still on her farm at Border Plains, she did use them to make soap sometimes, and had grown up doing so.
ReplyDeleteAlso, your lye you mention, was also used to make a dish of corn. it turned the corn sort of brown and sweetened it somehow. she said it was more digestable. I only had one bit when we visitied Great Aunt Hannah when I was 7. the concept put me off. I wish I could remember the name of the stuff. I think it may also figure into the creation of hominy from corn. I think the carious American tribes did that sort of thing a lot.
Come to think of it, for the sidewalk, she used what ever ashes we did have. Mom burned papers and junk mail in the fireplace, so that was the sort of ash we had the most of for Grandma to clear the walk with.