Do you grill outdoors over firewood?
We do year-round and many times it feels like we are camping as we
gather firewood and pine needles to make a beautifully rustic burn.
Cooking over fire is my favorite way to prepare a meal especially if the firewood is handy. Which I must say it's rarely handy, but we have plenty and since we are currently in the middle of clearing a fence line, we also have small trees just lying on the ground.
As these cuttings piled up, I began moving them to our burn pile until it dawned on me that I could be saving some of the trunks for later. So, many of the treetops went into the burn pile and these rustic trunks went into another pile.
The idea was to carefully cut each trunk and stack them into
a neat pile. But my husband reminded me
they needed to be off the ground, so the snakes do not move in.
Step one I had to raise the ground in this low area, which is how almost every outdoor project around here begins. That was about 15-wheel barrow loads of dirt.
We had a few cement bricks sitting still and I was tired of looking at them, so I used these four to create a foundation for the firewood stand.
Things were moving along nicely...
Step two involved smoothing out that freshly moved dirt and letting
it sit for a couple of days to compact.
Then I laid down two solid cement blocks and stacked another two cement center blocks making sure the openings were facing up.
Things continued to come along and then I took eight tree trunks and cut them the same length. Size is a personal preference mine were five feet. Then I placed two inside each hole, so they lifted vertically.
Now it was time to begin stacking our firewood.
Step three had me stacking each piece of wood which was the
fun part. I was trying to make this aesthetically
pleasing but realized this rustic vibe fit our lifestyle perfectly. The stand offered a natural feel with those multiple shades of brown
and gray that just work in our swampy environment.
The stand is high enough that snakes should not be an issue, but that doesn’t mean our friendly lizards
and skinks won’t make this home and that's fine with me.
If you are looking for a creative way to stack firewood for grilling or just wood that you use to heat your home, then perhaps this idea could work where you live.
Cement blocks can be purchased at any home improvement store and if you have gusto using a small hand saw can cut those tree trunks in minutes. It's also very easy to cover this firewood stand with a tarp before it rains. Good ideas are everywhere!
Be the good,
Carole West