POOP FIRE!
7April 20, 2014 by Mike Oscar Hotel
Interesting title, right?
So, you’ve seen the pictures of Santa Lucia. One natural resource that we are lacking is wood for fires. There is a lot of dead wood on the property, but if we were to stay on the land for any length of time, we need to supplement wood.
The area that we’re in is free range, meaning that if you want the rancher’s cows to stay off of your land, you are responsible for fencing them out. That makes dried cow turds a wonderful natural resource.
If you wonder where I’m going with this, you obviously haven’t read much about people on the prairies. I wanted to try burning cow poop.
As soon as we got to the land, my mom went to work collecting cow patties in a plastic shopping bag. In three minutes, the bag was full. Some of the pies weren’t completely dry, so we set those to the side.
I used a few sticks to get the fire going. Once I had good fire, I started piling on the cow poo.
After it started burning, I was a little shocked at how much heat the patties emitted. They didn’t display much for an open flame, but smoldered well and were very, very hot.
I know what you’re thinking. You want to know how it smelled, right? Because poo stinks. Well, I can tell you that if I decide to have a bonfire, poo will not make it into the fuel rotation. It really smells like burning grass with a touch of hair in it. In other words, I’m not cooking a hot dog over it. It will be good, however, for the wood stove on the bus. With the heat it creates, it should keep us warm. And in forty years, my children will be telling stories about their father making them walk around a five acre parcel in Podunk, Colorado and pick up dried cow dung.
These are the things that memories are made from.
Pax Domini Sit Semper Vobiscum,
Mike Oscar Hotel
The Tiny Homesteaders 
Memories, memories should be great!!!!Those cow pies for fuel is a true recycling thing so be happy that you are helping to protect the environment. Rick…and Happy Easter
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Mike Oscar Hotel posted: “Interesting title, right?
So, you’ve seen the pictures of Santa Lucia. One natural resource that we are lacking is wood for fires. There is a lot of dead wood on the property, but if we were to stay on the land for any length of time, we need to supp”
Seriously. Why are we not using more poop for fuel? I guess it’s the stigma around poop!
being knowledgeable about your surroundings and resources is an excellent thing!
regardless of the social stigma towards poop…
last autumn we scatered a bunch of horse manure on or planting ground, poop is good!
I know, right? It’s renewable and natural. We’re going to collect a bunch and dry it for fires.
One reason many don’t collect and store manure for heating is that it can be dangerous to do so if you don’t do it properly. Decomposing manure releases toxic gases and under the right conditions it can spontaneously combust. I imagine the odor is the main reason though as those who have traditionally used it for heat have also needed that same heat for cooking, and as you experienced, it isn’t a savory smoke.
Fire! LOL. The grand kids are going to have great stories. I can already tell.
[…] we need to talk about fuel. Last spring, the boys and I burned dried cow dung in a post called Poop Fire. The dung worked well and while it sounds gross, it made for a warm, long burning […]