Never Leave A Fire Unattended
The Night I Burnt the Shed
Yes, you read that correctly. A shed lost its job on the farm because of me. I will be honest with you (even if you judge me) and share this story. I burnt the shed to the ground. Literally.
What started as a good day ended in a catastrophe. It was a bright, sunny day. We were remodeling an old farmhouse we had recently purchased. So we had some crap to burn like old lumber and such ( yes, we have a dumpster), but I chose to burn the wood remnants. We don’t burn leaves (they get put on our fields), we recycle, and we donate (but farmers like to keep everything cause it might come in handy). I sound like I’m defending myself; I am. What I’m not defending is my carelessness.
Anyhoo, back to the burning. I started a fire, away from the house and shed. Well, I thought it was far enough. It wasn’t. I stayed with it, carefully watching, with my garden hose and rake in hand.
I got a call asking to help with chores. The fire was about out (or I thought it was. I hosed the fire down and all around it. Then I left—big mistake.
NEVER LEAVE A FIRE
I finished chores, got caught up in making supper, and carelessly went back to check the fire.
Until we saw smoke up on the hill at the farmhouse. The fire was burning the grass, crawling up the shed, and we had no water. As you can see in this picture,
the well pump wires and the ground surrounding it were burnt to the ground, literally.
The Aftermath
The house was saved, unlike my pride. But the shed was a total loss. And yes, I take what I did seriously.
I chose to share this story because of its impact on my life (and I debated even sharing). This is NOT one of my finer moments and, quite frankly, embarrassing. But if I am going to share our farm with you, you get to see the ugly too. I got caught up in the fast-paced life on our farm. My carelessness affected many people, Including our fabulous firefighters who rushed to the scene (leaving their family dinners to help) and our neighbors (having to smell and worry about the fire), and my family. Watching that shed burn and the firefighters killing themselves pumping water up the hill to save the house will always be burned in my mind, literally.
Remember This
If you walk away with anything after reading this (besides this girl must be an idiot), please remember this: NEVER LEAVE A FIRE OF ANY KIND UNATTENDED, and be aware of the conditions and placement of the fire if you choose to burn. For me, I will never burn ever again. It was a hard lesson that I should have never had to learn. But a lesson that I will never forget.
