STOP Wasting your FireWood ASH! LEARN what we use it for...

#homestead #firewood
We end up with barrels and barrels of wood ash during the burning season, but there are so many things you can use the ASH for. In today's video learn what we use wood ash for on our homestead.

Clean Wood Stove Window
Mix some ash with some water and create a paste. It becomes an abrasive cleaner to clean your window. It works surprisingly well

Cleaning Oil Spills
Ash can absorb oil spills just like kitty litter can. My husband does all of our car work in our garage and we sometimes get oil spills on the ground, we have been using some cheap cat litter, but why not use what we have on hand and what is for free? By sprinkling wood ash onto an oil spill, it will absorb the oil and allow for an easy cleanup with an outdoor broom and dustpan.
Repairing ruts in driveway

Eliminate orders in Fridge/Freezer
I use baking soda to absorb odors in my fridge, but I just found out that putting a cup or so of ash in a bowl or even a mason jar towards the back will do the same trick as the baking soda.

Natural Ice Melt
Did you know you can use ash as a way to melt ice on your driveway or walkway? There are natural minerals in the wood ash that help melt ice. Just be careful if you put it close to your house when entering, it would easily come into your house from your shoes.

Fertilize Gardens
If you create a circle of wood ash around your crops this will prevent slugs and snails from crossing into your plant beds. Or dump a bucket on your garden
Dust Bath for Poultry
I have so much sand here on our homestead, but I just found out that ash helps treat fleas and other insects, it’s perfect for helping poultry relieve themselves of parasites. Chickens naturally dust bath to help clean their feathers of pesky bugs but give your girls an extra boost by adding some ash to their dust area.
Disclaimer:

Content here is for educational purposes from my personal journey with the Carnivore Diet. It's not medical advice. I’m not a medical professional. Consult with a healthcare provider for diet or health changes. Information is based on my views and for discussion and learning.

[Homesteadhow]

Please comment below if you recycle your ash and how! Thanks for commenting!

[did]

Am I a homesteader? No
Do I have a wood stove? No
Do I even own a shovel? No
Did I watch this video to the end? Yes!

[westtex]

You can also use it to make soap. My farmer ancestors 3-4 generations back would collect lye from ash by boiling ash in some water, letting it settle, & skimming the lye from the top. Then they’d mix the lye with rendered animal fat/grease leftover from cooking, and then boil it down into a thick mush and pour it into a tub and cut the resultant solidified mixture into bars of soap.

[jacksonrox]

I have been cleaning these boilers for over 20 years and I would strongly advise you to use a respirator when dealing with fine wood ash particulates in the air when cleaning one of these units. Trust me

[joelalonde]

I'm from the Northwest Territories, Canada and we also use ash for vehicles that are stuck in either snow or ice. Just lay a line of ash in front of your traction tires and your slipping and sliding is reduced to pulling you out..amazing..great video.. btw

[nunabsnais]

Ash was used in making cement blocks. That's where the word "cinder" block came from.

[robworch]

when I lived in a Cabin out in Alaska, we threw ash down hole in the outhouse. Keeps the smell down Alot!

[sylvialindgren]

We keep a bucket of ash in the outhouse to sprinkle into the hole after use. Works great to help decomposition and keep smells down.

[viscache]

We burn clippings and thinning from the woods and run three burn barrels all Spring and Fall. We end up with about 300lbs of fine white ash. This is perfect for increasing the strength of concrete that we are using on the European wood fired bread oven. What this means is no crumbling or cracking and popping off of bricks over the years as we fire the box for bread and pizza. Any left over goes first to the garden and second to the compost pile. Every third year we mix it with the fertilizer and spread in on the fields before over planting.

[lightseeker]

I use my wood ash to melt snow and ice in the driveway where it slopes to the road. I found that ice on my walks instantly were safer with only a the lightest sprinkle of ash. I didn't want to track a lot of it in the house or for my dogs to get a lot of it on their feet. I call it "instant traction" because it really works instantly. I carry a jar of it in the car during winter so if I come across an icy parking lot, I can walk safely. I also spread it over snow on my driveway and it melts the snow quite well. I now have new uses for it. Thank You!

[timhosler]

This is old school, but when making leather from a deer or cow skin a 7 to 10 day soak in a hard wood ash and water mixture will cause the hair to release from the skin so that the leather can be scraped and tanned.

[jimandskittum]

Clean windows with it? Sounds like a pane in the ash. That's all I got

[tyleenmansker]

I use it on muddy paths, especially where the dogs walk. Keeps the ground solid. I also put it in the bottom of pot holes on our dirt road before adding gravel, over time its like cement and keeps the gravel from disappearing which is a big deal in our super rainy environment. .

[apumasterp]

I’ve used it for years to clean the glass on the fireplace, but I just dampen a few paper towels, and dip them right in the ash of the fireplace. Makes its own paste.
Also, ash is great to dump down outhouses to keep the smell down.

[carolyncrider]

My grandmother made ash or lye soap. She started a fire, got her mother's old iron pot and boiled the water threw in the soap and we washed our clothes that way. She raised me off grid . We always used ash in the garden.

[savarysolutions]

Wood ash has been used historically for making lye, a key ingredient for making soap. Ash from harder wood species is preferable.

[MyNameIsINTERSTITIAL]

Gr8 vid!!!! Learning new things 2 keep in my back pocket evry day 🙂🗯

[stoveboltlvr]

My grandma used wood ash not only for fertilizer but it's all she ever used for pesticide by sifting it to get the finest ashes which she would put in an old stocking and shake onto her plants.

[billludolph]

When we lived out on a farm in Western Kansas and we used ash from our fireplace to keep the smell and flies down in the outhouse.

[JorgeGarcia-lwvc]

Great video. I know that in some very dry areas where there is little water, people use ash to wash dishes. Turning "waste" into something valuable is golden, and something we should all do more of. Thanks for the great video!