A warm compromise

In the lead up to Christmas and the following winter months, there is nothing like the warm glow of a natural fire and I must admit that one of the requirements for us buying our house was that we wanted a coal fire which we had become accustomed to growing up. For a year or so we bought our coal bags and enjoyed sitting close to the fire after dinner and were content. Then I began to consider the environment....


.....So for me that meant finding something safer to burn and I have given up the coal bags in search of something else. I took to the compacted sawdust and this worked a treat as once it is burnt down to ash I can happily discard it without worry as it tells me that is safe to do so and will even feed the plants. 2 birds, 1 stone. Great! However, I have to admit, much to my disappointment, that it is more expensive than coal "pound for pound," even though I am getting value by using the ash on the garden and not paying for it by weight in the bin. Some people throw ash from coal and all sorts of things from the fire into the garden !!! and it makes me cringe at the harm they may be doing. Still, I can only be responsible for myself.
Anyway, as it was pointed out to me on several occasions by my very supportive husband, that it is burning too quickly and we are spending more. He is happy to support my green ideas and in fairness then, I must try to find a compromise. So I am now burning compact sawdust and natural timber. This will also happily go back into the ground and help with the garden. I must say though, that we think now very carefully before we start a fire. Burning all day, even with environmentally friendly substances is a no no, both because of cost and smoke into the air, so the heating shares the load and is on a timer. This fuel still burns faster than the coal but I am working on finding other things that will help and anyway it's not good to rely always on just one substance. Look at the peat bogs and what we know now on the harm that we have inflicted because for years we relied solely on them.
It just goes to show that sometimes you have to rethink some ideas because;

• you might learn something new or a better way of doing something.

And,

•  lets face it, if it costs and arm and a leg, who is going to keep that up? When times are difficult money wise, we need to be as efficient as possible. 

Take a look at my post on The Simple Things to get a few more tips for winter. Please let me know what you use on your fires to try to be green, via the comment section below.