what to do with ash from an ash/burn pile?

[cathleenc]

We just moved to our farm and inherited a 4' x 6' burn pile/ash pile. It's in the middle of the main pasture (former owners did not have animals).

What should we do with the ash? Is it dangerous to the animals? Planning on putting sheep & goats in the pasture.

Can I spread buckets of ash through the woods and extended area? I know ash can be part of garden fertilization, in very small quantities. Also know it can be used to create lye.

thanks!
Cathy

[Scrounger]

I raked mine out with a tine harrow and my tractor. Make sure to run a magnet over it to get any metal out of it. I spread it out pretty thin and planted field grass (hay) seed on it. Came back fine.

[haypoint]

Larger quanities of ash won't harm your garden. Ash leaches out fairly fast anyway.

[Christiaan]

Rake it out and put some chickens on it, they'll have it spread evenly over a very large area in no time. Cows and goats will eat it too, but make sure its just wood ash and not garbage ash. Chickens won't be bothered by garbage ash but other livestock might eat enough contaminated ash as to be harmful. Whenever I burn the brushpile the cows are right there eating it up and burning their noses. Greedy little boogers.

[MTplainsman]

Spread it out across your pasture if you want, it'll boost your grass, and unless it was from treated wood, you won't have sick animals. The other thing to do is to mix it into a compost pile of collected manure, grass clippings, garden waste, etc. next summer. It actually a gift that they left you, not a pain, use the ash to benifit you.

[texican]

I'll have to disagree with the others. If you inherited a 'burn pile', you don't know what was burned in it. Would you risk spreading toxins, poisons, heavy metals, etc. over areas the animals might be grazing? Why risk it?

If it were you're own burn pile, spreading the ashes would be appropriate.

If I couldn't haul it off, I'd dig a hole in some clay soil, push it all in, seal with clay, and then topsoil over it.

[Oggie]

Before I burn, I dig a shallow and leave a pile of dirt nearby.

When the burning is done, I push the dirt back over the ashes.

That's not as easy to do with an existing pile. You might poke around in it a bit. If there are no nails or other signs of hardware, it was probably brush or trees and, therefore, probably not toxic. But, if you didn't burn it, you can't be 100 percent sure.

[cathleenc]

Originally Posted by Oggie

Before I burn, I dig a shallow and leave a pile of dirt nearby.

When the burning is done, I push the dirt back over the ashes.

That's not as easy to do with an existing pile. You might poke around in it a bit. If there are no nails or other signs of hardware, it was probably brush or trees and, therefore, probably not toxic. But, if you didn't burn it, you can't be 100 percent sure.

I pulled a fair amount of hardware & nails out of it - plus remnants of roofing tiles. A victorian door hardware set, barbed wire, lots of nails, hinges, etc.

I know the previous owners were 'green' oriented - and I also know farms generate a ton of junk.

wwyd?

[Oggie]

I think I would try to haul out as much as possible and bury the rest.

[MTplainsman]

I do agree with texican, if you don't have any idea what was burnt. I guess, I figured you had a general idea of what they burnt. If there is too much question, than I'd agree to bury it or haul it out. You can use some of it in flower beds though, or wherever your animals can't graze, like your lawn around your house. My opinion.

[Nel frattempo]

I would not use it on gardens or around animals. As said above, you don't know what is in it. Dig a hole and bury it or haul it off and dump somewhere you don't need to use. We had such a mess and we shoved it over into a man-made gully where someone else had dug up dirt...and we covered it up.

Try asking the neighbors if they know what was burned - maybe that will help you decide.

[MariaAZ]

If I were faced with wood ashes that might have included painted wood, I would be very wary about using it for anything. Lead paint was quite common until a few decades ago. I don't know anything about chemistry, but I would think the lead remains in the ash.