Ashes to Assets: Five Creative Uses for Wood Ash in Your Fiction

What can your character do with the wood ash from their fireplace? How does wood ash affect your character’s garden? What slimy thing does wood ash repel? What about bed bugs? Find out on this episode! 

Transcript

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What can your character do with wood ash from their fireplace? How does wood ash affect your character's garden? What slimy things does wood ash repel? What about bed bugs? Find out on this episode. Welcome to Writing Rural with Alley, a fiction writer's inspiration station for Rural, Life and Lifestyles. From historical to post-apocalypticic, helping you bring your rural stories to life. I'm Alley and this is episode number 51, Five Wood Ash Uses Part One. Stick around to the end to find out all the ways things could possibly go wrong. Now let's get into this. It's winter here in my part of the hemisphere. That means everyone is trying to stay warm. Burning wood in a fireplace, wood stove, or outdoor furnace that uses wood is among the ways people warm their homes. Historically, wood was the number one way people stayed warm. One thing that is always the same is that burning wood leaves behind ash and your characters will need to do something with it. Today we will cover five things they can use wood ash for. Number one, vegetable gardens. Wood ash can be good for the garden. It will help even out the acidity of garden soil by giving it a more alkaline composition. This is helpful for many plants in the garden.

These include, but are not limited to: 1:07

garlic, lettuce, leaks, asparagas, lavender, basil, tomatoes, sweet cherries, chives, sage and more. Wood ash also has many nutrients such as magnesium, calcium, organic carbon and potassium. These are things plants need in varying amounts. The only element that is truly lacking is nitrogen. If your character uses wood ash, they will first sift out the large pieces. Then on a calm day without wind, they will sprinkle the ash around the plants they want to use them on. Then they will take a hand fork and gently rake it into the soil. Not too deep or they might hit the plant's roots. Make sure wood ash does not come in contact with the plant as it will burn the plant. Another way is to till it directly into the soil before planting the garden. If this is done, it is done at roughly 1 to 2 pounds of wood ash for every 100 square feet or approximately 12 square yards. There are a few no-nos with ash. First, never use treated lumber. Just as treated lumber puts off chemicals in the smoke that could harm your character, the ash contains chemicals that could kill plants. Also, hardwood, such as oak, will contain more nutrients when turned into ash than softer wood, such as pine. There are also plants that do not do well with wood ash. These include, but are not limited to, sweet corn, apple trees, potatoes, eggplants, peach trees, parsley, peppers, and more. Number two, non-toxic ant-repellant. Wood ash can also be used as an ant-repellant. The main word here is repellent. It is not something that would kill off an ant colony. That said, if your character finds an ant colony too close to their garden or home, they can cover it with wood ash and the ants will move out of the nest and make a new one somewhere else. I have read that it removes the wax, the outer coating of an ant, and this suffocates them. I've also read that they try to pick up the ash to move and it breaks causing them to inhale the ash and they die from that, that way. I don't have the slightest idea why this works, or if any of the ants actually die. I only know that it can make them move to a new place. Some people also add a one to two inch ring of wood ash around their home. Remember, it will always need to be cooled before this to avoid catching the house on fire. This is said to keep ants out of the home. I've never tried it, but I would love to hear about it if you have. The best part is that wood ash is safe around children and pets. Some bee keepers also use wood ash to protect their bees from ants invading the hive to eat the honey. Number three, mouse repellent. Wood ash is also a good mouse repellent. It does not mean that they will not come, but your character will make things less pleasant for the little critters. Adding a layer of several inches of wood ash around the outside of the home will help. If the mice do come into the home, sprinkling wood ash in any place that they want to linger will also help, as mice do not like what ash. That said, they can still get into the home. And some mice just don't seem to care about anything. Outside of modern traps and poison, the best way to get rid of mice for your character is to get a cat to hunt them. Just remember that if your character has rabbits, chickens, ducks, or other small livestock, cats are known to hunt them. They will either have to be a cat raised on the farm whose mother taught them not to eat their own things, or your character will need to get lucky. Number four, snail and slug-repellant. What ash is also used as a slug and snale repellent. The reason that this is true is because the wood ash has some salt in it, and we all know what salt does to slugs. Snales have the same type of mucus as a slug. This means that they are just as susceptible to the salt in the wood ash. Wood ash can be used to keep them out of the home or even the garden. Actually, I've most often seen this done in the garden to protect plants. However, some slugs, such as the Spanish slug, can sometimes get over the ash. Spanish slugs are an invasive species here in the US and are bigger than the native ones. Number five, killing bed bugs. Historically, wood ash was used as a way to repel and even kill bed bugs. Bed bugs were a feared bug in history. No one wants to have bugs biting them while they're asleep and the itching would drive anyone crazy. However, wood ash can cut into their soft little bodies and the salt in the ash will dry them out. I doubt anyone wants to sleep in wood ash, but a short term discomfort to fix a long term problem is worth it.

Fun fact: 5:34

a cord of wood or two ricks of wood will create approximately 20 pounds of wood ash. Now for everyone's favorite part, what could possibly go wrong? Before we get into the best part, if you enjoy this podcast, I hope you will take a minute to follow, rate and review on your podcasting platform. And if you are listening on YouTube, subscribe and hit that like button. Don't forget to share with a friend. Now onto the best part! Likely to go wrong: your character adds wood ash to the garden to give the plants the calcium they need. Little do they know that the plant does best on acidic soil, and soon the plant wilt and dies.

Also likely to go wrong: 6:13

your character uses wood ash trees and repel bugs from the garden, but get some of the ash on the plant. The salt and the wood ash burns the plant and it dies. your character's child decides to play with the wood ash. They could make a considerable mess playing in ashes.

Possible to go wrong: 6:29

your character uses wood ash to repel slugs. One day they come out to find that several Spanish slugs have made it past the wood ash and they have eaten the plant that your character was trying to protect.

Also possible to go wrong: 6:44

your character puts a woodash outside the house and their dog rolls around in it before coming inside to spread it everywhere they go. your character did not make sure all the coal in the wood ash were cool before placing a line of wood ash around their home to help repel ants and mice. Soon, the hot coal lit their home on fire.

Unlikely to go wrong: 7:07

your character uses wood ash to keep the slugs out of their garden. Every day they have to clean up the dead slug bodies.

Also unlikely to go wrong: 7:16

your character puts wood ash into an ant hill to get rid of the ants in their garden. But instead of moving on, the ants decide to move into your character's home. Improbable, but still technically in the realm of possibilities: your character tries to get rid of mice with wood ash. However, their mouse is a stubborn little thing and just finds a better place to hide in their home, such as inside their mattress. Also improbable, but still technically in the realm of possibilities: your character has a nasty bed bug infestation. They try to kill the bed bugs off by piling their bed with several inches of wood ash. In the night, they turn wrong in their faces up at the wood ash. They inhale the ash, which coats the inside of their lungs, suffocating them. Thanks for listening. You can find this episode, show notes, and helpful links to learn more on my website, alleyhart. Com. That's A-L-L-E-Y-H-A-R-T. Com. Subscribe and follow for more episodes. Connect by dropping me a comment on my YouTube videos. A new episode comes out every Monday. Until then, happy wordsmithing.