# wood ashes under bedding?



## mulish (Apr 26, 2009)

I saw a mention of putting wood ashes under bedding (I think it was buckrun/Lee who suggested it).
Does this help with moisture or what?


thanks!


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

It changes the PH of the underlying soil and makes it inhospitable to lice and flies and even worm larvae.
It neutralizes any urine smell that has seeped to soil level. It also adds back minerals when you put it in the garden.
We do it each time we change out bedding but sulfur will work as well.

Lee


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Neat idea.


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## mulish (Apr 26, 2009)

thanks, Lee.

and you answered before I cleaned out the woodstove!

I have been dusting with DE when I strip - I'll add ashes too.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

You might want to take wood ashes one time and pee in them....wood ashes that you add moisture to become lye, add ammonia and you not only have a caustic lye but your have caustic fumes. And although the wood ashes are safely under layers of dry bedding, does dig to china to have kids....wood ashes with birth fluids will burn the delicate tissues of the vagina and teats.

DE also, it becomes airborne when does dig through the bedding, just like it is dangerous for us to breath this in, it is the same for our does. Vicki


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Yes that is the chemistry of getting lye from wood ash and that is why while it is still active (before the ground moisture leaches the lye) it takes care of parasites. They are pretty demanding about PH. Actually the urine is acidic and they somewhat neutralize each other. We have done this all our goat lives as we heat with wood and no one has had any complaints. We just use a light layer and it is under a lot of hay.

We do however bed very deeply since we use it in the garden we can be profligate with it and we are able to get clean monocultured hay that has been damaged. It also inactivates weed seeds that come in contact with it.
As with other topics- to each his own and we do this every time we clean. I love how it gets rid of urine odor.


For an experiment I will take the ph of the ash- take the ph of the soil. Use it for dusting and then take the ph of that soil layer when I clean again. This will let us see how fast it neutralizes.


There are experiments using human urine and wood ash as fertilizer-evidently it makes some perfect stuff!


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

I have tons of wood ash, I guess I know what to do with it now. 

Would it work in a barn with a cement floor?


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

I don't think so- I think one reason it works is interaction with the soil.
But you can fill up a 5 gallon bucket and pee in it all winter and have some great garden stuff!


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

Oooh boy, Lee, that sounds like fun. :really :rofl


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Ever notice your fire pits outside, or your barbecue grates that get moisture on them? That's what happens when wood ash gets wet from rain or damp from humidity.

Hardwood ash is placed in a barrel with a bung hole in the side near the bottom. Rainwater is allowed to saturate the ash and what drips out of the bung hole is Sodium Hydroxide, caustic lye. Vicki


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

Hmmm...how much greener can you get? I burn dried horse manure in my wood stove, (works great btw) so peeing in a bucket of hardwood ashes wouldn't be a stretch! hehehe Then I'll add the milk and fats and make my soap. Hmm...how would i go about listing ingredients? Should i use the finished product(lye) or the beginning product (human urine?). What an interesting label! Goat milk, olive oil, vegtable fat, human urine, natural scents..........


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## Painted Pony (Apr 12, 2009)

Sully, would you share a little more about drying and burning the horse manure?


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Just don't splash Sully!

L


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

yes Finland did a study on using this as fertilizer. I am at a loss as have no sorce for wood ashes


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## Madfarmer (Nov 18, 2008)

What you get with hardwood ash & water is the other lye-- KOH, not NaOH. It'll make soap, but soft or liquid soap. Wood ashes should be used sparingly in the garden, or you'll drive the potassium way out of balance.

Tom


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## mulish (Apr 26, 2009)

burning manure in the woodstove sounds interesting - do tell more. it is so wet here this year that i'd probably have to dry the manure on top of the woodstove beforehand so that it would be at all flammable - that would be some potpourri!


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

I was cleaning out the horse run in a few weeks ago. As I was shovelling the very dry buns, I got to thinking.....the pioneers used to burn dried buffalo dung (buffalo chips) as they travelled across the prarie, so I thought, why not horse poo? I brough a couple of buckts of the really dry stuff on and added it to the bottom of the paper grain bags and put it in the stove. It worked great. It acts sort of like coal. It burns hot and it lasts as coals for several hours since it doesn't burn in flames like wood does. 

In my experiments I found the best way to burn it in my stove was to use newspaper on the bottom, add dry wood kindling, then a couple of sticks of bigger dry wood, the rolled up bag of horse poo (about 4 inches in the bottom of the bag and rolled up into a "bundle" and tied with baling twine) and some bigger wood. The poo burns slower and keeps the heat longer. When I use just wood, my stove is out with fe coals come morning. When I add poo, I have about 4 inches of hot coals in the morning and the house is comfortable. I haven't burned just poo, I use itmore as an additive to help the wood burn hotter and longer. There is no smell, because the poo is very dry, its like the smell of grass burning, only milder. Even before I burn it, dried poo is mostly odorless.

I was thinking that maybe dried goat poo would work in a pellet stove? hehehe


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

> I was thinking that maybe dried goat poo would work in a pellet stove? hehehe


I can just see the berries in the hopper, feeding into the stove a few at a time. :rofl


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## stacy adams (Oct 29, 2007)

buckrun said:


> There are experiments using human urine and wood ash as fertilizer-evidently it makes some perfect stuff!


I just had a vision of what that "job" would look like.. a bunch of guys lined up on a railing, drinking beer and peeing off the edge. :rofl


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

I think most guys would love to do that. They seem to love peeing outside!


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

saves a flush....


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

So THATS the excuse?!


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## Holly Govero (Mar 26, 2009)

LOL! That was a good post about that. I will have to tell my husband to save all the wood ashes and let my boys and my husband to pee in the bucket. Not bad idea! LOL..


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## Painted Pony (Apr 12, 2009)

We don't have much wood in this area so not much wood ash. I like the idea of being able to burn poo with the wood. I am going to try that.


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