Over the fire, I took 7 sticks about 50"long and blackened them over the fire. Messy to my hands yet I burned off the charred bark and lichen and tiny twiggy areas. Then plunged the ends into the hot ash for an added effect. Call me Lazy or my personalization...take your pick
And leaving them outdoors to season a bit longer before I scrape and sand them.
After lengthy web searches, the spruce takes a beating from reviews. So I'm making a box (or two) of aromatic Spruce meditation wood to add to the usual pre-purchased wood for a meditation time fire.
This wood burns quickly, yet the spiritual incense is a refreshing aroma.
Yesterday I remembered a holiday from childhood at my neighbor's. When my dad protested the addition of evergreen logs to the fire. While my godfather replied, I like the smell of it and we clean the chimney anyway. This type of "Christmas tree" wood ignites and heats quickly. And it can add to and ignite creasote in the chimney.
But, I thought to myself, as a hiking stick it is fine. And thinking back to musical uses really feel in tune with the vibrations that will resonate with this spruce hiking stick, for prayers and positivity.
And as I see the 1"-3" diameter of a 30yr old spruce (I have to count the rings yet)-- I think it will compare to be stronger than a similar diameter tree limb of a younger 5-15year old tree. So, away to scraping I go.
This was after all, our old Christmas tree that fell on my late brother's birthday after a 50mph wind gust.
Believe it or not I prayed that this tree would come down without disrupting my heart. My parents "help" has been posing as my late brother and so much toxicity from my parents who call him their son.
The pandemic has been horrendous, along with the racist parents I have. So for me, this tree falling is a heartwish that was honored. I prayed that it come down safely and without this "helper". So when I saw it had fallen during the windstorm, I was quite ecstatic. At over 30feet, the supple top was just dangling 4" over the road landing next to the mailbox. And my trusty tree trimmers were able to trim it to clear the roadway.
After an IG post, someone stopped by and without asking took over 1/2 of the tree top (leaving the branches behind). If I hadn't prayed on it, I would have run outside yelling. Especially since board feet are pricey today. $300+ a cord of (hard) wood on average. And he beat my elderly father to it, though exchanged words with him about having an outdoor greenhouse furnace for 15feet of solid spruce.
My dad, in poor health, had his tractor to push the tree. But all of it went perfectly from my point of view (POV). All completed on my brother's birthday, a day that we usually took down Christmas decorations in February. I really felt this was a huge blessing. And I am hoping to have what I would like from the remaining tree trunk.
Will see.
Right now, I am happy to have my heartwish filled. My father and mother both hate the healing group "figurehead" despite it being an international group in many nations with a diversity of people on most every continent. So, without mentioning the name, it was through doing "Einstillen" that I feel I received this heartwish.
So having a hiking stick as a piece of my past is also heartwarming to me.
7:25pm update... Help today: Yesterday I had the ash can near 3/4 full of spruce ash and was wondering how to empty it. So, the March winds alerted me to the ash can. And thinking something was burning and leaving a smoke trail in it, I ran to check on it-- wondering why it was left unattended. It was literally so windy that about half of the spruce ash had blown out of it, leaving a strange thin cloud of white ash streaming out of it. It wasn't the billowing smoke of foliage and green branches. I am so grateful for this help. And it should help the lawn grow in greener too.
