With the recent Neti-Pot brain eating amoeba incidents, my curiosities have been dragged to other non-traditional cure-alls for a critical look at the effects of homeopathy. In this case, I’d like to call our fireplace ash to court! Let’s take a look at traditional use and current risks of soot in our food chain.

It’s no news that ash can act as a superlative fertilizer and garden additive. In fact, the stuff can be used to make paint pigment, hydroponic nutrient and antacid treatments (not recommended). My concern is the garden. Is the ash you’re laying-on thick helping or hurting you? At the end of the day, it’s all a question of what you burn. Let’s compare two hypothetical family fires: the Organics and the Everythings.

Walking into their yuppie décor splattered living room, you might find the Organics burning just that- organic matter (no need for USDA certification on this one). Burning biomass such as untreated wood, grass, bark and compost material makes for primo ash, the garden-worthy stuff. Compare this against the Everythings. This family fire generally consists of anything combustible, carpet scraps, coated papers, maybe a battery here and there … It’s all going turn to ash anyhow right?

Whether or not the Everything hearth burners out there get ash the looks like the Organics, there could be a case of mistaken identity. You may want to think twice before using Everything ash in your garden projects. Though it appears to go through a rigorous fire filtration, ash may contain residual toxins such as heavy metals even after a searing burn. So, even if preventing bodily mutation isn’t one of the Top 5 New Year’s resolutions on your list, you may want to think twice before using Everything ash in your planting projects come Spring.

Images:

http://blog.kinoma.com/2010/09/next-best-thing-to-being-there-burning-man-2010-in-kinoma-play/

http://www.geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/hazards/primer/