We are still at it, clearing the debris from our back yard with another burn. We get burn permits from our local fire station (we are in the county) where we are able to burn as much debris as we can during a designated time. Here are the steps we take to do so:

Step 1:

Clear and cut all debris and get it down to a 3 to 4 foot size.

Step 2:

Find an area in your yard clear of shrubs and trees (10-20 feet) and is far away from the house (20-30 feet). Requirements can depend on fire department.

Step 3:

Call or stop by local fire department a day or two before and talk with the fire marshal who will check the forecast, air quality, and give you the go ahead or not.

Step 4:

Check air quality you can do so by going to https://www.sdapcd.org/content/sdc/apcd/en/ag-burn-decision.html it is required that the air be of good quality for approval to burn on that particular day or weekend.

Step 5:

Let your surrounding neighbors know. It’s not required but especially in California everyone’s awareness is heightened. They will see the smoke and if they know you are burning with approval they will not call in the fire. The permit is on file with the 911 dispatch department so they don’t send a unit but they are very busy so it’s nice to not give them more calls to deal with.

Step 6:

If air quality and word from the fire marshal is promising, the fire department will stop by the morning of and assess you burn area for the final approval. Water hose on hand (turned on) and shovel is required so make sure that is set up. They will sign off and give you a copy of the burn permit and let you know what time the fire should be out (cool to the touch).

Step 7:

Get to Burning! Keep it small and contained, always have at least one person near the fire at all times, and work none stop to get all of your debris burned within the timeframe (we tend to fail at the part because we always have so much!) 😄

Hope this is helpful!

Cheers!

Chloe & Michael

We’ve actually done a lot even though it may not look like it.  Now I want to take you back over the past couple years to show you just how we got to this point.  So stay tuned for the next few blog posts as we breakdown our progress on our property.  Now on to the front yard!

We found our dream home but after a few months the yard began to grow and grow and take over itself see the property has many well-developed plants and trees.  As a majority of sellers do you do a quick cleanup to make things presentable but underneath the trimmed hedges and weed-whacked beds are these giant plants waiting to take over their space.

We also began to find a lot of junk items in the yard as well.  Michael was deployed so I employed the help of my parents and we began to clear out and replant the front retained hillside.  But low and behold after awhile the weeds took over the space and gophers ate the ice plants… we were back to square one.

2019 was the year we got a drone and we’re finally able to see our property from a whole new perspective but 2019 was a big year for us with travel and planning our wedding in Italy so minimal forward progress was made.

2020 the year of staying home and tackling home projects.  Well by this point due to our lack of time to dedicate to the yard it had really grown and became a headache that we could no longer ignore.

So we got after it again and truly started the kickoff to our backyard and garden dreams.  At first we would cut down debris to put into the green bins that were taken in our weekly trash pickup but that was soon overwhelmed and we looked to other avenues for removal.  We decided to get approval from the local fire department to burn the cleared debris.  Yep you read right, I said burn and yes California is known for wildfires and being very dry, however in designated areas with control and permits you are able to burn so that’s exactly what we did.  Burn baby burn!

Weeds are still our never-ending story but little by little we will get there in the end.

Up next we will be taking all of the junk that we found in our backyard and hauling it away!  There is A LOT of junk so stay tuned!

Cheers!

Chloe & Michael