Out of the Woods and Into the Fire: Eco-Friendly Firelogs

As more and more people tend to turn towards gas fireplaces, I still prefer the old fashioned “throw another log into the fire” fireplace with real smoke. Just the very scent of a real fire burning connects me to nature in a way that I cannot even describe.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m all for saving the trees and it seems like a tragedy to cut down a something so majestic and precious as the very trees that clean our air. There are a number of Firelogs on the market today, that are ecologically friendly- such as the Pine Mountain logs and Java logs. Most eco-friendly logs are actually made up of discarded and recycled coffee grounds, like the Java log, and do not require any trees to be brought to an untimely demise!

Make Your Own Logs

Now if you are an eco-nut like me, you will be thinking about how you can take this one further. Here’s how you can make your own eco-friendly fire log:

• Save up the coffee grounds you use at home, at the office, and any other place where you may brew a cup of joe.
• Once you have a decent amount of grounds saved up, grab a newspaper and soak it in water that has been heavily sea salted (Epsom salts also tend to work quite nicely).
• Take the first layer of paper and lay it flat.
• Sprinkle the paper with coffee grounds so that the grounds are approximately 1 inch thick.
• After that, roll up the paper and add the next paper before you reach the end of the first paper so that the two papers overlap.
• Take care to roll these papers as tightly as possibly.

TIP: To keep the papers tight, try tying a string at each end.

• Continue on with this until your log is approximately eight to twelve inches in diameter.
• Once completed, allow the log to dry out completely.
• This will probably take about a month, so try to do your logs during the spring and summer months and store them before winter.

Reduce, reuse and recycle! That’s what being eco-friendly is all about. Come up with your own eco-friendly fire log concoctions and you can share them with others!

photo by K Greggain