Burn

Fire season

It’s fire season here in the United States. When I was young, fire season was confined to the mountains in dry, western states. As an adult, the season began to creep into California, and then, increasingly, the Pacific N0rthwest. Here in Minnesota, where I live, we’ve had 23 days of air quality alerts so far this year. The record for the year is 21 and we have a lot of summer ahead of us.

We’re also in the midst of a drought. My lawn is entirely dead. The grass crackles sharply under my feet as I walk from my back door to the vegetable garden. I’m limping it along as best I can. The peppers are happy, the peas are not. I haven’t used my firepit all summer, despite being a fire lover. I’m to afraid of an ember landing on the dead grass and causing my whole yard to go up in flames. I can’t even think about adding more smoke to the already hazy skies.

While we know that these fires are burning too early and too long, we also know that forest fires keep forests healthy. They burn away the detritus so that the ecosystem can continue to grow.

When we think of cleansing, we usually think of washing away the dirt.

But fire is a epic purifier.

Let’s welcome the fire.

xo,

SRB