CFFC: Weathered, Burned, or Burning Wood
In the middle of the tepee, I had a fire pit lined with fire bricks. A tepee doesn’t need a chimney because a tepee is a chimney.
During the years of my teepee, I got amazingly good at lighting fires really fast. I loved being cozy in in the tepee with a fire — but my hands would freeze if I couldn’t get it lit fast enough. With a fire burning and snow falling — those were years when we had lots of heavy snow every winter. My only problem? Getting through the drifts of snow to arrive at the tepee without leaving a boot stuck in a drift.
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Categories: #CFFC, #gallery, #Photography, New England, Winter
SERENDIPITY: SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Wow, a fire in a tent?!!
Ok, I’m a Brit and these shots were a real shock to me at first.
After reading your article, it makes sense and explains something about the tepee. I never knew.
I’d be amazed if you were allowed to do that in this country as Health and Safety reigns supreme here.
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If I were doing it on a dry autumn day, it might be an issue. But being as there was about 3 feet of snow outside, the odds of anything catching on fire were very small. AND it’s important how you set the fire. It’s as safe as using your fireplace inside if you know what you are doing. That fire was HOT and the inside of the teepee got VERY hot, so you couldn’t light a fire except in the dead of winter when we pretty much always have snow on the ground.
I learned quickly because it was bitterly cold out there. If I didn’t get the fire going fast, my hands froze and I couldn’t light a fire wearing glove — and I never used liquid fire-starters. I used actual kindling which I collected and stored in a waterproof box outside the teepee along with fire logs. I had to get the fire lit quickly and effectively. It had to be flame without smoke . I also wasn’t burning any paper, so there were no sparks and surprisingly little smoke. Also, I NEVER left the fire untended. I am super careful with fire. I have seen what happens when fire makers are careless.
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Terrific fire inside your teepee 😀 😀
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The thing was to get it to light with a bright flame and as little smoke as possible. If it got smokey, I had to run outside and remember AIR. If it was lots of fire, the smoke would go straight up the “chimney” and aside from getting awfully hot — sometimes we had to leave the door open or even with sub-zero temps outside, we’d get par-boiled inside. You wouldn’t think a fabric building could get quite that hot, but it did.
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So who took the shots of you , in the tent and the fire?
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Kaity took the picture of me with her first camera. I took the rest of the pictures.
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