Homestead Gifts- Fire Starters

Even if you're not a "crafty" sort of person, there are many useful and practical items that can be quickly made for your fellow homesteaders. The following fire starters are a perfect example.

Fire Starters: These can be made from dried corn cobs and/or pine cones. Collect a five-gallon bucket of either one or a mixture of both. Melt 2 pounds of paraffin wax in a clean coffee can placed in a pot of boiling water. Be careful! Melt the wax slowly and never leave it unattended. Stir the wax often with an old wooden spoon to hasten the melting process.

Using a pair of old tongs, carefully dip each corn cob or pine cone in the hot wax. Place on a newspaper covered table to dry. Dip each one in the hot wax one more time. After the second wax coating has dried and hardened, fill miscellaneous baskets and buckets with the results. You can fancy up the container with a bow or by wrapping it with cellophane and then attaching a bow, tag, what-have-you.

If you'd like to create fancier fire starters, you may add wax crayons or candle dyes for color and essential or flavoring oils for scent. It will take about 10 crayons to color two pounds of paraffin (for candle dye, follow package directions) and about 1 teaspoon of essential oil, or 2 teaspoons of flavoring oil, to scent the wax.

Nice combinations of color and scent are as follows:

Red Color and Cinnamon Scent Red Color and Cranberry Scent Green Color and Pine Scent Green Color and Mint Scent

Most supermarkets carry flavoring oils in their baking isles. If you can't find them there, please visit Lorann Oils at: http://www.lorannoils.com . They also carry colorings. If you'd rather use essential oils and cannot find them locally, check out San Francisco Herbs at: http://www.sfherb.com . They also carry various sized, hard-to-find pine cones.

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