Now I've heard everything...

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 11:26 am

Hershey's makes a S'MORES MAKER? Call me old-fashioned, but to me,

S'mores are for CAMPFIRES!!

If you haven't seen this folks check out the Target ad in your Sunday paper.

Creeps me out!!

anastrophe · Post by **anastrophe** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 11:33 am

here's an image of one:

http://www.toyscamp.com/viewproduct.asp ... =SPM385021

:yh_sick

Tombstone · Post by **Tombstone** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 10:59 am

Valerie,

Saw them two days ago at the grocery store!

I think you will have to get used to seeing them. You know, campfires are evil and pollute mother earth.

But seriously, I have read several recent articles on the crackdown cities and counties are having on campfires. They just are not being permitted anymore in many areas.

I know a guy who was trying to buy a campground in CA and bailed out of the deal because the county was going to rescind his ability to have fire-rings at the campsites. Fire safety? Nope. Pollution.

What are your thoughts on this?

Hawke · Post by **Hawke** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 11:15 am

As my environmental archaeology professor drilled into me, fire is 1) necessary, 2) desirable, and 3) inevitable.

Necessary because several species of plant out West actually require fire as a pollination step. In one particular species of conifer, the pinecones will not open without the heat of a fire.

Desirable because it releases nutrients back into the ground and clears out underbrush on forest floors.

Inevitable, because the more we try to hold fire back, the more it strikes back with a vengeance.

The US Forest Service has attempted to cull and prevent forest fires, which means that over time a huge amount of underbrush builds up in forests. Consequently, when these forests DO catch on fire, it burns hot and long due to the massive amounts of fuel available. If we were to adopt the same practice as the Native Americans before us - annual burns of forest brush - then when forest fires DO break out they will be easily controlled and cause very minimal damage.

I could say more here and I may do so in a future edit of this post. Right now, I've an errand to run.

Tombstone · Post by **Tombstone** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 11:54 am

Fyrehawke wrote: As my environmental archaeology professor drilled into me, fire is 1) necessary, 2) desirable, and 3) inevitable.

Necessary because several species of plant out West actually require fire as a pollination step. In one particular species of conifer, the pinecones will not open without the heat of a fire.

Desirable because it releases nutrients back into the ground and clears out underbrush on forest floors.

Inevitable, because the more we try to hold fire back, the more it strikes back with a vengeance.

The US Forest Service has attempted to cull and prevent forest fires, which means that over time a huge amount of underbrush builds up in forests. Consequently, when these forests DO catch on fire, it burns hot and long due to the massive amounts of fuel available. If we were to adopt the same practice as the Native Americans before us - annual burns of forest brush - then when forest fires DO break out they will be easily controlled and cause very minimal damage.

I could say more here and I may do so in a future edit of this post. Right now, I've an errand to run.

I couldn't agree more. What is happening, however, is that campfires are increasingly becoming classified as a polluting nuisance. Campfires are not a part of forestland management - but an equal evil to outdoor BBQ's - or indoor wood burning fireplaces.

Policy, of course, is determined by locale.

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 1:16 pm

I am really, really of two minds about all this... I understand about the

pollutants but it just seems incredibly sad to think we can't have our fires.

Quite often, there is uproar in Lake Tahoe, California about fireplaces and

the cold air inversion layer? Is that it sorry not up on that stuff like I

should be... but the air tends to "trap" the particulates down low and it

is really bad for people with compromised lung function (asthmatics, for

instance). And my county has just recently had rumblings about no new

wood fieplaces, only gas... and issuing bad air alerts just like in the summer

only you could get fined for having a wood fire!

Too many people. I try to do what I can to not pollute too much... and if I

DO decide to have a fire, it is with really dry seasoned wood and get it

really hot, not a smoky old soft green pine thing!! (I convince myself that

I'm doing the right thing)!

Anyway, I have learned that you don't really need a campfire for s'mores

NOR do you need a "Maker" you can easily do them in the microwave,

and some people tell me they use their stoves, whether gas OR electric!

My Mom used to say: Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without!!