Nothing tastes better than dinner cooked over a campfire. The trick when cooking with a campfire is maintaining an optimum fire and temperature. Desiree and I started our cooking fire late in the afternoon so we could reduce a half dozen larger logs down to a pulsating bed of coals for proper cooking.
Desiree likes a fire. A big fire.
Reducing flames in not generally a target on her radar screen. Given that, we initially overachieved on fire-building. For a few minutes, flames
scissored six or so feet into the air.
Eventually, however, the tall flames collapsed down into a fine bed of
coals.
My mountain neighbors recently
gave us a small bellows for urging reluctant campfires. The bellows, it turns out, is perfect for adjusting
temperature upwards when a bed of coals wanes.
A few puffs directed at the coals quickly livens them.
We used the bellows during the
final stage of our cooking.
In the end, Desiree and I shared
a fine dinner featuring freshly caught brook trout and hamburgers. Just as we finished with our dinner, sun
showers swept through the forest. Our
day ended with a double rainbow arched over the small mountain valley.
Desiree Using the Bellows to
Liven the Fire
—Mitchell Hegman
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