If you live in a white winterland climate fall is a great time to enjoy the outdoors and your yard before the snow flies. And if you don’t get snow in your part of the world you’re in an even better position to enjoy your fire pit during winter months: no shoveling!

The ideal winter fire pit is portable, like the new copper pits on the market. If you live in a climate that regularly gets below freezing you’ll understand: digging out from ice and snow gets old real fast. But a portable fire pit can wait in the garage or slip under the eaves for easy access and use.

When can you use a fire pit in the winter? Well, unlike summer, in the winter months it’s fun to light a fire in the middle of the day. Weekend, weekday . . . whatever suits your fancy. Here are some times you can get the flames dancing in the winter.

At the end of an afternoon of ice skating – even if it was at an indoor rink!

On a “balmy” winter evening, just to shake things up.

Over the holidays when everyone’s home . . . or not home.

Have a winter birthday? What a great way to celebrate! You can serve S’Mores instead of cake.

After you return from vacation, to re-introduce yourself to home before jumping into the usual work routine.

When friends come over, when family stops by, when a neighbor drops in.

At the end of an evening of entertaining, as your guests are thinking about leaving. It’s a great way to send them off.

As a new family tradition: pot of great stew with fresh bread, and out to the fire together.

After the Big Game, complete with hot dogs or steaks cooked outside.

Tip: make sure your wood pile is accessible in the winter months. It would really stink if you planned a great outdoor New Year’s party and realized your wood was at the back fence under two feet of snow and ice.

Another tip for winter fire pit use: have a stash of extra coats, hats, mits and scarves for unprepared guests – they’ll appreciate it. Want to go all-out? Get heated seat warmers and provide a place to set those insulated mugs.

Sound like fun? If you don’t already have your own portable fire pit this may be the time to invest in one. After all, the memories will be . . . priceless.

Are you thinking to design your backyard around a fire pit? What ever your way but, outdoor fire pit is one of best solution to improve your backyard area.

Whether you choose an open basin style fire pit or a modern version of a chiminea (Mexican-style outdoor oven), you can grill with enthusiasm and gusto. Cooking over an open flame is at once similar to and very different from cooking over coals. They’re both very hot and require close attention. But unlike glowing coals, flames can “lick” the flavors right out of your food and quickly leave a gray, ashen heap. Don’t despair – now’s the time to become the neighborhood guru in fire pit cooking, and here are some beginning tips to get you started.

First tip: use dry wood. Wet wood smokes a lot. Another wood tip: use hardwoods, like oak or maple. Hardwoods burn longer and more consistently than soft woods like pine. (And you don’t want pine pitch seasoning your steaks.)

This next tip may sound like a no-brainer, but if you forget it you’ll have a tough start to dinner: build your fire with chunks of wood small enough to allow the grate to set properly in place above it. In other words, don’t use big chunks or ones with irregular shapes that will get in the way of the grilling rack.

For convenience you may want to keep the smaller grilling wood separate from the larger “bonfire” wood. That way you won’t have to pick through the stack every time you want to grill. And it will save your back from constantly restacking the pile.

If you’re going to grill food that cooks quickly like hot dogs you can set it right on the rack and turn it often to keep from burning. It’ll cook fast so watch carefully. And don’t walk away – wood fires aren’t as consistent as charcoal. You will probably move the food around a lot to keep it in an ideal cooking environment.

If you’re going to cook food that takes longer like steaks there’s another way to set up your fire that’s just like cooking a large item on your charcoal or gas grill. This can be a bit trickier because wood burns faster and less consistently than charcoal.

Have a good pile of short sticks ready. Use these short chunks of wood for this fire because once the fire is burning well you’ll want to push it to the sides of the fire pit, leaving an open space in the middle for a drip pan. Set your pan in place, lower the grilling rack and start cooking.

Now for the tricky part: keep the wood burning hot around the edges. Just like cooking indirectly on a charcoal grill, you’ll need to add fuel – or wood – to the fire to keep it constant. Wood burns faster than charcoal so watch it closely.

And you’re off to a great start! Soon you’ll be savoring the real flavor of wood smoked foods, and you’ll be the envy of your neighborhood. Enjoy!

Outdoor fire pits will elevate your relationships and your backyard. You can also create your own camp with fire pits at indoor or outdoor area.

You can opt for a basic design such as a round bowl or something as sophisticated as a fire pit installed in the center of a table. It all depends on your needs and where you will be utilizing your new fire pit. Some people prefer to have a fire pit that is permanently installed and do not plan on ever moving it. Most of these permanent pits are usually connected to a gas line off of the home. These are often very large and look very similar to a fireplace.

Other folks want a fire pit that they can move around and use whenever and wherever they want. These are called portable fire pits and they are the most popular type of fire pit by a wide margin. The advantages are obvious as you can take them with you camping or for a picnic or family gathering. They are generally very easy to set up and come in a huge variety of shapes and styles.

You will also need to decide on what type of fuel you want to utilize. The most popular is the traditional wood burning fire pit but you will need to check with local laws and ordinances as some areas have placed bans on wood burning. You then need to make sure your area is suitable because wood burners need more space around them. Propane and natural gas fire pits are also popular and have the advantage of requiring less space than wood. They are ideal for using on a deck or patio because of the space requirements and that they are less messy and easier to clean.

If you found this article about fire pits helpful, you may want to visit the following links – Portable Fire Pits and Whalen Fire Pits