We primarily heat our house with our woodstove, which means we start a lot of fires. This is a task that can be quite an art form for seasoned professionals and pretty daunting to those who just want to get warm, fast. We used to fight with the stove and the wood, babying the flame until it took hold, trying more paper or more kindling or different wood or different techniques, all of which tried our patience in some form. Until we learned how to make firestarters. (Can you hear the trumpets and angels in the distance?) These little nuggets of fabulousness have saved our sanity and our freezing hands regularly. They are so simple to make and you probably don't even have to buy anything. Start off with old egg cartons, specifically the paper-cardboardy type. Put them on newspaper, cardboard or whatever you have laying around that you don't mind wax getting on since some melted wax will seep through the cartons before it cools. We just used scrap cardboard from a box that was in ...
