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Philosophy and Goals We personally find the use of landfills atrocious. Only a wasteful society would make regular use of such a system. So much goes into the landfill that should be reused, it is sad. There are several people working hard to change attitudes, one such hero is Dan Phillips of http://phoenixcommotion.com While we don't do our work on the scale Dan does, we have not used a landfill for anything in years. Of course we follow the first commandment, reduce. But, you still need buildings and lots of stuff to make a farm work. So, the first place we look for building materials is the waste stream. We love to reuse stuff, so it doesn't have to be recycled. We are willing to drive a reasonable distance to pick stuff up, delivery is always appreciated and if possible, rewarded by a tour and good food. Our list of stuff needed of course changes as we get projects finished, but there is always stuff needed. |
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Water Catchment We hope to end our reliance on our well. A full third of our electric bill goes to powering the well, so our dreams of going off grid are hard to fulfill while we have to use it. The people at Industrial Country Market, http://icm71.com are using a wonderful idea, which we would like to copy. They have collected old, above ground swimming pools that the liners were in great shape, but the pumps had died. Put in low buildings, that serve as water catchments, they can store almost 30,000 gallons of water. We want old, above ground swimming pools with good liners. No pumps needed, just the framework and liner. We could use 6 or 8 of these, depending on size. |
Barrels, buckets and pails Old kittly litter buckets, 5 gallon paint buckets, pails of any sort, barrels of any sort. All of these things have real value on a farm. And they do wear out. An infusion of such items is always welcome. |
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Concrete blocks and cylinders Concrete blocks are very valuable, in any shape or size. We have bought whole truckloads of these, but still more are needed. Urbanite, the trendy name for used concrete is also a useful building material. Concrete cylinders, like they use for testing concrete when building bridges, these are available in various locations and always welcome. While we do go and pick them up, ourselves, if you are coming for a visit and know where they can be had, a load of these is very welcome. We are using them, with a little added concrete to put a floor in the barn. They also make the floors in many of our out buildings.
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Suggestions? Have an item that you think we could use? Email us at gartht@txcyber.com And let us know. It may be just what we need, but didn't know it was available. But please, don't just bring junk to the farm expecting it to be a landfill, we are not. |
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