| Author | Content |
DriftingDude
Charleston, SC
February 22, 2008 11:21 AM Post #4572000
| I also collect my neighbor's leaf bags for my compost bin. The other day at work, I noticed that stores, resturants (?) toss empty cardboard boxes out for the trash. Hmm..another source! :) |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX (Zone 8a)
February 22, 2008 11:51 AM Post #4572045
| Yup! Dumpster diving for cardboard. LOL
Karri_Sue ~ Fun article from a generous gardener... I hope to someday return the favor of seed sharing... Thanks again! pod |
slcdms
Ripley, MS
February 22, 2008 12:41 PM Post #4572169
| Well it looks like someone has been peeking in my windows--lol--
My oldest daughter could never understand why I would want to make my own "dirt" but the day I brought home things to try and make my own "rocks" my youngest daughter was right in the middle of that while the oldest proclaimed the both of us a pair of "NUTS"
We should introduce our kids, Karen, they would have a high old time trying to out tell each other stories.
Good job on the article
Sandra |
carrielamont
Euless, TX (Zone 8a)
February 22, 2008 4:49 PM Post #4573215
| Our kids, our husbands, our neighbors, our parents, LOL. I think of the amount of compostable former food my dad's nursing home trashes every day - hmmm would they think it was strange if . . . yep. They would.
x, Carrie |
Hineni
Paris, TN (Zone 6b)
February 22, 2008 6:43 PM Post #4573702
| You're not alone! It embarrassed my DH until he found that scrounging in trash dumpsters meant he didn't have to buy planting pots :) I still can't convince him to let me go up to the sheep farm or around to the other farms and get some poop in a rubbermaid container for the compost pile though. I keep trying! And all my kids think I'm nuts too, and just die from embarrassment when they are up visiting and I see something by the road I want to stop for...lol.
We know we're not nuts, just...frugal! |
carrielamont
Euless, TX (Zone 8a)
February 22, 2008 7:07 PM Post #4573777
| My DH had to go scrounging for stuff, like firewood, because his family was so poor on urban long Island that they went cold if they didn't find enough firewood to keep the woodstove burning. To him it's humiliating beyond belief to need to go collecting other people's neatly bundled "yard waste" and burn it - heck, why buy firewood if someone is throwing giving away bags and bags of precut 2" - 3" diameter sticks? Then we can throw away our UNcut brush as yard waste and burn the other people's tidy "yard waste".
x, Carrie |
leaflady
Hughesville, MO (Zone 5a)
February 23, 2008 4:17 AM Post #4575904
| My DDs are both scroungers like me. The boys are somewhat embarrased by it. My husband use to protest until he realized how much money we were saving and how many good items were being thrown away. I use to dumpster dive with our DGS for food and we helped feed us and about 6 other families. As long as one is careful about what you consume that you have dded for it is a safe practice. We salvaged thousands of dollars of meat in one weekend a couple times. |
karri_sue
Jacumba, CA (Zone 8b)
February 23, 2008 4:21 AM Post #4575923
| Thanks for your comments, this was a fun article to write! We have a teacher at the school that I work at that collects all of our paper and cardboard waste. Her family has a recycle center and she has me trained to recycle all of the paper. I am amazed at how much waste we create at school. The best thing about it is that we involve the kids so recycling is just another daily lesson for them.
Karen |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX (Zone 8a)
February 23, 2008 11:44 AM Post #4576490
| Karen ~ good work thru the school. Recycle will not happen in the older generations but thru the kids. They will learn and go home to teach (shame) their elders... Hang in there. |
Hineni
Paris, TN (Zone 6b)
February 23, 2008 4:47 PM Post #4577516
| carrielamont - I think you hit it on the nose, that scrounging, dd'ing and such make them think of poor upbringings, and therefore it is an embarrassment in today's supposedly affluent society. But today we also waste more, and so in my mind there are lots of opportunities waiting around each corner :)
leaflady, I admire your family - my DH draws the line at pulling anything out that would be considered a 'food' item. He's still a germaphobe in many respects. When I was a teen and working at the local fast food place, we threw hundreds of pounds of food away every day (not that it was healthy food, but food nonetheless).
Of course, if everyone was frugal, what would we all do? :) But it would be healthy for our planet if everyone learned to waste less!
Thanks Karri for a good article! |
KansasRose
Belleville, KS (Zone 5b)
September 15, 2009 4:14 PM Post #7067025
| Enjoyed this! We collect newspapers from the library and grass clippings from the city tree dump for mulch. My husband is the grass scavenger...he has a little rivalry going with an older man who also covets the grass clippings...to feed his goats!!! |
huckleberry6
Eagle Point, OR (Zone 8a)
September 21, 2009 5:43 AM Post #7086513
| Keep up the good scavenging work! =^..^= |
DracoVolans
Crestline, CA (Zone 7b)
September 24, 2009 6:43 PM Post #7100050
| Leaflady, you are officially AWESOME. I've been so poor that dumpster-diving was they only wayI could have furniture or clothing. Oddy, enough, I found a lot of "luxuries" tha way, too- decorative items, some of which I still have and treasure in my home as lovely pieces that are special to me, even though I didn't pay a red cent.
Food? Yeah, I've done that. It just makes me want to scream when I see so much being tossed that could FEED someone. There are stores back home that actually throw CHEMICALS onto the food they throw away to keep the homeless from being able to eat it! How disgusting is THAT? There have been too many times in my life where I NEEDED that food (been homeless several times- the first was when I was eleven), and it offends me that some would ruin it just so they could keep their lots "looking nice" (IE, no scraggly, half-starved, unwashed... you know what I mean). We used to keep track of who did that and tell the guys around the neighbourhood where the safe stuff was. Sometimes, you could just walk into the store itself, ask to talk to the manager and deal with him for their throwaways, and they might let you take what you wanted just for hauling it out to the dumpster yourself for them. It was rare, but you could do it. Many just let you root in their bins, though, and looked the other way. |
leaflady
Hughesville, MO (Zone 5a)
September 24, 2009 7:55 PM Post #7100361
| Thanks, for the approval rating folks. I think it should be a law that if something was eatable(?)it had to be given to a soup kitchen or food bank. I will gladly join hands with those who dd. |
francine38
Falls Church, VA
October 11, 2010 3:32 AM Post #8149767
| Some people are just nasty: even if they throw things away, they do not want others to have and enjoy them. I have seen people at work, before they throw away their newspaper in the bin, to make sure no one can enjoy it, they tear it into pieces. Some people are generous, they refolded them, and put it neatly on top of the trash can or recycle bin. Growing up during the war, I always recycle things. Recycle through the county or re-use them myself. Some people just toss away good clothes, shoes, etc. in their trash. They do not even consider giving them to charities.
I have a question:
"I am also helping out by bringing large boxes home from work to lay under my lasagna beds. "
Do you mean you use it as a weed barrier? How do you do that?
Thank you for the informative article--Francine. |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX (Zone 8a)
October 11, 2010 5:33 AM Post #8149863
| Francine ~ this link is to information on Lasagna beds. It also has more links to threads and articles about using cardboard, newspaper, etc.
http://davesgarden.com/community/journals/viewentry/115323/
This fall, I am building Lasagna beds for a garden spot next spring. All the cardboard came from the trash. The newspapers I am using came from a friend that has access to the newspapers that didn't sell the previous day. Compost from the house for one of the layers and a neighbors' horse manure. I am excited to try it out. All the plants that will be planted in it will be started by me ~ no purchased vegie plants here.
I am also saving bubble wrap for lining the greenhouse windows and recently dumpster dived for the plastic bread trays that will work as shelves to hold plants in the GH. As we live in a rural area, the local restaurant puts all the old food and plate scrapings in 5 gallon buckets and folks come by and pick them up to feed their hogs. Not much wasted as they also give away a good bit of edible before they toss.
If everyone else did the same, the local garbage men would soon be out of work. |
francine38
Falls Church, VA
October 11, 2010 12:55 PM Post #8150677
| Thank you... now I am sorry that I put out the cardboard boxes for recycling...
I have to ask a friend whose daughter owns a horse where the stables are to get manure---
I was in Heidelberg, Germany and the restaurants there (I worked there as a student) separated the food from paper (and they gave 1 napkin for each client). No plastic, no paper plates. Then the leftover food stuff are for the hogs. That was in 1964-1965! |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX (Zone 8a)
October 11, 2010 1:18 PM Post #8150708
| Well ahead of the recycling curve it sounds like. If you are interested, contact your stores and ask if you can have their packing material. Ask what days they get their shipments. Many times, they have flattened the boxes so are easier to handle. Good luck! |
