Re-using junk!

[steev]

"Steev, the Zipper Irrigator", that's got a certain pithy "je ne sais quoi".

"Pithy", that's my Cathtilian acthent coming through.

[steev]

Found a source of clean hardwood sawdust much closer than the redwood; they pack it in large bags that I can lift (the redwood needs a forklift and a lot of shoveling to empty the return-bag), altogether a better deal.

This is a difficult week; got dental, health, DMV, and birthday/sweetheart issues to deal with; will I get to the sawdustery? Oh, hell, yes; ya gotta take care of the important stuff. I'm not saying those other things aren't important, but soil amendments are an investment, not a short-term benefit, like dental care or a driver's licence (or observance of a birthday; hell, that'll happen again next year, whether one needs it or not).

[steev]

The fire-extinguisher mono-ammonium phosphate is really hard on the galvanized trash-cans I first dumped it in, (can't use plastic; the UV kills it in no time) before I started lining them with cheesy trash-bags (like utter destruction; too acid); the new hardwood sawdust comes in large heavy plastic bags that will be great can-liners; it just gets better.

Freeconomics rules!

[steev]

Damn! They really like to load those bags, to the point that they're very hard to tie closed and heavy for an old guy (that would be me) to handle.

Well; like anything else, it's about dealing with "what is", even when it isn't what one might want.

This is no biggie; getting around obstacles is what I do; so much of what I want to do is not conventionally approved.

Have I mentioned "long pig"? Seems to have bothered T in Oz, but he may be a tad overly sensitive.

[oldmobie]

Silverware caddy from an old dishwasher and some scrap PVC from a drain repair. Half a dozen screws and a few washers. Organized.

[steev]

I've got one such caddy and leftover PVC; p'raps I'll be so organized, one day; couldn't hurt; not holding my breath, though. My own current system is to remember which pile I've put things in; clearly this is less useful, as my short-term memory goes to hell. I'll get organized as soon as I get organized.

However, I'm definitely zero-ed in on the hardwood sawdust, a nitrogen-sink, but an excellent soil amendment when paired with the nitrogen-rich MAP. Given reasonable rains this Fall, I may be subject to giddy optimism for the year to come. Might not be the upside of a bi-polar swing; time will tell.

[prairiegardens]

Well, saw a thing on the internet where a guy had used discarded shingles to make a rather nice looking driveway up to his garage. My driveway is mostly sand and the local people supposedly selling gravel tried to talk me into more of it! I've been thinking about trying the shingles. The other day drove by a house around the corner that was getting a new roof, so stopped to discuss it with them. Long story short they delivered a pile of denailed shingles now sitting beside the drive. It won't be enough but it will certainly be enough to prove if it works or not. The roofer said they won't even need asphalt glue, they won't move. So. Maybe I'll just run tracks so as to make the supply go further...

I'm thinking also to put a row of them below the sides/endwalls of the raised beds and around the iris so as to take care of the ongoing issue of having to weedwhack or pull stuff growing too close to the beds to mow or otherwise keep tidy. If this all works 1) I'll be looking for more and 2) the guy I got them from will be saving them for his own projects, he was quite intrigued by the idea.

[steev]

There you go; thinking outside the box is a survival trait. How long did we exist before building permits were thought up?

[steev]

Went to the sawdustery, (taking a bag of Hosui pears, Purple Gages, and Elephant Heart plums in token of gratitude) where there was a brewer; he wanted to know whether I've any use for brewing-waste on a regular basis and agreed to bag it or something, so an old coot like me can handle it. SCORE!

Could a pig eat that to any benefit? Anybody know?

It's starting to look like I need a bigger p'up, if not a trailer. I guess I've gotta spend money to not spend money; seems a tad counter-intuitive, but there you go.

Anent Purple Gages, I braised some pork loin with onion and Gages: good chow.

[steev]

I think that hardwood sawdust will work well in the compooster; I regret having recently bought a bag of milled peat (pricey), as I'm sure this will do just fine (and it comes from a lot closer than that peat).

[mskrieger]

I believe that cows are sometimes (or used to be) fed on brewery waste. Bad for their teeth (because it's so acidic) but a hog that's just being fattened for a season shouldn't suffer ill effects. Between that and acorns (I've assume you've got oaks out there?) you should be set.

[steev]

The oaks are 99.9% not on my land; not gonna take a pig around on a leash, besides, the boar and deer scavenge the acorns thoroughly. Acorn-fed boar, that's something to salivate about.

[mskrieger]

At the end of the Japanese film 'Tanpopo', a gangster is dying in the arms of his beloved. She assures him he will not die, that he will live to the autumn and they will eat wild acorn fed boar, roasted with sweet potatoes in its belly....

...it's an absurdly romantic scene.

[steev]

What's absurd about dying in the arms of one's beloved, or eating acorn-fed boar, roasted with sweet potatoes in it's belly? Both damned fine propositions IMHO. Oh, yeah; the unlikeliness of living until Autumn; well, tomorrow is guaranteed to none of us, but nobody goes to sleep with pennies on their eyes.

I'd have to tape 'em, being a side-sleeper, were I so inclined.

[reed]

I was out cleaning up a little and organizing my junk and got to thinking, just how does this stuff propagate? I don't think it is sexual as I'v never noticed my pile of metal roofing show any interest in the excess bicycle wheels. Maybe cellar division or some spontaneous or supernatural process?

Now I know it's partly my fault, I can't resist a giant rusted door latch I find in the river or a partial automobile transmission case that eroded out of the ground. I suspect, in fact that I am the owner of the most spectacular rust collection in the state.

Then I have this habit of taking old dead lawn mowers or cook stoves apart and throwing components into assorted piles. Jars of nuts, bolt, screws and what about the pile of ancient locust or maybe even chestnut fence posts I pulled out of the ground somewhere cause I thought they would make good orchid planters, well actually they do.

I can explain part of it but still I'm convinced there is some kind of unseen junkenesis at play here. I think some of it might even be extraterrestrial.