We have collected a lot of debris since we arrived here on the Farmlet. My parents have moved, and their neighbours moved recently, also. We were only too happy to pick up some of the resulting debris: scrap timber and roofing materials, black polythene, plastic netting, strips of weed mat (my parents used be in commercial horticulture), wire, plant pots, and even the wheels and base of an old cart that was once used for harvesting lilies. Most of this is high-quality debris, after all. . . and we are sure it will come in handy sooner or later!
Debris
Acquiring the debris was the easy part. Stacking and storing it is not so simple, and sometimes we find ourselves wondering if perhaps the various debris piles around our place will just keep growing until they swallow the whole Farmlet. We seem to have piles of junk everywhere! Pausing to look down the other day from the pasture, I’m afraid I found the view of our house paddock a little distressing. Still, since we are trying to get our show on the road cheaply, and with minimal waste of resources, freedom from debris is a luxury we can’t allow ourselves.
House and surrounding area, with debris use and storage indicated
Almost every day, we are building our dreams out of those piles of debris: Rope and timber for the clothesline, plastic mesh for the pea frames, concrete blocks and torn-up cardboard boxes for the herb garden. As we see these projects materialising, it seems that perhaps the piles of debris will not swallow the Farmlet after all. Instead, the Farmlet is swallowing the debris, and transforming it even beyond what we dreamt of.
Becky builds a pea frame
Pea flowers
A while ago, when I was lamenting the mess and debris around this place, I happened to read a post on Path to Freedom that touched on the same issue. At the Path to Freedom homestead, on an intensely cultivated 1/5-acre section in the city of Pasadena, they can’t allow themselves the luxury of being untidy. And I was thinking it would be a luxury NOT to have a mess! Upon further consideration, I find that we are very lucky to have the luxury of five somewhat untidy acres, and neighbours who don’t seem to mind about the state of our yard.