One Man's Trash . . . .

I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of other people's trash that has ended up in our home as a treasure. So many useful objects are thrown away just because they are viewed as useless. Here are some ways that our family has turned trash into treasure.

First, the ever important glass jar:

I don't like plastic, so glass jars make an excellent (and free) replacement for all those little rubbermaid containers in the fridge, freezer, and pantry. I will sometimes make a purchase choice because it comes in a nice big glass jar that I know I can re-use. Adams peanut butter comes in awesome big jars. I also love getting those big gallon jars of pickles and olives. They make great jars for sprouting wheat, etc. The other day I was at Tongass ("the" store downtown) and they were selling gallon glass jars for $12. Wow, who would pay that much for an empty jar?? Think about that next time you go to toss a glass jar or bottle in the garbage.

Speaking of food storage, here is my next batch of buckets waiting to be filled with beans:

Two years ago we ordered a bunch of bulk food for daily use and emergency storage. Of course we then needed something to store them in, but couldn't afford to buy the necessary storage buckets at the local hardware store. So I started begging for used buckets at the grocery store deli across the street. I usually have to wash out the chocolate frosting or buttery garlic spread before I can use them, but I'm not complaining because they are free. Plus, I feel good that I am keeping them out of the landfill.

This is the pride and joy of my cluttered entry way, the patchwork wool rug:

I made it with shrunken wool sweaters, most of them gotten from the thrift store. Okay, I admit that I shrunk most of them myself, on purpose, to make the rug. And I paid money for most of them. But buying things at the thrift store does keep them out of the landfill. The thrift stores around here regularly gather up the things that don't sell and take them to the dump. Shrunken wool sweaters usually don't even get put on the rack at the thrift store, they just throw those donations right in the garbage. I finally convinced the thrift store down the street to set aside all their wool things for me instead of throwing them in the trash. I'm super excited about that, as I love crafting with recycled wool.
This wool rug was super easy to make. I cut apart the sweaters on the seams and shrunk them by throwing them in the washer and dryer. I then cut squares and sewed them together with a zig-zag stitch on my machine (no seam allowance, just sew the zig zag right over the edges). I made it double-thick to make the rug nice and heavy, but it is still small enough to throw into my washing machine. The rug has taken a lot of abuse in my wet, muddy entry way for two years and has held up beautifully. I've only washed it twice, as wool is very resistant to stains and spills. (I do vacuum it regularly.)

On the other side of my front door is this black rubber mat for wiping off your feet:

I wanted to get one of those huge industrial welcome mats that could really clean your shoes and wouldn't blow away in the wind. Of course I didn't have the money for that kind of purchase. I started thinking of what I could use to make my own mat, and then I remembered some of the junk that Chris brought home from the airport. They had replaced some of the conveyer belts at the airport, and the mechanic disposed of the old ones (brought them home, of course). We used some of it as flooring in the chicken coop, and I thought about making those tire sandals with some of it as well. But most of it was just rolled up and waiting for some useful purpose. It dawned on me that I already had a perfect rubber mat, I just had to cut a length and put it on the front walkway. I don't think my kitchen shears will ever be the same again, but the welcome mat is working wonderfully.

And now, here is the chicken coop you've been wondering about:

I had to put a picture of that since it mainly constructed with trash. You can see that the fence around the run is made with pallets. The floors and walls of the coop were also made from pallets. The blue-green siding was used and sitting in the yard of a construction company (we gladly took it off their hands). The lumber used in the construction was taken from our own living room ceiling. We even used the wood panel siding that we ripped off our living room walls to line the inside of the coop. The most expensive part of the coop was the chicken wire which sells for $50 a roll here! You'd think it was made from solid gold.

Last but not least, I can't blog about trash without talking about the stuff I pull out of the actual trash can in the produce department at the grocery store:

No, it's not the chickens, but the lettuce that they are trampling (it was fresh yesterday). We have twelve chickens (until recently we had 18) and we supplement their diet with a healthy supply of garbage from the produce department across the street. My daily jaunt to the back rooms of the grocery store, with kids in tow, to dig through the trash cans for choice pieces of broccoli and apples has given new meaning to my life, to say the least.

Enjoy your day, may the trash be with you!