How to Recycle a FreeCycle
About two years ago, our family scored a wooden play set via our local FreeCycle* group. After careful examination though, we decided that the 20-year old play set was not in the kind of shape we trusted for our kids' safety for the next 5-10 years.
I'd been wanting to start composting kitchen scraps for some time too, so my super-smart husband and father came up with a plan to turn the play set into a giant compost bin for me.
This is the clubhouse and sandbox portion of the play set...
... being remade into an air-circulating compost container.
Leaves, grass clippings, kitchen scraps, dead headed flowers, coffee grounds, veggies overlooked in the garden and left on the vine too long... it all goes into a lovely pile of decomposing goodness.
That spring I was excited to plant a few things and began lasagna gardening in cardboard boxes. (You know what happens to cardboard when it gets wet and rained on?)
So with the leftover swing and support beams from the FreeCycled play set, hubby built frames for my vegetable garden. This is about halfway through the build process.
Laying out the square divisions.
Yay for no more soggy box gardens!
(I will have to snap a few photos of these things this year, because it looks really different and much nicer, now that everything has had a while to settle in.)
I use these gardening and naturalist books a lot.
And if you wonder lately where Erin has gone to...
look no further.
*Not familiar with FreeCycle? I'm about to sound like a paid advertisement.
It's a great way to become a better steward of your possessions, finances and the environment.
Basic principle: Do you have something, anything, you want to get rid of? Post it on your local FreeCycle Yahoo group and see if there is anyone in your area who could use it.
Looking for something that someone else might have and not want anymore? Post a request on your local FreeCycle group and see if someone can meet your need.
FreeCycle helps to keep perfectly good items out of the landfills by connecting people who want to get rid of things to people who actually need/want/can use those very same things. Bricks, cars, makeup, household goods, clothing, roosters, kittens, windows, books, furniture, video games, sports equipment, plants, appliances, moving boxes, holiday decorations... there are very few things I haven't seen on my FreeCycle board.
Search the Yahoo Groups directory to see if there's a FreeCycle group in your area.
I'd been wanting to start composting kitchen scraps for some time too, so my super-smart husband and father came up with a plan to turn the play set into a giant compost bin for me.
This is the clubhouse and sandbox portion of the play set...
... being remade into an air-circulating compost container.
Leaves, grass clippings, kitchen scraps, dead headed flowers, coffee grounds, veggies overlooked in the garden and left on the vine too long... it all goes into a lovely pile of decomposing goodness.
That spring I was excited to plant a few things and began lasagna gardening in cardboard boxes. (You know what happens to cardboard when it gets wet and rained on?)So with the leftover swing and support beams from the FreeCycled play set, hubby built frames for my vegetable garden. This is about halfway through the build process.
Laying out the square divisions.Yay for no more soggy box gardens!
(I will have to snap a few photos of these things this year, because it looks really different and much nicer, now that everything has had a while to settle in.)
I use these gardening and naturalist books a lot.
And if you wonder lately where Erin has gone to...
look no further.*Not familiar with FreeCycle? I'm about to sound like a paid advertisement.
It's a great way to become a better steward of your possessions, finances and the environment.
Basic principle: Do you have something, anything, you want to get rid of? Post it on your local FreeCycle Yahoo group and see if there is anyone in your area who could use it.
Looking for something that someone else might have and not want anymore? Post a request on your local FreeCycle group and see if someone can meet your need.
FreeCycle helps to keep perfectly good items out of the landfills by connecting people who want to get rid of things to people who actually need/want/can use those very same things. Bricks, cars, makeup, household goods, clothing, roosters, kittens, windows, books, furniture, video games, sports equipment, plants, appliances, moving boxes, holiday decorations... there are very few things I haven't seen on my FreeCycle board.
Search the Yahoo Groups directory to see if there's a FreeCycle group in your area.
Labels: Free Cycle, gardening, KONOS, stewardship
paper lantern of the day Monday, June 09, 2008
3 Comments:
You sure do know some innovative and handy men...although I'm distraught to see Dad wearing his good beach shirt to do such dirty labor. That shirt's been going for 10 years, and it just wouldn't be "the beach" this year without it. *sigh* Oh well, as long as it's for your garden.
I hope at least some of the fruits of your labor make it into a salad at the beach. That might even it all out for me.
Jealous. Yup. Call me green.
Oh, how I wish I had my own place so I could do some gardening! Some day, perhaps!
In the meantime, I'm just trying to figure out how to get my town to do recycling pick-up so I don't have to always drive to the recycling place! With one family vehicle that's usually gone from 8-5...and a recycling center that closes at 5pm...you get the picture!
Enjoy your gardening and I'll save the tips for the day when I get my own plot of gardening goodness! :)
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