Feel Free

I was raised with a scavenger's ethic. My dad was a second generation antique dealer, which is to say that we made our living by digging through other people's old junk and selling it for money. I was raised to see the value in what others perceived as trash, and -- given that the antique business is not exactly a get-rich-quick scheme -- to be aware of ways to get things for cheaper or for free. My house and barn are to this day a testament to the incredible amount of stuff people give or throw away. My mom and her partner Terry keep the tradition by making art out of rusty old pieces of metal and other assorted "junk" to be found at the local dump. Those who know me will be well aware of my own fondness for dumpster diving, namely when perfectly good food is involved. We are a family of vultures, and I say that with the utmost respect for the usually-maligned creatures. Vultures and other scavenger animals fill a vital role in any ecosystem, and I'm happy as a clam to fill that niche in my own community.

All of this is to introduce two incredible websites that I encountered this week, both of which involve getting fantastic stuff for completely, 100% free. I thought I'd share these findings with you here since they concern two really important things every homesteader needs: food (that is, plants) and shelter.

The first is a government website, but despite this affiliation, I think they're up to something good. Its called the the Germplasm Resources Information Network, operated through the USDA, and it appears that their sole purpose is to collect seeds, scions (budding branches from trees) and other plant matter used for propagation, and give them away for free. 100% free. They even cover the shipping. I read somewhere that they do it mostly for rare plants, but I found all manner of plants on their site. The only catch is that you're supposed to use it for research or educational purposes, which I suppose means if you're a market farm they don't really want you to take advantage of it to make a profit. I figured that I qualified for it, so I went ahead and placed an order. In about a month I can expect to get a nice package full of strawberry plants, asparagus, radishes, shallots, and various varieties of scions for peach, pear, and apple trees. All free of charge courtesy of the great U.S. of A. I should tell you, there website is a little hard to navigate, particularly since they use latin binomial plant names almost exclusively (e.g. peach trees are listed as prunus persica), so if you're interested and need a little help deciphering things, feel free to send me a message.

The second is one I'm really jazzed about, and I'm sure I'll be writing more about it later. Its actually a collection of websites all about how to build yourself a tiny little house for free. I first stumbled upon this youtube channel called Tiny Yellow House, this video in particular -- "Gypsy Junker" -- catching my eye.

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This fellow, Deek Diedricksen based out of Massachusetts, builds a ton of small living structures almost entirely out of salvaged material. I am in love with his portable gypsy wagon built out of trash, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go that route rather than spending a pretty penny on some run-down old camper. My friends Billy and Grace, who were artists-in-residence on the farm in Utah where I WWOOFed, lived in one such gypsy wagon, which you can see here on their website.

Following his work led me to this other blog called Tiny Free House, in which a fellow alternative builder chronicles his work building a shelter for free out of used shipping pallets. He says, "It will cost nothing. Any money I spend on building materials will be recouped by selling discarded things I find and most of the wood will come from old shipping pallets. Why Pallets? It just seems like poetic justice for a house that questions consumerism to be made from the very things that carried so many products to market." Love it. Seeing this reminded me of an intentional community I visited in northern Washington last February called Porcupine Palace, since they had built ALL of their living structures out of scrap wood and discarded palettes from the shipyards in Seattle. He's also building on wheels -- I believe a utility trailer -- the benefits to this, as I see them, being thats its incredibly portable and doesn't necessitate pouring a foundation.

So add one more thing to the list of projects. I don't know how far I'll get into it this year, but I'm going to try and simplify it to the point that it costs me less than $500 (obviously trying to get as close to free as possible) and only takes a few months to build. Based on what I've seen so far, I think thats totally reasonable. And totally fun, since it involves a goodly amount of dump pickin'.

I've got another post coming this week about seed starting, a how-to as well as some talk about the trouble with seed starting mediums and the resource use involved. As a teaser I'll tell you that it involves me doing something quite unsustainable. But until I sort out some picture uploading issues, you'll have to stay in suspense as to what that might be.

In the meantime, folks, feel free.