Waste in Our Town

I just have to share a couple of posts about the waste that is going on in our city. On the coldest night we have had so far, 17 degrees overnight, David found in the dumpster, brand new!!!!!

Two, count them, TWO Brand new, still in the box, HEATERS!!!!!

We had just read online that several people have already froze to death this year, and these businesses are throwing heaters in the dumpster,WTF???!!!

What a Waste!

Once again a local grocery store has furnished my family with a good supply of fresh produce. As with the post I did a couple of weeks ago, this produce, which happens to be Organic green grapes, was just tossed out, still ice cold, in the unopened crates that it was shipped in. Sitting near the dumpster. Ridiculous! Wasteful, so wasteful when we have several soup kitchens and homeless shelters and food pantries that could use this stuff. Why don't they donate it? Money of course. It makes me sick. However, I am happy to take it and share it with friends and family. Though some of these have individual grapes that were turning brown, the majority of them are perfect. Organic grapes no less!!! Geez!

A New Pool!

OK someone please tell me why a person would toss this perfectly good pool in the trash?! David found this in the garbage and brought it home, there is nothing wrong with it. It has a filter and everything! This same pool sells for $90 approximately. We have one for nothing....:)

Naturally Sophie tried it out after school today....

She enjoyed it alot and had a great time in a BIG pool......

Learning to swim will be a breeze in here.......

Brother Joshua got into the act before it was over......along with two of the neighbor kids.....didn't get a photo of them though. All in all, a great find. Thanks for the blessings.

Freeganism feeds family of 5...and then some

OK, correct me if I am wrong....when I go to the Farmer's Market, or stop at one of the road side stands where the farmer has his pick up loaded with fresh corn on the cob, unhusked...this is what I would expect it to look like. Am I right? Do you all agree?


Then tell me why.....why.....why....the dumpster behind a local grocery store chain was loaded down with this particular corn. I mean enough to stock a big city soup kitchen on Thanksgiving day! This is disgusting...particularly so, because I know that this particular chain of stores buys locally grown produce from farmers right here in Tennessee! How would those farmers feel if they could see that all they labored for all summer was tossed into the trash? I wonder......


This is beautiful corn, sweet and fresh. It was a wonderful addition to our Lammas harvest feast on Monday that included beets and cucumber from our own garden and homemade harvest bread. Delicious!

I wish there was a way for us to share these windfalls of idiocy with more than just our friends. It seems to me that this grocery store and others could donate this stuff to said soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and food pantries. How often d those folks get fresh produce?

In any case, I am sure there will be much more waste in the next few weeks with the end of a season as well as a fiscal year. Next we can expect to have school supplies to donate to those in need, it is amazing what is tossed out and for what small reasons. Well, that is it for my soap box....today.

Garden Beauty

More from the garden; this is the bed of thyme, don't we all need more thyme? It has went a beautifully crazy this year, I am so pleased.

Blooming St. John's Wort , not caring that it is May and not Midsummer.

Primroses, spearmint and Russian Sage. The primroses can be seen to follow the sun as the day passes. The spearmint is taking over, somebody help me, I knew better. LOL The Russian Sage is just beautiful, I only got it last year so it is trying to establish itself this year. Go Sage!

These are a symbol in my garden of the senseless waste that our city and I am sure the whole country indulges in. This is four of five Geranium plants that David fished from a dumpster. Their terra cotta pots had broken and so instead of repotting them to sell, they were thrown out! I simply plopped them into some new (old) pots gave them a deep drink of water and some sunshine and here is my reward! Haha! One is pink, the other four are red. Red Geraniums are know for their protective qualities in the pagan community. Lucky for me!

Why........? Freeganism indeed!

This is from one store!!!! Can you believe the waste? Most everything was still within the expiration date or just past it.....however, they don't call them "non perishables" for nothing. Ridiculous! I will post a tally of what all was here once I have time to go through the FOUR boxes of food. This was the gourmet section of a local grocery store. The waste is disgusting.

Laundry detergent.......WTF?.......it doesn't expire!

Such a Waste!

What you see here is a gross and disgusting example of the waste of the local pharmacy here in my town. This is 5, count them, five, Mead Five Star notebooks. Found in the TRASH! The only thing wrong with them is that the cheap ass calculator that is included has been broken at the ring holder, the calculator still works. The worst part of this is that we have a charitable organization that collects school supplies and gives them out to underprivileged children who might otherwise not have the supplies they need for school. These could have been donated to them, but instead were thrown in the dumpster to rot away, eventually, in the landfill, while some kid has to go to school without the proper supplies for their education! OK, enough ranting, anyway, these five notebooks will find their way into the hands of someone who desperately needs them and cannot get one any other way. These sell for between $5-9 at the local Walgreens and CVS pharmacies. Disgusting!!!!

Freeganism~At its Best

David spent another night checking out the dumpsters around our town. This is what he found. These products cover the dinner table. These were only a portion of what was thrown in the dumpster, the rest was ruined by the rain and other trash thrown on top. What a waste! Its disgusting! Most of these products, which would never go bad, due to all the preservatives, were only a few days out of date, some were still in date. We are not sure why they were thrown away. My question is.....why were these not 1. sold at a great discount. 2. given to any of the local food banks, which almost always have some things that are past their prime. 3. donated to anywhere....besides the trash??? Ugghh!!!

Freeganism Revisited

This is what greeted me on Mother's Day evening. David found these in the dumpster at our local CVS Pharmacy. In the dumpster! There is nothing wrong with them, and there were many, many more that he did not get. They were marketed for Mother's Day and thrown out at the closing of business on that same day. These flowers are in perfect condition, all bulbs, daffodils, crocus, hyacinth, and amaryllis. This is so disgusting to me, the waste. These could have been donated to retirement homes and nursing homes to those who have no family to give them the brightness of fresh flowers. Or to those in the hospitals. What a waste, I am glad to have saved some of them, most now reside in my gardens. See the photo below. (For more on freeganism...check this out.)

Freeganism......huh?

There is a great post over at the Crunchy Domestic Goddess http://crunchydomesticgoddess.com/. I really loved this post, because I have seen this kind of waste in my own town. David is an avid dumpster diver, has been for a long time. During some of those dives, he has found three 50 lb bags of dog food, thrown out because of a small tear in the corner, nothing missing. Many bags of chips, loaves of bread, candy, drinks, medicines, cosmetics, and untold number of odds and ends from store displays, etc. All usable and not in the least nasty or ruined. These items could have benefit ted our local animal shelter, food bank, homeless and women's shelter, and local storehouse for those who have lost their homes and or possessions due to fire, or poverty. The amount of waste in this country is disgusting. I did not see the program on Oprah that the post speaks of, but did hear of Freegans on another news show about a year or two ago. I personally, think it is a really fine idea. Although, it seems like a better, more sanitary idea to get the businesses involved with giving this surplus away to those in need. Those businesses that we have seen this kind of waste in our town include, The Home Depot, Lowe's Home Center, K-Mart, CVS Pharmacy,in case you want to think twice about shopping at these places. I think that the public has a right to know of this waste, so here it is. For more info about freeganism, here is a good old link; http://compassionate-news.blogspot.com/2007/10/freeganism-living-off-your-wits-without.html (The photo is from that website, showing a "haul" after a dumpster dive in NY city. Just amazing!)