In the city we lived in before moving here, there were bottle depots all over. Anything that you paid an enviro fee on at the grocery store could be brought over, and you’d get the money back.
So we were in the habit of keeping our recycling organized and kept it up.
Then we discovered there are no bottle depots here. In the years we were living in other provinces, we sort of expected they would have them by now.
Since we need to go to the landfill anyhow, and they have recycling stations, we started sorting things differently. Glass is separate. All other recycling goes together. They even have signs at the landfill bins saying not to sort the recycling!
But we just don’t do it with the aluminum. I know most of the stuff that goes for recycling is more of a problem than just using the landfill, but with metal, that’s something different.
So we’ve been keeping our aluminum separate, but not taking them to the landfill. We’ve been storing them in the garage where my mother’s car is parked.
Unfortunately, since there are so many cat food cans in there, critters get into them. We also started running out of space, and were starting to store the bags outside the back door of the garage.
We now have a scrap company that is going to come by when they are in the area. They weigh things on site, so you know exactly what you’ll get for the metal. They take all scrap metal, old appliances, batteries, etc., but aluminum is priced differently.
We don’t know when they’ll be in the area next, but the last time the guy called, it was to come by the same day, and we just weren’t ready for that – plus, I was taking my mother to a medical appointment that day.
Meanwhile, even if they did come out, not only did the critters get into the bags again, but my mother’s car can’t be moved right now – and not just because of all the cans that ended up under the front end!
So when I found out my brother was coming out today, I headed out early to open the gate for him, then my younger daughter and I got to work on the aluminum, picking up all the loose pieces and rebagging those with torn bags. As we filled new bags, or found still intact bags, they got moved to a spot outside of the garage, where they would be easy to collect.
The garage in front of my mother’s car looks so much better now!
We did, however, find some very old cans of paint that were intended for the dump (they have an area set side just for old paint cans), but they got buried. These were cans we’d found in the basement, and some of them were leaking.
They’ve been moved into a plastic garbage can for now. The next time we go to the dump, we need to remember to grab it. The smell is so strong right now!
We got that done and I had time to grab a late breakfast. I was just finishing it when my brother and SIL arrived. It was a long, slow drive for them. The truck was heavily loaded, and they were hauling a bailer!
Some of the stuff they brought went to the barn for storage. They are planning ahead for my brother’s retirement, so they’re going to be bringing stuff here to the farm to store.
Including equipment.
Like their smaller lawn tractor.
That was brought over in case they needed to mow a spot for the baler. That’s not going to happen, though. The high area they plan to use is too overgrown.
They do have a mower attachment for a tractor that can clear it all, so they’ll be bringing a tractor and mower out next.
!!!
Oh, and the lawn tractor? I thought they were going to take it back, but nope. They left it here for use to use!
Yes, I did lawn mowing already, today! 😄
For now, the baler is stored next to the bags of aluminum. My brother and I went walking around so I could point out to him the various low areas we’ve discovered since moving here, and the few high areas that can be used to store equipment.
The grass where we went through is almost as tall as me in places!
My brother isn’t going to be haying and baling their acreage anymore, so they’ve been using the tractor mower to keep it under control; if it’s not cut, it makes growing conditions worse. That’s the situation we’re going to find when the overgrown areas are finally cleared. At ground level, the grass is going to be sparse and mostly dead.
It’s a shame we couldn’t borrow a few cows! 😁
So my day started very early, and we got lots of work done.
I’ll be heading back out again to do more painting, then get back to mowing!
We’re going to have to figure out how to fit it in the garage where we store our lawn and snow equipment. It’s getting pretty full in there, and it’s mostly stuff that needs repair!
The problem is, I’ve been up pretty much since sunrise and hadn’t gone to bed until around midnight, so I am ready for a nap! 😄
Okay, time to get back to work. Just a bit of painting, the the fun of mowing the lawn with a lovely little lawn tractor!
My brother is the best.
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 