Urban Foraging

Urban foraging is becoming a buzz word in the world of self sustainable living.  One of the perks of urban homesteading is that people in cities and towns throw away so much!  I'm always on the look-out for bags of leaves and yard debris (much to the chagrin to my husband and son, the girls still like to be my "spotters" for bags on the side of the road).  Yesterday, I was at the grocery store and they had a giant trash can for people to put their corn husks in (why they do this, no idea).  Anyways, I noticed the trash can was full and there was a stock boy there to empty it.  I asked him if I would take it home and after when he gave me a quizzical look, I explained it was for my compost.  He readily agreed and happily loaded the bag into my cart. On the way home, I spotted some bags of leaves on the side of the road and viola...giant compost pile. 

The days' haul

Look at all those beautiful "greens" just waiting to be composted

Oh...a bonus!  Three perfectly good tomatoes and an avocado for the ladies to enjoy while they were mixing up the new giant compost pile. 

 Do you know how hard it is to get a picture of chickens eating a tomato that is not blurry?

Really hard...they go crazy for those things

Finally, success!

Chloe found a bouquet of posies today in the field behind our house...a forager in the making (love it!)

I've also let my neighbors know that I will readily accept their compostable material.  I have several neighbors and friends who bring me buckets upon buckets of their table scraps, much to the sheer delight of the chickens and ducks.  I also often find bags of stale bread on my doorstep, which also is enjoyed by the animals.  I've also helped neighbors clean up their yards and mulch up branches and leaves for them with my mulching machine and then use the mulch in the garden.  The point is, in the city, you have to be a bit creative, but once the word is out, many other people are happy to have a place to recycle/compost their waste and in the end, everyone benefits.