I heart Freecycle!

It doesn't look like much, but this is actually around 70 98 (I counted while taking them out of the poor car) free bricks I can use for landscaping.  I can go back later in the week to get a few more, and some rocks the original homeowners want to get rid of as well.  The car was a bit loaded down at this point, so I decided to make more than one trip :)

There are 2 more large gardens the homeowners want to get rid of (complete with edging bricks), so those will be up for grabs as well, eventually.  Hell, given the wife has two small children and is expecting the third, soon, I might just offer to dig them out for her - once this heat breaks!  It took more than 45 minutes to load the car (really - these suckers are HEAVY, and I had to cart them from their backyard to my car, parked on the road), and I was literally DRENCHED with sweat when I was done.  It. Is. Hot.

But back to Freecycle.  You all know about Freecycle, right?  The site where people post unwanted items, for free, or post wanted items, to see if anyone has it to give away.  Did you note that this is all free?  As in no cost?  Gratis?  Free?

But the "free" isn't the best part of Freecycle.  The best part?  Keeping perfectly good items out of the landfill, and giving them to people who can actually use them.  Getting rid of your junk, and knowing someone else is finding it treasure.

Really - go sign up for your local one now.  They are all on yahoo groups (I think) - just google "Freecycle" plus the name of your city, and it should pop up.  I'll wait.  Go.  GO NOW!  Really.  Just do it.

Are you back?  Did you sign up?   Good!

In all seriousness, Freecycle has to be one of the BEST things on the web.  I joined the four local ones here about 2 years ago, and I admit - 99.9999% of the stuff posted is either stuff I'm not interested in, or stuff that is taken by the time I read about it (I get the daily digest, instead of individual posts, which means fewer e-mails, but more time lapsed between posts and my reading them, which means many things are already given away, but that's okay). 

To date, I've given away a lot of the extra flooring that was stored here when I bought the house (and no, I didn't want to keep it and try to re-use it - none of it was enough to do any one area, and I don't want either laminate or parquet anyhow), and I've received an "antique" dining room table plus six chairs - all solid wood, and while it needs to be refinished, it was free.  (And I'm thinking of getting it painted a glossy black, which I think will go really well with the almost-lime-green colour I'm painting the kitchen and dining room, but I haven't told anyone that yet, because people will think I'm nuts.  Maybe.  Still deciding on the black.  Pretty set on the green though.  Maybe.)

Anyhow...

The bricks.  I'm telling you, these are heavy-duty bricks.  While I'm not the strongest person I know, I'm also not a 98-pound weakling, and I could only tote four of these at a time (partly because of the weight, partly because bricks are somewhat awkward to carry).   The lovely neighbour came out to help, once she saw what I was doing, and brought over a dolly to help.

We broke the dolly.  Sorry, lovely neighbour :(

So now, I have 98 bricks to use around the place.  Stay tuned for future projects.....

I am an Urban Homesteader

There is a brouhaha going on right now, about a certain company trademarking the terms "Urban Homestead" and "Urban Homesteading".

And the on-line community is rightly calling bullshit.

Now, let me be clear here:  I have no problem with a business protecting a trademarked name, logo, slogan, etc.  That is not what is happening here though.  The Dervaes are sending cease-and-desist letters to bloggers for daring to use those terms on their blogs.  Using a phrase in a blog post, or even in the name of a blog, especially when that blog is not commercial in nature, and pre-dates the Dervaes' trademark, is simply... well, words fail me, but it is causing a backlash that will affect the Dervaes for some time, I'm sure.

Posts for background reading:


http://www.thecrunchychicken.com/2011/02/urban-homesteaders-cease-and-desist.html

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/stickaforkinit/2011/02/pasadena_family_trademarks_the.php

http://www.rootsimple.com/2011/02/why-did-we-change-our-name.html


A Facebook page was started to declare OUR ownership of those terms. 

WE, the gardeners, the chicken-keepers, the growers and harvesters, the planters, the seed-keepers, we will continue to do what we do, no matter who is trying to trademark our passion.




I am an urban homesteader.



Now, go ahead and sue me.  I double dog dare you ;)




________________________________
Update:  

Other blog posts along the same theme:
http://fightingsharks.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-am-urban-home-steader.html?showComment=1297902145704#c554727962906215631

http://deniseintn.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-am-urban-homesteader.html

http://champagnewishesandcoupondreams.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-am-urban-homesteader.html 

http://www.halfacrehomestead.com/2011/02/urban-homesteaders-unite/ 

http://brandesaysnom.blogspot.com/2011/02/trademarking-way-of-life.html


http://www.farmcurious.com/trademarks-patents-thieves-oh-my/

http://growandresist.com/2011/02/16/urban-homestead-act-2-1/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1km4x8YB9M

http://viggiesveggies.com/?p=1197 

http://chilechews.blogspot.com/2011/02/mistakes-were-madebut-not-by-me.html 

http://heirloomgardens.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-am-urban-homesteader.html

Tally-ho!!!

There is another debate raging over at the Pet Connection site, this time about declawing cats.

(A note here: on Yahoo Answers, every so often, someone gets all het up about "declawing" dogs. I find it indicative of the general level of knowledge of many "animal rights" people (mind you, most of them are teenagers, but still). They read "dewclaw" as "declaw", and proceed to try and change the world so no dogs are ever declawed again. How nice!! Anyhow, back to today's topic.)

I have mentioned here before that I'm against the vast majority additional of "anti-cruelty" legislation, mainly because such legislation has a number of unintended consequences, doesn't address the issue, and has a slim chance of ever being used to prevent abuse of any animal, since most Animal Controls (at least the ones I know of) are understaffed and under-funded, and the court system doesn't seem to treat any but the most egregious cruelty cases seriously (case in point - Michel Vick didn't go to jail for animal abuse).

It seems many of the proponents in the current debate are British (or English, although I don't know how one can be English and not British, but I digress). Which makes me think of the hunting ban over there that worked so well, that it's possibly in danger of being repealed.

We on the other side of the pond also have those that wish to ban hunting - both the mounted-fox-hunts kind of hunting, and the person-with-a-gun (or bow) kind.

Cuz you know, it's mean. It's nicer to let the poor little animals live their lives in peace. Yes ma'am, hunting and fishing is cruel and should be banned.

These same people, if one were to ask, would surely support environmental awareness and habitat preservation for those same poor little animals. But try to tell them that one of the BIGGEST supporters (in terms of cold hard cash, not just rhetoric) of habitat preservation was established, and continues to be supported, by hunters. It makes sense when one thinks about it - no habitat, no animals. Most hunters and fishers I know are environmentalists as well, but aren't the tree-hugger types one generally associates with that term. They don't have time to protest and sign petitions - they are to busy actually spending time in the same habitats they are trying to preserve.

These same people, if one were to ask, would surely be against having those poor little animals die of car crashes, starvation or disease. And of course they'd be against having Fluffy and Fido end up as coyote food, right? But try telling them that's exactly what happens to deer and coyote populations (and probably to more animals, but those are the 2 I'm familiar with) in areas where hunting declines. Deer populations increase (good, right?), and more get killed by cars, and more starve to death as food resources become scarce (this is Animal Ecology 101). As deer populations increase, so do their predator populations - generally coyotes in many areas of North America. And coyotes are incredibly adaptable. When the deer population crashes, they happily turn to the dog-and-cat buffet (FYI, the Beaches area of Toronto is most definitely NOT suburban or rural - it's right between downtown and Lake Ontario. Fort Erie is a town of ~30,000 right across the river from Buffalo - a bit more rural that Toronto, but a town none the less, and these attacks took place in a densely populated neighbourhood only a few block away from me. These are city coyotes we're talking about here, not their country cousins). As populations of animals increase, so do their diseases - like mange and rabies.

Like it or not, humans are part of the environment. We cannot be left out of the equations. Sure, it's nice to think about a "nature" where all animals are free from disease, starvation, and predation, but it just doesn't happen. So that's why I support hunting, and fishing, and even fox hunting (and please note, the fox is NOT killed in North American hunts). Even though I don't own a gun, fishing rod or fox hound.

Because, you know, I can separate logic and emotion, and use my little grey cells to try to understand what our world actually is, not what I wish it were.