I have taken on the project of cleaning out the area behind my back yard so that the hay rake thing that is back there will be visible (it's really cool!). So today I took my saw and giant pruners and a big black trash bag and went to work. I pulled out a couple of dead trees, trimmed some branches, and cut down some pesky alder (?) bushes. I noticed a big pile of what I think is bear poo just behind my propane tank. It's either that or moose poo. Fascinating.
I have lived here 7 years. Every spring I take big garbage bags and walk around on my property beyond the yard and pick up garbage. I wish I would have kept count on the bags I have filled. If I had to guess, I would say it's been at least 35 bags worth. Not too mention, my first summer I hired a couple of guys with a pickup to load up their truck with garbage too big for me to handle on my own. They did 3 or 4 loads... I'm talking overflowing kind of loads. They pulled out water heaters, and stoves, and hunks of metal, and tires, and weird rusty pieces of farm equipment. I bought this house in the winter so the stuff was hidden and the woods looked very pristine.
Even though I have "cleaned" this spot at least 3-4 times prior, I still found a full garbage bag full. I keep thinking that one day I will find a treasure, but 90% of what I find is green bottles with a twist top. Were the people who lived here cheap wine drinkers? Or did they make moonshine? Whatever it was, they sure loved it.
The history of my 10 acres is this: a railroad spur came here in the 1800's and this area was logged. I have found several railroad ties, a couple of spikes, and an actual rail in my woods. Cool! A family then owned my 10 acres as well as probably 30+ acres in addition. I think this would be in the 30's. They had a beef farm here which explains why sometimes when I dig in my garden I smell manure. It also explains the thousands of feet of barb wire I find everywhere in my woods. Nice. They had two boys and a girl. The girl had a weird disease and died shortly after she graduated from high school. One boy lives in Two Harbors. The other tried to sell his 10 acres next to mine but couldn't because he owed 20 years of back child support. He finally sold it to a very nice guy from Knife River who uses it to camp with his sons. My rustic outbuilding (and most of the garbage) is all that is left from this family.
A photographer from the cities bought the land next. He spent his time in my rustic outbuilding and took pictures. I find it amazing that anyone slept in there. I'd feel better sleeping outside.
The land was then sold to a husband from Two Harbors and his wife from Utah and their kids. They lived in a trailer on the land (and I heard later that they ran their septic into the drainage ditch! Ewww!) until they built the house that I now live in. He told me at least 4 times during our two meetings that she was a former Miss Utah. I found it very hard to believe, but maybe they have a different set of standards out their in Utah... I don't know. Either that, or the Mn winters were extremely hard on her. Or, maybe all those cigarette butts I cleaned up were hers... and the green bottles! That would really explain a lot!
This family also contributed to the garbage... mostly beer cans that the husband threw into the woods as he cut the grass with the lawn tractor. But also, according to the local trash hauler, they were behind 16 months for their trash bill. He also mentioned that they hadn't had trash service in at least 6 months. Hmmmm... I wonder what they did with their trash?
Anyway, I find it so hard to believe that 2 or maybe 3 of these families looked at this land and instead of seeing the beautiful trees and wildflowers and wildlife, they saw a place to throw 100 years worth of garbage. I feel like the Native American in the commercials from the '70s where he stands looking over the garbage and a single tear runs down his cheek.
I hear that most old homesteads around here are like this... mine isn't the exception... it's what the "old Finlanders" did.
So what "treasures" did I find today? An old perfume bottle and a old bottle of Pond's face cream (not just the men who threw the garbage). At least 10 green bottles and 2 clear liquor bottles. A pie tin. Dozens of rusty cans. At least 5 beer cans. One of the pieces to a kid's toy. A never ending piece of plastic. Rusty wire. A plastic bowl. Blue glass. Some unidentifiable hunks of metal. A skippy peanut butter jar lid, and two mayonnaise jar lids. That's what I remember anyway.
5 comments:
cool!!! Can I come pick garbage with you some day!!! Hope you kept the blue glass!!! :) That's not the picture of your farm equipment is it?? If so, I'm soooo jealous!!!! Janie
That isn't my actual hayrake, but mine looks like that one. It's stuck in my woods, otherwise I would have it on display in my yard. The only things I have found worth keeping is the Sonju logo off one of the old cars in the woods, a couple of mason jars, a weird little bumper, and a silver piece that I think was on the fin of one of those cars from the '50s. The rest is strictly garbage. The blue glass (and 99% of the glass I find) is just shards -- they must have actually stomped on everything and broke it to bits. But sure! You are always welcome to pick garbage with me!
My friend Khara, who raises horses and worked at a vet clinic, says that moose poop is pellet-like while bear poop has lots o'seeds.
When we bought out house, the backyard was nothing short of a garbage dump. We were shocked at what we found, which also included lots of glass and bottles. We wondered if people just opened the house door, and instead of throwing garbage in the trash, threw it in the back yard.
This poop has lots of seeds and grass. No bones or animal parts at all. And not pellets like a deer; more like big huge squares. Sounds like bear poop to me.
Since your house is so old (and I a soooo jealous!), have you ever found any real old cool stuff?
Nope, never found anything really cool. Usually, an old newspaper or beer bottle, but nothing really significant. There was an old push mower left in the garage when we moved in so I painted it and have it leaning against a tree surrounded by Hostas. That's about it. Someday I will venture into the third-floor attic and see what's up there though.
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