RECYCLING FREECYCLE

This article is RECYCLED! It was among the first postings on my BLOG. Yesterday, my friend Concha (see her BLOG "Concha's Cauldron") posted an article about "freecycle" and I decided to add to my original article.

The freecycle network is made up of 4,837 groups with 6,659,000 members across the world. It's a grassroots and entirely non-profit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own communities. It's all about REUSE and RECYCLE and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer. Membership is free.

To join:
Type in freecycle
Enter your location in the search box: e.g., Fayette County, Ohio
Follow the menu and join us RECYCLERS!

ADDITION:

The best item we ever received was FREE DIRT! Someone advertised "free dirt" and I answered and when Gerald picked it up it was SOD! He returned with a truck load of sod! He filled in many low places in our yard and used the remainder to landscape one of our rental properties. What a wonderful gift!

One of the things I donate on "freecycle" is coupons. Several people from freecycle take turns receiving them! I also donate magazines; my brother Les pooh-poohed the idea by asking, "Do you really think there are OTHER people in Fayette County who will want old copies of "The New Yorker", "The Atlantic", and "The Smithsonian"?" I was also doubtful but I was pleasantly surprised to have several responses.

I also donate pine cones; I was shocked to see the price of pine cones at craft stores. I also provided information about how to treat pine cones with salt and other additives to make them colorful when tossed into a burning fireplace. I always keep treated pine cones by the fireplace to toss into the fire for a beautiful glow. I also donated pine cuttings for people to make grave blankets and wreaths. The tiny cones from my hemlock tree always surprise people as it takes quite awhile to pick a bunch!

The seed pods from my sweetgum tree are very popular; when I wrote about spray painting them with silver paint to use for Christmas decorations, I had several people come to my house to pick them up from the ground! A woman called yesterday to ask if she could drop by this year.