FREEGAN

I have a Facebook friend who is a "FREEGAN". Freegan is a portmanteau word combing "free" and "vegan". While all Freegans are not Vegans, I gather that most are.

From FREEGAN.INFO: Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living, based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. Freegans believe in community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed."

Well, of course I believe in nearly all of that, don't I? I was glad it didn't have that one must be a Vegan.

My "Freegan friend" asked me what I do with my "leftovers" and I told her that my husband is good about eating leftovers but I am not. She said that she would like to come to my home to pick up leftovers. I asked her if she was going to do that daily or weekly and would using gasoline be a violation of the "minimal consumption of resources". She said she would use her bicycle!

How could I resist that? I told her that I had leftover green beans and red potatoes, but I used bacon for flavoring. I told her that I had some salad left over also. She came right away and brought me an unopened package of edamame for bartering. I also gave her an opened bottle of salad dressing which none of us here liked.

CLICK HERE to see an article about Freegans: The Refined Art Of Dumpster Diving. My "Freegan friend" said that it is more difficult for Freegans in rural areas to find resources as compared to cities and that most stories only survey city Freegans.

I was glad to give up my pre-conceived notions about Freegans. I was pleasantly surprised that she is a young, attractive, wife and mother who works full-time. She said that her family and kids are embarrassed by her activities. I had a microwave on the corner for someone to pick up and she asked if she could have it. I told her that it's clean and works but it's 20 years old and had been in the garage since I'd gotten a stove with an attached microwave years ago. I told her that my husband had used it for heating cat food. I asked, "How are you going to carry it?" She said, "I'll send over my husband; he hasn't had his required exercise today." I asked her what she was going to do with it and she said she was going to put it in her "barter bin".

BARTER BIN? I need that!