The Legacy in a Junk Pile
A Beautiful Mess
Behind my shed lies one of my biggest secrets. A secret SO BIG, it has gates, fences, and windows. I’m not entirely proud of it, but I’d hate to be without it. I have a junk pile. It has all kinds of potentially useful ‘things and stuff’. Beauty in the eye of the beholder, I love the junk pile.
A menagerie of mess.
MAN is it ugly. It’s like a ‘junk drawer’, but on a much larger scale. My prideful pile has old windows, fencing, and even a couple of motorcycles. All anxiously awaiting their future callings, whatever they might be.
I find that when you live on acreage, it’s the truest sign of wealth. I often catch myself checking out other farmers’ hordes as I drive by. Wondering with envy, where they found a thing. Or if maybe they’d part with it. Imagining the many things I could do if I had that junk.
The pile comes in handy. A trip to town costs time, a tank of gas, and wear and tear on my truck. Keeping a pile of potential in my yard saves all of that. I can wander over to the pile, stare at the glorious mess, and figure out how to use what I already have. Recycling someone else’s used stuff and getting creative with something that was likely free.
Time Travelling Trash
It also gives my project a story. A walk down memory lane. Recalling when and where it was discovered, the end of a driveway with a ‘free’ sign, or a good yard sale haggle. When showing off the thing that I built I can say with pride “that came from the junk pile!”
People who understand the value of the pile know - there’s a legacy in the junk pile. A carefully curated collection gives the owner pride. It’s something of a status symbol, albeit an ugly one. It’s a display of history and the future, and a beacon of optimism for ideas in the making.
Tell me about your junk! What do you have stashed - and why?
Ever thought of running a second hand store? When I was a kid my father took me to second hand stores on many a Saturday. I still have one memory of those Saturday "hunts," that being a Canadian made maple toboggan. I dreamed of owning a second hand store, aka junk store, for many years, but marriage made me clean up my messy ways.
Let me ask you, does fetching those specialty oldies, give you the same "butterflies" you experience when you are hunting smallish, or larger game?
Carver Glen
Everyone has a junk pile. Comes in different forms but none the less...a junk pile. Mine is hidden in a crawl space. Call it my store and all my needful things are there. Oh yes, there are some treasures that I know I have, but darn the pile is too deep to find. Maybe someday.