We recently visited the local dump to get rid of some construction debris from our workshop. When we pulled in, they weighed our truck, told us to hurl our crap into a nearby pole barn, and informed us that they'd measure us again on the way out—we'd be paying by the ton. We wound up paying the minimum because our small amount of trash was mainly feather-light pieces of scrap EPS styrofoam.

After I backed the truck in, I tossed our junk on to a truly rank trash heap, which was surrounded by a pool of leaky garbage juice. That, plus the lonely excavator sitting next to it reminded me of the Axiom's junkyard in the movie, Wall-E. Yuck. I know that our contribution was only adding to the problem, but the visit did make me glad that we're building small.

I can't wait until the foundation phase of our homesteading project is over and we're using materials like local wood, mud, straw, and slate, instead of plastic, styrofoam and concrete!