Help! We're living on a landfill!

countrygrrrl · #21 03/20/04, 06:37 PM

Yes to everything Laura said.

Except I also have the rusted barb wire and a lump of muscle gone from my thigh where some got me last summer while mowing. :no:

Today, however, I got to see pelicans flying overhead. I looked up from planting and saw a redheaded woodpecker, a bluebird and a tufted titmouse all sitting on the fence, and a redwing blackbird in the field.

I have bobwhite in the hollow and cuckoos hanging around a day or so every year while migrating.

Shrek is so right when he says there are no pristine lands anymore. And despite the junk, this place is beautiful to me, even though I have hauled off more strange stuff and find more and more junk every day. In a lot of ways, I view my living here as a kind of reclamation process. And that's alright by me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laura

We bought our very park like piece of property for $25,000 below appraised value. On the disclosure form, the sellers listed "don't know" on the questions of buried fuel tanks, hazardous materials and such. Maybe they didn't know the extent of it as they only owned it for 2 years.

When the rains came, I watched Pudding Hill settle and expose a red chevy junker. As we dug tree and post holes, we discovered it is indeed an entire vehicle and lots of other crap that created Pudding Hill. After talking with Old Timer neighbors, our place WAS the dumping place from 1951 to 1974. It was pushed into a pile and buried, sold, and the new owner continued to use it for a junk yard and trash dump. The folks we bought from paid a small fortune to haul all the surface crap out of here. The real kicker is after contacting Department of Defense, we find we may have buried fuel tanks (they say they will remove them this year) and we found out we have a buried ammo dump in our lower pasture. Clearing brush, we found a small mountain of cannister ring latches from the containers that hold enormous sized heavy artillery.

We do not allow the kids to run barefoot. The new hobby is backyard archeology. We pull up all kinds of cool stuff. A 1962 Ohio Art pinwheel, brass boat hardware, vintage jelly jars, chrome door handles for vintage cars and a lot of whatizzit stuff. We have a dumpster to put the garbage in. I walk the property after heavy rains and gather broken glass, bolts, screws, disposable diapers, twisted metal and plastic stuff as it surfaces. There is less and less of it all the time.

I'm thankful we don't have rusted tangles of barbed wire like many abandoned farms. Our well tests clear and this is most important. I do not let the fact that it was a dump ruin my enjoyment of the place.

big rockpile · #22 03/20/04, 07:08 PM

Kind of reminds me I seen on TV where they was cleaning out a Sinkhole,that we had been throwing Junk in for over 20 years,no telling how long people had been putting stuff in there.

big rockpile

caroline00 · #23 03/20/04, 07:45 PM

well, everywhere we owned in CA, the land came withiout mineral rights. The rights were retained generations ago but probobly original owners. My parents dont remember people ever owning mineral rights... my mom is 78.

My ex MIL, who never lived in OK, got payment for her natural gas rights in OK yearly from whomever was drilling there on property that didnt belong to her.

We were thrilled but very surprised to know that we have the mineral rights to the land when we bought here in MO

countrygrrrl · #24 03/21/04, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave

No more pristine land? Have you been in the rockies away from the mines and gathering areas?

Yes. Have you seen all the trash and damage left by hikers, climbers and others in those areas? I have.

It is impossible for a human or, for that matter, any *thing* --- animate, inanimate, reptile, mammal, human, whatever --- to *intrude* so to speak in any area in any way without leaving the evidence of their presence behind. I would suggest the Himalayas as a pristine environment, but given how trendy climbing and All Things Tibetan have been for so, so many years, I doubt even they qualify as pristine anymore.

The goal should not be pristine. The goal should be to leave as few traces as possible and eliminate even those as we can.

countrygrrrl · #25 03/21/04, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave

Plenty of dumps at himalayan basecamps. Most hikers, climbers, etc that get involved because it's the trendy thing now don't have much respect for mother nature.

Ain't it the truth!

I guess I fall in the *no pristine lands left* camp because I have no problem with trying to clean things up. The air and water are already full of carcinogens, both manmade and not. We're here, we've been here a long time

, we've already left our mark and I don't have much of a problem trying to make the best of it by tackling it in my own little area.

My little reclamation process here is, in fact, one of the most satisfying things I've ever been involved in. And I've had the good fortune to be involved in a lot of satisfying projects in my life. But there is something truly gratifying about inch by inch taking a piece of land that was a mess and slowly cleaning it up so its natural beauty can take over again.

gobug · #26 03/21/04, 11:07 AM

Countrygrrrl said "Shrek is so right when he says there are no pristine lands anymore. And despite the junk, this place is beautiful to me, even though I have hauled off more strange stuff and find more and more junk every day. In a lot of ways, I view my living here as a kind of reclamation process. And that's alright by me."

Boy, we're on the same page, grrrl. The "EPA" posting in the general discussion section touches on a lot of these same issues. As a group, I see we members are a coalition of proud and responsible stewards leading a growing movement of people to improve and perfect our own little gardens of eden.

Dave, I am a Rocky Mtn native, and if there are any pristine areas left, they aren't for sale or accessable to you and me. I just bought 14 acres of incredibly beautiful land and various parts have been used to dump trash since it was made public by Roosevelt. I'll be the first to clean it up. Some have said I shouldn't have bought it if the neighbors trash bothered me. I disagree. With that attitude there would be no urban renewal. What we have here is rural renewal.

countrygrrrl · #27 03/21/04, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gobug

As a group, I see we members are a coalition of proud and responsible stewards leading a growing movement of people to improve and perfect our own little gardens of eden.

... What we have here is rural renewal.

Yup! We're on the same page.

In fact, I'm major into rural renewal.

bee · #28 03/21/04, 08:39 PM

ummm, guys..cleaning up a dump is great...but just where do you think the stuff you clean out goes?? yup ----into another dump or land fill. To borrow a quote from the movie Pretty Woman, "That is just geography"...better to be working on recycling and wiser consuming to generate less solid waste. Heh, I bought 10 acres that have traces of earlier habitation and I am still looking for that first coin so I can date when..I have found shards of crockery and things like horse shoes and scissors and bottles and nails, but no coins yet...oh yeah!! I was told to always explore the old post holes in fence lines because some oldtimers used them like a safe,eg.. pull post, make deposit and re-ensert post...

june02bug · #29 03/22/04, 09:37 AM

There was a show a year or so ago on the Florida aquifer. Divers went into and down it as far as they could... they found all kinds of garbage.. stuff we drink water from everyday.

Just wear shoes and pick it up as you can. To late to worry much about now.

**Shrek** · #30 03/22/04, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave

No more pristine land? Have you been in the rockies away from the mines and gathering areas?

Trace toxins have been found in the rockies also. They are the product of pollutants carried on the winds.