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| I thought I had a brilliant idea, and well, I think it still is. I finally realized after 10 years that I can easily find out which streets put out yard waste on which days through the city hall. So, here I struck out on a compost walk at 5 am just to spotcheck those streets. When I went back by in the car at 8, I saw even more, but a few pesky standers by. I felt like a mafia hit man wanting an empty street to do my deed. In any case, I learned 2 key things:
1. Never go compost walking while there are leaves on the trees. That just guarantees dirt and grass clippings with God knows what on them. 2. Never go compost walking while there are leaves on the trees on a Friday after a week where there was rain. What happened was the first bag was okay, full of dried grass light, but as soon as I lifted it the bottom started to come out of it. It came out completely in my car. It wasn't too bad, just dusty. But the second bag looked good on top (another reason to not want anybody around, you have to be too particular about the bags this time of year). As soon as I carried it across the street, the bottom came out, and dried-mud clumps of dirt poured on to the street. Unfortunately, I had parked across the street because the homeowner was leaving for work when I came down the street the other way, so I went around the block through a side street. And so the dirt pile was in the middle of the street, with traffic coming up behind me. I should have and could have opened my trunk and scooped up the dirt and dumped it on the tarp I have back there. But stupidly, I panicked and threw all the mud behind my seat on the floor. Needless to say, I'll be heading down to Big Bend Car Wash before the DW sees what I did.... |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Fri, Sep 30, 11 at 10:29
| LMAO imagining you throwing chunks of dirt into your car like Richard Dreyfuss throwing shrubs and dirt through his kitchen window in Close Encounters. Ha! The solution is to do your curb thieving the night BEFORE trash day. I use an LED headlamp. :-] And, don't panic. Act like you know exactly what you're doing, people will think you know what you're doing, and no one will bother you. |
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- Posted by mommyandme2 none (My Page) on Fri, Sep 30, 11 at 10:36
| MY DD & I used to do this the night before pick up. Some people wait until the last minute to put their trash to the road, but we found that most people put the stuff out the evening before. If we went out around 9 P.M., we could generally bring home a good haul without encountering any homeowners. |
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- Posted by compogardenermn 4- Twin Cities MN (My Page) on Fri, Sep 30, 11 at 14:51
| I've been known to go out the night before pickups and pack the truck full 9 times in one night... |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Fri, Sep 30, 11 at 15:35
| compo, you have it bad. :-] |
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| sounds like you need a small truck.... easier and quicker to snatch and grab :) |
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| Geez, youz guys make me feel good that I have an 18,000 SF yard that fills with not only MY leaves (23 trees) and clipings but with the friggin' wind around here, I get several doses of the neighbors' leaves, as well. 'Nuff compost for my uses! However, love the fact that you all are obsessed and are doing yourselves and your neighborhoods a huge favor! Don't get caught! hortster |
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- Posted by vermontkingdom 4a (My Page) on Sat, Oct 1, 11 at 6:08
| Everyone in my neighborhood knows about my gardening/composting passion so bags of leaves, lawn clippings and such, are often delivered. And quite frankly, more than enough. However, in the past, I too have gone out leaf bag thieving in the early morning hours. I would be less likely to do it today because lots of neighborhoods are concerned about strangers "visiting" their communities at odd hours and are likely to call the police. |
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| I know what you mean vermontkingdom. My best time to do that is during the day in my car. A pickup truck would have been worse, since throwing dirt from ground level up 18 inches into my car would have been a lot harder going 4 feet into a truck. Another easy way is to run the lawn mower down the alley to vacuum up leaves, or just scoop them into my wheelbarrow. Then I'm not "sneakin" around on anybody. Though one guy did hear my shovel scraping and wondered what was up. I prefer to go behind garages and wooden fences where they can't see me, naturally. Just to avoid awkward explanations. The key to this though is to wait until there are actually leaves!! Lessonlearned in a big way. And it only cost me a dollar to vacuum out the car. |
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- Posted by jonhughes So.Oregon (jonehughes@hotmail.com) on Sat, Oct 1, 11 at 10:18
| I "do it" during the day, I try to just get there right before the City guys get there. Nobody gives a rats behind who is picking up the bags, they are just glad somebody is. Works for me ;-)
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| You definitely need to stop putting it in your trunk.... a small utility trailer can be picked up inexpensively, and many cars can be fitted with a trailer hitch(I ordered mine online). |
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- Posted by compogardenermn 4- Twin Cities MN (My Page) on Mon, Oct 3, 11 at 14:31
| I've had a few people come out and question me. I of course felt sheepish, but explained that I use the leaves for composting and mulching and then they felt more at ease. Did they think I was a weirdo? I'm quite sure. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Mon, Oct 3, 11 at 16:12
| I don't dawdle but on the other hand I have no fear of being 'caught' since I am not committing a crime. If a homeowner is outside, I might ask them if it's OK if I take their leaves for my garden. If not I just help myself. If the cops come, I will tell them the same thing. No big deal. They don't, though. |
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- Posted by compogardenermn 4- Twin Cities MN (My Page) on Tue, Oct 11, 11 at 7:39
| Had a truck full before 6AM this morning on an early pre-work pillaging session! Whoop whoop! |
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| We used to have a lady drive around our neighborhood, sifting through our recycle bins for bottles with redeemable deposits. I don't like the thought of strangers coming to sift through my contents at the curb. We live in a decent area but still have had car break ins. And the thought that someone might really be trying identity theft on garbage day makes me uncomfortable. I stopped putting out our special recycling bin and tossed everything into the regular garbage so that lady would keep away from my house. I don't know if we have any laws about it but I don't feel by putting things out to the curb, it's an invitation for strangers. If someone asked me, I'd feel less violated (and would probably consent). |
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- Posted by lisascenic (My Page) on Tue, Oct 11, 11 at 21:53
| I have great compassion for people whose economic circumstances are so dire that they have to sift through the trash. I cannot imagine how difficult their lives must be. |
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| I don't think I can do too much identity stealin' with grass clippings, pine cones & dog poop.... |
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| I didn't mean to sound argumentative, just given another point of how some homeowners might feel. |
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| I found a diary complete with story about spousal abuse and suicide ramblings in one bag of clippings. I'm betting that if the person knew that the bags were being emptied they wouldn't have thrown the document into the grass clippings. Lloyd |
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- Posted by mooserider none (My Page) on Wed, Oct 12, 11 at 0:57
| This is one of the funniest threads I've read in a long time! Doowad, your story reminds me so much of the stuff that I come up with and feel crazy for doing! And this... "I don't think I can do too much identity stealin' with grass clippings, pine cones & dog poop...." I had to read both of these stories to my wife I was laughing so hard! Damn good ideas here nonetheless... I think I'm going to have to make even more compost bins now! |
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| Holy crap, Lloyd, that is pretty bad. The worst I've found is used charcoal....Kingsford, the worst kind. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Wed, Oct 12, 11 at 14:59
| In the age of identity theft and $20 paper shredders, nothing should go into the trash that can be used for such purposes. I don't count junk mail or magazines with just the name and address. They can get that from the phone book. Anything with account numbers and such gets shredded though. So I don't care if someone looks in my trash. They won't find any compostables though. :-] On a related humorous note, I've heard of condo associations doing DNA tests on abandoned dog poop to identify the culprit so they could be fined. What a world! |
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| Yes, we can all shred our documents so we are comfortable having strangers pull up and rifle through our contents, sometimes trespassing on our properties to do so, set out with the intention of a hired company or municipal service picking it up. Just because you don't care if someone looks through your trash doesn't mean everyone feels the same for whatever reason. There are a lot of comments on the thread about homeowners reactions and avoidance of homeowners. I gave an example because we've had break-ins around here (which is highly unusual for my neighborhood). We live on a quiet cul-de-sac and my neighbors now are on alert for strangers in an effort to keep our property/children safe. It's unfortunate but it's a sign of the times. Wouldn't it just be plain common courtesy to ask if someone's outside - why would that be a 'might ask'? I think that's what initially prompted me to post. Apart from Lloyd's poor neighbor, I'm sure not many do care about their leaves and their dog poo. But, why wouldn't you feel compelled to give a shout-out to someone in their yard that you're just collecting leaves for your compost? And I certainly feel compassion for people that are down-and-out. (This lady was not and I actually save my deposit bottles for the guy that mows my lawn because he asked (he's on disability) so there's no need to be in front of my house every week). While you don't have ulterior motives for scoping out the neighborhood, it's not always know to the homeowner. For all I know you could be a pedophile or worse, Lloyd neighbor's husband :) There's no reason why compost can't be collected with a degree of sensitivity to the wide variety of homeowners encountered. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Thu, Oct 13, 11 at 12:21
| I agree with you kittens. Certainly different homeowners are going to see it differently and that's OK. I was just posting my approach. And "might ask" the person if I see them was a bad choice of words. If I see someone I will always smile, wave, and ask if it's OK. The majority of the time no one is around though. BTW in our area (at least until recently) the yard waste bags were clear and the trash bags black, so it's easy to see what you are getting and easy for anyone watching to know you're not taking their trash to rifle through. I'm sure this is not the same in all areas. |
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| Well, if you come by my home, I'll wave back to you but it's slim pickin's on my curb as far as compost products go :) |
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- Posted by mommyandme2 none (My Page) on Wed, Oct 19, 11 at 11:20
| When I lived in CT, the only organics in my trash were poison ivy & dog poop. No one ever took any, as far as I could tell. On the other hand, We brought home several hundred bags of leaves, grass, shredded paper & other compostables. |
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| Nothing the matter with searching out compost ingredients, but this year I'll try to get folks to bring me stuff. When I was a kid, everybody on the block had one pumpkin. Now, some people have 6-10 pumpkins, just in the front yard! One of my trash cans will sit out by the curb, the morning after Halloween. The sign will say 'Pumpkin Recyling Center'. Maybe I'll need more than one trash can. Has anyone trained their dog to go over to the neighbors and drag home brown bags? |
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