Sorry ment to post on food page - so this is the 2nd post! What time does the swap last to? Depending on time I can bring what ever is needed food wise. I have a test in Bowie at 10 am unitl ? so I am hoping to get there by noonish ! I saw a post about What time does the swap last to? Depending on time I can bring what ever is needed food wise. I have a test in Bowie at 10 am unitl ? so I am hoping to get there by noonish ! I saw a post about Ice, mustard and catsup, pickle relish etc is that covered yet? Ingrid

I thought it was pretty clear what you were asking about in your OP (but perhaps the title was a little confusing for people), so it just goes to show you never know where an internet discussion will roam. I think sometimes people just read the title and don't bother really reading the post or other responses and just fire away. Oh, well. Anyway, yes you are on the right track. And right to come to the permaculture forum with your quest(ion). And reading that thread has actually given me some good ideas for where to look for free stuff. My garden is new and it will need quite a bit of input for a while as far as mulch, etc. before we can be growing our own all the time. We can get truckloads of free mulch at the city dump, but that is about 20 miles away and my husband's little pickup can barely handle the weight. But the other day I watched the "greens" collection truck go by. It scooped up the cans, emptied them into the hopper, and it looked as though stuff was being chewed up as it went down. It didn't just go down, it kind of went in gradually and was turning and churning a bit (my house is slightly above street level, so my vantage point allowed this observation). So now I'm wondering if they would stop at my house and just empty their truck in my front yard if I asked 'em. We pay so much for our waste service, and we barely take out the trash twice a month, so they should give us something for our money, right? Anyway, I'll be on the lookout for free organic matter from now on! Jeanne

Well, I must admit that your SZ sure preserves "Horse Feathers" well, and it is kind of you to share your "More than adequate supply of same, with those of us here In GW! SZ mentions as one of 3 things needed to "keep food fresh" is precise temp control and they mention their +/1 degree F~~~~~well that's just half as good as the JA which is +/- 0.5 F. One can not control the temps of the various compartments, (meat, veggie & Chrisper) in the SZ as they can with the JA, (at least my model of JA), and in fact Consumer Reports mentioned that fact, as other fridges do have that capability besides my JA. CR also mentioned that the SZ is more noisy than some other fridges, (maybe that goes along with the horse feathers)? I grow my own boysenberries, and they keep very well in my JA fridge. The JA fridge3 has the "Climatezone" storage has automatic humidity control which does not require a $50 filter that must be changed every year (a la SZ). My JA also has "Built in" diagnostics. It checks every fan, thermistor, defrost sensors, compressor speeds, etc etc, sooooo if I ever do have a problem, I can "Nail it down" to which part is giving problems and not call a repair company to first "come out, look see", then make a guess as to what part is needed, then order the part and then come back. Well, It used to be SZ was , as you posted, "in a class of its own"~~~~but that was "Pricewise ONLY"~~~~now the other fridges have caught up with SZ's prices, as I posted here, probably round 7 years ago, ~~~so now folks hafta pay thru the nose on just about any built in fridge, thanks to SZ! Gary

BalTra, I agree and I'm sorry. There are people here who are determined to misunderstand my posts and I'm going to stop responding to the misunderstandings. It's futile. In the context of tearing out an old kitchen, Toronto Tim has the right of it. Making do with what you have has the least impact on the environment, and joining a dining co-op, rather than cooking at home, does even more. What you can do, for demolishing a kitchen, is carefully remove everything, rather than smashing, reuse or pass along to someone who will everything that can be saved. Separate all the different kinds of bits and recycle everything that can be. For instance, there are places that recycle ceramic tile. They're probably very few, and probably aren't available to most people, but you can find out if there's one in your area. You can reuse/recycle whatever wood you remove. You can certainly reuse (let someone else reuse) any cabinets that you can remove whole, especially if they're the modern box style. If they're built in place you may only be able to save the doors and drawers, but if they're quality, you should find a taker. That's another thing you can do to limit waste: Forgo disposable furniture. A lot of people buy into the idea of the ten year kitchen. Builders put crap cabinets in to keep their costs low/profits high, but also partially because they figure the future owners will customize and redo whatever they put in. Homeowners often follow suit, especially if they're the type of people who move every seven years, figuring they'll get their money's worth out of them and don't want to leave a bit of value when they leave the house. That's unfortunate, because a well designed, quality kitchen should be able to stand for at least fifty years. Every time you put in planned obsolescence, you add more waste. Still, when you go for quality, you also have to balance the impact of that quality vs. something a little less wonderful. Old growth hardwoods are beautiful, but.... :)