The way nature had intended it to be

There seems to be a tradition in some rural areas to find a spot on your property and create a garbage dump. Throwing all caution to the wind when it comes to environmental impact, people just look around and say this looks like a great place for a toxic waste site.

Well, when we set up the garden close to the creek, we figured there would be a good source of water if we needed it and it also gave a nice aesthetic touch to the garden area. But we also noticed some debris from the previous homesteaders that was sticking out of the dirt and needed to be removed.

Due to the 10 foot drop, I thought it would be easier if our friend John pulled the things out with his backhoe. I also thought it would be one or two tires that probably fell down there along with some other stuff. But who would imagine it would be decades of bottles, cans and household garbage, construction debris, farming trash and stuff just stuff.

It took John about 3 hours of pulling up everything from car batteries to Dr. Pepper bottles. There was also bicycle parts, tires, front forks of a motorcycle, a ton of bottles, oil filters, a kitchen sink from the 40’s, a bed frame from the 30’s, among other things.

It was quite disturbing to say the least. I’m no tree hugger but common sense tells you don’t pile trash next to - let alone in - a water source.

The kids and I still have some cleaning up to do in that section of creek bed but with some hard work we will restore it back to the way nature had intended it to be … clean.