Here’s a cool story. I’d read that straw is great for mulching the garden, and keeps moisture in while keeping weeds out. Sounds like a good plan, so I began my quest. Where does one find straw in the middle of the city…

I mentioned my quest to a friend who, it turns out, has a sister-in-law with horses. She offered to get me a couple of bales next time she was out that way, in a few weeks time. In the meantime, I was out and about one sunny hot day about lunchtime, and pulled over to eat my sandwich in a shady spot.

Lo and behold, in my shady spot next to a small park behind a strip mall were a few bales of hay behind one of the stores. They were near, but not next to the dumpster. Hmmm. I couldn’t just take them, even though they looked like they might be garbage, so after my sandwich was done I went around to what I calculated was the correct store.

Turns out, someone had put the bales in the dumpster, the city garbage collectors wouldn’t take them (Why? They compost really well.), and now it was the responsibility of the store owner to get rid of them. They were going to arrange to truck them down to someone’s farm in Surrey to burn them. Would they mind if I took them?! No, they would love if I did, take as many as I want, it would be less hassle for them!

I called the Scientist, who happens to have a vehicle big enough to haul a couple of bales and he duly picked them up that night. They were thrilled, I was thrilled. Not only did I get the straw I needed, it was within a 2 minute drive from the garden (not miles and miles to the farm), and I was able to use something that was destined for the landfill and would have been completely wasted by burning.

That feels good on a lot of levels.

And, in the end, my friend wasn’t able to get the bales she promised anyway. How cool is that?