Odds and Ends

We had a few hours after work last week (before Christmas) to get some work done on the farm. Not enough time for a major project, but enough to tackle a small eyesore that has been grating on our nerves long enough.

Stockpiling is a reality on the farm. It’s just part of the nature of the life. Sometimes you cannot get to a project right now, but you can begin to buy the materials a little at a time, and set them aside for that day when you can get to it. Or maybe you take apart a shed or some shelves or someone else does some remodeling and has a big stack of scrap lumber leftover. Some of that is almost certainly worth the time and effort to sort, stack and keep.

This tendency can be overdone, however. Ryan’s grandpa Kraeger was a chronic stockpiler, or what is now called a horder. He was forever picking up all kinds of odds and ends, here, there and everywhere. And he stashed it here, there and everywhere. The edge of the forest along the back pasture was a continuous line of junk vehicles. The shop was full of lumber of all sizes and shapes, with nails sticking out in all directions, piled to the rafters. The shop was so piled to the rafters with scrap wood and metal that we could barely move through it, let alone work in it. Most projects of any size had to be relegated to sawhorses out in the driveway, or if it had to be done in the shop, it required an hour of cleanup before it could be begun.

So we approach stockpiling with a mixture of approaches. Kathleen is much more of a “we may need this someday” kind of personality. Ryan is a “This is in the way, get rid of it,” personality. What this works out to in practice is a moderate level of stockpiling that eventually ends up grating on our nerves until we just have to do something about it. Then, usually, we end up buying or building shelves and filling them with stuff, effectively shifting the stockpile from a horizontal to a vertical stockpile.

Then it looks neat and organized and we feel better, so we can start the process over again. This process has been repeated many times on our book shelves and in our pantry, and now is beginning to show up in our farm as well.

At least our fencing supplies and scrap lumber have currently been tamed. Time to begin the next project!