Freecycle Etiquette

When I decided I wanted to try and do an art car with  wine theme,  I finally signed up for Freecycle.  This is the website where people can post what they WANT for free, and people who have things to offer can post what they have to GIVE AWAY for free.

It is amazing what I am seeing on the two Freecycle sites I have subscribed to.  People in need of maternity clothes and baby clothes (a part of me thinks this is so sad; a part of me thinks -- "damn, what poor planning"), computer parts, exercise equipment, clothing, furniture, a bicycle.  Someone even posted in hopes of getting a free CAR for God sake.  And people give away some pretty amazing stuff too -- a complete compact kitchen set up (I wanted this one), TVs, furniture,  plants, kitty litter, baby food.

So I have snagged a few things on Freecycle -- an Ab Lounge(!), a two-drawer wooden filing cabinet, a massaging chair pad (for Rod's office chair), some bricks.  And I have given stuff away too -- a dish drainer, curtains, sheets, two bags of fabric scraps, planting pots, a big rolling composter, etc.

So during all of this I have developed what I think should be guidelines of etiquette  for Freecycle users.  To me they are just iommon sense, but I have come to realize that people are pretty clueless in the main, and need rules or all is just chaos.

So here is my suggestions for Freecycle Etiquette:

1. If you subscribe to Freecycle, read the OFFERS and the WANTEDS.  So many times I see posts for people who want something that has already been posted as something someone else is giving away.  C'mon people --- DUHHHHH.

2. Expand the area to get the best range of stuff.  I am subscribed for both Napa an Fairfield/Vacaville.  I should check and see if there is a Vallejo Group, too.

3.  If someone asks you about the stuff you have offered , please RESPOND. A couple of times I have emailed someone who had something I wanted and I never heard back from them at all, and then the thing was later posted as TAKEN. Once I even got a reply form someone who said something was available, and when  I replied with the time I could come get it, the next thing I saw was a post that it had been TAKEN.  How rude.

4. If you offer something, give the first responder first dibs by asking for a time and date to pick up.  Then tell the second person who wants it they can have it if "X" hasn' t picked it up by "Y".  If you don't hear back from the first person, then offer it to the next.

5. I never give someone my address until they have committed to a time and date to pick up.  Then I tell them where it will be (on my porch or in the driveway if it is big).  Some people just put stuff out in the driveway and put your name on it.  That works, too, unless someone else decides to help themselves to the stuff that was promised top you!

6. It's always nice when you get something that you email a "thank you!".

7. Keep your posts up to date!!!!!  If something has been taken, REMOVE IT!!!  There was this food dehydrator posted for the longest time.  I kept sending emails, and the person who had it NEVER got back to me and NEVER removed it.  How frustrating.

8.  If someone offers you something, and you already got it, please let the person offering know.

9. Don't email and say you want to come and "take a look at it" or "check it out".  Either you want it or you don't. Period.  Jeez, people -- it's FREE .

There.  I got that off my chest!

Now come on, Freecyclers, BE POLITE!!!!!

Chickens

I finally got my chickens!!!  I have been wanting to get a small flock of six for awhile now, but decided to wait until after the 3 Day, which was all-consuming for the past several months. I started out by looking for coops, and found a PERFECT set up on Craigslist for $75 -- complete with a fenced chicken yard.  off we went o Oakland with the truck and trailer, and loaded that baby right up.

It sat in the yard for awhile until I got my first consulting check, and then I hired a day laborer to lay footings and set the coop up so that no critters could burrow underneath.  Perfect!   Then I found one nesting box (I actually need one more) and bought food, shavings (cheaper than a bale of hay), cracked corn, and critter-proof storage bins.  From the last time I had chickens (FIFTEEN YEARS AGO -- YIKE!!) I had a feeder and water tin.

Dennis had promised pullets, but when the time came, there were no pullets available (from Dennis' source). So it was back to Craigslist.

In Petaluma, I found a source with ready to lay (8 to 9 month old) chickens -- perfect!!!  Not only that, but they were  variety of different breeds -- Rhode Island Red, Barred Plymouth Rock, Ameraucana, and  others that I have to look up because I forgot already what Richard (the chicken guy) told me.   Because they all look different, I could name them and tell them apart.  Richard had lots of chickens  and also had turkeys, including two huge toms with blue wattles and iridescent feathers.  He corralled six different chickens, we paid for them (the price of chickens has really gone up since I bought them last - FIFTEEN YEARS AGO- YIKE!)  and we loaded them into cat carriers and off we went!

backyard coop with the girls

Front: Goldie, Sapphire
Rear left to right: Ruby, Jewel, Pearl, Opal

 Are they not beautiful?????  Already the cats have been sitting goggle-eyed in front of the coop watching to see what happens.  This morning when I went out to open the coop and put the water tin up on bricks,  a big old potato bug was under the water tin.  Those girls jumped on that bug and had it for breakfast!  I have already painted a "Coop Sweet Coop" sign to hang on the front.

We have also secured the whole garden area so that after a couple of days, I can let them out to be more free range (within limits, of course! ).

Next on the agenda is to get the planting beds built.  I have already started two compost bins, so between the chickens, composting, and recycling, our garbage should go down to one can every month or less!!

Rod took a little flip video of me and the chickens, but I am not sure how to put it into the blog, and not sure that I want to anyhow, since it has more than one unflattering shot of my big old rear end!!