“Radical Resourcefulness” is old news (fortunately)

John and Sid planning the structure

In this post I talk about how the underlying ideas of A) “Recycle, Reduce, Reuse”, B) people who dumpster dive, and C) rows of broken down cars and junk on the properties of rednecks across the continent are the same.  I also mention how it is economically sensible and environmentally necessary for us to overcome our learned perceptions of A) “hippies trying to save the world”, B) “bums eating garbage from dumpsters” or C) “rednecks making a mess of property”.  Enjoy!

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I spent most of January working and living on a farm outside of Gainesville, Florida.  For anyone wanting to learn how to farm and travel at the same time, I encourage you to check out http://www.wwoof.org/.  For a small membership fee you are given access to the WWOOF database of farms by country.  From there you can pick and choose what you want.

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Greenhouse construction

While on the farm, I spent most of my volunteering time building a greenhouse which Sid (the father of the family who live on the farm) bought a number of years ago.  He bought it for next to nothin’ from a farmer who no longer had a use for it. Sid stored it on his property for a number of years until he was able to find the remaining resources needed to build and complete an entire greenhouse - plastic, mesh, fan and all.  While rummaging through a dumpster behind a tree nursery, Sid found enough UV plastic (in near-perfect condition) to cover the entire greenhouse.  Thus the greenhouse project was underway! 

Sid was able to acquire the necessary materials for the greenhouse for about 1/3 of it's total retail value.  There were no instructions nor labels on the pieces since it was used.  If any pieces didn’t seem to fit together, we would improvise, often using other salvaged or 'reclaimed' resources to put the greenhouse together.  It took a bit of patience, a bit of creativity, but we were able to finish the structure before I left the farm.

Ray and Panelopie

One recurring topic of conversation was the use of salvaged materials in building.  Apart from being aesthetically interesting, it's an extremely economical and environmentally-responsible way of building as your not using newly purchased or processed material to build.  Seems like there are a number of terms for this basic idea, some being more buzzy or trendy or recent than others.  "Resource reclamation" or "radical resourcefulness" were a few terms that I heard while being around Gainesville.  Though the terms do sound pretty cool, and many permies drool over the mere sound of them, their definitions are a bit redundant.  As far as I know, radical resourcefulness means (re)learning to (re)use material found right around us as resources that could be used in building.  It also has to do with being able to procure resources for free (i.e. dumpsters).

Another one of Sid's projects which he was looking for additional materials for was this A-Frame that I stayed in for a little while.   The entire structure was built out of used material.  The wood of the frame once belonged to a barn (I think..) and the metal roofing had been sitting around on the property of the farm for a while.  With a little bit of labour, a few Wwoofers were able to build the simple structure.  The best part about it is that it was nearly free!




Used.  Recycled.  Reclaimed.  Radical Resourcefulness.  Sensible use of available materials.

In my view, all of these terms mean the same thing.  Whether we're talking about a couple of hip kids going through dumpers in the city to build raised garden beds or a few old time farmers looking at an aged car out in the bush to use in restoring an F-150, salvaging resources for alternative use is nothing new.