In Demand

There seems to be a run on, of all things, goat poop.  What's worse, I actually ran out of product and had to turn someone away yesterday.  Who'da thunk it?  It is a renewable resource, given a bit of patience.  My new milk customer took the last of the accumulated mound, a full pickup load (small truck), on Tuesday.  He's evidently been cruising the area, and told me about the alpaca farm over the hill.  That guy had such a demand that he has started charging twenty dollars for a bag of poop.  It gives a whole new meaning to "garden gold."

Alfalfa bales are tied with three strands of plastic twine; sort of pretty, actually, as they come in blue, white, yellow, and (not often) red.  After I break open a bale for the girls, I bundle the three strands together, throw in a knot, and toss them in a pile.  When the pile gets too big, I gather it up, put it all in recycle bags, set them out for the trash guy...and start all over again.  The twine, too, is a renewable resource, but one for which I pay through the nose.  My new customer, Earle, got that gleam of acquisition in his eye as we walked past the current pile of strands.  "Wotcha gonna do with all of that?"  I explained, and he asked if he could have it, if I was just going to throw it away.  His plan is to braid the strands into one long, unbreakable rope, and went on to tell me about tensile strength, et cetera.  More power to him, says I.  It's a guy thing, this "one man's trash is another man's treasure," one I understand well having been married to the King of Scroungers.  Earle must think he's hit the bonanza here.  Ah, well.  Whatever floats your boat.  Hmm, speaking of boats....