As a restoration program manager I often have sites that are being cleaned up. Junk and garbage hauled away, old run down buildings being demolished, etc. This stuff mostly goes to the landfill but I always try to salvage what I can to use on my homestead.
Last year I salvaged 4 wood gates from a barn that was being demolished. Those gates are now setup on my homestead which adds a nice look and feel to the "backyard" fence my Dad and I installed this last winter.
This week the cleanup is actually from a research project that a university was doing on a preserve I manage. Really interesting research relating to climate change.
But once the work was done they did not want most of the equipment so it was all going to be thrown away.
I have salvaged a ton of t-posts, deer fencing, and other posts that I can use for my current restoration work.
But the big #treasurefinds was 2 550 gallon water tanks! I managed to get both in my Dad's truck and got them to my homestead.
I'm going to set these up to capture rainwater which I will use for small watering jobs including keeping a new worm farm moist in the summer.
Normally I focus on storing water in the ground instead of buying expensive water tanks. But when the tanks are free... well that is too good of an opportunity to turn down.
Plus, taking the tanks keeps them out of the landfill!
Having these tanks open a lot of future options. For example, I could use them to supply most of the water for my toilet.
But for now I'm just going to keep it simple and use it for small irrigation tasks.
Regardless, this will supply a lot of water for my homestead and help hold on to some of the abundance of water this area gets in fall and winter.
Thanks @riverflows for setting up #treasurefinds - check out this post to learn more.