What You Trash, We Will Redeem
Right now, Philip is outside tilling the garden with the rototiller he just repaired in our driveway. One thing saved.
Lee, the tractor.
Next weekend, we’ll be helping to dismantle and old deck and the foundation from a trailer, and we’ll use those materials to begin Phillip’s shop.
The retaining wall that we’re constructing below the fire pit is made from an old railroad bridge and the leftover posts from our goat fence.
I’m crocheting a child’s sweater and hats for newborns from the yarn my mom had and other skeins that folks have gifted me.
Every piece of furniture in the farm house -with the exception of our bed and our couch – was owned first by someone else.
Lee, the tractor, we bought from a long-time farmer who was looking to rehome him.
Our rainbarrels once held whiskey, and our mowers belonged to my grandfather before us.
The refrigerator and stove in the kitchen were once in my dad’s shop, and before that, they built the heart of someone else’s house.
If we could never buy anything new, we’d be just fine. In fact, better than fine. The stories that come with these items, and the way we can reuse without having to make something new (or throw something old away) are helping to shape God’s Whisper into a place where we make good from even the broken and discarded. It’s so exciting.
What’s the most awesome bit of recycling or repurposing that you’ve undertaken?
Many thanks to Sherman Alexie for his great story “What You Pawn, I Redeem,” which inspired the title of this post.