The line between what stays in my farmyard and what gets discarded has drastically changed.
Over the past week, I’ve been prepping the yard for the metal man, and I’ve been throwing things on the metal piles that sentimentality would have prevented in years past.
It could have been the raccoons, groundhogs, skunks and other critters that have taken up residency in these old relics.
Or maybe it was the burdock that likes to set up where it’s hard to get at it with the sprayer or mower.
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Regardless, it’s time to simplify this situation.
This will be the first visit by a metal recycler to my yard where there’s generations worth of scrap, or treasures, depending on how you look at it.
Some decisions on what stays and what goes are easy.
The old plows Grandpa pulled with horses, the old trucks from the 1940s and 50s he used to bounce around in, and the steel wheel double disk seeder he wore out — and these and many other pieces will keep their place in the yard tucked away somewhere.
It’s also easy to deal with “my stuff.”
I used to run TR-70 combines and I just pulled their rads and engines so I could sell them off separately.
I will shed no tears as these mouse factories get put through the crusher.
Should I keep the old John Deere pull-type combines?
Some of my earliest memories on the farm were of Grandpa using them.
These old machines are echoes of the past that resonate with me, and I had intended on doing something with them.
But they also have a weight, beyond the $200 per tonne quote the metal man is offering.
When I look across the yard at the old combines, I see another job I should deal with in a sea of jobs left undone.
Many of the old relics have become clutter to me, of my yard and of my thoughts.
We all feel the desire to keep some permanence with the past, to continue the existence shared by family and friends.
Although something Tyler Durden once said also resonates with me: The things you own end up owning you.
Soon I will own a tidy space, previously occupied by a boneyard of good intentions.
