Thinking about an old trash to treasure experience

[Boogity]

I absolutely love vermiculite as a soil amendment. It always works wonders for making your soil light and airy and greatly reduces soil compaction.

About 10 years ago I went to an auction where an insulation contractor was going out of business. They had a wooden shed about 15 ft. x 15 ft. completely full (piled 8 ft. high) of loose coarse vermiculite. It was collected from broken bags and bales over the years. The winning bidder had to provide transportation to haul it away. Sure enough I was the winner at $10. A very good deal and if I had purchased it in bales it would have cost me well over $300. As I was getting ready to leave the auction the business owner came over to me to see when I would return to haul the stuff away. It turned out that he was an old friend of mine. As we talked an reminisced he told me that he would use his loader and dump truck to bring it to my house as he wanted to visit with my wife and me.

The next day he showed up with a very full large dump truck with a canvas cover. Immediately behind him was a second truck full and his son (who I hadn't seen for over 10 years) was driving. He explained that as he was loading the first truck his son informed him that there was another shed full of vermiculite on the property. So I got about $600 worth of vermiculite delivered to my barn for 10 bucks. About 30 cubic yd.

We also rekindled an old friendship.

Boy I wish I had that vermiculite now!

 

[Wannabefree]

Such a cool story!!! That's a LOT of vermiculite!!! Wish I had some too...it'd sure help this stupid clay I'm dealing with!

 

[Denim Deb]

That was a great deal!

 

[framing fowl]

Nice! Those deals don't come along very often.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Wow

 

[Emerald]

Your story reminds me of my own--my uncle used to have a big farm with a big peat bog on it.. he sold peat in his driveway--anyhoo... I had a small tv he really liked and wanted for his camper and so I made a deal with him- a nice truck bed full of good black Michigan peat for that tv... He brought me a small dump truck full for my garden... Sure it was years ago and I've used it all now but I sure wish he still had that farm!

Oh and a big Watch out on the vermiculite and perlite stuff- very bad for your lungs and your eyes if you get it in either! I used to work in a greenhouse and we mixed our own stuff and that stuff will scratch the carp outta your eyeballs!