Garden totems

I am a collector of rusty bits and broken glass.  We live at the edge of town, Back in the day that was the dump, where I frequently forage.   I have, over the years amassed quite a collection.  I also trash pick any goodies I can find.  I decided to display some of my collection by creating, for lack of a better term, garden totems.  Curtain rods, rebar, and conduit form the upright support. Sprockets, springs, glass insulators, old lamp parts, just about anything goes.  The terracotta pots make a lovely home for my succulents.  Birds love to perch on top.

This is extremely cool!  I wish I had my own former dump!

Anne Pratt wrote:This is extremely cool!  I wish I had my own former dump!

Almost any old house has one.  My favorite one was behind a house built in 1725.  It filled an entire ravine.  Unfortunately they turned the property in to a hunt club.  

We are on a hillside.  A plateau has been constructed where our house stands, built maybe in 1949, 1950.  The hill continues up behind us, to another plateau.  It looks like a pasture, with an elderly apple tree to one side.  We learned from a woman who grew up here that the house used to be up there.  Let me tell you, that is a serious climb in the summer, never mind the winter!  Quite steep!  Seven kids in a two-room house without indoor plumbing.

The house burned down when she was young, and our current house was built to replace it.  

We drive the tractor (carefully) to the upper pasture, and walk up the hill, but everyone who walks is out of breath at the top.  I can't imagine after a 4-foot blizzard.

Anyhow, back to the topic.  We find little artifacts here and there - a bottle, a broken mower blade, a piece of thick broken glass (from another bottle).  I was digging today, planting another apple tree, and I found charred wood, immediately under the grass.  Another bit of the history.

Anne Pratt wrote:We are on a hillside.  A plateau has been constructed where our house stands, built maybe in 1949, 1950.  The hill continues up behind us, to another plateau.  It looks like a pasture, with an elderly apple tree to one side.  We learned from a woman who grew up here that the house used to be up there.  Let me tell you, that is a serious climb in the summer, never mind the winter!  Quite steep!  Seven kids in a two-room house without indoor plumbing.

The house burned down when she was young, and our current house was built to replace it.  

When was the original house built? I bet if you go to the edge of that top plateau you could find a dump site.  If you knew which direction the house was facing it would help pinpoint. it.  Most were behind the house.  Go down about 10 feet or so.  Most trash would be chucked to be out of sight.  Be prepared to walk through/kneel on broken glass. It's not as bad as it sounds.  Most of it will be covered by dirt.  

Good advice!

We will have to ask the woman we met who grew up here.  She goes to Florida in the winter, but comes back all summer and attends a Bible camp near here.  Before she stopped by last year, the upper pasture (previous house site) was always a puzzle.  An apple tree, flowers that were obviously from a garden, but up a steep hill from the house?  After she told us, it all made more sense.  

There is an old barn site across the street (but still on our land).  There is very little left of it, but you can make out that there was  something there due to the unnatural contours of the land.  We could explore down there, also.  I live in a very rural area and there are old foundations down most of the dirt roads.  We love to explore.