Here's something to ponder.

[taxlady]

There are some, usually ethnic, grocery stores around here, where the dispensers are behind a counter. You can ask for the approximate amount you want and an employee gets it for you. These stores also often have deli and butcher sections where you ask for the stuff you want and tell them how much.

 

[blissful]

I remembered another one. 25 and 50 lb bags of oats/beans/flours/grains/rice....for a while we used the bags for garbage bags. The bags are paper/doubled and can be flattened and stacked for future use. We also buy salt for the water softener, those bags are plastic, can be flattened and stacked for future use.

We have set the barrels on concrete blocks on a gravel pad away from any trees and vegetation. There is a wire mesh that sits atop the barrel so no burned/burning items are sent aloft.

We have so many trees and branches to burn, so we burn mostly paper in that one pile. We move the pile every 5-8 years to another part of the yard. It's usually a bon fire, and we have a running hose near it until it is done.

 

[pepperhead212]

@blissful I re-use all those large bags, sometimes repeatedly. And, while I don't have as much as you and some of the others dropping branches on my yard (mainly just one tree!), but I have a large stack this year, which I was going to use in the bottom of another raised bed, using the Hugelhultur method. However, it was just too hot to work out there, any more than necessary (and my younger helper got a new job this summer, which is great), plus, like everything else being shipped, the price of lumber was just too high!

 

[blissful]

Pepperhead, I hear you, the price of lumber is crazy. Our lettuce garden is one of those gardens that has layered, tree branches/bush branches, then soil, compost, lime, kitchen waste, soil.....when we first put it in. It's a great way to build soil and a garden. Ours is a raised bed, with a cover frame. For years we called it a lasagna garden because of the layers we put in it to start it.
I'm thinking when one of our trees comes down, we'll use parts of the trunk for the sides of a raised bed, instead of buying lumber, to save on the costs.

 

[GotGarlic]

I remembered another one. 25 and 50 lb bags of oats/beans/flours/grains/rice....for a while we used the bags for garbage bags. The bags are paper/doubled and can be flattened and stacked for future use.

These products are still available in the large bags at international stores near me - the ones that carry a lot of Asian and South American ingredients. I don't know if you have those where you live in Wisconsin.