I’m not sure where I first got the idea to pick things out of the trash. But I’ve been doing it for a long time.

I will always remember a particularly gorgeous lime green velvet swivel easy chair. I remember seeing it as I was driving home, retuning a few hours later, delighted that is was still there, wrestling it into my car, giving it pride of place in my room, later moving with it to NYC, it getting scratched up and ruined by the cats, and the day I had to sadly put it back out on the curb, really trash this time. I added years and years to that beautiful chair’s life and it brought me years of joy.

When the pandemic started and we realized that we couldn’t go thrift shopping any more, we started paying more attention to when the big pick up days for garbage were around us. We were going for nightly walks anyway and had spotted a few cool things out out on the curb. Bc of Covid 19, it took us a little while to get comfortable, but eventually we picked up a few items here or there. We use gloves, or wash our hands after, and let the objects sit outside for a few days or clean them well before bringing them into the house.

Now we go out on the days we know to scout. Most weeks we don’t get anything, but sometimes we hit a small jackpot. We’ve gotten many planters and pots of all sizes, a baseball bat, wood for various projects, a large sun umbrella, and more.

Last week we picked up a well loved dining room side board. We plan to cut the top shelf off and use it on our green house. The top is warped and the wood there is splitting, so cutting that off won’t be a tragedy. It’s clear that this piece was stripped, refinished, and stripped again. Then left for a long time in a basement or shed. But it has plenty of life left in it!

It might seem weird to pick something our of someone else’s trash, but if an object is still useful, it’s far better for it to go on being used. So let’s not call it garbage picking. Let’s call it urban foraging.

Have you found treasure in other people’s trash?