Months of sheltering closer to home led to the cleanest attics, basements and garages in global history. Locally, the rain that followed our deep spring cleaning seemed to keep us from finding ways to recirculate through curbside giveaways and garage sales, however.
The sun is now blasting and a weekend scroll through local trading posts advertises a host of yard sales, while a wander down side lanes reveals free treasures for the lucky ones first on scene. With the housing market regaining some momentum, owners shifting residences are contributing to volumes of goods available locally as they look for ways to circumnavigate moving unwanted items and paying dump fees.
Abandoning the sometimes highly packaged goods bought online at the earlier stages of the pandemic, residents are turning to local sources more than ever for practical needs and whims of fancy. Supporting this turn has been the reopening of local thrift stores as well as a number of curated consignment shops. It is easier than ever to acquire secondhand goods on the cheap and feel good about your score as well as your inadvertent care for the earth.
It’s been heartening to witness so much gifting of goods between relative strangers of late. Social media posts inviting folks to pick up quality items for the cost of a walk or drive are multiplying. This is extending naturally to the abundance of fruit, squash and kale in yards all over town. Bags of recent windfall fruit, bunches of thinned out greens, and mischievous drop-offs of zucchini are commonplace.
We’ve been tuning in deeper to our resilient local economy and finding the inherent joys of connecting with our community and stories of the objects we bring into our lives. This seems to harken back to the time when we knew where most of our food, furniture and fun-times gear came from, and perhaps even whose hands created them.
As we look into the foggy future of markets and trading across borders, the surest bet we can make is to invest in our local economies, whether that be through trading our creations, giving away our excess, buying used, or shopping at stores that support distributing local goods and services.
Whatever the fall season brings, let’s keep this habit of finding ways to safely share our excess. By that time it may look like exchanges of winter squash, blackberry jam, used camping gear, dried firewood and smoked salmon. When local deal hunting, keep your eyes open for crafting supplies for projects at home and food that preserves well; whether gathering sizes are restricted or not, investing in these is a sure bet.
Enjoy your time soaking in the sun, squash and yard sales that the tail of summer has brought in abundance.
Let’s Talk Trash is qathet Regional District’s waste-reduction education program. For more information, email [email protected] or go to LetsTalkTrash.ca.
