The only thing better than getting rid of stuff you don't need is getting stuff you want for free. I got a big load of free mulch today.

I smoked a bowl and went out for a very stoned walk this morning. On the way home I passed by a house that was getting some trees pruned, and they were running the limbs through a huge chipper. This thing was awesome! It would just take hold of the end of a branch and pull it through the machine and blow it out the other side as mulch. I asked the guy if I could have some, and he said it would be fine. So I loaded up the truck with some buckets, bins and wheel barrows and went and got as much as I could take. Some of it was still not shredded enough, so I sent most of it through my own chipper. Then I spread the chips along a new fence in my back yard where there is a lot of disturbed earth just waitng for new weeds to sprout. I put about 4-6 inches on top of the bare dirt to prevent weeds. It will keep weeds from sprouting there next spring and will eventually break down to improve the soil. If I had ordered that much mulch delivered, it would have cost $50 for the mulch and $25 for delivery, but instead I got it for free and kept it from going to waste in the landfill. And I saved the landscaper money too, because he doesn't have to pay the dump fee for the stuff I took.

Some people, including my wife, think I am a crazy freakin' wierdo for asking random strangers for their shredded tree mulch, or the dead leaves off their lawn for my compost, or for going into Starbucks and asking for used coffee grounds for my garden, but I have already collected enough free compost and fertilizer this year that it would have cost me several hundred bucks to buy it all. I kept it out of the landfill and saved myself enough money to keep me in weed for a year. I'm a genius, not a freak. Right? Not a freak?