I’m starting to feel as though an underrepresented aspect of farming is the ability to store “treasures” …I mean, there is tons of empty space. Yes, you could fence it and make into productive things like pastures or crop fields or carefully landscaped points of interest for Instagram posts, but let’s talk about the real issues here: decrepit vehicles, spare bits of metal and old or interesting “projects”. Just last week Gwen and I were examining the building plans for the new house we are building this summer and there was an aerial picture of the property. That, in itself, is not terribly interesting to most, but I was immediately focused on what appeared to be a building placed in an area that we had previously thought to be on the neighbour’s property. The property lines, as per the Neebing maps, show that the secret garage (read: “shack”) seems to be on Borderlands property. You can imagine my excitement at the possibility of further storage and the unlikely but possible presence of “treasure”. (An apology to my readers; I haven’t yet determined if the shack is, in fact, ours and as a courtesy to the neighbors and a nod to the legalities of trespassing, I haven’t yet explored it any further, so the contents will remain a mystery until a further update). I digress…let’s resume the discussion of space and treasure.
My Father tells stories of cars and trucks that, at the time, were considered mere “old wrecks” that were no longer modern or in fashion, and as such, not worth keeping or restoring. Why worry about the 55 Chevy truck languishing in some farmer’s field, when you could easily go to the dealer and purchase a much newer and of course much better new version of said vehicle. This approach is no longer his modus operandi…his collection of parts/cars/trucks has grown to an impressive one (much to my Mother’s chagrin). He gets it; hang on to the treasures and wait for a day that those around you will also realize their worth (maybe)…You might not get to that “project” but there is hope that you might. Furthering his credibility (and hopefully adding weight to my argument), he has a few very interesting, and very nicely finsihed street rods squeezed into his garages that owe their existence partly to the "parts donors" that have come and gone from the yard. I, myself, have lamented (with time) the passing of cars, trucks, boats, dirt bikes, et cetera that were at the time no longer of great value to me that, (as I age) realize I should have kept. No more. I have begun the rebuilding of my junk yard. Jeeps. Boats. Bits of steel. Strange parts for machines that I may not even own. All will stay and all will be looked after; not hoarding, but rather preservation of treasures. I might even buy a metal detector…
Brody with his project Jeep.