Trashed Item Spotted: Wicker Park, Chicago

Situation: While walking the dog on a recent sunny morning, I took my normal route through the alley on Division Street between Wolcott and Winchester. This alley has proven a treasure trove over my three years in the neighborhood and most of the furniture on my back porch was sourced from this particular passageway. On the morning of reference, I discovered three large wooden pieces next to the trash bin behind the recently shuttered Threadless Kids t-shirt shop: what was probably the cashier's counter, a drawer unit, and a very long wooden rack of sorts that I assume was used to display the cool tees Threadless' community votes on before printing.

Outcome: I made a mental note to go back and grab it sans dog and with someone who had muscles. After huffing, puffing, and almost taking out a car window as we maneuvered the heavy piece, my super-strong girlfriend and I finally got it into the backyard, where we situated it against a fence and decided that it would serve as a perfect raised bed for the seedlings my husband and I have been growing.

We tore a few pieces of cardboard for underneath the structure to keep the roots from meandering into the Chicago dirt. After getting them in place, the beds were filled with compost, coir, and "black gold," my urban farming dad's special soil. Seedlings will be inserted over the weekend and, with luck, we'll have fresh produce for months. To think I was a day away from heading to the lumberyard to build my own raised bed.... This find will go down as one of my favorites.

If you spot an interesting item in a dumpster or on a curbside near you, snap a pic, post it on our Facebook page, and ask, "Take It Or Leave It?"

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