I want to be awesome--like people who give away manure for free

I prepared the middle bed for planting last weekend. I was planning on buying what I needed: compost, topsoil, potting soil, and mulch. Well, Friday night I was browsing Craigslist and found someone who was giving away composted manure just a 25 minute drive away. I decided to give it a try. Of course, the books I read say to get all soil amendments from a  reputable source (read: expensive) so that there are no weeds and other bad actors in them. Impossible, I say! Nothing I have ever purchased for my garden has ever come free of weeds. I put it down, give it some water, and, Bam. Weeds. I feel anything is worth trying once--and its free!

I asked them why they were giving it away and they said, "So we don't have to spread it." Ok, but there are others on Craigslist who are charging. For example, $20/truckload, or the carpetbagger on the East side who is charging $20/bushel basket. And these fine people were not ignorant of the market. We all laughed openly at the bushel-basket-guy. No, they just wanted it get rid of it and do it for free. Not only that, he shoveled it into sturdy feed bags and loaded up my poor Camry's trunk. I shudder to think of what would have happened if I had used my wimpy garbage bags. Meanwhile we chatted about everything and I learned that they've been fostering special needs kids for 23 years. 

That's the kind of awesome I want to be: willing to give, willing to serve, willing  to love.