Oh...my folks house has LOTS of those piles...inside and outside! (my
piles arent so organized as such) Ha ha.  My dad was always saving
stuff...in case he might have a use for it....some day.  He's gone now
tho, so...he didn't ever use it.  But, he passed on the disease to Me.
He was of German heritage, but didn't speak a word of the language - so
didn't refer to his piles by that term. 

My folks went thru the Depression...so I just thot that's where his
"hoarding" (packrat) behavior came from....and my mom's patching/mending
clothes...until there was no hope.  Then the clothes become PJs...or cut
up for rags. But, she washes the rags...so, has an Abundant supply of
those.  
Needless to say, out family has a Hard time getting rid of things.  Yet,
I'm not materialistic in that I buy stuff (I don't need or just to have
the latest things)...since I Hate spending money (another German
trait?).  I just cant part with Stuff...even if I never use it.  Oops.
Some sort of mental disease, I hear.  Ha ha.

>-----Original Message-----
>From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On 
>Behalf Of Roderick Sprague
>Sent: Monday, August 06, 2007 4:33 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: The Farmer Factor influence on artifacts
>
>Mary C. Beaudry and Histarch
>
>Mary
>
>What you just described is known to many area farmers, 
>including non-German speaking ones, as a "kitsch pile."  It is 
>a place to keep
>(throw) metal scraps and machinery parts that may be needed 
>later to repair something.  They still exist in suburbia as 
>boxes of junk and lumber piles in basement or garage shops.  
>Remember that when you call something in your house "kitsch" 
>that it translates from the German as junk or trash.
>
>Rick
>
>
>At 02:46 PM 8/6/2007, you wrote:
>>Is there any possibility that the entire "dump" was in fact 
>what I call 
>>a resource pile?  I've seen lots of these on farms in various 
>>locales--a pile for stones and such (including broken grindstones and 
>>brick at times), another for wooden stuff, another for metal scrap.  
>>Many farmers/ranchers were very frugal, and figured it all might come 
>>in handy some time.  But we tend to view their "resource piles" as 
>>unsightly dumps.  At the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm in Newbury, MA, 
>>residents in both the 18th and 19th centuries also allowed "dumps" of 
>>ceramics and glass to build up to be used for drainage, in 
>one case in 
>>a privy, in another in a fence-ditch.  In the latter case the sherds 
>>and glass fragments probably also kept pesky groundhogs from 
>digging their way under the fence.
>>
>>mcb
>