I was reading these comments on the Tuscarora State Forest strongly recommending people not burn stuff outside during these dry times in Pennsylvania… 🔥

What suggestions do you have for those who don’t send their trash to the landfill? If we let our trash accumulate on the farm we are going to have a major mouse/rat issue.

I didn’t want to be a jerk but my thoughts are they should just buy some garbage cans and stick them out by the barn or otherwise away from the house and save the trash until things green up a bit. Or dig a hole and bury the trash for now. Most farms have tractors with buckets and plenty of manure to bury things in. You can always dig it up later and have a big bonfire. Big controlled burns are a lot of fun. Or listen to the greenies by recycling or taking it to the transfer station to reduce the amount of waste you have to store.

It’s also not farms don’t already have rats around silos and barnyard – they love to eat spilled feed and burrow in manure piles. But you certainly don’t want to encourage them around your homestead by leaving trash as they can be quite destructive to property. Burying might me a good way too temporarily to keep bears out of the waste.

🚨Fire is super dangerous, especially in the spring. 🚨 While I certainly have fires when I camp in the spring, it’s always in existing fire rings away from brush or grass. And if there is leaves around I make sure to clean up around them. When I own land, I’ll make sure my farm trash incinerator is fully enclosed and screened and away from anything burnable and just store the trash during high fire season and just have a bigger bonfire when the burn ban is done.