The scrap that was left over from our barn renovation has been cluttering our yard. I took some time this morning before work to tidy some of it.

Some of the scrap is left over lumber, some is plastic and cardboard packing material, and some is steel left over from the roofing and siding. I hauled the scrap to our local scrap dealer.

I took two loads, that combined to total #600. When I settled up, I received $9, or $30 per ton. Seven years ago, when we started cleaning up around the farmstead, it was selling for about $250 per ton. That was clearly an inflated, top of the bubble price. That was the same summer that gasoline was selling for as much as $4.50 per gallon, and corn was selling for $7.50-$8.00 per bushel. For those of you who haven't been watching the grain markets, corn is selling locally for $3.60 per bushel.

It's difficult for me to wrap my head around how commodity values can swing so drastically. But they do, and it seems to be a post 9-11 reality.

As far as the scrap metal goes, and I've blogged about this before, today I cleaned up the yard, and the steel is a waste that I can recycle and get paid for it. I don't care how much I'm paid for it. I could have sat on it until the market went up, which it inevitably will, but I don't want to store it. I want it gone.

Hauling the leftovers from our renovation allowed me to also haul a small amount of scrap that was accumulating outside of the renovation process, including a grill. We've had that grill since we were married in 1996, and my in-laws gave us a new one for Christmas. It was a little bit sad to see the old original grill go. We've hauled it to every home where we've lived since we were married. But, it was time.