I spent a couple of hours digging a friend's yard in Brunswick, Maine this afternoon. It was a lovely sunny spring day and I had been helping her clear brush and other yard work beforehand. The neighborhood was built in the 1970's so I didn't expect old coins or relics.
I did find a lot of modern coins along the road frontage: 10 pennies, 3 dimes and a quarter. It's funny how you find coins along the frontages of residential neighborhoods. An elderly neighbor stopped by and observed that I wouldn't find anything in the front yard because there had not been any kids living there. Well, 38 cents begs to differ.
Then I wandered into the back yard and kept finding big iron signals that when dug up looked like old farm equipment parts. My friend explained that her elderly widower neighbor that I had met earlier had lived next door for 65 years, and his house was the original farm house in the neighborhood. So that explains the old farm parts! I'll have to get permission to dig his property next!
The dirt was all dark moist loam - perfect for detecting, and it was a really enjoyable start to the season for me.
The crocus are just pushing up here in Maine and we have had several days of wet weather, so the ground is quite muddy which is great for detecting. Finally, the sun came out in the afternoon and I went for a quick dig around my property to "get back in the swing" of detecting.
The lawn is just greening in a bit and I wandered back into the woods and around the side of the house and found a few neat items.
The bolt is huge! 1 inch diameter - no idea what it is from - maybe farm equipment? There was a young boy living here 20 years ago and I have found a number of toy cars like the Viper Van pictured. It is interesting to see that they become filled with dirt that is really hard to get out even with my ultrasonic cleaner.
It was a nice start to the year though. I have lined up some great permissions on rural and suburban properties and will have more to share soon.
