Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Hand-Me-Down "Rows"

The sun came out today! I think we might have hit 70 degrees F! Jesse and Grace-Marie and I decided to do a little gardening. A good friend and neighbor gave us some of her Topsy Turvey planters this year so we decided to plant some tomatos and some strawberries in them. We are taking quite a risk with the tomatoes as it has been a VERY cold spring. I don't think it went over 45 yesterday. The plan was that I could keep them hanging on the porch at night and bring them in the house if it got too cold. That was before I planted them, filled them with soil and WATERED them. Yikes! They are very heavy.
                                  

We are thrifty , by necessity at our house. Our garden fences, raised bed materials, planters, and even hooks that we hung the Topsy Turveys on were all free. Our potting table is a smashed wheel barrow propped on a little goat trough turned upside down. I am so thankful for all my friends who give me things and let me know if they see something I might need somewhere for the scavenging. Because of this we can garden and afford seeds and a few little hand tools. It is very encouraging to be able to garden even when we don't have much expendable income. I get so excited about the produce anyway, but when it costs us almost nothing, it is an even bigger  blessing!

                                                                            

Here is an example of my husband's upcycling. He put a licence plate "tin roof" on the bluebird house.   
                                                                                
This is a glimpse of my slice of Big Sky country through the scavenged chain link that my husband painstakingly trimmed to the right size, one wire at a time with bolt cutters. What a labor of love. 
                                                                              
This year we have high hopes for our hand-me -down rows. We look forward to fruits from the  freeTopsey Turveys potted in the rescued wheel-less barrow, hanging on the recycled bungee cord hooks, on the upcycled fence in front of the innovative tin roofed bird house under the beautiful gift of a free view of the Rocky Mountains, in the Land of the free. I am so grateful to be able to live where and how I do. I have lived other places and might again, but for now, this place is just about perfect.



                                                                                 

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