15,000 Square Foot Urban Farm Goes Portable | Your Olive Branch News – yobo.
Category Archives: Frugal
Rain Barrel Question?
I was reading Your Farm in the City by Lisa Taylor and there was information stating that rainwater from rooftops might be toxic. Any one ever hear such a thing? I have two 300 gallon barrels and would hate to think that the water in them could be toxic. I do use it for my vegetable garden. Advice anyone?
Big water saver for little $$$.
No more paper napkins here!
Napkin Basket
Yes, they think I am crazy. I am not buying paper napkins again. I have decided that there is way to much waste going on here. Not really but there is always room for improvement and this is a good product to eliminate.
I have been cleaning out the house looking for items to reuse, recycle, repurpose etc. I have used old t/shirts for the obvious dust rags, cleaning rags, even a dog toy from a knotted one. This time I cut them into squares for cloth napkins. Wa la soft , reusable napkins. The husband and son refuse to use them. Husband likes his sleeve better, he told me. Son, well he is just plain ornery at times.
They are soft and they smell nice and fresh, I still use fabric softeners. Can’t make all the sacrafices at once you know. I did try to buy some real but basic cloth napkins at my local thift store but they must have thought they were made from a fancy cloth of gold threads, because the price was higher than buying them in Walmart NEW. Plus I had just bought 15 branded sweat shirts and other assorted warm weather “I am not turning on the heat” clothes, from their bargain bin @25 cents a piece. Even scored a brand new nike golf polo for my son.
So you can imagine my distain when ten 8×8 cloth napkins we going to cost me 50 cents a piece. Nope forget the fancy ones…I like my soft old t/shirt napkins. I still may be able to change hubby’s mind too! After all it is one of his old shirts, just not the sleeve!
The Garden Coffin
So named because it looks like a big coffin laying in the backyard. To bad we have no trick or treat traffic because it could have easily been turned into a scary Halloween feature.
Finished Garden Coffin
Hubby finally finished it last week. He did a great job! Then came the realization that the dogs could jump into it, let’s hope that they won’t once plants are in it. Then we realized the idea of using the fence for the climber crops of the garden was not well thought out. We will just be giving the deer free rein at our vegetable garden buffet! Come on Bambi….sidle up here to the all you can eat grazing bar. Unlimited vegetables just for you and your friends.
Then after he lined it with weedblocker and plastic on the sides to keep the dirt in, the dog jumped in…chasing a strange dog along the fence line that he was used to running around. Damn people went and put this raised bed in my way…..no way, in I go…see mom…just try to mess up MY yard!
Chester
The Garden Coffin w/Compost
So now it’s time to get some organic material in it. That should keep Chester out. So I truck my brewing compost over and into the coffin…that is all ready with the nice weedblocker bottom and the plastic on the sides. I get a good layer on the bottom, enough for one days work. I do though lament over whether I should have put hardware cloth on the bottom, but I have not had a problem with critters down below so I couldn’t justify the work or the money.
Well if only the dog had not jumped in chasing the stray along the fence, and I had not trucked all the fill to keep him out. I would have found out that hardware cloth was necessary. Next day our jack russell mix is out there sniffing n digging, so out I go to check out why. I almost fall into the garden coffin, the ground is all squishy in front of it. Damn moles tunneling under the garden coffin! Now I will have to find out what will drive those pesky moles away before spring.
Ruby
Told y’all in the beginning the NC dirt was gonna be the death of me. If it happens soon I can become part of the “organic compost”, in my garden coffin! :)
Cut Home Expenses – Money – Savings – Bargains – Deals – AARP
Try homesteading. To boost their populations, some rural communities in Minnesota, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa provide free land to build a home, often with tax incentives. Do a Web search for “free land” or contact the Center for Rural Affairs for details.
via Cut Home Expenses – Money – Savings – Bargains – Deals – AARP.
