New Passion

Repurposing. Upcycling. Reclaiming. Call it what you want. I call it bliss. Sunday's unexpected acquire gave me (us) a renewed zest for creating from the already made. We are always repurposing something into another spot or project. Removed blocks by the driveway have become retaining wall for the terracing on the NE 40. Old timbers have become the base for a loft bed. Cabinets have transformed into a toy box. A chicken coop is now a super awesome compost bin with lots of beautiful mulch/compost rotting away :) The base for the chicken coop is one of our raised garden beds now. That is just the tip of the iceberg  of the reclaiming projects.

The new acquisition - pallets. We had a few laying around and have been given about 10 more. I have a personal source that can supply endless amounts of them for nothing more than me removing them from their site. (This job of mine has some perks) It looks like we will have a total of at least 25 pallets by the end of the week. What are we going to do with all those pallets?! First off, they are going to be sanded, painted or stained, torn apart where needed and sorted by size. From there, they will be designated for use. The simplest plan is to make them into row planters for our ever expanding gardens. The first of those should be installed by the end of this weekend, the herb garden is the first on our list. That involves pulling up some pavers and finding another place for them, which we are handy at anyway. Other exciting pallet plans: outside rolling coffee table, chairs, benches, potting stands, a strawberry pyramid, shelving for the garage, dining table (most likely to remain in the garage for our many cookouts and get togethers) my very favorite idea - a painted "living" gate to unusable treacherous stairs, a storage bench and perhaps a painted walkway in the NE40 gardens.

Some of these ideas we had been thinking on a while, some came to us from online inspiration. All of them give us another opportunity to do something we love together and something the kids can help us with. The children will get to paint the gate and put their handprints on it. All of them love planting, especially the Autumns :) They love the excitement and accomplishment of creating. I am quite certain the eldest will dive right into the painting and be begging for pieces of her own to show off. We may or may not make something more out of it other than our personal whimsy. The man of the house, he is a handy sort and will definitely find a way to make them all work. My job - inspiration, vision, labor and encouragement. Who knows...maybe I will have some pictures to share with you all soon.

See you on the Oregon Trail ~
Andrea