Living Small in Austin TX

A few months into this, and I totally get why most working farms are not pretty.  Okay, I should clarify.  I think most farms are gorgeous, soul restorative places, but inevitably there are piles of broken down machinery, plastic feed buckets splattered with mud or pigshit or, most likely, both, and ramshackle outbuildings - and I'm not talking about picturesque weathered barns, but dubious looking repurposed "manufactured homes" with an old tarp thrown over the rusted out metal siding.  Functional?  yes.  Pretty?  No.

To the left here?  This sort of thing is not pretty.  And I have a lot of this sort of thing going on.  

On the other hand, form is certainly following function here, and that's something I can get behind.  This is the "gate" to our chicken run.  it gets moved around a lot, to allow them to forage on fresh wild greens and then allow grazed areas to recover.  What's not beautiful about happy chickens?  And not needing to weed?  And not throwing this old bungee cord into the landfill because there's a second life waiting for it here on the micro farm?

With time, I think my little backyard farm will be both functional and beautiful, but for now...mostly it's about quick fixes, like yesterday afternoon when I took advantage of a break in the rain to go out and check on my dear little hens, only to find the covered run of their coop completely flooded.  They couldn't get to their feed without standing in a deep puddle of cold, dirty water...so I shoveled in a makeshift island of mulch for them to stand on, dragged over a panel of the moldy and rapidly crumbling wood panelling I've been stripping off the back shed to create more of a shelter...not pretty at all, but the chickens sure appreciated it.

 

Repurposing some ugly stuff I found around the micro-farm.

Who thought planter boxes were a good idea in Central Texas?

A couple of these were kicking around our yard when we moved in, and I'll admit, my first thought was to...you know...stick a plant in them, but then it got to be about a zillion degrees.  You'd need to water anything in those boxes a hundred times a day and even then they'd croak.

There were also these heavy concrete bench supports hiding in the weeds behind the shed.  Hmmm, bulk trash day?

As much as I hate accumulating stuff, I can't bear to just throw it away.

So I got to deconstructing...

and reconstructing...

I actually really like how they look!  Kind of rustic and actually quite comfortable.  I dragged them to a sunny-in-the-morning spot and now have the perfect place to warm up with my coffee and plan my day.

 

There *really* aren't enough hours in the day.

Have I mentioned that the new house has a dedicated arts and crafts workspace?  It is truly awesome not to have to spend the precious little time I actually have to be creative setting a project up and then cleaning it all up just so we have somewhere to eat dinner.

Ahhh, project overload.  I love it.

From left to right:

The crumpled up dark fabric is a skirt my daughter is upcycling into something a little more her style.

There's a painting in the works, again courtesy of my creative girl.

A little ziplock bag of clay being revived with some water so I can "make snakes" with the boy at a moment's notice.

In the foreground, a reupholstery project which deserves its own post.

The orange knitting is going to be a pouf, very much like this one!

Some of the balls of yarn are resting on what will soon be shelf supports in the linen closet (a previous tenant removed them in an act of sheer brilliance).  I need to paint them.

The little white unit is a wall shelf with hooks I picked up at Savers, thinking it might work in one of the bathrooms, as neither has a medicine cabinet and/or enough storage space.  It will not work in either bathroom, so it will go in my daughter's room.  11 year olds are always amassing "collections" and she needs some "display space".  It's in the middle of a paint job.

Sewing machines!  Ambitiously left on the tables, as if I'm going to actually get to use them one day soon!

Right now they are apparently a place to lay un-mailed packages.

I need to do something about the doorway to the right.  It's a very big closet/pantry/laundry room that came with very ill-fitting bi-fold doors.  It needs a curtain or something.  And I need to put a little piece of wood trim or something between where the tilework ends and the wood floors begin.

Oh!  And I kept those bi-fold doors, because I think they will make an excellent set of low benches for somewhere outdoors.  Going with the re-used door theme.

It feels good to be busy, even if I don't get quite as much uninterrupted creative time as I'd like.

Adventures in Greywater! Part 1 of...a series that hopefully won't drag on for years.

Our current greywater system: a five gallon bucket and a watering can.  There's also a dishpan sporadically involved.  It's a slipshod effort, but it waters the few edibles we've got in the ground twice a day.  It's not going to make a dent once we ramp up food production out there, and if you've ever tried to carry a five gallon bucket of water, you know it sloshes all over the place unless you slow your pace to a crawl.  Even if we're just using the smaller watering can to drain the bath, it's easier to carry, but you're in and out of the house, dripping water on the floor: time consuming, not to mention work.

I want a real greywater system, pipes diverted directly out into the garden and all that, but it is proving a bit much to wrap my head around.  In theory, I'd love to spend some time figuring it out and then we'd do it ourselves.  I like design problems and the sense of accomplishment when you have created something with your own hands, but on the other hand, we're in a drought - I need to be conserving and recycling as much water as possible right now, not the months from now after I've bumbled around with library books, youtube videos, the wrong sized pipes, etc.

For now, I'm just researching and lugging buckets, but I'm feeling so impatient!

 

Dustin' off the virtual cobwebs...and building a potting table

Blogging took a bit of a backseat to moving.  The dust still hasn't quite settled here - full boxes sit untouched, artwork stacked against walls instead of hanging on them, daily chores abandoned in favor of unpacking, moving furniture about until it feels like it's in the right place, but it is definitely starting to feel like home.

Soooo, let the DIY-themed posts commence!

Every gardener needs an outdoor work bench or potting table, but I've...sob...never actually had one.  There was this gorgeous old paneled door leaning against the shed in the garden.  Look at that patina!  It was just begging to be incorporated into our outdoor decor.

Then, when I investigated further...

Pink!  

Now I was really torn - the other side was arguably more weathered, but then again...Pink!  And I love this little spot where the door handle once was - look at the shape of it!  I'd love to get hold of some of those original plates and restore the few remaining original doors inside my house - all but three of them have been replaced.  Judging from the state of this one, I suppose they needed to be.

Here's the final product.  

Nate is experimenting with egg cartons as seedling trays - he left eggshell halves in a few of them to see if that helps make transplanting any easier.  The legs are a couple of adjustable height pine sawhorses I purchased at IKEA a couple of years ago. Underneath there is plenty of room for...uh, my gallon jar collection.  We really could stand to drink less apple juice (blame it all on summer and the boy).  I'm determined to find a way to creatively re-use those jars.  Right now, I use them to transport hibiscus mint tea to potlucks.  The twice it's rained this summer, we've put our a variety of buckets and containers and then funneled the rainwater into these closeable (mosquito proof!) jars to use in the garden.  What I really want is a glass jar and bottle cutter, so I can turn the tops into cloches and the bottoms into...terrariums?  Glass stepping stones?  DIY gifties for everyone?!?!

And now, I am off to sample some local flavor at Live Oak Barbeque!