More FREE Gravel… Or Was It?

 

A few weeks ago, over 4th of July weekend, another huge pile of gravel came up for FREE on Facebook Marketplace.  I knew it was enough to finish up what I needed for the front yard so the girl and I headed off with our shovels to the town next to us and picked up a load.  However, on the way home I got pulled over by a sheriff's deputy because someone had reported a concern that we were stealing this gravel.  Once I showed him on my phone the conversation with the owner of said gravel he was totally fine.  Super nice and I told him I was just impressed somebody cared.  When I got home I contacted the lady I was getting the gravel from and we had a good laugh.  I told her I'd contact her for bail money when I went for the next load.  She said she had my back!

 

Before

After!

Super funny situation, really nice deputy (cute too!) and it gave me an opportunity to thank him for his service to our community.  Being a cop is tough work.  It also opened up a great dialog with my daughter on how to properly behave when you are pulled over by the police.  Just be nice to them, cooperate and you're good to go!  Don't act like a jerk.  Be respectful.  I think I did a good job setting the proper example too.

 

I know gravel isn't to everyone's liking, but for me this is the perfect solution

My goal was to unload the gravel under where I have the clotheslines so when I drop stuff, which I do (a lot), it wouldn't get all muddy and dirty.  I was also able to connect to the gravel and pavers in front of our deck steps.  I started spreading it fairly thick and made it all the way to the pond.  I was super happy with how it looks too.

 

Thanks in no small part to my feline supervisor things look great!

The next day I went and picked up another load with no incidents this time.  I finished up around the pond and filled in all the way to where the grass ends, officially finishing the front yard landscaping project!  Whoo hooooo! And since I didn't have to post bail or anything, yes, this gravel was FREE.  

 

Hmmm.  What do you suppose is going on here?

But wait, there's more.  Of course there is more.  Right here next to the front porch I have plans.  However, you're going to wait to see what those plans are.  I'm just wicked, aren't I?!  No worries.  I promise you won't have to wait too long. 😉

 

 

Garden & Compost UpdateI

 

Our garden is doing pretty well considering our weather hasn't been the most cooperative.  We've had a lot of moisture and cool temperatures with just a few days of warm summer weather.  I'm not complaining one bit as we were looking at drought conditions this year prior to all the moisture we've been getting this past two months.

 

I have new garden plans in mind for next year

Everything we planted is growing, just slowly and that will have to be okay.  My tomatoes, beans and peas seem to be doing the best.  Radishes too.  The peppers, cucumbers, squashes and pumpkins are all small and not much action there.  I'll happily take what I can get.

 

New stuff I'm composting now

My compost on the other hand has been amazing.  In six weeks I was able to fill up one side of our bin with various items - flattened cardboard from Amazon, cereal boxes, shredded paper, mulched leaves, bunny manure mixed with wood pellets, coffee grounds, eggs shells, banana peels and other kitchen scraps.  I turned it every few days, added water a couple times when it got dry, Mother Nature watered it quite a bit, and then let it do its thing.  As I've been working on the garden as well as all of my flowerbeds I've been able to haul out buckets of compost and amend the soil.

 

That is some gorgeous compost!

I've got loads of earthworms in dirt that was hard, dry and compact.  My new plants are flourishing.  Instead of throwing all of that stuff into the landfill I'm able to make beautiful compost and give it back to the earth reaping the benefits of that labor.  I love this so much!

 

Small Home Improvement Project - Driveway Refresh

 

I mentioned before I'm doing a complete re-landscaping of my home from the curb at the street all the way to the backyard fence line.  Curb appeal has been lacking around here and since that is the first thing you see when you pull up to my house I really wanted to work on that.

 

The gravel was a bit thin

And the weeds were having a heyday

When I first moved into my house in 1995 there was an overplanted narrow grass strip beside our long driveway.  Once I had cleaned out all of the bedraggled plants, shrubs and trees the grass strip looked terrible.  Plus, it served no useful purpose.  I felt this area would make for better parking instead of wasting water to try to keep the grass strip green.  I remove the grass and laid down weed barrier and gravel.

 

Some remnants from our recent projects and more weeds

At the time I did this I wasn't making much money and didn't have a lot of knowledge on this kind of stuff, but I did my best.  I couldn't afford a truckload of gravel but bagged gravel at the time was affordable so I bought some weed barrier (wrong kind for a parking area) and as many bags of gravel I could and got started.  For several paydays after I'd buy more bags of gravel and keep at it.

 

Let's get this party started!

Initially, it looked good and functioned just fine.  Over time, as the gravel thinned in spots, I'd add more gravel and then eventually life got in the way and I stopped.  In more recent years the weeds began to take over in a battle I seemed to be losing no matter how many I pulled up.  It look awful and it embarrassed me.  Well, I'm not embarrassed anymore.

 

And now, no weeds, no bald spots

A much nicer space for parking and our bins

After the girl and I hauled in the three truckloads of gravel I took a day off and then I got busy.  I worked in the early morning hours while it was nice and cool outside and cleaned up all of the gravel and degraded weed barrier.  I also cleaned up all of the weeds.  Then I installed lawn edging all the way along the property line from where the fence stopped to the sidewalk replacing the rotten timbers that I put in originally.  The lawn edging I used was some of what I had removed from the front yard so it cost me nothing to do and it sure looked a whole lot better than those old timbers.

 

No shame here.  Those old timbers will be cut up and used for firewood

I still have some gravel left

Once the prep work was done I laid down a nice thick layer of gravel all the way up along the driveway and over to the property line.  I even have gravel where there never was any.  I moved our trash and recycle bins to a new spot and even though we extended our front yard out further when we moved our fence, we still have plenty of parking space for two vehicles if we need it.  It looks neat, tidy, clean and finished.  Exactly what I was after.  But wait, there's more.  I'm adding a new flowerbed out there too.  Yes, there is still room for some landscaping in front of the house and I am super excited about that.  Be sure to check back and see what I do.

 

 

 

FREE Gravel. Or Was It?...

 

One of the ways I knew I could save quite a bit of money on my landscape project was to see what I could get for FREE or for a really low price off of Facebook Marketplace.  For quite a while I have been scoping out gravel and rocks for our yard and the parking area next to our driveway.  A lot of people have been offering up the opportunity to clean out the gravel they no longer want from yards and bedding areas and haul it off, but others have been cleaning it up themselves and offering it in piles on their sidewalks and driveways.

 

From her yard to my yard

Since I am in the process of rehabbing my poor body the prospect of cleaning up someone's yard for them wasn't an option for me.  Hauling off gravel in a pile is quite a job itself so I knew I wanted to be patient and wait for the right opportunity and on Monday it presented itself.

 

The dog poop shovel got to come along 😁

The timing was right, I had just completed the grassy section of our yard and was ready to move onto the next project which requires a fair bit of gravel.  A very nice lady had a pile of gravel on her patio and needed someone to haul it off for her so I contacted her and we made arrangements.  It was also my daughter's day off from work and she offered to help making it even better.

 

This is the first two loads and I left the third one in the truck

We spent the better part of the day removing the gravel from this patio.  I laid a tarp out in the bed of my truck and we loaded up five gallon buckets to wheel in a garden wagon out of her tiny little backyard to the alley behind her house and dumped them into the truck.  It took us three trips to get it all, there was a lot, and it was hard work, but I was doing it and feeling pretty darn good in the process.  Getting this much gravel for our projects was very fortunate as having a load delivered to my house would have been a huge chunk out of my budget and half the bill was for delivery due to the high cost of fuel right now.  I was feeling very blessed.

 

When we arrived for the last load the homeowner came out and insisted on giving me a twenty dollar bill to pay for our gas.  I was stunned and although I told her that was not necessary she gave it to me anyway saying we had done her a huge favor taking the gravel and that she was incredibly relieved to not have to deal with it herself.  Not at all what we were expecting but I graciously accepted her gift and thanked her for allowing us to have the gravel.

 

Feeling very blessed these days

I have more time and energy right now than I do money so being resourceful and getting the gravel this way couldn't have worked out any better.  The weather was cool and cloudy all day too which made our task even better.  We helped someone out, she was super nice, and in return she helped me plus I made twenty bucks in the process.  It was better than FREE!  I was also able to test myself physically and I'm really happy with how well I seem to be doing with all of this physical labor.  The next morning I was a little stiff and sore, had quite a few happy little bruises on my legs, but all in all I felt pretty great.  And boy did I sleep good that night.  Now to figure out which of the two projects to take on next.  You'll just have to wait and see, but I think I know which one I'll be working on next.

 

 

The Dog Poop Shovel

Many, many, many, many moons ago we were camping and found a shovel left behind at our campsite.  At the end of the weekend we dragged that sorry looking shovel home and dubbed it the dog poop shovel.  It has sat outside in our backyard ever since, a permanent yard ornament with a purpose.  It has been nearly two decades since I've had a dog, but the dog poop shovel as remained, ever present, ever useful, taking care of our chicken coop.  Despite the fact that it is no longer used as a doggie pooper scooper we have never felt the need to rename it.

 

This tape was on it when we found it

Many a turd, dead rodent, gopher and squirrel has been graced by this shovel.  It has turned soil, turned compost and even held a door closed and locked in place after a latch broke.  It is the second shovel around here that no one wants to end up with during a home improvement project, but it still does the job.  Last month I was looking at this poor shovel, which is one you use only while wearing gloves due to the possibility of getting slivers from the rough handle, and thought I'd give it some much deserved love.  After all, it has been loyal and trusted for a good long time.

 

Chicken feed bag makes and excellent drop cloth

I've had this shovel for a good twenty five years and it looked like hell when I got it.  Who knows how long it was in use prior but by the looks of it there has been a lot of history.  Abused and neglected I took it in the garage and spent a good while with the sander smoothing out the rough handle which really should be replaced, but we're on a budget around here.  Since I no longer have any linseed oil I decided a can of purple spray paint way in the back of the shelf would be the next best option.  After two coats of that this puppy never looked better.  Except maybe when it was new.

 

Jack says it still looks like crap

Yep, still ugly

I have no idea how much longer this shovel will be with us, likely forever, but until its final demise it will shine once again in all of its purple glory.  At least it will be less likely to give us slivers.  I'll still wear gloves.  😉

 

  

Secondhand Challenge

 

A few weeks ago I talked about reducing the amount of trash we produced and upping our game when it came to what we added to our trash and recycles bins each week as well as how often we needed to send those bins to the curb for pick up.  I even invited you to join me on my trash bin challenge.  Then the following week I talked about how I have resurrected our compost bin in our backyard and got it going again.  A lot of the items I typically add to our recycle bin actually go into our compost now such as cardboard and shredded paper.

 

I want to make more mindful purchases in the future to reduce waste and the amount of packaging.  The next challenge I've issued to myself is to see if I can get by this year with buying items secondhand before purchasing anything new.  Clothing and household items is the primary thing I'm talking about, but I'm open to other things as well.  I don't really need much, but I figured even still, I'm sure there are plenty of good "previously enjoyed" options out there for me to choose from.  I like the idea of reusing and recycling so before I make my next purchase I'm going to consider first if I can find what I want at a thrift store, yard sale or on Facebook marketplace.  Anyone else interested in doing this?

 

Working On Some Compost

 

You may have already heard that there is an extreme fertilizer shortage, along with everything else it seems.  One of the largest fertilizer plants in the United States burned down and a lot of our other fertilizer came from Russia and Ukraine, among other things.  Under the circumstances it seems prudent to make compost and create my own organic fertilizer.  The beauty of compost is that we can all do this.

 

We have a large two section compost bin in our backyard.  I built it myself out of four by four fence posts and cedar fence boards.  Composting requires two things - brown matter and green matter as well as some water.  Brown matter is things like leaves, cardboard and paper (boxes, paper towel and toilet paper tubes, shredding, junk mail, etc.), straw, grass clippings, wood shavings, etc.  Green matter is your coffee grounds, egg shells, banana peels and other kitchen waste.  It can also include manure.  Fortunately for us we have chicken and rabbit manure a plenty.  Combining all of these items makes for some good composting action.

 

This ice cream bucket is an excellent collection bin for our kitchen

Our compost bin has been largely ignored and neglected in the past year so I was eager to get outside and get it started back up.  One side of the bin was two thirds full and inactive while the other side was empty.  I had been saving cardboard and paper in the garage, plus what little kitchen waste we had I was collecting in a one gallon ice cream bucket.  Most of what was in that bucket was simply coffee grounds, tea bags and egg shells, but every little bit helps.

 

I emptied my shredder into the compost bin as well

I began by placing a nice layer of cardboard in the bottom of the empty section.  A couple Amazon boxes, a cereal box and a worn out egg carton.  The card board attracts earth worms and that is a good thing to have along with your compost.  Next went the ice cream bucket of goodies I had been collecting and some bunny manure mixed with hay and wood pellets.  Then a good dousing of water before I added a layer of dried leaves, more bunny manure and then water and repeat.  By layering the brown and gray matter with a bit of water you get a good mix of carbon and nitrogen matter that will work together and begin to breakdown.

 

Every few days I will take a shovel out and give it a good turn to help the breakdown process and within about four to six weeks we should have some really good compost to add to our garden beds.  Then we'll start the process all over again.  Another good way make sure nothing goes to waste while giving back to the earth what we've been taking from it.  And it keeps more stuff out of our landfill.  Even better!

 

 

The Trash Bin Challenge

 

The state of our economy, and the world for that matter, is in shambles.  I think we can all agree on that, and although we may feel powerless and helpless to do much about it, there is still a lot of things we can do that will have a great impact.  I am a firm believer that a small change creates the big change.  If each of us takes steps to be more mindful, careful and more sustainable I believe it will create a ripple effect.  I also think it can start with something as simple as our trash.

 

We all know that dealing with our trash has been an issue for a long time so I won't get into all that, but what I'd like to do is ask you to not only create less of it but also to really look at it.  Without a thought Americans set out gobs and gobs of trash at the curb each week to be hauled off and dealt with.  What if we just dealt with it ourselves?  What if we didn't need someone else to do this for us?

 

We need to create less trash to begin with by making more intentional and mindful purchases.  And when we do make a purchase we come up with a plan for what we will do with it.  Not just the item we buy but all that packaging that goes along with it.  What can we recycle?  What can we reuse?  What can be composted?  What can we avoid in the first place?

 

We have a wheelie bin for trash, a blue wheelie bin for recycling and a sizeable compost bin in our backyard.  We have orange bags to collect the harder to recycle items.  Our city offers green compostable items bins for curbside pick up as well.  In our garage I keep one orange bag hanging up to collect primarily Styrofoam and plastic bags.  A five gallon bucket collects mostly cans and some plastic bottles that we cannot find a useful purpose for.  Another five gallon bucket collects our glass.  Glass recycling has to be taken in to a special collection center, but they make it easy on us by placing collection bins in various areas of our city.  We have one at the supermarket.  Anything hazardous is set aside to be taken in to the same supermarket once a month on hazardous waste collection day.  We have loads of options for dealing with trash.

 

Here is my challenge to all of you.  How long you can go before you need to set your trash at the curb for pick up?  What are other things you can do with your stuff before it is considered garbage worthy of a trip to the landfill?  How minimal can you be with your waste?  It will take some thought, but can you imagine how impactful this could be?  And, what if you challenged your friends, neighbors and family members to do the same thing?  And then, what if all of those people challenged the people they know?  Can you imagine?  What if we made this go viral?

 

Starting Seeds

 

I know that I am no gardener by any means, but I've decided I want to try again.  For awhile now I've been collecting toilet paper tubes and had filled up a one gallon ice cream pail.  After going through my seeds I watched a Youtube video on how to turn toilet paper tubes into seed starting pots and got busy.

 

Once they were done I filled them with potting soil I had in the garage and carefully planted the seeds according to the directions on the packets.  So far I have planted two types of tomatoes, sugar pumpkins, green bell peppers, jalapenos and cantaloupe.

 

With all of my seed pots tucked back into the ice cream bucket I mixed up a little miracle grow in some lukewarm water and gave each pot a nice drink.  I have my seeds sitting on top of our infrared heater with a grow light set on a twelve hour time. Wish me luck!

 

Purging More Stuff

 

There are so many ways to purge things from our home and lately I've been on a mission to do more.  Last month I finished going through the storage area in our garage and sold a bunch of old optical shop inventory on eBay.  It sold fast too so that was fantastic.  I found some things out there to donate too so I started a new donations bag.

 

Another great way to purge is to use stuff up.  I've been going through our pantry, refrigerator and freezer on a mission to use up all the odds and ends of things we have leftover.  I am beginning to think we have condiment issues.  Way too many of them right now, that's for sure.  Our refrigerator is completely cluttered up with jars and bottles of this and that.  I'm more than ready to use them up and not open anything else for a while.

 

In that same vein I happen to have A LOT of craft and sewing supplies.  I have been making a few crocheted items to give as Christmas gifts which has already used up three skeins of yarn in my stash, but I've got a long way to go to use up what I have.  I'm going to need a bigger project I'm afraid.  Making gifts for people with things I already have on hand is not only a great way to purge some things from my home, but also will save me quite a bit of $$ on my Christmas budget.

 

All of our spent candles were melted down so we
could use up the wax and the empty containers were recycled.

We have a freebie pile in the break room at work.  Mostly there are books, which I've helped myself to and then brought them back when I was done, but there are other things too.  Last month I took in a shirt as well as some food items that were snapped up in record time.  As I find things around here that I think my co-workers may want I add them to the freebie pile.  It is a quick and easy way to find new homes for things I no longer need or want.

 

Facebook Marketplace has been a wonderful way for me to get stuff out of here too.  I had an old window, some lawn edging and a big pile of firewood after our big pruning project.  We took a quick pic and offered them up for free and they were gone in no time.  We've also sold some things we no longer needed or wanted.  Blue jeans, a coat, a huge box of eyeglass cases, my old cordless drill and a bunch of other odds and ends.

 

I have sold off nearly all of my old inventory from my old optical shop

How are you doing with your purging endeavors?  Making progress?