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Saturday, January 25, 2014

*~*~*Oregon European Potrack*~*~*

Mr. LB is a gem.
I saw a picture of a pot rack
that was hanging someplace in Europe.
I asked hubby if he liked it.
His response was,
"I can make that."
This is slightly different in that we added a light.
Never mind the hole where
the old off-center light was.
We'll get to that ....
at some point.
Everything in due time.
There are actually two more pans to go on it,
but we need to drill out the hole in the handle
of each as they were just a little to narrow
to fit on the hooks.
It is so nice not to try to lift out half the stack
to get to one of the larger ones that was on the bottom.
Those aren't light pans!
Again with the hole~
I just wanted to show the detail.
I like mixing curves and straight edges.
I am so happy with it.
I love my hubby.

The pictures look a little odd to me.
Karen Valentine gave some great advise
on her blog about how to remove the auto enhance
that blogger automatically does.
I will have to go back and reread it.

Until next time,
Nimble Fingers and Even Stitches

Monday, January 20, 2014

Our Mountain Community

A few years back,
a member of our little mountain community
passed away
leaving an elderly widow ~L.

That fall, one of the neighbors
suggested we get her wood in for her.
(We asked her first.)
We did and have done so each year since.
Anything L. produces in the kitchen
is amazing, and she always
makes a supply of goodies...
so we won't run short on energy of course.
This year she had to be gone,
but we went and got it all done for her anyways.

There is another neighbor
who is 'slowing down' a little
and lives right across from L,
so we just walked on over and
started in splitting and stacking his pile too.
I think he had tears in his eyes~
(I'm sure it was just some sawdust.)
Afterwards, the majority of us
went to one of the neighbors house
where there was a big pot of chili
and pans of homemade cornbread waiting.

We don't bother each other regularly,
but we do watch out for each other.
We have a couple gatherings a year 
at which we all chip in.
It works out great - 
no one person is put on the spot.
If anybody needs something,
we can round up a crew with little effort.
There are so many places where 
the folks don't even know who lives
right next door.
I am so thankful for these
neighbors & friends.

PS: This was before the cold snap; had to get pictures from a neighbor:)

Until next time,
Nimble Fingers and Even Stitches

Sunday, January 12, 2014

*~*~*My Design Tomato Trellis - Tutorial*~*~*

Well, I don't know how right on it I was,
but I did get most of my tomato trellis made.
Being very human,
I mis-calculated and ended up one stick short.
So tomorrow,
I will go get one more 1X2.
Requirements: 8 or 9 1X2s (at least 8:)
and 4-6 hinges
wood screws (about 1 inch)

You will end up with:
8 each = 5ft. 1X2s
4 each = 1ft. 1X2s
4 each = 2ft. 1X2s
4 each = 17inch 1X2 or scrap strip
4 each = 21inch 1X2 or scrap strip
Here's what I did.







I started by getting some boards cut to the right lengths.
This is not all of them,
just a sampling:)

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You could seal your boards
before you assemble the project.
I will wait until
it is all put together,
because, I like to seal up
those screw holes.
After doing this the difficult way,
I drew a line 5 feet long then
on the top and bottom board,
I marked the center and lined the mark up
with the line so that there were no
'weird' angles, and it was square.
Working with finer pieces of wood like this,
it's very important to pre-drill your holes.
At the corners, it is also important to put 2 screws
so that the piece is sturdy and 
does not rock.
I then used some scrap pieces I had
left over from another project to add rungs.
These were only about 1X1s so I only used
one screw on them.
You will need to repeat this 3 more times
so that you have 4 pieces like this. (ladders)
Once you have all of your 'ladder' pieces,
flip them so they are rung side down
and the long 5 ft pieces are on top.
I will be using 3 hinges but only had 2 on hand.
Place hinges appropriately.
(top, middle, and bottom)
Screw them in place making sure
that they fold up as they are laying this way.
-otherwise the rungs will be in the way-

Then you can stand them up.
They should be pretty sturdy.

This is only 2 of the 4 sides.
As I said earlier,
I was 1 board short.

I will just use jute to tie
two of these sections together
in order to use them.

At these deminsions,
5 feet tall
1 foot across at top,
and 2 feet across at bottom,
it is sound
and should not tip over.

If needed, I can use
tent stakes as tie downs
-if the tomatoes get that big.-

I plan on prunning them 
if they get over 5 feet tall
so that their energy
will go into making fruit
rather than leaves.

If the plant needs more support,
I can use jute to string
across from one side to the other.
I didn't want so much wood
that it blocked the light.


The reason I am making them
with only two sections
is that they fold flat
for winter time storage.

Those round metal ones
drive me crazy.  They are never
strong enough, and 
always seem to be in the way.

By using scraps for the 
middle supports,
I ended up with some
3 foot drops.
I am hoping to make
something similar
but 3 feet tall for
my cucumbers.

The other thing I took into
consideration was
access to the tomatoes.

Maybe I'm a little lazy,
but I like to be able to
get to those ripe ones
without having to do too 
much digging.

Our seed order arrived yesterday.
Now we just have to have
patience for a couple more months.

Having a project helps point my
focus somewhere other than
just the growing part of gardening
as it snows outside!

You don't need a lot of room
to grow some of your own food.  
You could even set this over a potted plant.
Keep warm and safe, and I hope this inspires you.  

Until next time,
Nimble Fingers and Even Stitches

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

*~*~*January Projects for the Garden*~*~*

1st
If you haven't ordered your seeds,
I would strongly suggest placing your order soon.
One site I really like:
I have only had good luck with their seeds,
and I'll just remind you that this is me
the brown thumb talking.

2nd
Go through your seeds and see what you will
want to purchase as plants.
I have horrible luck starting tomatoes from seed
so I just plan on buying them.
If your seeds look like this,
maybe do a little tidying-up;)
Even the sunglasses for weed wacking.

3rd
If you don't already have one,
maybe find a local source of bunny poo.
Yep, you read that correctly.
It's !ultra-fabuloso! for the garden.
I called our extension service and
they hooked me up with a 4-H family
who had a gold mine of doodoo.
They were only too obliged to share.

4th
I don't know what you all do,
but I can't stand the tomato cages
that you buy in the store.
I even bought the larger, sturdier, more expensive ones,
and they were wimpy.
So I've come up with a little plan.
I will have to play with it and get some pictures
before I share:)
The suspense is brutal, I know.

Hopefully I can get on it &
get it done.

I read another blog about things they plant in January.
Our ground hasn't thawed since October.
I just have to wait for my seeds to arrive,
and clean-up my seed box before they show up.

More soon.
Until next time,
Nimble Fingers and Even Stitches