{Romper. My new favorite piece for gardening and doing yard work! Looking cute while performing labor is a must, in my book anyway!}
I am a huge fan of recycling what is around us! I love to look at something and ponder as to how I can create something from raw material. For me, it is therapeutic. Rather than shop for a new side table to hold your outdoor cocktails or evening reads, why not re-purpose a tree stump! Or rather than hitting up Lowe's for a trellis to grow your pea's or green bean's on, why not search your brush line for fallen branches, trim them and create a "pea tepee"! As a child, I had a vast imagination, unfortunately as I aged that imagination or creativeness has suffered, I feel its a good thing for us to exercise it as much as possible. I also love to set an example for my son that being creative is FUN. Building is fun! These projects have been a great way to spend our weekends together. He has been my helper every step of the way. It is all about creating those memories and instilling a strong sense of being one with mother nature. We live in a world where we can purchase what we need right from our phones.....but creating something original has so much more fulfillment!!
My son and I had a great time trudging branches we had thrown down the bank after clearing an area earlier this year to start our tepee project. We dragged them to our driveway, broke off unwanted branches, trimmed them up together. He felt like such a big kid using the mini clippers (supervised!!) to cut the smaller branches for me. Once we were all done we then dragged them to our vegetable garden and I started creating our tepee while he plowed the tilled soil with his CAT bulldozers.....I told him he was helping daddy so that he wouldn't have to till the dirt again! After arranging the branches to my liking, I drove each one into the ground as best I could. I then used clear plastic zip ties to bind the branches together, creating a sturdy solid structure. Once I was done, I fetched our baby pea plants from our greenhouse and planted two plants around each branch of the tepee. I have to say, it looks great and thus far they are slowly taking to winding their fragile vines around each branch. They are still delicate and need some care. The weather in the Northeast has been keeping us on our toes, I know eventually the warmer weather will be visiting us for a few months. Until then I am crossing my fingers that my plants make it!
Last summer my husband had cut down tree's within our woods that weren't going to make it much longer. Some of them were monstrous and the logs that came from them were impressive. I am a huge fan trees and to have them come down really makes me sad, even if they are sick. I just have a keen respect for mother nature. So in honor of her, creating something from what we have reaped seems as though I am giving back and showing her due respect. Last summer I used the logs as seating around our bonfire pit for a party we hosted. I then rolled and lifted (be careful if you try to do so, I hurt my leg pretty badly doing this myself since they weigh a ton.....I need to figure out a better way to haul stumps) the stump onto our deck and has become a true statement piece to hold pots of flowers, drinks, etc. (or little boys, lol!) It goes perfectly with our lovely hand crafted Adirondack chairs! I absolutely ADORE this piece. We have alot of these logs and I have a lot of wonderful idea's for them! One of them involves drying the log out, peeling off the bark, giving it a light sanding and then using them as night stands within our bedroom! How awesome would that be?! I heard you can dry them out the quickest by hauling them up to the attic.....if anyone knows the best way of transporting these suckers, I am all ears (or technically eyes since I would be reading it).
Two weeks ago, when we were living it up like summer time folk in mid-80 degree weather, I drug a scrap board from the burn pile and placed it under the shade of a large oak tree. I then gathered the rocks my son and I had forged from around our property, placed them on the board along with paint brushes and paint and we had a grand time creating the markers for my herb garden! These are moments that I want to last a life time! I have no idea what I did with all my spare time as a single adult, because as a parent I value my time with my son so much, watching him grow into this individual and helping him along.....its similar to magic. I just love him to pieces!
{This is how we spend our summer as country folk living among the tree frogs away from society, without a stitch of clothing on!}
Another passion of mine is bringing the outdoors within the home. Using pieces from our property as art within our living quarters has a special and unique quality to it. Especially when they are pieces that as a family we forged on big adventures and hold memories. Two of the pieces came from a day out on the four wheeler with my son when we went treasure hunting and came back with some great finds. A birch branch and a large flat piece of birch bark. The birch branch I hung within my kitchen, which will be used to hang and dry herbs when the time comes. Its perfect and beautiful!!! The birch bark, which is extraordinarily flat and perfectly square, I have showcased on my bookshelf. Eventually it will be framed and given full glory on a wall within our home.
I have so many more idea and cannot wait to keep you posted! I would enjoy hearing about all of your great outdoor finds, ideas or advice!
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