Here are some of the photos I was speaking of earlier. I'm sure you will notice some all together undesirable dwellings in the neighborhood. It's really hit and miss out here. We certainly can't complain though. We got a very good price with great terms and it will be ours in just over two years. Yes, no rent or mortgage in under three years. Also the location is zoned as rural so we can pretty much do whatever we want. We are seriously considering chickens next year. The place sits on two lots. The rear lot is almost entirely tillable and completely fenced in. The front lot is completely shaded by an oak, ash, and maple tree.
It's supposed to get cold tonight so I went out and covered up a large portion of the garden with the tops of 2 liter coke bottles. We used 2 liter bottles to start all of our plants. We put them in a little green house we made from a steel rack we picked up for $5.

Helen will be upset if I don't mention the 72 pots she picked up at the SIU flea market for $12.

Upcoming: I started my vacation this week. We are headed to Kentucky to pick up the car port I intend to re-purpose into a work shop. Picks to come. Also when the blackberry bushes get a little bigger I will post pictures of them as well as the strawberries if they ever come up.

Here is a bird bath I made from a re-purposed satellite dish. The post is about 2' into the ground. It is painted with appliance epoxy. If you've never used this paint it can be purchased at Wal Mart. It is great stuff.

This is main garden it is 50'x30' which is entirely too big but hey I'm an over achiever. In this picture is a wheel barrel we picked up from an estate sale for $10, a garden cart I got off of Craig's List for $50, and some tripods I made out of donated lumber to support pole beans. There were two satellite dishes against the trailer. One has been re-purposed into a bird bath and the other is now gone. The post is going to be used for a bird house.

The side of the garden shed is the old location of our compost pile. It is now the location of loofahs with the rear of the shed being used for bushel gourds. Each trellis is actually two parts and is made from pallet wood. You can just see the old satellite dish peeking around the corner,

In this picture you see your loyal narrator with a brand spanking new tiller. In the background is a 20 horse riding mower I picked up for $250 off of Craig's List last year. We spent $600 on the tiller but with the amount of tilling we do it just seemed necessary to buy a new one rather than take our chances on something used. Besides that used tillers are still very expensive.

This is a photo of an apple tree we planted last year. Along the fence row we planted a golden delicious, red delicious, two pears, two peaches and one cherry tree. All of them are of the Tyrion Lannister variety. ;)

I suppose I'm a little late in the blogging part of our endeavor. We have come a long way in such a short amount of time that I haven't actually taken the time to chronicle the things we have been doing. I am Bill and my wife is Helen. About a year ago we were fortunate enough to be able to buy this little place just outside of town. It isn't much but it's home. We don't don't have a lot of money or even a lot of space. We repurpose and recycle as much as we possibly can. This isn't merely out of an effort to be gentler to the environment but more out of necessity really. In future posts I will show some of the equipment we have procured as well as the things we are doing around the place. We have put in a 50'x30' garden with a brand new garden tiller we purchased from rural king for $600. This tiller is the most we've spent on any one item since we bought our home. Along with the tiller you'll see the riding mower we got a great deal on along with the garden cart. I'm not sure how exciting it will be to read about this stuff. Next, more posts with pics. Also next week we will be on vacation and I will be building a workshop from a donated 18'x20' carport, pallets, and purchased materials. I'm hoping I can get my next door neighbor to give me a hand in this as he actually knows what he's doing while I am nearly clueless. It will be an adventure nonetheless.
Bill