Keen interest in recycling and re-purposing is not new. Furthermore, human beings may well have gotten the idea from observing our many friends in the animal kingdom. Mother nature is masterful in reclaiming much of what mankind discards … from shipwrecks to hubcaps (see above photo). Giving vintage relics new life and a new job is an old practice, which brings me to this week’s theme: “Farmgirl “Pickers”. I borrowed the term that many have become newly familiar with because of the hugely popular TV show on the History channel … “Pickers”. So, get ready, put your gloves & boots on because you’re about to embark on a junkin’ safari.
Hi there Shery!
This is a post after my own " creative recycling heart "!
I’d say you’ve done yourself mighty proud with your finds and your born again creations! That section of Picket Fencing is calling out to me! Love your collage! Windows, doors, old iron and fencing OH MY! Just today, I was eyeing an old wire magazine rack. I think it would be charming filled with flowers tucked into my garden!
I love the variety of things people can find depending on where you live. On the East Coast you can find some great picks in old Barns. These Yankees don’t throw anything away…EVER!!!
Happy Junkin’
Deb~
One of my very favorite quotes of all time…
" Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making
something out of it after it is found. "
~ James Russell Lowell
Love this post. My dad had a "junk" pile on the farm. He will see me coming out of the hollow and wonder what I have found to drag back now. I have actually just about cleaned up the junk pile. I also went to an auction one Saturday and when I came back, I went straight to the barn and started dragging out his old tools and horse tack to decorate the inside of my house with. I made a really cute planter from an old nail keg, cabinet from an old window, flower planter from a galvanized wash tub, and I bought 4 sections of old picket fence for $5.00, cut them in half, put a hinge on them so they would stand as a back drop and sold them in my friends primitive shop for $26.00 a section. Of course I kept one for myself. You have some really cute ideas, love the pics.
I can remember my grandmother telling me stories about growing up during the Great Depression. Her family didn’t suffer as badly as others, because her dad was a teacher. However, they were always frugal. They always had money for the necessities like food, shelter and clothing…but for anything else, well, that was another matter entirely 🙂 🙂 Every purchase always well thought over.
My grandmother taught me many lessons and one of them, from those early years, was to reuse everything I have. I love to reuse things and extend the shelf-life of things in my home. I couldn’t figure out where I got it from, because it’s certainly not something I learned from my parents. So it must have come from her.
Now my love for vintage and antiques, that came from my mother 🙂 🙂 I really enjoyed seeing the photos and I felt like I was right there for the journey. It also makes me want to move out to the country really badly…but that’s in a good way 🙂 🙂 🙂
I was really struck by the photo of the screen door on its side. I wondered about the people who would have walked through that door. What kind of stories would there be? I also liked the photo of the beautiful white jar with the red flowers on the front and on the lid? That must have been a special container for some lady a long time ago 🙂 :)..Well, the cat…I love cats…so that’s no contest 🙂 🙂
Thanks for posting this. It gives me even more inspiration to find multiple uses for all the things in my home 🙂 🙂 🙂
Hey Shery,
I soooo agree!
In fact if you sneak over to my blog & take a peek…you will see what my hubby made for me, in fact , I now have 3 and he will make 3 more…using cast off tires, a coffee can, cutter & ‘brute strength’ he cut out a scallop edge, then flipped the tire inside out and now I have big pots, So now to paint them a fun bright color & put flower pots in them! Wahooo! luv re-purposing…
hugz
>^..^<
WOW! I just finished planting my new (old) garden. It is made of entirely recycled materials- the only new things in it are the plants. All my beds are raised- they are water tanks from different times on our farm, some concrete, some aluminum, some big and some small. The picket fence was stored in a machine shed of ours until I found it again, and the wrought iron gate came from my husbands’ grandmothers farm, I have been saving it for years waiting to have just the right spot for it. I am in love with my new (old ) garden- it cost me nothing but time and effort and brings me much happiness!
I just love your "flower beds", I haven’t seen anyone do that in a long time, always liked the look. When I was a kid we lived in the country and they didn’t have garbage trucks pick up your garbage you took it to the "dump", which was just down the road that I lived on. Me and my 3 brothers use to love going down there and looking for "hidden treasure".
Here in Vermont we call it dump shopping. My father-in-law quite often came home from the dump with more than he took. Now we have an exchange area at the dump where people can leave things they think are still good and you can just go pick them up.
Good morning, I come from a long line of "pickers". My parents grew up during the depression and there was hardly anything that they couldn’t re-purpose. My mom was also an artist and had the ability see purpose where others saw junk. We lived in Oregon but lived for road trips, whether to the coast (driftwood, rocks, moss, leaves,and sticks as well as floatsum and jetsum washed ashore from fishing vessels), or to the Dakota’s where they were both raised. We stopped at every "junk" pile we found, often bringing home so many treasures that the suitcases would be piled in the back set. I am in Northern Colorado now and am finding one treasure at time as is my boyfriend. Amazing what you can find in a ditch or just on a old dirt road.
Wyoming girls must think the same.. I had a friend out to teach her how to shoot a rifle…along the way, she captured our old cast iron tub (http://honeyrockdawn.com/2010/05/how-to-get-a-bathtub-in-wyoming/) then enjoyed it! (http://honeyrockdawn.com/2010/05/the-view-from-my-tub/)
Come on over and enjoy my Wyoming blog too… http://blog.rimrockenglishshepherds.com
Carol
I love your garden recycling! I have been working on some of my own. I just finished a post where I show what I did with the tool tote that hubs won at an auction – it was full of clamps. He was really just wanting the clamps but I still had to do some mighty please, please, pleasing to get that tote for my project. As always love your post!
You hit the nail on the head!!!!!! Beautiful!
I am in love. Your web-site is so beautiful and refreshing. Your ideas so outside the box, I am jealous. I have been to Wyoming many times and each time I return home I leave a little bit of me there.
From New York
Love
Donna