Using what you have

So, the other day, while my dear husband was sleeping, I decided I was going to build a table to go in front of one of my south facing windows so I could plant more plants indoors.  I have not yet been acquainted with my husband's power tools that he was given for Christmas (meaning- I was too scared to use them all by myself), and so I tried making said table with a saw, hammer, and nails.  While I know it can be done, I miserably failed.  It probably had something to do with the fact that I thought I could get away with having only 2 legs (what was I thinking..?)...Anyways, I then proceeded to wake my husband to tell him of my failure.  Being the wonderful man he is, he came to my rescue, and built me a nice little table.  It looks like this:

It's a rough looking little thing, but it serves it's purpose well, and I think it's cute.  The best part?  It didn't cost us a dime.  We scrounged around and got creative, and were rewarded with this little guy.  Using what we had made it so that Mr. Table only gets 3 legs, and we had to do some things the long way (putting in screws by hand, etc), but it all worked.

In general, we try to use what we already have, and make buying  something (especially new) the last resort.  That goes from everything to cooking to crafting to building to clothing.  Some of the best items, ideas, and food come from having to "make do".  :)

Composting

As the weather begins slowly but surely turning to Spring, my thoughts and plottings have been all about my garden.  We were in an apartment the last two summers, so this is the first place that we'll be able to have a garden.  We have big plans, as I'm sure many of you do as well.  One thing that will help make our plans a success is compost!  It is such a rich nutrient for plants, it's easy to do, and can be done for FREE.  What's not to like?  The hardest part is building the compost bin, which really isn't too hard at all.  Sunset.com has plans for some nice looking ones.  However, we wanted to build one without spending a dime, so this is what we came up with:

We rent our house from hay farmers, so there are always a bunch of old pallets lying around, so that's what my husband used for the wood- except for the back, which is an old wheelchair ramp that was lying around as well.  One could easily do something similar because I've heard some places will give you their pallets for free- just ask around.  We made 3 chambers so that once it gets going one chamber will have finished compost, one will be "cooking", and the other we will be adding to.

Do you have a compost bin? Planning on making on? Please share!