Giving Old Wood New Life:
Several years ago, I discovered a shop on Etsy that made lovely pieces for the home and garden using reclaimed wood. To this day, Andrew’s Reclaimed is still one of my favorite Etsy stops.
Andrew and his wife, Melissa work as a team in this wood working business. Every piece they sell is recycled, re-purposed wood. And they give a lot of attention to the details so that each piece is durable and beautiful.
Everything is hand created in their Washington workshop and they are giving old wood, new life.
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I’m a bit overdue for sharing some of my recent discoveries on the net. Check out some of my findings that just happen to be about what we all love…Food!
1) We all have canning jars, right? (Even those of you who don’t can probably have a few in the cupboard). Well, here is a neat little lid you can put on your canning jar to turn it into a sippie cup for grownups. AND it is BPA free. Seriously! Go here to buy one.
2) Food Forward is an all volunteer, grassroots group of Angelenos who reconnect people with people through food. They harvest and distribute locally grown food from private homes to local food pantries and organizations. What they are doing here is a great example of what can be done anywhere.
3) I love TED talks. Here is a list of the “best” TED talks on eating and food policy.
4) A new food program in Santa Barbara: Grow Your Own Way, aims to teach participants how to grow at least a portion of their own food, gives them the supplies and tools they need to succeed, and requires that they then give back to their community through volunteer activities to help even more people achieve at least partial food independence.
Here is a miniature garden I created in a small enamel pan.
I have made several of these and they always turn out charming. This one has a tiny patio I created out of cement powder and little stones.
It looks difficult, but it is amazingly easy. I found a kit from Two Green Thumbs Miniature Garden Center. They have everything you need to make patios, walkways…any kind of hard surface.
Here are some photos from the website:
Aren’t they fun?
I love miniature gardens because you really feel as if you can just step right into the garden. That is one of the reasons I created a G-Scale train garden in the middle of my herb garden. Kids and adults get such a kick out of tiny landscapes!
You can find more information about creating miniature gardens at Two Green Thumbs. They even have a newsletter.
Here is something fun! Check this out:
This is a pendant you can buy on Etsy. I like it. The moss is not real (so no sunlight or water is required) and the idea of wearing a tiny garden just cracks me up. Who says you can’t take your garden with you?
And here is a ring…with faux moss and pebbles!
The ring is not my style…but fun, none the less. The pendant sells for $25 and the ring is $38. You can click HERE to see the full line of garden jewelry.
And no, I do not know these people, nor did I get anything for mentioning these items. I just thought they were fun and unusual.
About a year ago, my friend Michelle bought a gigantic Duel Drum Rotating Composter…And for the past entire year, I have coveted it! Oh man, how I have wanted one for myself! It is a gardener’s dream!
Why you ask? Well, I have composted with square composters that I had to dig and struggle to mix. And I have had a small rotating composter that I love, but that fills up too quickly. Once it is full, I have to wait…and wait…until the compost is finished so that I can start a new batch. Michelle’s composter solved this problem by being extremely large, with two compartments. Even though it is large, it is very easy to turn. It composts quickly and is up off the ground so that you can dump the contents into a wheel barrel placed underneath. Plus, it looks COOL.
So I saved my pennies FOR A YEAR and bought my own Duel Drum Composter (also known as a Compost Tumbler) – Just like Michelle’s!
When it arrived, I was beyond excited!
Unfortunately, it had twenty thousand little screws, but I managed to get it together all by myself. Although I do have an engineering degree, it was not complicated and I did not have to do any upper level math to complete the project! However, it took some time to assemble because there were so many darn screws and no one at home to help hold the drum in place while I was assembling.
The finished composter is AWESOME! It has two sections inside so that you can fill one and cook it while starting to fill the other side! One side is already full and the second side is about 90% full. So I am really using it! And that little puny black thing next to it is my old rotating composter. It is still a workhorse, but it just can’t even keep up with this MONSTER composter!
Theresa Loe is the award- winning Co-Executive Producer & Canning Expert on Growing A Greener World TV. She blogs here about Living Homegrown®, local and fresh-from-the-garden. 
