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Garden Gate:  bits of this and that in the garden  |
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LJRphoto
True Blue Farmgirl
760 Posts
Laura
Hickory Corners
MI
USA
760 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 10 2006 : 9:11:02 PM
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We have a property that has been used for a multitude of purposes. I know it was once a goat dairy with as many as 50 lactating does at a time and more recently it was an outdoorsman's... well, outdoors (ie, no mowing, no weed control and if something was "swallowed up" into the weeds it stayed there forever - I even found a bicycle).
Anyway, while I was out weeding my garden today I kept finding broken bits of glass and sparkplugs and I'm always finding bits of metal. I just left the glass where it was because I didn't have pockets and even if I did I'm not sure it's a good idea to put broken glass in one's pockets. Do any of you have this problem and if you do, what do you do with the bits and pieces? Do you have an apron with big loose pockets you can dump them in or do you carry a separate container out for the trash? I've always been bad about taking a container out to the garden with me... if it's not attached to my person I don't find it very useful.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." -E. B. White
http://www.betweenthecities.com/blog/ljr/
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daffodil dreamer
True Blue Farmgirl
805 Posts
Jayne
Hamilton
Victoria
Australia
805 Posts |
Posted - Aug 10 2006 : 9:46:04 PM
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Hi Laura,
I found the same with the house I am now living in - it isn't even big, only a third of an acre, but the amount of rubbish I found when digging! My little boy was happy with the stash of Matchbox cars I found buried though!
I found myself making piles wherever I was, but that meant I had to remember to go back and clear them away. So I found, for safety's sake, I had to use a bucket or wheelbarrow. However, you are talking about a larger scale, so maybe someone else can jump in with what they do on a large property.
Best wishes,
Jayne |
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LJRphoto
True Blue Farmgirl
760 Posts
Laura
Hickory Corners
MI
USA
760 Posts |
Posted - Aug 10 2006 : 10:14:15 PM
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Thanks Jane.
Right now I'm just worrying about the garden area because it's too overwhelming to think about cleansing 9 acres of many decades of littering. I end up running in too many directions at once and just ended up spinning my wheels all the time. You should see the stuff my pigs have dug up! A huge hunk of corragated sheet metal that had to have been under at least a foot of soil and today there was a piece of lumber floating in their wallow and I can't even imagine where that came from. They have been great for clearing the area they are in and I'm planning on making it into a tiered garden area next year. Anyway, I've gotten off my own subject... I may just have to exercise some discipline and carry a bucket out to the garden with me. Maybe I can try a combination of the nail apron Frannie was talking about in another post with a bucket to empty into from time to time. Or maybe I can just put a big, thick layer of mulch down and pretend the glass isn't there!
I love that you found the stash of matchbox cars. I haven't found anything that useful yet. When I was a kid my mom found an old china doll's body in our garden area. Hmmm, that could be a whole post - most interesting thing dug up from your garden.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." -E. B. White
http://www.betweenthecities.com/blog/ljr/
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daffodil dreamer
True Blue Farmgirl
805 Posts
Jayne
Hamilton
Victoria
Australia
805 Posts |
Posted - Aug 10 2006 : 10:34:38 PM
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That would make an interesting post. Anyone else?
So far, I have found the Matchbox cars - that was the best find, plenty of broken glass and whole bottles (only modern beer bottles though), cutlery and broken crockery, plant tags, lots of oyster shells, heaps of rusty fence wire, broken spades and I'm sure lots more that I have forgotten.
So nothing really great - maybe someone has found something old or rare.
Best wishes,
Jayne |
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sunshine
True Blue Farmgirl
4877 Posts
Wendy
Utah
USA
4877 Posts |
Posted - Aug 10 2006 : 10:59:56 PM
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yes we had a freezer old engine parts of a n old skate board ramp, parts of a trampoline, parts of a swing set, old cars, broken bottle, you name it we found it in our yard ( except no pot of gold);'). zi keep an old plastic icecream bucket under the kids table on the porch when I find small garbage that is where it goes till I through it away. Big gets a stack on the edge of the porch and gets thrown out text time I go that way to the front of the house where the big garbage can is. We had to make 5 trips to the dump to get rid of all the big stuff and we still have one more to go to remove the head board and rails that where in the back yard. I have no idea why so much stuff was inthe yard.
have a lovely day and may God bless you and keep you safe
www.sunshines.etsy.com
http://sunshinescreations.blogspot.com/
http://sunshine.harbaugh.googlepages.com/home |
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Hideaway Farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
1553 Posts
Jo
Virginia
USA
1553 Posts |
Posted - Aug 14 2006 : 06:01:27 AM
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We bought a farm from a custom home builder who used the barn for his workshop and I am still finding bits of construction material, nails, tools, glass, plastic ties, etc. in the ground all around the building. I think every time it rains, more stuff comes to the surface of the ground. I keep hoping to unearth some real treasure, but so far, we are just finding trash!
Anyway, We keep a bucket inside the barn and just keep filling it and tksain it to the dump when it gets full. You could leave a bucket outside poke holes so rain drains out or use plastic container that plants/trees come in) and just empty it on trash/dump day.
Jo |
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ali2583
True Blue Farmgirl
404 Posts
Alison
Winnipeg
Manitoba
Canada
404 Posts |
Posted - Aug 16 2006 : 3:14:10 PM
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This is what I have unearthed in garden and flower beds...
* marbles
* little green and red army men
* nails
* broken pottery
* a little miniature watering can.
The watering can proved to be very useful. I have tall fences and wasn't able to reach over to the other side to unhook the latch. So, I made a little pulley and attached the watering can to the end to weigh it down. Now, all I do is pull on the watering can and my fence gate opens!
"God's gift to you is life. What you choose to do with that life is your gift to God" |
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sunshine
True Blue Farmgirl
4877 Posts
Wendy
Utah
USA
4877 Posts |
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Horseyrider
True Blue Farmgirl
1045 Posts
Mary Ann
Illinois
1045 Posts |
Posted - Aug 18 2006 : 09:53:42 AM
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Our place dates back to the Civil War. In the barn I find lots of writing in the cement; I recently found a faint bit of writing that said "D A D 1911," and a bit of old fashioned script that said "Herbert" something. My favorite is the one that says "James H. Leonard Is A Pig. EDWARD GRAHAM." I once asked an old neighbor named Bob Leonard if he knew a James H. Leonard, and he said yes, it was his father. I asked him if he knew an Edward Graham, and he said yes, he was the farmhand at my place in the thirties and forties. When I told him the story he was not pleased, and he even had to stop by one day to see it for himself. Bob has since passed away from brain cancer, after a long life farming grain and hogs.
My back yard has a cob house that we've turned into a tool and gardening shed. It has very interesting old latches on the doors. Out behind it is a huge old maple tree. Once I decided to make a nice flowerbed around the big old tree, and you wouldn't believe all the stuff I found! Bits of glass and pottery, metal fasteners, some of the chain used to run ground driven manure spreaders, bits of china in old, old patterns, and once I about cried because I found the ivory rings and dried out bits of leather used on a harness. I was shocked at the leather; I would have thought it would rot away. It was very dried out and crumbly, and was only the little strips used next to buckles that act as keepers. I think the residents here long ago had a junk pile out back, and a seedling grew up in the junk, and they left it.
We've found a couple of medicine bottles out by the barn, and bits of crockery from an old time waterer or feed pan.
In the barn there's a medicine cabinet cobbled out of wood. My barn is made of hand hewn beams, and was built over a hundred years ago.
In the basement we have a real root cellar. It's on the north side of the house, and while it's not original to the house (it was dug in later when the furnace was added) it works very well for storing apples, potatoes, squash, etc. In there we found a box that's probably 1880's to 1910 (guessing by the writing). It was part of a merchant's kit, because inside, stuck to the lid, are instructions on how to display the products.
Does anybody ever watch "If Walls Could Talk" on HGTV? Gosh, that's a fun show! |
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sunshine
True Blue Farmgirl
4877 Posts
Wendy
Utah
USA
4877 Posts |
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Lynn B
True Blue Farmgirl
113 Posts
Lynn
Derry
NH
USA
113 Posts |
Posted - Aug 18 2006 : 12:10:16 PM
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Mary Ann, your house sounds fantastic! I haven't ever watched that show, but as a fellow old-houser, I think I may have to tune in!
This may be a dumb question, but what exactly is a root cellar? |
Edited by - Lynn B on Aug 18 2006 12:15:23 PM |
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sunshine
True Blue Farmgirl
4877 Posts
Wendy
Utah
USA
4877 Posts |
Posted - Aug 18 2006 : 1:04:07 PM
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A root seller is a place where you store food for winter. Alot of old ones where a room dug in the dirt and had a wood door that open you go down stairs and their is your food dry cool and secure. Our house had one at one time but hte house was added on to twice so it is acutually part of my basement now we call it the dungen it is so dark in there.
have a lovely day and may God bless you and keep you safe
my web store www.sunshines.etsy.com my blog http://sunshinescreations.blogspot.com/ my google page http://sunshine.harbaugh.googlepages.com/home |
Edited by - sunshine on Aug 18 2006 1:04:58 PM |
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Horseyrider
True Blue Farmgirl
1045 Posts
Mary Ann
Illinois
1045 Posts |
Posted - Aug 21 2006 : 09:36:50 AM
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Sunshine is right about the root cellar. Many times, they're not attached to the house. Remember the one that Dorothy's family took refuge in in The Wizard of Oz? That was an outside one.
Ours is an inside one. When previous owners decided to come into the 20th century and have central heat (it had been heated with cob stoves before), they had to dig a basement under the house. These kinds of basements are common here, and have what are called Yankee walls. There was a section of the basement bricked off on the north side, and they built a door into it. That's where the root cellar is. It stays around 55 degrees all winter long, but if something happens and you need to adjust the temperature, you can either leave the basement door open to bring in more warmth, or open the basement windows in there, to bring in more cold.
It was kind of an interesting farmer's luxury to have a root cellar in the house. That meant that the farm wife didn't have to go outside to go in the root cellar to get squash, potatoes, apples, etc. And canned goods could be stored in there, too. It's kind of funny if you think about it much, because they still had to go outside to use the outhouse. They must have been kind of rich farmers, as they had a cement path to theirs; it's still there. (The cement path is, not the outhouse. The cement foundation is flush with the ground, and it entertains me to think on it.) They must've been frugal too, because someone's dog as well as a chicken made footprints in the cement before it dried, and nobody was willing to break up the cement to start over.
Lynn, I share your love of old homes. I admire the craftsmanship, the quality, their durability, and love their sense of history. Tell about yours!
Oh, and my apologies to Laura, who asked what we use to collect our findings in the dirt. I have one of those wheeled green rubbermaid carts that has little slots for tools. I call it my Old Lady Cart. I wheel that all around the yard with a cultivator, a pair of sharp clippers, loppers, and a Japanese pruning saw and a bucket. I throw the weeds I've pulled an the trimmings I collect into the cart, and then throw any metal or glass into the bucket. When I have lots, I dump. It makes much quicker and easier work of all the usual yardwork; I just tote that thing all over. |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Aug 21 2006 : 11:45:04 AM
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We have a root cellar too..part of the regular finished cellar now. We call it "the wet room" since it has a smell to it and is damper in there than anywhere else. I don't really use it much. I do use the rest of my cellar (cement floors and shelves and all) for storing my canned goods and stuff. I LOVE having it. Where I grew up no one had basements or cellars.
We went to visit an older couple recently, who my husband had done some side work for (sprinkler system) and got to see their wonderful yard and gardens. They have lived in the house for about 15 years now and on one fence had put up a big "billboard" sort of thing with all the neat stuff they have unearthed in their gardens over the years..some really really neat stuff!! Horsehoes and crystal doorknobs and plow parts and really old hinges and all sorts of fance metal thingamabobs...really a neat conversation piece. I thought it was such a great idea!
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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LJRphoto
True Blue Farmgirl
760 Posts
Laura
Hickory Corners
MI
USA
760 Posts |
Posted - Aug 21 2006 : 6:38:20 PM
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No apologies needed Mary Ann. I enjoyed reading about your place. I like knowing the history of a place and also seeing what I can figure out from the things that I find. Even the recent stuff can be entertaining. There's a red car bumper leaning up against a tree in a wooded area of our property. Every time I walked past it I'd think I should go out when I could carry it back to our junk pile that's waiting for our next dumpster rental. I figured out this spring that someone put it there so they could easily find the spot where the morels grow. There are also little foundations all over the place. A neighbor man came to look at our pigs to see if he wants to buy from us. He pointed to one of the foundations and said that the building that used to sit there is now in his backyard. The woman who lived here originally gave it to him during her last year. I'm going to go take a picture of it just to have it. I keep things like bones that I find in big glass jars. It's just a lot of fun putting the pieces together, like the dog walking through the cement path that led to the outhouse.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." -E. B. White
http://www.betweenthecities.com/blog/ljr/
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brightmeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
2045 Posts
Brenda
Lucas
Ohio
USA
2045 Posts |
Posted - Aug 22 2006 : 05:30:13 AM
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Reading your posts made me think of my daughter who is moving into a new apartment - she got a good deal on the rent and the whole apartment is newly done over - new appliances, new cabinets, new windows, new shower/bath, new everything! But it is in a downtown neighborhood and has a back yard that is just filled with broken beer bottles and other trash. She has a two-year old and I know she is going to want to let him play out there, but obviously not until some/all of the glass is removed.
I am thinking the bucket sounds like a good idea, but I am also thinking of taking a wheelbarrow over and screening the dirt into the wheel barrow - like making flower beds, just take a three-foot strip at a time and keep shoveling. But it sounds like a lot of work!
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blog at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com, web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
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Garden Gate: bits of this and that in the garden |
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bits of this and that in the garden
