Saturday, May 19, 2012

Canning Time!

I love summer!  I love the warm air, the long days, and of course the fresh fruit.  Oh how I love the fresh fruit.  We are in the middle of adding berry bushes to our landscape, and so far had planted our 3 Blackberry Bushes and 3 Cherry Bushes.  We are expecting more so I thought I would brush up on my canning skills.  Today I will be canning Strawberry Jam, Strawberry Watermelon Jam, Strawberry Banana Jam, and Strawberry Syrup.  Can you guess what was on sale this week?  Strawberries!  I will not give up my recipies, althought the Strawberry Syrup is from pintrest, because they are unique.  I do hope that you will dust off you water bath canner and get canning!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Second Coop-How to

I thought I would share what we are doing to the coop so far. My husband has borrowed a saw and is taking the pallets apart and putting them back together so that they are solid wood on the front. They will then be used like plywood to make the coop this part of the work is taking several days. With the temperature in the 80's we won't work in the heat of the day.
What a Cute Little Helper.
Don't worry Daddy is standing just out of camera range, and he doesn't have power or a bit.  I take good care of my little helper.  You can see how we are putting together the pallets tho.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Day 2

Day 2 of coop building and nothing is really going to get done.  Our nephew was dropped of yesterday, and he does not like power tools.  We have picked up some more screws which makes my husband happy and a old window that will serve as our door.  Building will be put on hold in tell next week.  Have a great weekend!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Our Second Coop

Sorry there is no pretty picture, but I wanted to share that we have officially started on our second chicken coop today.  Our first one was built by my dad and some friends of the family.  We have had it for the last nine or so years and it currently houses our Blue/Green flock.  I've felt like I should add a few more hens but wanted to add Brown layers.  If you mix your blue layers with brown layers you get Olive Eggers.  Although the eggs are beautiful, and I've got some Olive Eggers in the incubator I would like to have blue,green,brown,and pink eggs.  Anyway all of this means I need a second coop.  In the spirit of reusing what is around the community I've decided to use pallets.  Don't let me fool you, I also don't have the money to build one with all new materials.  As for today's work, we started taking off the front wood of the pallet, and using that to make a new front that is solid wood.  So far so good and we have 4 complete pallets done.  I'm looking forward to getting these little one's out of the house.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Planting Pots

As promised here is my upcycled planting pots.

You will need:
Milk Jugs or 2 liter Soda Bottles
Box Cutter
Magic Marker

First empty your container and wash with hot water.  I never bother with soap.
Second pick how you want to cut your container with milk jugs you have 2 options.
I don't usually draw where I'm going to cut but so you can see your options I did on these two milk jugs. 

Start cutting!

Here they are cut and ready for you to fill with dirt.


Fill with dirt, add seeds, and then label if you so choose.  I like to add handles to make carrying easier, but I don't know if I'll be able to get the plants out as easy.

Greenhouse Van

The story begins, with a broken van that we can't afford to fix at this point.  So I figured that if it was going to sit in the yard that it needed to have a purpose.  I thought it over and since I couldn't buy a greenhouse I would get the best of both worlds.  This is a easy project and requires very little. 

You'll need:
1 broken vehicle
Left over wood or wood flooring
Plants

First fold down the seats, and take off the headrests if they won't fit. 

Next get the board or flooring and cover the gaps.

Here it is started.

Flooring is done.

Next add the plants



After getting my plants in I see I still have some room.  So I'm off  to start some more Zucchini!  I'll post a simple how to on making your own planters, upcycled of course.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Welcome

Hello!  Welcome to Upcycled Farm's Blog page.  After seeing some amazing blogs, and not seeing what I had to offer I decided to start my own blog!  I will try to help you recycle some odds and ends into amazing farm equipment, crafts and just useful items.  I believe in seasonal crafts, farming, and baking so I hope you enjoy the four seasons with me as we explore the amazing things we can create together.