Denise Cares

Nancy Reading said: "I've seen some nice designs based on pallets that are taller, and moveable, so you can pick the whole shed up, wood and all, and move it to the house or where required."  
Please can someone explain how the shed is picked up and moved? Does one need a forklift?  I don't follow this idea at all!  

Wow, Sonja very impressive! You did a great job and it looks very nice! You've inspired me to try putting up something to cover my woodpile. What did you use to cover the roof?  How does it hold up to rain or snow?  I get heavy snow here, even 2 or more feet. I have pallets that I could use as some suggested.

Lots of great ideas shared here! I got a few wild ideas popped into my head while reading here.  How about using plastic pots - the larger the better whatever you can find. Place them on top of other overturned pots or cinder blocks with boards between the blocks to make a raised shelf.  Another way to elevate pots is use those big spools that electric wire or utility companies use.  Cut back the lower part of the spool so a wheelchair can roll under the top part of the spool.  Extend the spool out by screwing 4 or 5 boards to the spool in a radiating fashion.  Place pots on top of the board "spokes".  Then you can wheel in between them and work both sides at once. It is a sort of keyhole concept. If you want the boards long then might have to add a "leg" toward the outer edge of each board for support.  Or use two boards 2X4 or 2X6 cut in half spaced apart and set pots between the boards so the lip of the pot is resting on the boards. I don't know if this makes sense to anyone and if I could draw a sketch it might help explain better.  Maybe someone artistic can do this and post it?  Another idea is to use old desks which already have the cutout for a chair and put shallow pots or make a simple box edge around the top to hold the dirt.  Maybe use old bookcases on their sides and add a backing or scrap pieces of wood like slats so water can drain out between them. Set these up between cinder blocks to the elevation you want. The depth of the bookcase being about 12-18 inches is just about right for most plants.  How about putting a round kiddie pool on top of the wood spool or old table or something else to support it as high as you want?  How about using old ladders to support boards on the rungs at the height you need?  Or use just use each side separately (cut off the top where they join together) and make rails between cinder blocks to hold pots on?  Just some wild and crazy ideas for quickly making platforms to the right height using whatever "junk" you have lying around.  

Anne, thank you for the comments.  I don't understand how to upload/post pictures on this site and am tech challenged, but thank you for suggesting !  I should explain that the pans have tiny indentations inside which are to make the baked batter look like little ears of corn.  Well, I put the pans in the oven at 400 deg and it started smoking badly and stinking up the kitchen. I turned off the oven and took out the pans, wiping off what was able to come off before it cooled down. I scrubbed some more with baking soda paste and wire brush which did little but made the brush stained.  I also put the pans in a bigger pot of water and boiled for a time and tried to wipe/scrape off, but not much came off either in the water or by hand.  Then I thought to try some hand cleaner/degreaser that I had in the laundry room. To my delight the label said it was made with orange oil and contained no petroleum derivatives! So I put a tiny amount of the paste in each section of the pans and using my finger and a fine wire brush worked it in. Then I washed it off well.  The pans came out quite clean! They are not sticky and gummy and still looked like they had some "cure" left to them, so I put them into the oven to dry off so they wouldn't rust.  I preheated the oven to 400 deg again as I wanted to bake what I had prepared. Before adding the batter, I sprayed a little bit of Avocado oil inside and wiped with paper towel, added batter and baked.  I didn't remove them immediately from the oven or from the pans and so they stuck tight (but not burnt) and need to be worked out in pieces, but the pans are looking good and should wash clean easily. Next time I might spray the oil without wiping. The batter is a gluten free recipe with no shortening or leavening which is more challenging to achieve a good 'bread' so I'm still working on that, but at least I have the clean pans I needed.  Thank you all for your interest and help!

I found two old corn bread pans that smell rancid. What is the best way to renew them? I'd like to get the old thick, sticky layer of oil off and the smell.

Jen Fulkerson wrote:Here I am again. Help My latest load of wood chips I think is from a sweet gum tree.  Besides the very strong smell which will dissipate over time, oh I hope soon, there are tons of sharp seed pods in the mix.  My plan for the chips are the start of a food forest.  My concern is if I use the chips this way, will I end up with a sweet gum forest instead of a food forest?  

Ha! Jen this made me laugh because I had a similar plight as you only with the sharp needle balls of chestnut trees!  In the fall I picked up a truckload of partly decomposed chestnut leaves but there were lots of pods that were not!   I thought the winter rains and snow would finish up the breakdown but no, there are plenty of bits of spiny needles that seem to find my hands. Ouch!! Need to turn the soil again and wait some more or wear good gloves when working those beds that were mulched with the stuff. The upside is that some of the nuts have sprouted and so I'm potting up the little trees in hopes of someday adding to a food forest. : )

Hi Christy, Perhaps you're offering to extend this sale due to the fact that Permies sent the link to this page on June 21?? I see there are many veggies out of stock, so hope to snag a couple of "leftovers" at the sale price. Will the discount code still apply?

Pearl the pavillion looks lovely and was a brilliant idea. Jasmine would be lovely for humans to enjoy while sitting nearby but I don't believe it repels bugs. Deer even love to eat it.

Jenn Fulkerson, interesting pics you posted. Wondering, are those plastic pots buried in the ground through the cardboard pieces? If so, why use pots vs. just plant into the soil?  Are the pots to keep gophers from chewing on the plant roots??

Trace Oswald wrote:

Denise Cares wrote:

Jt Lamb wrote:

You lay strands of barbed wire between the layers of earthbags to keep them from slipping around, as I understand it.  The earthbag material is a poly that is kind of slippery.

Oh I get it.  That makes sense now. Great idea. Thanks!