Jay Baker

Unidentified barn wood can still make a nice toolbox. I decided to go with slats to make sure I could fit all of the main pieces on the same board, and I'm pretty fond of how it turned out.

I built my dehydrator using this video as a guide: How to make your own solar food dehydrator. I cobbled it together from some of the old boards lying around in the barn instead of using a table (which I don't recommend, but it worked). I'm definitely planning on making a better one later, but this still did the trick. For the food itself, I picked some apples and asian pears from the scraggly old grove on my mom's land.
Note: I did this in early September, I'm just bad at remembering to post lol

I was given about a pound of cucumbers, so I figured it was time to try out some fermentation! I wasn't expecting them, so I dug through my mom's cabinets for the rest of the ingredients. I really like sour pickles, so I'm excited to see how these will turn out...

I based my recipe off of this one, halved: https://www.wildfermentation.com/making-sour-pickles-2/
Ingredients: about a pound of small cucumbers, 1 quart water, 2 1/2 tbsp salt, 2 tbsp dill weed, 4 garlic cloves, 2 tbsp pickling spice mix (peppercorns, bay leaf pieces, mustard seeds, dill seeds), 3 big grape leaves from outside our door, a tiny splash of yogurt whey.

Dinner tonight, and leftovers. Two cups (dry) rice, four cups water, dash salt and garlic powder, and some green onions. I threw some broccoli on top at the very end to steam for easy veggies.

Decided to use some of the wood that's been laying around in the barn since who knows when. I used the "5 minute" video for reference, but I also did some research on what the local birds will actually use. If I did well, this house should attract a House Wren: 4x4 floor, 1" entrance hole near the top. No perch, since they can be used by predators. I also put a small hole in the bottom for drainage.
Since it's mystery wood, I gave it a coat of linseed oil. The plank I used definitely felt hard to cut, so I think it's hardwood, but I figured better safe than sorry! I hung it up at the edge of the woods with some rawhide.

Nicole Alderman wrote:Looking so much better!!!

Once it dries, give it a sanding so there's no splinters, and I'm thinking you'll be good to go!

Sanded smooth! The supervisor seems to like it.

Nicole Alderman wrote:You're almost there, Jay! Thin out the handle a bit more, and work a little more on the "bowl" and you should be there!

(Thinking about all the submissions in this BB, it honestly seems like carving a bigger spoon is likely easier, because you don't need as much finesse. A smaller spoon seems to need to be a bit finer in construction than a ladle or mixing spoon would need to be. It is harder to find bigger sticks, though!)

I thinned the handle as much as I dared, and made the bowl deeper. The spoon is currently under a cast iron in the hopes that it won't warp more as it dries XD

Learning woodworking is a big goal of mine, so this is a good place to start :) I used an old hatchet from the barn to chop a branch from a gnarled old apple tree, then got to work.
Next time, I think I'll choose a branch that's a bit bigger around. Less curved, too, or learn how best to work with a curve.

Timothy Norton wrote:I have had similar issues in the past on other sites.

My preferred method is to use the 'attachment' function of Permies to link my photos. This ends up making Permies the host eliminating the broken links. It is a few 'extra' steps but once I got used to it I breeze right through the process.

Related thread - https://permies.com/wiki/61133/Post-Image-Permies

I'll try that out! Thanks!

I just realized that the method I've been using to host images to post on this site times out after a while, making my links break. What sites do you guys use? Any tips? Thanks!