Repurposing and Renewing Projects Continue

OK, you cannot wipe the smile off my face at the moment.  I'm pretty pleased with myself.

After last weeks project of turning pallets into strawberry beds, I'm at it again. I looked around the factory for something else to renew and repurpose and discovered this.

Its a wooden cable drum but that's not what i saw.  I saw a rolling table for plants.  Hopefully one that Tilly wont jump up onto.  It certainly needed some work on it first if its going to pass muster and Hubby's no junk policy.  The drum was sitting outside in the weather in the lock up yard.  No idea how long it had been there.

I first gave it a sand down and knocked back a few nails that were sticking up.  Next I painted it with an external paint to make it weather proof.  I hope you like this colour because you are going to see a lot of it.  I bought it to finally, finally paint that ugly grey weathered fence that spoils all my garden photos.  Its called Ironbark from Walpamur.

Big Big Improvement.  Test board.  I can imagine my strawberry beds from last weekends project up against this colour with red cascading strawberries everywhere (i have a good imagination).  

I also thought that having a few pieces around the same colour (like my table) would help tie it in with the rest of the garden.  When you put pots on a table, its gets heavy and so i asked hubby to screw some swivel wheels to the bottom.   This was my only expense on the table - 4 X $2.28 and a packet of screws for $3.48 = $12.60.

Once it is loaded you can just wheel it around to catch the sun or rotate it to give the back of the plants some sun.  The next part is my favourite part - decorating.

The two white "french provincial" pots at the back are both chipped.  There was one on a bargain table at Bunnings for $5 and so i found the display of them and guess what, another pot was chipped.  Amazing!  Right next door to this display there was one lonely white pot with the Dairy Fresh Milk on it.  Hubby gave me one of these for Valentines Day and so i asked how much this one solitary pot was worth.  I knew that Hubby paid about $25 for it and so i told them id pay $20 for it. He came back and said i could have it for $15 and then when we picked it up we saw a hole in the bottom (bigger than it was suppose to be) and i got it for $8.   Plants don't care about chips and holes - that's just extra drainage and soon fixed with a piece of cloth and some stones in the bottom.  The flowers were also on special with Mothers Day coming up and so i told the boys they could consider this my gift.  Boy, were they relieved - they hate shopping for my gifts. There are some Lobelia seedling in the pots so they should grow over the edges, covering any chips.  

I added a few items hanging around (Ella's chicken and my coffee watering can) for interest.

Oh, see the mirror, funny story.  I am still waiting for the fence to be done and for some mounting supports to be added to secure this amazing birthday gift from the boys at work.  Remember, its not an actual mirror, its polished stainless steel mounted in a custom metal frame made by our sheetmetal guys.   Usually i have it leaning up against the wall with the polished side facing the wall so Tilly cant scratch it.   Hubby was standing on the concrete talking to me in the garden yesterday when he yelled our "Ouch!".   The morning sun at hit the stainless steel (the dull side) and reflected back onto his tracksuit covered bottom.  It burnt him in only a few minutes.  I came over and put my hand in the reflection and it really was hot.  So, when we finally do mount it with the polished side out we are going to have to enclose it with maybe an arch so that the sun doesn't actually hit the metal.  Who knows what could be set on fire otherwise.

Kitchen antics this weekend were varied.  Thursday night saw a slow cooker go on with forequarter lamb chops, can of tomatoes, garlic, carrots, baby potatoes, and lots of herbs.  By midnight it was all soft and gooey and dare i say, YUM!.   This ended up lunch on Friday.

Served on steamed cabbage.  

During the week, my Bestie and I were discussing all things Lentil and she said she had a favourite recipe.  Well today she turned up with a large pot, just for me before she scuttled off home to watch her beloved Collingwood play the ANZAC match of footy.  It was super thick and so i blended it with a bit of hot water.  I think i might also try a batch with some coconut milk just to be different.

Lunches at work taken care of. 

I made some veggie stock on Thursday from peelings and on Friday i added a chicken carcase with the scrappy bits left over.  This had quite a bit of meat left on it and so once removing bones i added grated carrots, the beans Tom didn't eat for dinner, and some rice.  It smelt so good i would have eaten it but it was portioned into small containers for Miss Tilly.

The worms didn't miss out either.  Given that i don't have a mortar and pestle, my new Tupperware "rip cord thingy" came in handy to crunch up the eggs shells.  Add that to the coffee from my saved coffee bags and they had themselves a real treat.

 and out from the bottom of the worm farm comes.....

Worm Pee

Saturday night saw chicken schnitzels all round but the piece de resistance for the weekend, was breakfast Sunday morning at Ella's.   She made pancakes with a fresh banana butterscotch with brandy sauce served with cream.  Oh my my ......

So on that note its been a pretty good weekend.  How was yours, any projects on the go?

Thanks for visiting Living In The Land of Oz