RR Update

Here is a little update on how the raised veggie bed is going and a sneak peak of my next project. An aquaponics system made from recycled materials :)

 Thanks for reading

RR 

Cheap Chicken Coop

Keeping backyard chickens is beneficial for your garden, fun and educational for children and they give you “free” free range eggs.  

Being the proud owners of 3 bantam chooks, we wanted to find the cheapest and easiest way to give them a safe and low maintenance house without spending hundreds of dollars. So my wife came up with a plan to use our old cockatoo cage with a bird aviary that my neighbor put out on his verge pickup.

To start with I chose a level site in a sunny position. Then I got an old cockatoo cage and grinded the back, top and bottom off it to create the run area on the sand. I built a small wood extension at the base with a hinged lid for easy access to the laying boxes.  Next, I put down concrete slabs and placed the new bird aviary on top of the slabs butting it up against the open end (top) of the run cage.

I used pliers to cut an opening for access to the run area and then secured both cages together with wire. The upright cage has a roosting post and having the slabs underneath makes it very easy to clean.

We fill the run area with fresh straw every month and the old straw and chicken poo  goes straight to the compost. To deter the flies we planted herbs around the cage including rue and santolina and woodruff.   

Most of the scraps from the kitchen go to the chooks but we also buy 4 x 25kg bags of premium poultry mix each year.  We often let the chooks out of the cage while we work in the garden and they walk around and clean up the bugs and turn over the green waste compost for us. 

 Chickens make excellent pets and they help turn your house hold kitchen scraps into manure for the compost and garden and provide you with the best eggs you've ever tasted.

Thanks for reading guys

RR

Trofast Train Table

I thought I would share this creative project that we completed last year, it ended up being an early Christmas present for the kids.  Using a discounted IKEA Trofast storage system, a salvaged school desk, and some free paints, we were able to make a train table with plenty of storage for half the cost of the popular ready made Thomas the Tank Engine train tables.

This table can also be used as an art table, toy car table, Lego table and the best part is the storage space all these toys.

  

First I took the legs off an old school desk, which I saved from the bin at my work, leaving just the table top.  On a visit to ikea I was thrilled to find a Trofast  ex display storage unit for $80 in the AS IS section and purchased some storage boxes with lids to go in it.

I used some timber strips and attached them around the edge of the desk to stop the trains and cars from falling off the edge. Next, I screwed the table top to the frame using metal brackets and small screws. Amazingly, I didn’t have to drill any extra holes to secure it, as I was able to use the existing holes in the unit.

Next we painted the table; I scored about 50 water based paint sample pots from a skip bin, so I gave them to my wife for her to work her magic. We chose a beach/grass theme with a helicopter pad and some roads to make it interesting.  Once she had finished painting and let it dry she sealed the entire table top with a clear sealer to stop it from scratching and to make cleaning easier. We then labeled the boxes to keep it all organized.

 

The kids absolutely love it and find creative ways to use it.

Such a cool idea and all up it cost us about $120, less than the retail price of the IKEA frame and less than half the price of a Thomas brand train table. Once they outgrow it, I can simply take the top off and still have a functional storage unit.

Hope you enjoyed reading, Thanks again!

RR

Recycled Raised Gardens

Happy Mother’s Day to all the hard working mums out there!

My wife has been asking for another raised garden bed to grow food for the family. So for Mother’s Day this year, I’ve given her just that, and saved a lot of cash in the process. I almost went and ordered some small colourbond beds that were quoted at $385 each but I just couldn’t bring myself to pay that much, as growing veggies shouldn’t cost hundreds even before you start planting. Bunnings has 1mx1m square treated pine beds for about $60 and inferior quality modular raised beds for about $300. What a joke.  Fortunately, I found a solution. Converting Coles fruit and veg display bins into raised wooden veggie beds. 

My local store recently had a refit and I saw this bin sitting in the loading dock for about 2 weeks, so I approached the store manager and he gladly gave it to me.
 

To being with, I adjusted the position of the legs to increase the depth of the bin then added a jarrah cross brace to support the weight of the soil. Then I placed some galvanized wire along the bottom and lined the bin with shade cloth.  Next, we filled it with homemade compost, well-rotted cow manure and a bag of potting mix and it was ready for planting.

 So as you can see in the pictures, these beds are effective and look neat and the smaller raised beds I got my hands on last year are growing beautifully with no signs of weathering.

Some other ideas I have come up with to save money in our veggie garden are: Converting an old cedar sandpit into a garden bed. And soak wells - which I found on a verge pickup in brand new condition. The soak wells have small slits in the sides, which is great for drainage and air circulation for plants. I just lined them with shade cloth and planted.

Total cost for all of these materials. $0, just my time and labor (and a few punnets of veggies)

So the next time you think about buying a raised garden bed, why not look around your yard or ask around to see what you can find. Just be sure not to use materials that are treated with chemicals, which could end up in your food.

Thanks for reading

RR

Roadside Restoration: IKEA set of drawers

Hey again, 

This is the second “broken” set of IKEA drawers I have I found on a verge pickup.

This one was sitting on the side of the road in excellent condition except for two drawers that had damaged runners. It seems this particular range (ANEBODA) damages easily as they are not the sturdiest of drawers costing only $99 new.

 

I removed the 3 drawers and threw out the damaged runners, then went to Ikea and came back with a set of new runners, free of charge. So after a heavy serve of Swedish meatballs I came home, cleaned it up and screwed it all back together.  

 So I turned an unwanted, damaged chest of drawers into a near new chest of drawers for $0 (well a small trip to Ikea)

 This is a perfect example that one person’s trash is another’s treasure.

Thanks for reading.

 RR