Outside Changes
Dumpster: Last fall we contracted for a dumpster. It's a small one - the size you might see in an alley behind a small store. The best thing about it is it's size. Two square yards is big enough to hold almost anything Ron and I can lift together and a few heavy things that we've needed help to get in there. They empty it once per week, just like our household garbage gets picked up. It's even on the same day. I love the dumpster because its a shorter walk from the studio than it was when I hauled my garbage up to the carport and put it in the garbage cans Ron takes out the the street each week. Ron is thrilled that we have managed to get rid of the entire pile of large debris that used to be stacked back behind the corral fence but wants the dumpster to go away at the end of our year contract. He doesn't want to be hauling our stinky household garbage all the way back there which is what we would have to do if we stopped the weekly street pick-up we have always had. I like the dumpster more than Ron does but it costs three times what our street pick-up costs so when the contract runs out they will haul it away. We can always get it back if we end up with another pile of large debris.
Garden Bins: We added our garden bins not long after we moved out here 10 years ago. They are really a great way to plant pretty much anything. At 7' in diameter, I can reach all the way to the center of the bin and not have to bend over like I would if we planted on the ground. We have planted food (tomatoes, peppers and onions) along with dye plants (marigolds, purple basil, madder) and cotton in these bins. When we installed the bins this tree was a stick.
Now its a tree so we moved the closest garden bin to the other side of the bins.
Now we can mow around the tree and the garden bins and we've reduced the amount of shade our plantings get.
We are waiting for additional soil and mulch to be delivered before we plant the bins. We've had so much rain recently that there is no getting a large truck in here. Hopefully it will dry up a bit so we can get organized and plant soon. On the planting schedule for this year are tomatoes, onions, marigolds, purple basil, madder and indigo. It should be a colorful and tasty year.
Clothesline: We have a clothesline strung between trees right outside of our dye studio. It works great when we dye yarn or fabric but it's under the trees and not the ideal location. Peggy and I have talked about moving it out into the sun but that would mean a much longer walk to hang up what we've dyed and the yarn doesn't really stay on the line very long. Peggy takes our newly spectacularly dyed yarn back to her house at the end of the dye day so she can get it re-skeined and ready for sale.
I also use the clothesline to dry my laundry. I have lots of linen clothing, bed linens and towels that can not go in the dryer and need to be hung up to dry. I love the smell of clothes dried on the line so if it's a nice day with a nice breeze, I'll hang all the washing out on the line. If I was to add another clothesline out in the sun behind the studio would be the logical location but I would need metal poles to hold them. I checked online and those typical tall metal "T" shaped pipe stantions are not to be found. I talked to a couple of people who promised to make me a set. It requires cutting and welding large pipe but it's doable for those with that level of skill. Not me, obviously. Somehow, my need for clothesline poles did not rise to the top of anyone's "To Do" list so I have waited in vain for a couple of years. My wonderful son-in-law found a set of poles that one of his friends wanted to get rid of and brought them out here to me. My children have married wonderful people!
Here are the stakes in the ground and here are my clothes poles!
We don't have the line on these poles yet. We need to let the cement set properly and then let the ground dry out some. Yes, it will mean a longer walk from my house carrying a basket full of wet clothes, but I can't wait!