Sunday, May 29, 2016

Homestead Economics 101

Why pay for something you can get for free, with a little sweat equity.

Wife and I wanted a garden, she planted some seeds a few weeks ago. Then we needed someplace to plant the sprouts.

I've been wanting to build some nice planter boxes. Out of Cedar maybe, Redwood, Cypress? I'm a woodworker after all, and any self respecting woodworker should have some nice decorative planter boxes. Of course, Cedar (and Redwood and Cypress) cost money.

Two years ago Wife and ripped out our old patio and walkway, and re-purposed it into a smaller more aesthetically pleasing patio and walkway. We had about 200 bricks and half a cubic yard of paver base leftover; I know because I've moved them half-a-dozen times.

So, first an idea in my head, validated via a quick google search, and i'm digging a trench for the new planter box. 150+ bricks later and i'm done.

Then i need to fill it. I hate spending money on dirt. I hate it a lot. But i did not have any fill dirt, let alone compost laying around. Turns out, the county i live in composts yard waste, and then provides it back to residents for free. You just have to shovel it yourself. No mechanized equipment can be used. Well, I've got a shovel, a couple buckets, a pickup truck, and (for now) a strong back.

So for Free.99 I've got a little under a cubic yard of compost.

I think you can see where this is going.

The total spend was $10 on some seeds and about 8 hours of labor, on a holiday weekend. Wife planted the garden. Daughter helped me stack bricks.

Family time + Sweat Equity = Homestead Economics.

Hopefully we'll get some veggies out of the deal too.







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