I do it all the time, but it isn't always as satisfactory to me as this one. This leftover piece of PVC has been lying around up near the barn for so long I don't even know the original use that resulted in its being leftover junk. After it's had time to settle in and if I get around to it, I may use some emery cloth where it is sort of discolored from lying on the red clay. It may fade on its own sitting up and being hit by the sun.

I love the elevated post pot!

And look at all that green stuff. I set the PVC pipe up yesterday afternoon and took photos this morning and then took some more photos this afternoon. That pasture grass was taller in the afternoon photos . I should have mowed instead doing the other things, I guess. It was too cold to mow today. I don't have a motorcycle uniform to wear.

Our pastures are out of control - but very green! I love your column! I wish I had your vision; I have a lot of unemployed junk.

porkpal said:Our pastures are out of control - but very green! I love your column! I wish I had your vision; I have a lot of unemployed junk.

I'm afraid the unemployment line here remains long. Hopelessly long .

I like your junk and how you use it.

We just got home from the lake. Took three of us to mow, rake and trim the grass. I brought home a bag full of little onions that we usually miss, but the neighbors "share." I left at least three times as much as I dug. Now I have to find the thread where I asked what kind they were (said they were the kind that come back each year). I also pulled a gallon bag of seeds off the stems. I left a big area that had been matted down, probably by deer.
I found about eight pieces of "junk" I could use in my garden, including some wooden ice cream buckets. DH claimed there was no room in the truck this time to take it home......

Donald love the pot pole!!

@Bubbles, no room in the truck???

My onions are Egyptian Walking Onions....I think... Hope I don't poison the neighbors!

@froggardener By the time we loaded all the limbs, sticks, and bags of grass, there was no room for anything else on this trip.

I used the handle of a lawn mower as a trellis. One day it occurred to me that the very shape of this unused mower handle is exactly what I would do to make a trellis (upside down U shape, which then has twine or string added to it for more holding places). So I stuck it in the ground and it is now part of the garden. Of course, friends and family just think I'm wierd for doing that.

I found these cast iron cook pots at a garage sale and use them as hanging baskets.
Right now they're doing double duty as cast iron rain gauges!

Love the little fence piece too!

Great tree hooks they are on, too. What's your source for those?

Another long-ago garage sale, Donald. I have a weakness for "rusty stuff". The yard is a tetanus shot waiting to happen.

I use junk that's accumulated so much. Here are a few more. I don't have enough oak limbs. So having a long stretch of insulated copper wire I wanted to use for a stringer, I used a big wrench to make it a double stringer.


I liked how that worked a lot. No more wrenches but lots of old handles, a turnbuckle, and a section of aluminum pipe have been put into use. One of my favorites is this one using an old hay fork with a very long piece of antenna or phone cable. I like the cable because it's so strong and sun resistant. A bit hard to tie a knot, but doable. The tool handles give more width between the stringers. This one is fun when someone manages to look up and notice it .


On an old piece of farm property with an original deed that goes back to the team of mules days, there was an accumulation of odd things to finish out the ends. I've used a lot and don't even know what many are. Some wash up out of one of the gullies that were used as trash pits, others have just been lying around for decades. A sample of each.


Still junk, I guess. But USEFUL junk for the minute that got a reprieve from being tossed in the dumpster or recycled or just left to lie around populating Sloboviaville. Be nice if more of the deadbeat population would find some constructive use. In my dreams.

I see on the preview, the first two photos have to be enlarged. Don't know how to avoid that.

Love your rusty hooks! Those have a lot of character - and history.

Cool stuff, Donald, great imagination! I own a similar property with interesting ancient farm junk surfacing periodically. I really must put it to some good use - and identify it if possible.

Donald, those are great, so creative!

Some folks down here take this "junk" stuff seriously! I love old farm equipment! This isn't mine, but I wish it was.

@GrammaChar that reminds of a piece of old equipment that was at one of my grandparents place. It didn't have the body, but that long piece of steel extended about 8' from the front to the seat, so it bounced. It was strong steel, but that long allowed little kids to sit on the seat and make it bounce. There was a platform to rest you feet, but the seat just sort of floated . I'm sure it dated from the horse and mule days and don't have a clue of its original purpose. Or what happened to it. Scrapped for junk, I reckon. Any idea what that is in your photo?