No clue what the intended use was, Donald. But it was built to last.
Here's another one. They just fascinate me.

My junk is not nearly so cool! Could the first machine have been a type of hay baler?

No doubt all of this equipment was used for farming crops of some kind - plowing, planting, or harvesting. I just enjoy imagining what life was like before John Deere came along and modernized things. As to the actual use of these pieces, I have no idea. But I'm sure they were manned by sunburned farmers in bib overalls wearing ratty hats who worked hard all day. I'm a bit of a romantic....

You mean we farmers are no longer supposed to fit that description?

GrammaChar said:............................. I'm sure they were manned by sunburned farmers in bib overalls wearing ratty hats who worked hard all day. I'm a bit of a romantic....

My grandparents and parents generation didn't get sunburned. Working out in the fields under the blazing sun of Texas, they wore hats with brims and bonnets (with brims made of cigar boxes) and always, always wore long sleeves. Only the neck and nose of a man was sometimes exposed due to the angle of the sun. When I spent time with my grandparents and worked outside with them, they thoroughly disapproved of the lack of a hat and the wish for a tan. My parents generation wasn't as strict. They knew instinctively what a younger generation has ignored - direct sun isn't good for the skin.

Which makes me wonder whatever happened to all those bonnets that both my grandmothers made. Wonder if someone in the family had a bit of foresight and kept some. Probably not.

Hmmm....perhaps I should have left out the 'sunburned' part. But recognize that I said I was "imagining". I've always been fascinated by those old photos of farmers taken during the dust bowl. Have heard many stories about that. My late mother-in-law grew up in Kansas and would talk about putting wet rags along the window sills and setting the table with the plates upside down. Lot of hardship.
@needrain my great grandmother always wore one of those bonnets as well. Wish I had one.
@porkpal actually I occasionally still see a farmer that fits that description. And it makes me happy.

I've been thinking I need a good bonnet that ties under the chin so it doesn't blow away to protect my poor fair nose from the sun. It might look a bit crazy nowadays, but I'm terrible at keeping up with sunscreen and it seems I might do better with a bonnet. Maybe I'll have to settle for a wide-brimmed hat.

@HeidiS - I'm a fan of wide-brimmed hats with a tie to keep them from blowing away.
Here's another piece of "junk" in my garden. Someone had thrown this wheelbarrow away - so it was a roadside find that I lugged home (you know I can't resist anything rusty). It already had holes, so I lined it with heavy-duty garbage bags, punched a few drain holes in those, filled it with dirt, and filled it with sedum. Instant planter!

I've got one nearly like that, but probably more corroded. The barrow part long ago rusted loose from the wheel part. I didn't line it as I plan to let it go ahead corrode into an unusable state. I have some Stachys planted in the deeper end and one shallow end corner has a large wooden container with Fennel and the other corner has some Portulaca coming up where it reseeded last year. Can't see it because I've covered it with large pots of daylilies on all sides. I'm the only one who ever looks at the Stachys and that's too bad right now. It's been looking great so far this year.

Please post a picture of your wheelbarrow @needrain! Here's another garage sale find (cost me a quarter) - a thingee that used to hold fireplace tools. Repurposed, I nailed it to the tree as a little bird feeder. Ran out of safflower seed so switched to black oil sunflower seeds. Now I've re-named it the Squirrel Feeder. Very effective in that role! One man's trash is another man's treasure!

That's really clever!

@GrammaChar
Well, you can't see much of it the way I'm using it, but here's my junk wheelbarrow. If you look really hard you can see the handle in the lower right of the photo. The Fennel is in a large wooden container sitting on the shallow end. The second photo shows the Stachys which is planted in the deep end and seems to be taking up all of the available space. It's really beautiful this year, but no one but me ever sees it since the daylilies have grown up around it.

Junk can be useful as well as ornamental - or both at once.

Yes, Donald, it's pretty well hidden. Key word here is "pretty" - as your lilies and lambs' ears certainly are. and your fennel is amazing!

The Fennel looks very nice this year. That's thanks to the wheelbugs . I've had it now about 5 years. I originally bought it for myself to eat since I like it and it's not a very popular vegetable in my part of the world which makes it hard to find at the grocery store. I also thought it would be a nice ornamental until I got ready to harvest it. That was before the butterflies made it their own private piece of rangeland . So I just adapted. I keep putting it in larger containers, but this spring I'm having to water every day it doesn't rain without fail or it lays down, so I guess it's outgrown the latest container. After the 1st winter I've been leaving it outside. Same with the Stachys. At least they seem to be a plants I don't have to worry about overwintering inside.

When I first bought the Fennel, I grew it in an old galvanized tin funnel that was lying around here for decades (more junk being put to use). I wanted to be able to say "Fennel in the funnel". I know. Go ahead and groan. I still use the funnel, but now it has some Sanseveria that my grandmother grew. The original plant may even predate the funnel.

"Fennel in the Funnel". Love it!

Real butterflies and real rusty butterflies.

Perfect!

@Needrain (and the rest of y'all) - even before I bought a house I've been a big fan of 'yard art' Looks and sounds like y'all have a lot of creativity going on here.

Found this beaten up chair in the alley and thought it might work for a low growing vine or something for a larger vine to get a start from. Hoping my pipevine (just to the right of the picture) will start attaching itself to it.



Another find in the alley was a pole that someone had used in their shower. Has little baskets for shampoo and soap, maybe a sponge. I've got it propped up against a fence and had a hanging basket in it but brought the basket inside before the heavy rain we got a few days ago.

Also have 2 chairs that I'm hoping to start vines growing in. But if that fails I can always cover the seat with moss and make something funky. This 1st chair has a passion flower vine starting to climb. The other chair also has had a biflora passion flower in it. Sigh.






Actually the original purpose for the chairs was to set them at my table. Around the turn of the century (this one) I scored a wonderful table at my favorite 'see your childhood store in' - a place called Bettyann and Jimbo's Junkadoodle. They've since had to close as the landlord wanted something more upscale. Again, I digress. One weekend they opened up their place so various 'vendors' could sell their wares. I saw and immediately fell in love with a table, one of those kitchen tables with formica tops that were popular in the '50s. But this was not your ordinary retro table, The top and sides were mosaic'd and included table settings for 4 as well as serving dishes. The dinner plates were fiesta ware (chipped up for the mosaic look) and each had had a variety of silverware. Even the serving platter had nice mismatched silverware. So it was the end of the day and I realized that it wouldn't fit in my car and I didn't know anyone nearby who had a truck. Taking one last look at this masterpiece, I let out a big sigh. When I told the table's creator how much I loved it she asked if I would buy it for $25. Heck yeah I would! But I told her I just couldn't buy it b/c I couldn't get it home. She asked where I lived and I said about a mile from the Junkadoodle. So she said that they had a truck and were fixing to leave and would be glad to carry it for me. The table and delivery for $25. Heckuva deal. Wish I had a picture of the table as it looked so fine in my backyard, especially after I got the 2 chairs. And while they denied it, over the years, my lawn service bumped that table so much that it was an ex-table. I cried but at least had my wits about me and gathered as many of the pieces and tiles as I could find. One day when I find the right table, I'm going to make one for myself.

If anyone would like some broken tools - a partial red garden fork, the end of a hoe (don't think that!) - then if you're ever in my neck of the woods (live a few miles from Love Field) come & get 'em. I keep them with other misc. junk stuff where it's so shady that nothing can grow.




But at least I still have a chicken - no, wait, I think he's a rooster.






Oh and BTW, speaking of hats - we were speaking of hats weren't we? - I prefer a good bandana.

Oh, foot. I just noticed how old this thread is. Guess I'm late to the party.

You've given me ideas with those chairs. There was a cushion-less wrought iron chair down the street a few days ago left out for Big Trash Pick Up Day. I wonder if it's still there? I'm leaving now to go look. I think I was a junk collector in a previous life.