Building a Bed

It has been a busy week for me at work and unfortunately, I have not been able to make it to the farm. I’ve been a city girl much too long this week. Ugh!

I miss the farm so, so much when I go even 3-4 days without a visit. I’m not sure if it is the cool Kentucky air, the gorgeous 360 degree view of the trees that surround us down in the holler, the sounds of the crickets saying good night as the sun goes down and the cows ‘moo’ing’ in the new day as the sun comes up, but it is all just perfect. And I miss it! I’ll be there one night this week and then ALL next weekend and I can’t wait!

In the meantime, Linus tells me that everything is going well at the farm. The kittens are getting bigger and fatter – they eat a LOT! And, the soybeans are getting drier and drier by the minute. Harvest-time is upon us. More to come on this in future posts….

In his free tine, Linus has been building himself a bed. Yes, his very own double bed! Why – because one of the philosophies that we are trying to live by is sustainability and using the resources that we have around us for everyday living. Instead of buying a new bed, he said, well, “I’ll try to make one.”

It’s almost a game for us to look at the natural and/or existing resources around us and determine how we can re-use or re-purpose these items. Part of our philosophy in living a more sustainable lifestyle is not buying particle-board (or as we call it ‘fake’) furniture from Target or other big box stores. (Don’t get me wrong, I love Target for lots of other reasons!) But, we want to make (or buy, if we must) furniture that will last a lifetime. On a similar note, we also look to Craigslist for furniture or home items. We also love antique and consignment stores. And, I am learning more about freecycle.org. Again, someone else’s junk may be our treasure – and with a little paint or re-purposing, we can easily give it new life.

So, when it came to Linus needing a new bed, he just walked over to the old barn to ‘borrow’ a few tree limbs that also were formerly purposed in the tobacco drying process. This wood is as solid as you are ever going to get. It’s been around for 50-75 years and it will hopefully be around for this many more. So, the slats (not in the picture yet) for the bed which hold the mattress in place were also made of the posts from the tobacco hanging apparatus in the barn.

It’s amazing what you can do with the resources around you. I know that everyone doesn’t have an old barn to take wood from:), but everyone has used furniture and/or has the ability to shop yard sales. A little creativity goes a long way!