EcoArt Planter Pot

I purchased a fern plant for my friend's birthday present and made a decorative pot for it, with the message 'Love grows through the years' and 'FF' (for forever friends) on the two dangling beads on front. I neglected to take a photo of it with the fern in it before I gave it to her, however it did fit the plant well with it's rustic, and natural woodsy look...

Using an old plastic flower pot, I attached the natural materials and found items with a hot glue gun. First attaching bits of newspaper behind the knot holes in the birch bark where the plastic pot would show through, and later I used rolled newspaper to trim the final product out, add decorative bits and also used letters cut from newspaper to create the message on the front of the pot.

We collected the birch bark from scattered downed trees that we spotted along the trails near our land, we filled the dump section of the Rhino the last time we were out riding the trails. The bamboo and small wooden beads were salvaged from a discarded bead curtain.

I finished it off by applying three coats of polyurethane, with a small brush over the entire surface creating a sturdy, water resistant planter. By the way, I noticed a gestalt face on this side of the pot, it also showed up in this photo view of that side, can you spot it?



My Creekside Studio ~ Under Construction

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I'm sorry to say I've been neglecting this blog for months... but...

we have been busy on our new land, and I'm proud to say that I now have a 'Creekside Studio' in the works! We have transformed the above old shack (1st 2 shots - before) into a small studio. It isn't completed yet, but check out the 3rd shot (after). We had been searching for wooded land and we fell in love with this plot the first time we walked down the rough trail to the creek. The minute I spotted the old dilapidated shack - I pictured my studio. My Honey wanted to tear it down and start anew, but I would have none of that! I wanted to keep the character of the weathered wood and the way it blended in with the natural surroundings. And best of all, it sits next to a beautiful creek and is surrounded by forest...

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View from the trail. Before and after shots. The 'Shack' as we still affectionately call it is 10' x 16' inside. The large lower windows are above my work bench, and there is a window on each end of the bench as well. The small upper window looks out from a small writing loft...

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View from the back. Before and after shots. We added lots of windows for light, and for the view of the outdoors. The 8' x 10' porch will be screened in, and have an entrance stoop on the other, front end, as well...

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These pics show the areas on each side of the full glass door, leading out to the porch. We luckily found the door at a second-hand store. We've painted the interior white to enhance the brightness inside for work purposes...

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These views show the relaxation area of the studio. Though the project isn't completed yet, we've moved some furniture into the more finished areas, since so far this is currently the only building on the property. Soon a prefab outbuilding constructed by the Amish will be delivered and placed at the top of the hill, serving as my Honey's woodworking shop, and as a temporary shelter until he builds our small one bedroom cabin. It will be situated in the clearing near the wood shop, by the old apple orchard...see further photos below...

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And these photos show my small writing loft, hastily furnished. A laminated hardwood floor has been installed in the loft and in the relaxation area below. My art workbench beneath the loft will be laminated white, with the little sink at one end. The floor in the work area will be linoleum for easier cleanup. The loft 'ladder/stairs' are in place but still need to be varnished. I've gathered cabinets, etc. which will need to be painted, before I can start bringing in some supplies from my other art room at the house in town. I will post further photos upon completion of our building project. I'm lucky to have such a creative, capable and generous carpenter sharing my life!

Exploring the Surrounding Area

 

There are many trails in the area where the neighbors ride their 4-wheelers. Our Yamaha Rhino can go most places that a 4-wheeler can go, though it is a little wider and a little top heavy as well. Once you get used to it though, you can usually manage to work around those factors.





 I prefer traveling slowly and more quietly on tamer trails through the countryside. I like to enjoy the scenery and watch for any wildlife nearby.


 

 Though the Rhino can handle rougher, steeper trails in wet or wintry conditions too and that can be fun at times too.

 

 This trip I forgot my camera, but took pictures of some interesting litter out in the middle of nowhere with my iphone.

 





It's nice to take a break from planning and just have fun exploring the land surrounding ours at times. With permission from the landowners, of course. It's a great way to meet the neighbors as well and we'll be well practiced at driving the Rhino, so that we when we use it for work, dragging, hauling and dumping on our own land we'll know how to do it safely and efficiently.

And have fun doing it! 

Rough Trail

The trail down to the Studio Shack is pretty rough, and runs along a deep gully down the hill and is very wet in the spring and somewhat wet all summer. Not to mention steep, with deep snow and ice in the winter months. The previous owner told us that you can drive a truck down it in the dry season. But we decided it would be better to have a smaller vehicle that wouldn't tear up the road so much for most times. The wettest part of the trail is the flat area at the bottom of the hill that veers toward the shack. There seems to be a spring there and a lot of the run-off water from the main road at the top of the hill, makes it's way to the creek via the field, and reaches the trail and follows that downhill, before it even reaches the gully. We are thinking that a drainage pipe at the top of the trail taking the water under the road and into the gully would help with that. But that is a project for later...and we don't want to lose the small pollywog pool that is there in the spring as it supports the frog population with many youngsters of several different species. And I love to keep track of them as they hatch and grow! 

So we spent some of our waiting time before the closing to shop around for a side by side four-wheeler. We decided on a Yamaha Rhino that has a small dump box on the back and spent some time getting used to driving it before we could even take it up to the land. Fun! And a great little machine, though it does tend to be a little top heavy, and could tip sideways if your not careful. We thought it would work great for what we need it for around the land or for just riding for pleasure too.

When our closing finally went through and we were able to take it up to the land, it was perfect. Except for the fact that I could drive it down to the shack with no problem, but could just reach the gas pedal with the tip of my toes. On the way back up the trail with it's steep grade, I would slide back against the seat so far that I couldn't reach the gas pedal at all and therefore couldn't make it up the hill! I would sit on the edge of the seat, and promptly slide right back when I stepped on the gas. I put a pillow behind me for awhile, but that would just work it's way out from behind me on the rough terrain. So my Honey put a block on the gas pedal for me so I can reach it well enough to sit normally and even go up steep hills! 

Preparing for the Dream

We continued cleaning up outside the Creekside Shack, and then decided to start hoeing out the inside as well. We figured that it would be mostly just a waste of time if the contract somehow fell through and we still wouldn't have made any permanent changes to the property per our agreement. We hauled cleaning supplies up to the land and hiked them down the hill. Face masks and bleach, shovels and brooms, bags and tarps for hauling refuse back out. Cleaning solutions and tools, bug spray and water jugs...

   

The make-shift kitchen that had been partially built in one end of the building was over-run by mice, who had been nesting in the wall cabinet for years by the looks of it. Though our resident hawks had been frequenting the space as well, I'm sure the mice were tucked safely away behind the closed cupboard door at night when the birds might roost inside, and were probably out and about during the day when the hawks were out hunting. We also found some old living supplies in the kitchen...an old fire scorched coffee pot, cans, match boxes, more dented up pots, a rack for above the fire, canning jars, silverware and the likes... we hauled the old wooden bench that was at the other end of the cabin outside, scraped and washed it clean, doused it with bleach and left it out to air and be washed further by the rains. I planned to use it on the porch some day. We blocked any openings to the outside, and rigged a latch on the door, so that no more woodland creatures could gain entrance - by then it was warm enough for them outside that we didn't feel guilty about booting them out. After the inside was clear and cleaned, we let it air out while we were around by opening the windows and door. But closed it up tight when we left. We scattered baking soda all over and also placed boxes of it around to absorb any remaining odors. Renewing it as needed until it was ready for remodeling. Now all that was left to do until closing was to wait some more.

As we waited, we began watching and exploring again. Noticing the changing landscape as time passed. Falling in love with the creek and paying attention to the smaller aspects of the land and it's wild inhabitants. We soon found that the environment at the top of the hill was completely different from that at the bottom of the hill. Two totally different habitats. It was always much cooler in the gully, due to the creek.And the plants that flourished there reflected the difference in moisture and temperature. Since we were measuring, and planning ahead both at the shack and at possible building sites near the main road we began to become aware of the differences between the two areas. We saw many more Chipmunks up top, and hardly any Squirrels. But down below there were more Squirrels and fewer Chipmunks. I assume because of the different tree species that grew in each section.   

There is a lovely view of the creek just down stream from the shack, with a fallen log spanning the creek banks and we plan to leave the log in place since the smaller animals use it as a bridge to cross the stream. The creek bed soon veers to the left in a sharp curve where it has exposed a beautiful towering stone wall outcrop as it cut it's way down through the hill. 

Upstream from the shack, the view of the creek extends further in it's straighter passage through our land. There are small rocky pools and waterfalls, and sandy spots that are constantly changing. We've found salamanders, small fish and crayfish. And of course the frogs. Animal tracks record the many daily visits of various species and I often wonder if they study our human tracks as curiously as we inquire into theirs? Or is it just fear that enthralls them from the scent or sight of our foot prints?

Waiting on a Dream

We spent the summer waiting... for the surveyor... for the Realtor, who had gone on vacation for a month...for the Lawyers to draw up papers... for the owner and his estranged wife to get around to sign the papers... and for the closing to finally go through. We had hoped we would have been working on getting a cabin built through the summer so that we would have a warm place to go to over the winter months. But the way things were dragging out, we came to the conclusion that since the shack by the creek was already standing, and would be a much smaller project, we would have to fix that up for the winter instead. That was fine with me, I couldn't wait to have my art studio in the works!



Though we still couldn't make any permanent changes to the land, we decided we could get the land ready for the changes that would begin to take place as soon as we got that deed. So we began really cleaning up around the shack, so that it would be safe and neat for when the work could begin. There were many years worth of forest debris in the clearing - layers of plant and leaf cover, fallen logs, brambles and even lengths of rusted barbed wire fence buried deep beneath the ground litter around the shack.

As we began raking and hauling debris we found lots of junk left laying around, things that looked like they'd been there for many many years and were half buried in the ground. We also discovered that someone's last name had been scrawled in the, then newly poured, cement that extended out from under the front of the shack and had served as the base for a porch that had long since mostly rotted away. We planned to eventually rebuild that.

It was apparent that more recent work had been done to the shack, as there were lots of construction materials laying about outside as well. Lots of old broken windows, cut boards and wood, used up saw blades and the like. We had seen that the inside had been worked on at one time but never finished, but that work appeared to have been done years ago and then abandoned.

There were also signs that the shack had been used as a type of fort by some boys some time back, as there were toys, a fish net and small hand tools left about, a can of old nails and some evidence of nailing and cutting that looked to have been done by children. We found the remainder of a small old charcoal grill, and an old fire charred pan and a few odds and ends of silverware outside too. The old American Flag may have been left by them as well, though the flag holder itself looked much older. I bet they had great fun down in this gully! 

Making the way to 'Our' Land

Several weeks after first finding the land we had met with the realtor, toured the property with her, hashed through several problems that cropped up, dealt with the uncooperative seller, and then when that realtor disappeared had to hash through everything with another realtor. In the meantime we continued looking at other properties, but always found ourselves going back to the 'Sweet Spot'. Finally in a couple of months our final offer was accepted, and we had permission to access the land to make plans and get to know the place while waiting for closing day. We went up a lot. We often encountered 'our' pair of Red Tailed Hawks, who usually flew out of the same stand of trees that we'd startled them from on our very first walk down the hill.     

Since we couldn't actually start working on projects yet, we often explored or just sat and observed...getting to know the land and it's wild inhabitants. It just felt right. We felt at home. We took picnic lunches up and spent the days discussing options, doing some measuring, and cleaning up the many branches that had fallen on the trail that led down the hill and in the small clearings at the top and bottom of the trail.

As we began to take a closer look at the inside of the creekside shack we realized that not only were the hawks frequenting the wooded area outside the tiny cabin, but they had been roosting inside as well. With no door latch it remained partly ajar allowing them access. It looked as though they may have spent the cold winter nights there, and we felt bad about disrupting their habits, and rousting them from their protective accommodations. 



The birds had apparently been perching on a 2x4 that spanned the width of the structure 8ft above the floor, and bird droppings covered the floor, in layers below the length of the board. Most of the accumulation had landed in the center near an old hand-made bench that sat in the middle of the area. Luckily an old sheet of plywood had been lain across, over a weak spot in the floor at that end of the shack and could be removed along with the waste that had gathered on it.

I found one larger feather in the shack, but since there was no sign of nesting materials inside (that would have been the biggest bird house I'd ever seen) I searched the trees nearby for a nesting site, but didn't find one. Nor were there any remains from feeding activity inside. The waste didn't look fresh so we assumed it was only used as shelter during the coldest winter weather. 

We vowed that we would provide a sheltered roost for them nearby once cold weather was near again, if they continued to come to the clearing even though we were present. They circled above while we were there, and had briefly landed in the forest nearby occasionally. And we still found that we often disturbed them from their favorite spot in the trees when we arrived, especially in the early mornings. We'd hoped to have them as regular visitors but only time would tell...