Repotting Tomato Plant's.. or another use for canning jars.

This weekend I noticed all of our Tomatoes were getting way to leggy for their little starter pots and realized we were going to have to move them into bigger homes before planting them outside. I looked for ideas on what I could use that we could then reuse and wouldn't cost much...

I couldn't find much.. most people used bigger pots, or Solo cups or Styrofoam cups... things along those lines. Well with only $5 to our names I know that wasn't going to be happening this weekend. So I looked around the house.

We had 4 shelves of empty canning jars waiting around for canning season.. I have 3 Chive plants growing in a window that have looked so pretty for the last 2 years. They are in blue canning jars..  My mind went racing and soon enough we were putting tomatoes plants in canning jars. :) it was harder to find room for them but they are all doing great and I didn't make more trash!

Candles

Okay, so if your like me you probably have a bunch of half burnt or almost all the way burnt candles lying around, not to mention broken ones. So why not use them?

This doesn't take much time and can even be fun.

First thing first, you'll need a few things:

Old Candles, bits of wax even those wax melts work

Candles jars, Mason Jars work to!

Candle wick and ends.. check out ebay for good prices on bulk.

Something thin like a skewer to go across the candle jar top to hold wick straight

Tape

Basically  the night before put any candles that you can't get loose from their jars into the freezer. The next day they should pop out easily. If the jar is a funny shape you might have to take a knife or screw driver and break it into pieces in the jar.. save jar you can reuse it.

Place all pieces into a pot ( you can leave the wick and metal piece they will be easy to scoop out later.

Melt on low heat in a big pot until melted. Add any scent or coloring ( we had half a purple candle in ours so it turned everything lavender)

Take wick and measure and cut to fit in jar with a little over hang

Place melted clippy (if you can't get the wick though, dip wick in wax and wait a second then it should slip right through with out separating the wick strands.

Place in jar, wrap around skewer

Pour in wax

Let cool!

One still hot the other half way cooled

Candles and wick

Jelly Jar candles

Votive candle

The top of a poured candle

Enjoy your candles. We love having these around for emergency's and I get more for my money on the wax melts we buy to scent the house!

Aquaponics Tables

We've had our Aquaponics Beds on folding tables since we started them a few months ago and they were working great. However 2 days ago my husband noticed that the table was dipping in the middle. This was due to the weight and probably some water damage from a bed that had slowly leaked one night when I was gone.

Well with 200 lbs of rock, water, and my seedlings all at risk Corey new he had to do something and fast. So we sat down and talked about what I needed when it came to the beds. One of the things I had learned is I need to be able to get around all the long sides. It was really hard to replant when I drained the tanks. Because I'm short and couldn't reach the backs of the doubled up tanks.

So we took some measurements and came up with these tank stands. I will be loosing my small bed for a while, which is okay until I starts seeds again next year.

The other goal in this room will be to set up a seed starting area instead of the wobbly book shelf :)

So here are some pictures of the 1st 2 of the 6 bed tables we have to make. We hope to have at least 3 done this week. They are made of a mix of wood we had either given to us, or left from other projects. We will have to buy 1 4x4x8 because we are out of them. So our total out of pocket cost will only be $6.00 and we get our folding tables back :) Not to mention the risk of a flood has been diverted!

Colty helping daddy

Main Base

Adding legs

Two down 4 more to go!

I will post picture of the room as soon as all 6 tables are made and in place. Then the next step will be figuring out a seed starting table :)

Big thanks to Friends and Family!

I just wanted to take a second to thank our friends and family who have been a wonderful help to us. Most people wouldn't be thankful for a ton of used buckets, windows, doors, wood and mop handles... but we are! 

I can't thank everyone enough for embracing this part of us and thinking of use when you come across these things! You have saved us a lot of Money and Time and this make our lives easier.  We appreciate it so much and don't know what we would do with out your support.. even when we seem nuts :)

Things we have been given    and what we've done with them so far

• Privacy Fence Pieces:  Made a 5X3 Foot Compost bin, Built our 5 New Raised "Kitchen Beds"
• Concrete Border: Put a border around the Front Rose beds to help keep the weeds and lawnmower out
• Mop Handles: Trellis system for Peas
• Fencing: Fenced around the garden and around the roof of the Garage to keep the birds out
• Blue Barrel: Installed a Rain Barrel that we use to water the Roses
• Buckets: Potato Garden
• Newspapers: Varies, Lasagna mulched the front Kitchen Beds and feed the worms
• Bi Fold Doors: Made a Craft Counter Top for my beading
• Misc Wood:  Soap Mold, Shelves, Raised Beds and more to come.
• Misc Cabinets: Craft room Organization
• Old Tractor Tire: Pumpkin Planter
• Old Tea Bags (Unused) : Worm Food
• Windows: Cold Frames to be completed this year

I know there's more but that's all I could think of right off hand.
Thank you all for supporting us in our adventure!