gardenjunkpickergirls: Alma Ideas & Urban Farming

Inspired by the recent reality TV show Picker Sisters, we are fans of REAL picker shows. We relate to the thrill of finding something cheep. We love road trips and filling the truck with our unique finds. We love the reaction of your husband’s as we pull in the drive w/ junk. Unfortunately, Picker Sisters is like watching a train wreck. You know you should turn away, but something draws you to it. You try to yell at the TV hoping it will STOP, but they just keep heading straight into a disaster.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Alma Ideas & Urban Farming

Laura Here: So here are a few updates on the Alma. Things have been on hold for a while, partially due to cold weather, and our lives being extra busy. For now she is "wintering" peacefully near the center of the universe, Monee, Illinois on a friends farm. However, we are always on the lookout for ways to make her more beautiful and travel worthy. First find: Something I found on the Internet called "Kooler-Air". The idea is that you fill a cooler with frozen liter bottles, place the fan apparatus on top, and ta-da!!! air conditioned comfort. Obviously, I was desperate, as you might imagine, she heats up like a tin can in the summer, and its quite uncomfortable. Despite all the rave reviews in the Internet, it turned out to be useless. Still working on A/C....

My next good find may actually pan out. While browsing the newly opened, and very quaint, Geneva Illinois Ace Hardware, I came across this paint. It is definitely more affordable than the other options we have seen. We would still need to figure out an application method, but this is do-able!!! If the winter continues to be mild, we may be able to transform the ugly brown Alma by early spring!!

MO here: A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to Southern California for work and added a few days to visit a friend. She is an home-schooling urban farmer in Costa Mesa, CA. She has 1/4 of the land I have and does a lot with it. A few books she had checked out from the library are some must reads. The Quarter Acre Farmer, The Essential Urban Farmer, Made From Scratch and Holy Cows & Hog Heaven

One job I got was slopping the chickens.

The chicken coop has grown since the last time I visited.

Only one egg that morning.

From inside the coop . . . I am ready to raise chickens and even have the area picked out in my yard. My husband is not convinced the work is worth the eggs and our dog may go crazy and bother the neighbors. I have a few months to convince him. I was thinking maybe bees would be a better option, I could do the bees in Michigan as they need less work and have a better area there for them. I also want to start making my own soda and beef jerky.

Between the chicken slop and composting - they have very little trash- this is a great incentive to do both!

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MO

I come from a long line of pickers. I learned from my mom, driving the station wagon around on garbage day looking for stuff others didn't want. She taught me how to search through old barns, and find the items everyone else missed. I was refinishing furniture and polishing silver at a young age, always looking for the diamond in the rough. Her passion grew into a fabulous business, but for me, I am still just a picker who makes a living more traditionally. Many of our trips stem from my business trips that Laura tags along on, or weekend adventures. Laura is more thrifty then I am, we are very different . . . I will always have time for picking, gardening and blogging. I have three blogs, none for money, just to share my interests and opinions. Click on my picture to get to my garden blog. There is a reason I do the driving, do not let Laura fool you- you do not want her to drive! Picking is hard work, not a glamorous Hollywood production. You can call us “the picker girls”, “garden junk picker girls” or “the REAL picker sisters”!

Laura

Picker, gardener, not that good of a driver. . . Is one of the "greenest" people you will ever meet. She uses a clothesline, saves everything, is still cooking with some of the pans we had in our college house in the 80's. It’s not about being trendy, it’s how she lives. . . . OK I need to speak for myself here . . . Mo is definitely the blogger, driver and boss. However, I need to clarify a few things in my bio. First and foremost, I am an excellent driver and have an almost clean record to prove it. Also, my job as co-pilot is equally as important. I am, after all, the navigator through unknown country roads; no GPS in the old pick-up for these gals! I also have to rummage in the cooler and prepare sophisticated hors d'oeuvres. Last, but not least, I'm in charge of tunes. If left up to Mo, all we would be listening to is satellite radio's all Grateful Dead station. Not trendy? Without a doubt. I actually started thrifting and picking to save money. I still do for that reason, but more importantly, I want my surroundings to be funky and meaningful, and am always up for an adventure with my "true picker" sister!

Fender Art - has a long connection to "junk"

No it is not a fender made into a chair, just a fender made into ART! DEFINITION: The Middle English word jonk, ancestor of junk, originally had a very specific meaning restricted to nautical terminology. First recorded in 1353, the word meant "an old cable or rope." On a sailing ship it made little sense to throw away useful material since considerable time might pass before one could get new supplies. Old cable was used in a variety of ways, for example, to make fenders, that is, material hung over the side of the ship to protect it from scraping other ships or wharves. Junk came to refer to this old cable as well. The big leap in meaning taken by the word seems to have occurred when junk was applied to discarded but useful material in general.