15 cents a tile at Buffalo ReUse...and old fashion colors not available elsewhere!

I certainly didn't buy enough ceramic tile...just ten. But, I am proud of my restraint...I could have brought home hundreds. And I don't have any place to put hundreds. So, I'm going to go through the projects I want to do, make some color copies for reference, and then go back for more tile. I'm hoping they'll have cinderblock or some other materials I can use to build my raised garden beds when I go back. Because it is going to warm up someday. Isn't it?

Everything at TheFoundryBuffalo.org appeared "not new."

All the member's cubbies appeared to be made from reclaimed materials. The doors were all hung in the same style (shown), eliminating need for "swing clearance." Here you can see the hanging mechanism was rigged together from old stuff. I believe this is the door to the cubby of the lady who raises llamas. She uses her space to clean, card, spin and loom the wool. Pretty neat. Check out The Foundry website for info on events that are open to the public.

Free not-new mulch

Why buy and lug heavy bags of mulch if you don't have to? For the past few years, I have been mulching my garden with pine needles and/or chopped leaves. There is a short window of opportunity in the fall to rake up the long, soft needles that certain conifers shed annually. Often, you can find these already raked into neat piles at curbside for you by homeowners. The snow fell really, really early here so I didn't get all the needles I needed. However, the extremely heavy snowfall also took down a lot of pine branches. I've been gathering up the bows and throwing them on the garden...it may even be easier than using the needles. Either way, it is free, easy to lift and will eventually enrich the soil (particularly if your soil needs more acid). Chopped fall leaves don't look quite as attractive as the needles, but also work well. Just make sure the leaves are chopped up.