Ahh, summer....

The summer is off to a good start. Today, we went yard sale-ing in the Brunswick area, treating ourselves to a delicious bagel at Mr. Bagel in Brunswick for breakfast. We scored at our second stop, where we found a beautiful D-handled compost fork. We've been on the lookout for a new one, as one of the tines on our old fork is bent making its use difficult and occasionally hazardous. Most of my favorite garden tools have been obtained through yard sales, as I'm a big fan of high quality tools, especially with oiled ash handles, which are hard to find today, (try Johnny's Selected Seeds) and pricey when you do find them. I also like the vibes that come with old tools. A few years ago, we bought an old red wheelbarrow at a sale at an older, obviously well-loved home with beautiful gardens in Topsham. I like to think about the role that wheelbarrow played in making those gardens, and now plays in our gardens.

Yard sales are a good source for old plastic ware, too. Most of my favorite hypertufa molds came from yard sales, and yard sales are definitely the best place to find old ceiling lamp fixtures, which I use to make hypertufa Japanese-style lanterns. Yesterday we also found some old plastic pitchers that we are using with the rain barrels to water the gardens (and by the way, I really like the rain barrel system better than I thought I would. We are not saving huge amounts of money, but having a rain barrel nearby to dip water from is much easier than dragging a garden hose around). We found a few more odds and ends sale-ing, but by 10 am we were headed home to our garden projects.

We spent the midday planting the deck planters, and setting up the various birdbaths in different spots in the yard. Within a few minutes of filling one birdbath, I saw a robin splashing about and getting a drink. I'm pleased the birds appreciate our efforts. We also installed a new bird feeder purchased earlier this year at a yard sale, and have already seen a female evening grosbeak at that feeder. The last chore of the day was mowing the lawn, ugh. Mowing is great motivation to keep moving forward with my grand plan of lawn reduction --no, make that elimination. Tomorrow, we will tackle the vegetable garden.