Thrifty Thursday-Sale on the Hill! (part one)

This weekend,  the 39-mile long yard sale is taking place

along Scenic Highway here in Polk County.
It stretches from Frostproof to Haines City.

As part of the event,
my farmer friends, Faye & Lynn are holding their yard sale a day early.
A neighbor is hosting the sale and other folks in the neighborhood will be participating,
but Faye & Lynn alone have over 500 items for sale.
They have many household items, collectibles and family treasures
that are unusual and hard to find.

For one thing, most of the items are Made-in-the-USA
with many dating back 20, 30 or more years.
In fact, Faye shared with me
that there are unopened gifts from their wedding over 40 years ago.
You want vintage?  They got it! 

Look at a couple of the gems I was able to pick up.

It didn't take me long to figure out what this treasure was.

Someday, I plan on canning my garden bounty,
and now I'll have a unique tool to do just that.

This old citrus crate is in excellent shape, 
considering its age.
This is indicitive of their items being sold,
everything is in fantastic condition.

I'm thinking it'll make a great coffee table with a piece of glass on top.
Turned on its side, it could be mounted as a bookshelf.
The possibilities are endless.

I also picked up a few kitchen items
and I'm so glad that wherever we end up,
we'll have a piece of Faye & Lynn's family history with us.
(One note:  there are no clothes or kids' items at this sale.)

If you want to find something you just can't live without, 
the address is
555 South Lake Starr Blvd.
(click on addy for map)
They'll be selling from 8-5 this Friday and Saturday.


Bring your cash 'cause there are treasures galore! 

***Tomorrow we'll post part two of  "Sale on the Hill".***

Homemade Living Series-Lego Scarecrow

Welcome to the Homemade Living Series, 
featured here every other Wednesday.
Make sure to visit Staci and Sue today too.

Well, it's Hallow's Eve
and we've created a scarecrow with a twist.
What else would one expect from our crew?.

It's all about the Legos in this house.

We took two pieces of pvc pipe of different lengths,

some baling twine,

and a bit of pine straw mulch
(we only used a little of this and the rest went into the garden).

We joined the two pieces of pipe in a "t" shape to form the frame
and fastened it with tie-wraps.
(Sorry it's a little blurry.)

We used the baling twine to help hold up the britches
by looping one end on the cross piece of pipe,



 and threading it through the belt loops in the pants.
Then it gets tied up back on the pipe.

The pipe is fed through the pants,
("This won't hurt a bit, little fella.")  

and the shirt is placed on the cross piece.

We stuffed our guy with the pine straw mulch.
Ah, he comes to life!

We manipulated the straw until we had the shape we wanted.
He's a stocky fella.

For extra support, we added a small bunjee chord from the cross piece
to the top of the tall pipe.
Once the head is placed, it adds a lot of weight,
so we found it necessary to give it a little help.

Ready to greet trick-or-treaters!

We had the head that we made from Lil' Guy's costume last year,
so we just reused it for our Lego scarecrow.
The rest of the stuff we had just laying around,
so it took no time at all to craft. 

Have fun and be safe out there!




Check in with Jackie, Mary and Tammy
next week as our Series continues.

Maple Hill Hop 4

Welcome to the 
Maple Hill Hop,
where we share what's going on outside our doors.

Since starting the fall garden several weeks ago,

things are poppin' up.

The next step was to feed all those gems cropping up in the square foot bed.

This is 20-20-20 fertilizer that I got from my friends Faye & Lynn.

It's what they use on all of their amazing produce.

A tablespoon per 1 gallon of water is used to give plants a good boost.

Rainwater is mixed in to dilute the powder.

These rain barrels sure come in handy for chores like this.

I used 2 gallons on the square foot bed and the pots containing green beans.
Fertilizing has always been somewhat daunting to me.
I never knew exactly what to do with it or how much to apply.
Lynn says that it's a matter of trial and error.
You just have to be willing to experiment and see what works for each crop.

The eggplant is starting to wake up!

Green beans are showing up.

I'll be happy to sample some of this Bibb lettuce.

Do you know how difficult it is to see these snap peas each morning

and know that I still have to wait to eat them?

They're so worth the wait!

All the edibles will now be fertilized every two weeks

until harvest.

None of the carrots I sowed came up,

so I reseeded them this past weekend.

I decided to sow three squares of carrots

instead of reseeding the leek.

I still have leek in the freezer that I got from Faye & Lynn,

so I will try my hand at carrots.

We eat them every week.

More folks came by for some Gulf Fritillary caterpillars.

I love sharing them and teaching others  how to host them in their gardens.

It occurred to me that even though I'm not yet in my desired location,

I'm taking steps toward "daisy's dream" every time I share my experience with these critters

and end up giving a tour of the garden.

I'm workin' the dream  
where I am,

instead of awaiting the perfect circumstances.

Love how God is using me this way.

Right now I'm overrun with these little guys.
Guess it's time to repost them to Craig's List!
Another chance to share with others what I've learned
and meet fellow gardeners who appreciate the beauty of nature.
It's all good!


Let's HOP!

Pioneer Days!

This weekend, instead of Farm School,
I helped out at Pioneer Days in Lake Wales.

It was still dark when we arrived to set up our booth.

The farmer's market usually meets twice a month 
on one of the main streets in Lake Wales, 
but this week it was combined with the Pioneer Day event.

Faye & Lynn set up their tables with a lovely selection

of locally-grown goodies.

They gave out tastings of the key lime basil,

had herbs and a little okra and a few bunches of radishes for sale.

They also brought a collection of plants to sell.

These giant pine cones were being sold for 50 cents.

Whatever remains will be for sale at their yard sale next weekend.

I'll be posting about that event,

as it is part of a local 39-mile long yard sale along Scenic Highway 17 .

There was a small display of the Florida Flywheeler's.

Love those shiny tractors!

A little farmer's dream.

There were even John Deere toys and collectibles for sale.

The Flywheeler's Antique Engine Club 

will host their next event at their park in a few weeks.  

We never miss it.

Pioneer Days is all about learning how things used to be done.

Craftsmanship from days of old are featured.

Anyone ready for s'mores?

Many handmade items were also for sale.

Big K and Lil' Guy met up with me to check it all out.

We took a tractor ride through the historic district.

Most of the homes were built in the early 1900's.

This bungalow is so inviting.

The charm just goes on and on...

This historic hotel is currently being renovated.

Chocolate or vanilla?

It was a wonderful day spent with family and friends.
We love learning about the history of our country,
one little town at a time.
We appreciate those who take the time
to plan, create and foster our learning opportunities.