Ultimate Upcycle - That old mattress saves a tree!

Here in the great state of Alaska we have many opportunities to view wildlife - which is a great thing - unless that wildlife is eating your apple and cherry trees down to the nubbins and killing them!  You know from some of my previous posts that we grow great apple trees here and that they will produce, but only if you can keep the moose from eating them!  Remember in one of my previous blogs I also promised you an upcycled mattress plan?  Well here comes a mattress saving some apple trees!

My folks have a large animal fence that they use to keep out the moose - I cant afford that right now so the best I can do is turn some old worn out mattresses into some protective fencing!

This is only part of the mattress - there will be other blogs with the rest of the mattress later.  Start by breaking down the box spring portion of the mattress.  Keep the fabric and other parts for other projects.

 Take the metal coil or spring portion of the mattress and four long pieces of the wood frame and begin to wrap it around the apple/cherry tree.  Drive a stake of the wood frame into the ground to anchor the metal portion to the ground as wide around the tree as you can.  Try not to touch the tree - Im afraid that the metal touching the tree all winter will freeze burn  the tree ( I havent had to worry much about that since we haven't had much cold this winter).  Continue staking the metal around the tree at intervals that keep it going and keep it seeming sturdy - it may have to hold off up to 1500 pounds of hungry moose!

This particular mattress was a double bed size so the metal portion is about 4' high.  I put bird netting over the top of the metal circle just in case the moose should feel the need to stick a neck inside the circle.  So far they have not liked bumping their noses into the metal parts of the mattress and have left this alone.

This is a relatively free upcycle.  You did buy the mattress at some point in time probably (unless you can get one from a friend for free-for-real), and there will be many uses for the rest of the mattress as well.  The top mattress will also have this metal coil or spring inside it so you can get two tree wraps out of a mattress set.  Be sure to keep that fabric from the top of the mattress and the bottom - they have great uses.  Stay tuned and we will talk about some things to do with those in another blog!

Happy New Year - I hope it is a great one and that you start to dream big for your next growing season today!

High Tea in a small town!

I posted recently about my mother giving the gift of tea party and how having that is so important.  Yesterday my mother once again gave me a gift of tea party!  We have a new tea shop in town  - Clumzy Clover Tea and Treasures ( find them on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clumzy-Clover-Teas-Treasures/ ) and they serve High Tea!  It was a rare kid free, time available for shopping day for me and when I asked mom what was on her Christmas list, she asked me what my day looked like - and invited me for tea!

We had so much fun and really it was the first time in a long time that we got to have a real visit, just the two of us.  The food was divine!  Can you see the little green glass on the bottom tier?  That is Dill Pickle Soup!  I never would have thought about even trying it but mom tried it first and said it was good - she doesn't usually fib to me about food - so I gave it a go.  There were other delights on the tray as well - Egg Nog Scone, a savory puff pastry something with feta and spinach and a tomato stuffed with a quinoa salad that made me want to lick the bowl!

One of our conversations was about how "we" - as in our family - are good at trying to teach self care as well as care taking, and that as a society "we" might not be very good at teaching that.  "We" have to do better!  I have talked to people who would love to have a tea party but they worry that people will think they are "silly" for doing that.  Be Silly!  Host a tea party - or invite your friends to a tea house, or even a tea shop near you!  Make sure you let your kids know that it is OK to do that with friends and family- even if they like coffee better!  My boys like a tea party - even though I secretly think they are coming for the food - it still gives them the sense of comfort and joy, after all  - 'Tis the season!