DIY Compost Bin from Old Pallets

I have this board on Pinterest that I call my Future Projects board. I was looking through it and decided that my goal today would be to complete one of these projects. An item I pinned a few weeks ago was a compost bin made from pallets and I decided to tackle that job today.

I have always wanted my own compost bin. Since our new house has 5 acres of land, I have been sort-of creating my own compost area. It's in the middle of the forest, a little walk off the back deck.

The only problem with starting this project today was that my husband was working the whole day. He is usually there to supervise my use of power tools. Call me paranoid, but having him there really helps out with my anxiety that I might accidently slip and cut off my finger or my leg. Not to mention, I wasn't sure if I could lift the pallets myself.

After a good run this morning, I decided I can do this! In fact this picture came to mind :)
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I started out by collecting my supplies. I needed four pallets and I got these for free from our local lumber yard. They were even nice enough to put them in my truck for me. (Guess they thought this little girl couldn't lift them.) Then I carried them from my truck to the backyard, of course I cheated and used the tractor.

You will need some long wood screws. I purchased 16 screws that were 3 inches long. I only ended up using eight. (Cost $4)
You will need some L-brackets. These brackets are about four inches per side. (Cost $15)
If you want a hinged door on the font, like I do, you will need to purchase some hinges. I found this kit that was for a gate and was cheaper then buying the hinges, screws, and hook separate. (Cost $22)
In addition to the above, you will need a circular saw, drill, screw driver and confidence!

To start off, lay out your pallets. I wanted a compost bin that had a hinged gate on the front so it would be easy to add and remove large amounts of compost.
Upon laying them out, I decided that I needed to cut some of the pallets where the wood overhangs. On the back pallet, I cut off the overhang on the inside of the pallet. For the sides, I just needed to cut the overhang wood on the side that touched the back pallet. The front, or the hinged door, I had to cut the wood overhang off all of it except for the side with the hook. (You will see later on.)
Set up the back wall and the sides together to test out your cuts. Hopefully you didn't end up with some really warped pallets! Your cut pallets should line up like below or at least close enough. You are dealing with used pallets, so they are all probably made slightly difference and warped a little. You really just need the corners to be close enough to screw your L-brackets into each pallet.
Once you make sure that they fit together, good enough, remove the back pallet and attach one end of the L-bracket. I found it was much easier to do this with the pallet laying down. I suggest drilling a hole before you put in your screws. It's a little extra work, but it's easier then trying to force a screw into the wood. Also it helps to avoid the nails that are already holding the pallet together. Also, try to screw your L-brackets into the 2x4 boards that are holding the pallet together. It will last longer and be sturdier.
Once you have the L-brackets installed on the back pallet, attach the left and the right pallet.
I like to put the screws in partially so I can line up the bottom correctly. You should have something that looks like this.
Once you get the L-brackets attached you have the basic outline of the compost bin. Now, this next part will most likely require two people. I had to wait for my husband to get off work to help me out. If you want a swinging door, you just can't set it on the ground and attach it. It won't swing open. I needed his muscles to hold my front pallet a little up from the ground so I could attach the hinges.
Now when my husband came home, he wasn't too excited about the area I chose for the compost bin. He wanted it more out of sight, which is totally understandable, so we moved the three pallets already attached together a little further back in the woods.

The area we chose was on a slight downward slope, so we had to increase the height of the swinging door so it would not catch on the ground. Luckily, I had my husband there to hold up the door for me while I measured the swing and attached the hinges.
The pallet front looks pretty high compared to the rest, but we needed it to fully swing open. I finished making sure the hinges were attached and sturdy.
I attached the gate hook and we were finished!
It's really pretty big once you get it all done and I am very excited to get some good use out of it.
And the new setting in the back of the woods (behind the boat trailer) is just perfect!
And I already moved over what little I had of composting material into the bin. The leaves will be falling soon and I can't wait to add them to my composting bin. Hopefully all this compost will be worth it and we will have a great garden next year!

Honestly, this might be my most favorite project I have done because I feel like I learned something by doing this (basically) all myself. In fact, my husband was pretty impressed by my compost bin and even said how impressed he was by me today :) It took about two hours of my time and about $41.00! I not only gained an awesome new compost bin but also gained the confidence to tackle a couple more projects on my Pinterest board!

~Beth

DIY Adirondack Porch Rockers

Since we purchased this new house, we have been in desperate need of some additional comfortable outdoor seating. We have such a nice backyard and we really enjoy sitting outside in the nice weather and enjoying a glass of wine.

I found these awesome Adirondack porch rockers online, but for $199 they were a little out of my price range.
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So one day (at the beginning of the summer) I was flipping through our Harbor Freight catalog and saw that they had some unfinished Adirondack porch rocker on sale for $35.
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I almost had a heart attack! I quickly went online, found a coupon, and ordered two of them for only $30 each! (Gotta love coupons.) I ordered these under the assumption they may not be the best quality, but I decided to take the $30 risk.

A few days later they arrived. We assembled them and put them to the test. My husband and I rocked, rocked, and rocked! The wood actually turned out to be in pretty good condition and they were so comfortable!
I purchased some exterior, paint and primer in one from the local hardware store. This paint was recommended by the paint guy there. He said that it would withstand the sun and all the weather elements.
Then I just happened to receive my monthly email from World Market to find out that Adirondack chair pads were on sale for $24.99. I purchased four of them, I will explain later.

Here are my finished chairs!
Let me just tell you, we have spent many evenings rocking in these chairs, enjoying the view, bird watch, and sipping wine!

Oh, but the story isn't over yet! I wanted to have four of these chairs, to place around our fire pit, for when we have company. I didn't want to purchase four right away because I was worried about the price to quality ratio. After three months of owning these, I have been very happy with my purchase. Today I just happened to check the Harbor Freight website and the price of these chairs have been clearanced down to $22.47!! Needless to say, I ordered two more today. And good thing I was thinking ahead on the extra chairpads, because World Market is out of stock on them now!

Each chair was about a total cost of $64.00 (with paint & cushion), which I think is a great deal in comparison to the $199 I originally found.

AND STILL the story isn't over. The other day I was driving by a garage sale and picked up this little guy for $5:
It's a little kid's Adirondack chair. I am so excited to give it a little TLC and turn it into a chair for my little guy. I haven't decided whether to paint it white to match the others or to paint it another color to match the cushions on the others. Any ideas on the color or a great buy you have found, please feel free to comment below! I love hearing the ideas!

~Beth

Fresh Tomato Spaghetti Sauce & Meatballs

School has started, weather has cooled down (oh wait, no it hasn't!), and by now your garden is overflowing! In the case of my Mom's garden, it's overflowing with cherry tomatoes. I think she planted 12 cherry tomatoes plants and let's just say there are only so many tomatoes you can eat a day. I had this same issue with our garden last year and made some homemade spaghetti sauce from fresh tomatoes. I decided to give you a little tutorial on how to make the sauce and also meatballs to go with the sauce.

Last year, I used regular sized tomatoes and it was wonderful! This year, because we have so many cherry tomatoes, I used them to make the sauce. Obviously, the process is faster with larger tomatoes, but if you use the small ones you will get a sweeter, more savory sauce...and I might say the best spaghetti sauce I have had yet! I am not lying, I was so impressed with the flavor of it and I think it's due to the cherry tomatoes.

For the sauce you will need:
A billion cherry tomatoes (or large tomatoes)
1 onions
1 head of garlic, peeled
Bunches of fresh basil and oregano (or dried if you don't have fresh)
1 large can of tomato paste
sugar

To start, wash and destem your tomatoes.

If you can't tell from the picture above, the tomatoes are in one of those very large container that you purchase spring lettuce in, almost full to the top with cherry tomatoes.

To start, you need to remove the skin from all of the tomatoes. Now, this is a process...you will need about 30 minutes to do all this. This serves as your warning. Bigger tomatoes are a much faster process, but just didn't taste as good. If you don't remove the skin you will get chunks of skin that come off the tomatoes and curl up in the sauce.
Start out cutting an "X" into the bottom of each tomato. It helps in the skin removal process.

Get a large pot of water boiling.

And next to your pot put a large bowl of ice water.

Add some (not all) cherry tomatoes to the pot of boiling water and let boil for about 2 minutes.

Scoop the tomatoes out.

And immediately put them in the ice water. Notice how the skins have started to crack. That "X" you put on them helps make the skins pull away easier from the tomato. I tried it without the "X" and it just didn't work very well. Do this to all of your tomatoes.

Next pull the skins off each tomato. (Like my hand model? It's my husband helping out.)

Then as you are peeling, squeeze most of the seeds out into another bowl. I added this to the process from last year because I ended up with a ton of seeds in my sauce. Which doesn't change the taste of it, just the look. You are inevitably going to end up with some seeds in your sauce no matter what you do.

When you are finished, you will end up with a squishy mess of tomatoes. (As a tip, throw all your seeds into the area you want to plant tomatoes the next year. You might get some volunteer tomatoes!)

Place all of the squishy tomatoes in a food processor or blender and puree.

You will end up with this lovely red sauce. (Notice the seeds in the sauce, just imagine how many there would be if I didn't squeeze out a lot of the seeds??)

For the sauce, chop up a onion. I used a whole onion, but it's up to you. It depends on if you like onions and how many tomatoes you have.

Chop up some garlic, fresh basil, and oregano. Again it depends on how many tomatoes you have and how much garlic you like.

Saute the onions until they are translucent.

Add in your chopped fresh garlic, basil and oregano. Saute for a few more minutes.

Add in your pureed tomatoes and stir.

Next, add in one large can of tomato paste. I use tomato paste to act as a thickener, add color, and a little more flavor. I opted for the name brand because I think some of the generic brand paste quality can be bitter.

Now the secret to homemade spaghetti sauce, sugar. Not many people know this, but depending on your tomatoes the acid level can be sharp. Taste your sauce. Does it taste very acidic or as I say "too tomato-y"? Add just a small amount of sugar to it, stir and taste again. Only add a little at a time. Too much sugar will ruin the sauce, so be careful! Once you have reached the right amount, turn the burner down to low and let simmer. Stir every so often.

For the meatballs, you will need:
1 pound of 93% lean ground beef

1/2 onion

1 teaspoon of garlic
Italian seasoning
bread crumbs
1 egg
salt and pepper

Assemble your ingredients and chop your onion and garlic. I used about half of an onion, but it depends of how much you like onions. If you don't like onions, just use a couple teaspoons of onion powder.

Combine onion with ground beef, about 1/2 cup of bread crumbs, 1 eggs, 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning, and a little salt and pepper in a bowl.

You will end up with this meaty mixture that needs to be formed into balls.

Pour a little olive oil in a large skillet and heat up. (You might not have to do this if you used fattier meat.) Place the balls in the skillet.

Brown the meatballs and turn on each side. (I was busy with the kiddo, so I turned these too late on one side, if you can't tell by the darker side.) While this is cooking, make your pasta of choice. In about 8 minutes, after you keep turning your meatball should be cooked through. To make sure, split one in half and make sure they aren't pink.

Combine your meatballs with the sauce that has been simmering.

Serve the sauce and meatballs over the pasta of your choice with some garlic bread, and a nice glass of red wine! Enjoy!!

~Beth