Browsing category: Doing It Ourselves

This Is Our Stone Path

We built this stone path ourselves, using ordinary rocks that we had previously dug from our property. None of the rocks we used are pavers… in fact, almost all of them are boulders that are at least a foot thick. Many of the rocks are even larger…


Why Mark Shields Never Looked So Good!

Our old television was still working… kind of… but the screen would randomly get brighter or darker, the colors would fade, and the sound would distort. We couldn’t complain… this television had served us well for nearly fourteen years.


Our Garden Paths

We’ve worked on a number of big projects over the last several years, but my favorites are the gardens and paths that we have created throughout our property.


Our Experimental 100% Leaf Mold Gardens

It seems that every year we wish we had more garden space. There are a lot of areas in our meadow that get almost all-day sun and would make perfect gardens, except the soil is too wet, too full of clay, and too full of rocks.


Yes You CAN Learn To Do It Yourself

Anyone can learn new skills. It’s easier if you have someone to serve as an instructor, but “how to” books and videos work great too. An elderly uncle showed us how to do electrical wiring, but we learned how to do plumbing completely from instruction manuals.


We Should Have Wondered Where All Those Rocks Came From!

Although stone walls are not an unusual sight in New England, the extremely long expanses of stone walls that we have here should have made us wonder where all those rocks had come from.


How We Removed an Enormous Tree Stump

We lost several of our beautiful big pine trees during an ice storm when the weight of two days of freezing rain literally broke off the tops of the trees.


Somewhat More Intimidating Than the Usual Do-It-Yourself Project

We have heat! It took nearly a month of telephone calls, research, lots and lots of perseverance, and a full day of exacting work, but our previously “dead” furnace is now running like new. We were hoping to repair… not replace…


Our Search For a Firewood Source Continues…

Our plan to order another truckload of logs came to a screeching halt the morning I called to place the order and arrange for a delivery date. There had been, the receptionist told me, some changes in load size, pricing, and availability since our previous order.


How We Make Leaf Mold

It’s easy to make leaf mold, but there are a few tricks that speed up the process. If you just make a pile of your raked leaves, they will decompose (unevenly) in two or three years.