![\"Raised](\"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/ClaireWolfe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/CulvertStrawberryBeds-02_0611.jpg\" "\\"CulvertStrawberryBeds-02_0611\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nA friend took me into the hills where people she knows made these neat raised strawberry beds. Around here, if you plant strawberries, what the slugs don’t eat the birds will. So these folks found (or as my friend put it, “found”) a culvert, sliced it lengthwise and built it into raised beds. The beds are lower on one end for drainage, and the contraptions on top are covered with hardware cloth and rigged so that they can be raised at the plants grow.<\/p>\n
Since every one of my hoity-toity certified-organic strawberry plants disappeared without a trace a week after I planted them, I’m keeping this in mind for next year.<\/p>\n
Neighborhood family values<\/b><\/p>\n
One of our local high school boys:<\/p>\n
And a mother and her well-raised daughter:<\/p>\n There must have been something special going on, you suppose?<\/p>\n ADDED: The friend who hauled me around emailed this a.m. to inform me that that the “daughter” is another boy. My oh my. Whatever are small towns coming to? \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n And once again … garage sales provide<\/b><\/p>\n I’ve noted before that garage sales have an amazing way of providing<\/a> things I need. A few months back I found a luggage caddy ($2) to carry my overloaded bug-out bag. It was good, but I worry a little about its stability. <\/p>\n Here’s a superior substitute ($5) from today’s garage sale:<\/p>\n Yes, it’s a granny cart like old ladies tote their groceries in. But very commodious. The basket will hold my gear securely and the big wheels make it more stable than the luggage caddy. Plenty of uses around the house and yard. And hey, with fuel prices soaring and the nearest grocery story only a longish walk from home, I wouldn’t be averse to hauling groceries in the thing, if it comes to that. Folds up flat for compact storage when not in use.<\/p>\n And before you yell that this isn’t a good idea because every bug-out bag must<\/i> be a backpack, remember that my kit is customized for one particular scenario<\/a>, and that I can<\/i>, if necessary, pull the kit out of the cart and backpack it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Darned clever strawberry beds: A friend took me into the hills where people she knows made these neat raised strawberry beds. Around here, if you plant strawberries, what the slugs don’t eat the birds will. So these folks found (or as my friend put it, “found”) a culvert, sliced it lengthwise and built it into raised beds. The beds are lower on one end for drainage, and the contraptions on top are covered with hardware cloth and rigged so that they can be raised at the plants grow. Since every one of my hoity-toity certified-organic strawberry plants disappeared without a…<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/ClaireWolfe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/AroundtheNeighborhood_0611.jpg\" "\\"AroundtheNeighborhood_0611\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Pirate](\"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/ClaireWolfe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/AroundtheNeighborhood-02_0611.jpg\" "\\"AroundtheNeighborhood-02_0611\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Granny](\"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/ClaireWolfe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Granny-BugOutCart_0611.jpg\" "\\"Granny-BugOutCart_0611\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n