bootstrap building

We use recycled building materials every chance we get. For example, here is our chicken house.

It’s quite nice, with outdoor and indoor roosts, an enclosed yard, a sliding door on the house to close them all the way inside when the winter is cold, and a hinged flap that lets you check for eggs without going inside–that’s over on the left of the picture (with steps so the kiddos can check on their own. They love that). The nesting boxes are right on the other side of the flap, so the chickens lay the eggs, and we lift the flap and say, “thank you, chickens!”

The whole arrangement cost about $10 (for hinges and screws). Plus Paul’s labor and creativity, of course.

How did we do it? Here we go: the house itself is the box the yurt came in. The tin roof came off an old, falling down house. The cedar posts are from downed trees, courtesy of Hurricane Fran a few years ago. The screen door and the roof bracings were made from scrap wood gotten out of dumpsters. The bowling ball came from the dump.

Huh? Bowling ball? (If you can’t see it, I’ll give you a hint. It’s blue.)

I wish we were doing all this recycling for purely environmentally green reasons–and we are, doing it for those reasons–but mostly we’re just really broke. Sad, but true.

And I should add that Paul does 99% of the hoarding and collecting. My part in all that is mostly to complain about all the junk in the yard. And then enjoy the cool places he makes. Of course, the chickens do most of the enjoying on this one. Thanks, Paul!