When I moved to Sequim, WA this May, I was thrilled to meet my neighbors, two sheep, two ponies, one goat, and a bunch of chickens. Oh, plus their wonderful owner. Every morning, they lined up at the fence and waited for me to feed them their morning treats, snails, slugs, weeds… They thought I was their snack goddess.
Pretty soon, I got up enough courage to ask their owner if I could have their farmyard poop for my garden. Sure, she said. Take as much as you want. The joke became something like, “OK, I’m coming over to shovel sh*!”. “We will put a gate up so you can come through.” At which point I broke out in a dance around the pasture, “love is an open door-or-or…”
To facilitate the fabulous sh*t shoveling, we needed some sort of gate between our properties.
Meanwhile, I had been hunting around town, in estate sales and thrift shops, for all sorts of farm tools, pots, and whimsical garden stuff. I found this metal headboard at the beautiful local thrift store, Serenity. I couldn’t make up my mind whether to get it or not. It was beautiful and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. Finally, one of my best friends visited from Southern California. I Visited Serenity thrift shop with me, saw the headboard, and gave me permission. (Right here, I say, she gave me permission, I take no personal responsibility for the purchase.)
I had the headboard leaning against my house for weeks. I was planning on making it into a cute little trellis for my garden. Then one day, I looked out of my guest room, and voila! The inspiration came. Not a trellis, it was going to be a garden gate.
It’s been up for two weeks now, I can’t be happier. We measured it and made sure it was wide enough for my riding mower and trailer. I’ve been happily shoveling sh*t ever since my garden beds are sh*t happy and I am so happy when I look out of my kitchen window or my guest room. It is so beautiful and functional.
I would be planting flowers and vines around it next. Stay tuned, there’s never an end to fun and imagination in the garden.