Today's Post is brought to you by the Letter G

I awoke yesterday morning, the same as always, two cold wet noses prying under the covers, searching for warm, sleeping skin.  Yowza!  They found some. Tails whacking the bed, house shaking from 200 lbs of wonderful puppy love wiggling out of their skins.
It was Friday.  I could have chosen to stay put and wait for Momma to crawl out of bed and deal with the canine mutiny.  It was after all, my day off.  Four tens and every weekend is a long one for me.  I didn't though.  Besides it was 6am and for me, that is sleeping in.
Clad in sweatpants and a flannel I marched the wriggling beasts outside and stood in the frosted grass while they went about snuffling and snorting and after a quick trip to the neighbor's yard to provoke their dogs they came bursting back onto the scene just as happy as they were moments ago when I decide to crawl from the warmth of my bed.  It amazes me how they can be so happy all the time!
I had a busy day ahead of me.  First and foremost I had to get my F post wrote as well as read and comment on as many blogs as possible.  I did have to be at a friends house at 9am though.  Wood cutting day!  He lets me borrow his quad (for free) to haul wood with.  If you haven't read any of my previous posts, (and I'm sure many of you haven't with this A to Z thing happening there isn't much time to delve into the chronicles of every blog) you'll see I have a thing, knack,hobby, obsession with cutting and storing firewood.  This was to be my last outing of the year.  I needed to run my new hybrid saw through its first full day of work.  Anyways, I'll skip the wood cutting for right now (that's more of a W post anyways) and get to the point.  Gardening.  Have I told you the story of the guy who loves to garden?  No?  Good I just did.  It's me!
I have a hard-on for the gar-don. (tacky)
In fact here is a picture of the garden I had at the last house (at least a clip of it anyways).

Now here is a picture of the garden at the new house.

Yeah not real pretty.  I don't have a rototiller and this picture was from last fall.  I hooked up the one bottom plow to the tractor(which I got for free) and turned the sod over.  It used to be lawn.

Then I had to pay (not for free) someone to come in and till it.  

You can imagine how much this hurt my man pride.

It was cheaper than buying a new tiller though.  I just didn't have the money so I had to make do.  the last rental we were in had its own tiller but unfortunately it wasn't allowed to move with us.  

So here is the garden after tilling.

Much Gooder!

I know what your thinking.  What does the garden have to do with wood cutting?

Well when I left the old house I took the garden fence with me.  I built it (for free)and it was going with me.  I have just enough to do the front and part of the sides.  

(Notice the composter at the top of the pic)

If you look close you can see the "stakes" holding the fence up.  They are u-bolts from work that get thrown away.  Basically it is what holds the springs to the axle.  I cut one side of the u-bolt off and weld it to the bottom of the other side essentially making a walking cane. (a heavy one).  I pound that into the soil and the handle of the cane goes over top of the fence.  All for free.  The wood for the fence was free as well.

Check out this post to see more about my free garden stuff!

The wood Bushman!  Tell us about the firewood!

OK, OK, instead of building more fence to completely encircle the garden I am going to stack wood on the back and the sides where there is no fence.  A firewood fence.  What better way to combine my love for gardening and my infatuation with firewood.  That is why I had to make one more trip to the woodlot and cut a few loads.

Now I just need to stack it.  Total cost $0.  Free!

Next year when it gets cold and the garden dies off I burn the fence for heat and I get to go cut more wood!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner.

So as I'm returning the quad to my friends house I just happen to drive by a house with a roto-tiller sitting out by the road.  I stopped of course and ask the guy what the scoop is.  He said it's FREE!  Holy crap you have got to be kidding me.  It runs he said but the pull cord broke when he tried to start it that day so he said to hell with it and went out and bought a new one.  (I'm smiling right now as I type)

Of course we got to talking (guys do this out in the country) and when it was all said and done I loaded up the roto-tiller and a snow-blower (his in-law just passed and he took there snow-blower)  He asked me if I worked on small engines and before I knew it I had his chainsaw in the back of my truck as well.

It's an older tiller but it is in good shape and a cleaning and a paint job she'll be good as new.  I didn't really need the snow-blower as I have an attachment for the garden tractor but it has the same engine on it as the tiller so it was a no brainer. (and free)

So with all that said I suppose your thinking that Garden is a pretty lame post for G.  Well if you re read the post you'll see that it wasn't really about the garden it was all the stuff I acquired or built for......

GRATIS