Mrs. Peasant's Homemade Coffee Can Flower Pots

 

An Old Woman Holding a Flower Pot.
After Frans van Mieris the Elder (1635–1681)

When the world wearies

and society fails to satisfy,

there is always the garden.

MINNIE AUMONIER

Somehow, Spring is almost here. I have lots of flower seeds, and no pots to start them in. Luckily, I had some metal coffee cans and some old paint. This project isn't the most amazing or creative which is precisely why I want to share it. Gardening is supposed to be fun. I kept telling myself that while making these pots. When did gardening become so serious? When did gardening become so expensive?

When I would garden on my balcony at our apartment, I never felt ambitious. Gardening on my tiny balcony felt fun. Growing was rolling the dice, experimental, and nothing but joy when ANYTHING grew. Now that I have a large yard, I have bigger ambitions. I have lost that sense of wonder and awe of creation. So, in the spirit of using what we have and enjoying gardening poorly, let's make some coffee can pots! 

You will need: 

-a metal coffee can (save the lid for the bottom)

-a hammer

-a large nail

-newspaper or paper bags

 -acrylic paint

-a paint brush

Both IGA brand coffee and Chock Full O Nuts use metal cans.

These sweet paper butterflies were a gift and have wildflower seeds in them.

Is there anything more nerdy and fun than a good old fashioned experiment? I am doing an experiment to see which method is faster for growing sweet potato slips. I have two sweet potatoes sitting in a jar of water and two potatoes in soil. I'll let you know the results.  I planted my Christmas gift wildflower seeds from a dear friend. I am starting Mission Yellow Marigolds seeds, too. I am also using up old flower seeds. I had a very old pack of coleus seeds and snap dragons. They may or may not be any good. I intend to finally use them up and uncover that mystery. Everything I am planting should come up within 7 days. If they don't come up, then I have enough time to start new ones. 

I encourage you to use what you have lying around for pots. Start some old seeds that you've had forever. Maybe start an experiment. Lets get back to gardening that isn't so serious. Try to have a little fun, relax, and enjoy the process. After all, my friends half the stuff will be a failure. So, let's enjoy gardening poorly. God bless you and your gardens. Thank you for reading!

In Praise Of Old Pickup Trucks

Pick-up truck above Calumet River Wall, 1973

City boys got pickup lines. Country boys got pickup trucks.

UNKNOWN

When boys are boys, they like to play with toys, When boys become men, they still play with toys except the toys make more noise. This sounds like a bad nursery rhyme except this fairy tale is true and tragic. Men who never grew up buy toys to drive around. Men who did grow up give up those toys and drive old pickup trucks.

A Toyota pick up truck, Sonoma, California. 2025 

A sports car is a toy. Men buy these to impress women and each other. Other men choose a Jeep which is an expensive toy they like to take off-road and flip over in remote places. Other men with Jeeps will come to his aid and assist in rescuing the Jeep. This will be a bonding experience for them. It sounds ridiculous to me.

Soap Box Derby, Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC, July 30, 1940

Other men will buy pickup trucks except these shiny new trucks cost a fortune, are way too big, and drink up a lot of gas and diesel. I call these trucks "redneck limousines." Men buy these toys to pull their other toys--boats, RVs, ATV trailers, etc,

A real man is a working man. He drives an old pickup truck. It can be a compact truck like an old Toyota, or it can be a full size truck like a square body Chevy from the 70s and 80s. The main thing is that the truck is not a toy or a redneck limousine. It is the vehicle of a working man who needs to get work done. It isn't driven to impress or to play. It isn't a toy. It is a tool. Tools are what divide the men from the boys.

The working man is not a boy. He does not drive a toy. I am sad to say that the boys outnumber the men these days.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child.

1 CORINTHIANS 13:11 DOUAY-RHEIMS

Thank you for reading!

Julius Dilbeck, retired miner in his pick-up truck. Clairfield, TN 1970