How I Got a Free Fence

My new backyard fence

What do you do when your husband brings home a seven week old puppy that gets through your garden fence? You build a new fence of course.  Buying material for a garden fence can get costly.  The one we had put up previously was chicken wire with fence post that cost close to $75.00.  It didn't seem reasonable to spend that kind of money again.  On my husbands first day off we took the truck and went pickin for fencing material.  My husband keeps track of the city bulk trash pick up schedule and knew the curbs were lined with treasures waiting to be thrown out.

Our little clan Meijah, Cowboy, and Lupe

We traveled our neighborhood and it wasn't long before we spotted some plywood that looked useful.  We picked them up and traveled on until we found a pile of sturdy 2 X 4's that fit our need perfectly.  As we started placing the pieces in the truck the owner came to the front door.  My first thought was "uh oh he's going to shoo us off".  He had a conversation with my husband and before I knew it they we bring more lumber from a back yard. The homeowner was tearing down a shed and offered us all of the wood we could take.  He was more than happy to offer all we could load.  We even got all of the nails we needed to put the fence together.  He was hoping someone would fine a use for his discard to avoid throwing them in a landfill somewhere.

Love this Red Barn end wall

The truck was pretty well loaded down but I was still concerned about a gate.  On one side street not far from out home we came across pieces of Red Bard fencing.  There are three solid, heavy pieces in different sizes.  Their weight was too much for me to lift.  I was so pleasantly surprised when the owner rushed out his front door to help my husband toss them on our truck bed.  The largest of the three sits at the end of the garden.  It adds such a great touch to the garden.

The Garden Fence Gate

It was beginning to get hot and we knew we had a days worth of work ahead of us.  Even though I was still concerned about my gate but we knew we had enough to work with.  I wanted a way to get in and out with ease to care for the garden.  My husband said he had it all figured out.  He's such a genius at these things.  We started putting the pieces together using logs from some tress we cut down for posts when we ran out.  It is getting late and we are both wearing down.  We had not stopped all day.  We got down to the final leg and I'm still concerned about my gate.  True to his word the gate was just what the garden called for.  The latch on the upper right hand corner turns with a matching piece on the inside upper left hand corner.  Once they are turned the piece of plywood can be easily lifted.

I was surprised at the number of people who place these items on the front curb hoping someone can use them.  Not only did we get a free fence we saved the landfills from holding on to these discards for years.  Just another example of being frugal and helping the environment at the same time. Most of all I got one nice fence.