Selfsufficientish.com

Shell, believe you me it took a VERY long time to get hubby to let me have the 2 ive got, he hates anything like that, (truth be told i think hes scared of them) He wont go out to give them any food or water and certainily would never attempt to go into the run to get the eggs, hes a right wuss. He will go & cover them over for me at night but thats it, as he doesnt have to go near them. He'll never be a fan of them but certainly doesnt object to the fresh eggs every day

I think the best thing that I ever found, was a metal lamp base. It still had the £55 Next price label on it. More recently £10, in a mutli storey car park. A little tikes rocking horse. A metal shelving unit, the type people use in bathrooms to sort toiletries appeared in our front garden, that was a bit weird lol!!

best thing ever , i found a double handled bow saw thats about five foot long. we have cut so much excellent fire wood up with it . what a gift. it had been left by a previous occupant of house from a long time ago, as i found it in an old shed fallen behind some trelis with that had grown over it.,

i should also mention .............a chicken.......... i kid you not. woke up one morning to find a chicken wandering round in the garden . we live miles from anywhere with no neighbours, so it must have walked some distance . granted it was a bit nibbled round the edges , assume it has been in a fight with something , but three years later and its still fit and happy and 'officially' wandering round the garden

Ahhhh what a lovely story!

We bought an old coach house to renovate as I much prefer the character of old houses. Luckily, the old chap that had moved out didn't believe in modernising much but had put in the essentials like central heating etc. He had also 'done something' with the hearth of the main fireplace. It is made of 1" square tiles in brown, cream and tan and looked good except for the many gaps around the edges and missing tiles.

A few months ago I was rooting around in the hedge because I noticed about a dozen milk bottles thrown in there. Whilst I was removing them I noticed a hearth tile in the soil. I dug around a bit and within about 20 mins I'd found enough tiles to complete the hearth. That was pure luck because they don't make these tiles any more and anyway, I doubt if I'd be able to buy a colour match. A good day's pottering in the garden

Found in a skip in no particular order

Baby gate with three of the stops missing Now being used to prevent the dog jumping on the strawberry patch in the garden

Tuck box made of plywood, lock missing but stained with ink inside

Two track accessories for Hornby, church and signal box and cottage in brand new state,

Antiqued parchment map of Kent 1640 ( repro) in its folder, artwork with price of 8.50

Small foldable holder of knicknacks like a magazine folder in wood and cloth but smaller

Working tape and radio with aerial missing and cd player damaged

Nice little bunny rabbit statue with one ear missing with carrots in basket


All in one skip

It felt like christmas

recently and in no particular oder
a slew of antique bottles (from an old midden we were digging to make a new veg bed)
some big jam jars (proper storage types)
6 12'' plastic plant pots (they were in a skip, who would skip that, they cost almost a pound each, its madness)
2 5 by 3 windows (now part of our new shed!)
a whole load of assorted lengths of wood (most about 12')

I forgot to mention the sporran handmade in scotland real leather

In another skip plates, spices, tin opener,

and in another tv base unit with glass intact

Our all time best 'financially' was a dumped pair of bikes hidden under about 30 years worth of weeds.One bike alone sold for over £130 on Ebay
One of my favourite finds was a dumped metal shelving unit with little holes in the shelves,it has pride of place at the end of my greenhouse and is great for watering all the plants.
Saved a lovely old stained glass terrarium the other day with only one crack in it and a wicker trug from the tip.
The all-time best finds for me though,have to be the 450yr old Pewter baptismal spoon,the Quern stone and the early horse brass i unearthed!

A button! May not sound all that amazing but it exactly matched the one that I had lost off my pyjama's.... (no, I wasn't wondering down the street in them!)

A bookcase appeared in front of my house one night. A little wonky but perfectly functional.

I also got a £10 note... I saw a woman walking some way ahead of me drop it, so of course I picked it up and went after her.... at which point she rudely shouted at me for daring to interrupt her on the phone, told me to go away or she would "'ave me for 'arrassment, like". So, I kept it.

We went to Sainsbury's late (midnight) last night at in the car park they have a HUGE rack of recycling skips and on the way out we noticed someone had dumped two drop leaf tables.

One was a bit naff but the other was a little table just the right size for either two to eat dinner on or for us to use as a craft table... so... in the car it went along with the shopping



It's brilliant for our little flat as the leaves fold down and it's really quite small so fits under the window and only sticks out around 6". It needs a little TLC but that's not a problem as I can use it as yet another project... this means that in 3 years it will still look the same lol

Best find we've had in a long time apart from a HUGE slab of slate someone had thrown in a skip that we used in the fish tank!

ive recently picked up a wallet! a lovely new brown leather 'next' one !
it was in a pile of trash (the bag had burst) near my house. it was going to end up in landfill so ...
I LOVE SKIP DIVING! at the monet im living in a student house area and lots of them ar moving out and theirs trash everywhere!
i always have a look when i pass... ive picked up stationairy, book selves and other bits and pieces

cracking skip dive last week
i got 4 driveway gates plus a section of metal fencing to fill a gap

now got to find time to fit them!

I went to the bottle bank this morning and someone had dumped a newish upright vaccum cleaner, that had been PAT tested on 1st June. So I brought it home and switched it on and it worked. All it needed was a really good clean out and now I have a super dooper new vacuum! My carpets don't know whats hit them!