Simply Resourceful

Simple ways to be more conscious about how we use our resources.

Homemade Door Draft Snakes


Let's face it, most of the doors in our homes need new seals or perhaps need to be replaced altogether.  With a new home, there are a lot of home improvement costs and right now we can't afford new doors, so instead, I made some snakes for the bottom of the exterior doors to keep down the cool drafts and reduce heating costs.  They'll be used when we're using the air conditioner too.

The lining of the snakes were made from the old country curtains that the previous owner had left.  They are made with 100% cotton.  The width of the lining and snake skin were cut 11 inches wide.  The snake skin was made from some fabric a friend gave me years ago.  The orange stripes are from an old turtleneck, the spots are felt, and and the purple stripes are from an old long sleeve shirt.  A tongue and pair of eyes was added just for fun and those were made from felt.  The only cost was the sand which was about $5.00 total for all of the snakes.  I debated on whether to use small pebbles but Jon chose sand.

The picture above shows the interior lining underneath the snake skin.

The first snake was cut 8 inches wide and it wasn't large enough to really give a good seal against the door.  I decided to increase the width to 11 inches which proved to be a much better seal.  The small snake is currently laying next to the big snake because I don't know what else to do with it. 

The third snake goes in front of the patio doors.


Building Trellises for the Berry Plants

This weekend we completed our goal of building trellises for all of the berry plants, grapes, and kiwi.  A lot of work making 17 holes, 2 feet deep with a post hole digger.  One of the bolts broke during use so we borrowed a hole digger from the neighbor.  For the posts we used logs that we scavenged in the woods and rebar was used to support the 14 gauge wire that will support the vines.  We couldn't find untreated 4x4s around here so we decided to use logs.  We know they will need replacing but they will last a few years at least.  Digging holes and assembling trellises is one project I am thankful to have complete before the humidity sets in later this summer.

About this blog

A weekly update on our adventures of trying to be more self-sufficient by using resources wisely. We explore a variety of topics that most broadly fit in the "Homesteading" category, i.e. beekeeping, organic gardening, edible landscaping/fruit forest, food preservation/canning, woodworking, soap-making, and environmental stewardship.

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