Why do you have a garden?  For me it is two main things, 1) beauty, and 2) the opportunity to practice simple living and make a connection to the land with my own toiling.   Hen & Hammock is an online store, that feeds both of my garden needs.  Not only am I wanting buy almost every item that they offer, they are also feeding my DIY spirit — some of their products are things that with a small amount of creativity I can spare the earth the shipping from England and make with my own local resources.

Look a the details,  the peg/ laundry clip sack is a coat hanger with a pouch over it made of beautiful hessian sacks.  The sunflower bird feeder is simply a sunflower on a rope, and the wooden bird feeders are carpentry even I could do (I think).  The Hen and Hammock folks, say on their website that “the stainless steel spike (on the apple feeder) can be used to fix a variety of foods such as apples, fat balls, bread or kitchen scraps. There is also a hook at the base for pudding!”   (I didn’t know birds ate pudding— can someone explain??).  Oh and with the last house — I love that birds can have a green roof on their homes too.

Maybe the ultimate garden DIY Garden Project is to make your own Scarecrow.   Here is what their kit includes:

– 2 recycled coffee bean sacks
– 1 broom handle
– 2 bamboo canes
– 1 ball orange garden string
– 2 needles
– 1 marker pen
– 1 packet of seeds
and beautifully illustrated instructions.  (they recommend that you visit a local charity shop for a hat)

Isn’t this the best looking – and not so scary – Scarecrow you have ever seen?

What I love most at Hen and Hammock is that they source only sustainable items and you can learn about the makers of all their products because each of the artisans has their own page describing who they are. I loved learning about Ben Baker the young artist behind the  beautiful Big Scrubber chairs, Kunye in South Africa who makes the recycled plastic chickens, and Mike Turnock, the last riddle maker in Britain.

I had never heard of a riddle, have you? It is a tool for sifting rocks from soil and compost. Isn’t that handy! I don’t know how I have been living without one!

A couple of my other favorites….the handcrafted chestnut roaster and marshmallow fork, I want it for outside now and inside later this winter.