What a find!
When I look at my Potting/Garden Shed, I can’t believe it’s sitting in MY garden!
Here’s how I found it and the journey since…
End of Summer...
It was late August of 2019.
This summer had been full to the brim with farm adventures.
Everything was a. new experience for us
We had even renovated an old storage shed into a chicken coop and raised our own hens!
If you would like to read about that, the link is below:
The Garden
My dream garden was just starting.
The long-term plan of a small orchard, raspberry and pumpkin patch and a large raised bed area for vegetables and flowers was in the works.
“Long Term Plan” is not exactly correct… since I was 64 years old at the time, I didn’t have a lifetime to sit and dream… I had to hussle!
This was my very “FIRST” garden.
Over the past winter, (while recovering from having two stents put in my heart…) I had plenty of time to watch YouTube channels all day long, lol!
I watched anything I could find about beginning gardening.
There were teaching tutorials, practical experience videos, gardening technics etc.
I used my new found knowledge to prepare an area and build a few raised beds.
Plus filled them up and planted in them!
If you would like to read about it, link below:
Functional and Practical
By the time I had made a hundred trips from my garden area to the barn…pushing a huge wheelbarrow full of rakes, tools, stakes, string, shovels, buckets etc.
I was over it! Hahaha not over gardening, but I NEEDED a closer storage area to store all this stuff and save myself all that hauling.
Nothing fancy…just a small shed.
My mind was giving me the same old Sandy ideal…something functional and practical. I’m actually quite frugal, but I also want good quality.
Now my mind’s eye had something different going on, lol!
I’m imagining a darling little house, with window boxes filled with flowers. A sweet front door, with a covered porch in front of it.
Back to reality…but if I could talk my husband into buying a storage shed, I could make it really cute!
The Hunt
Starting the search was disappointing.
Big box stores had the plastic ones, but that wasn’t what I had in my minds eye.
Most of the wood would have to be painted anyway.
The Amish made ones were to die for…beautifully built and so pretty. But out of my price range for sure.
I could be happy living in this one, lol.
So I thought I would go on Facebook Marketplace
…just to see.
Reality check, lol.
This is what most of the used ones for sale looked like…lol!
Outbuilding for Sale
Then I ran across an ad that said “outbuilding” with a tiny picture of a white shack looking building.
It was very tall and thin. You couldn’t tell a thing about it from the picture…but it looked interesting!
I showed my husband the picture.
It was in a small town around 40 minutes from our farm.
Would he PLEASE take me out there?
He actually was pretty good about it…he said “Well call the guy and ask him if we can look at it.”
Kinda Sketchy...
The farmer (Peter) said it was out in a field on some property he owned. He decided to farm that spot and wanted it gone.
The next day, we put the address in our GPS and starting driving.
It took us down all these farm roads…way out in the country. You’d never know we were so close to home.
The corn fields were so high that you couldn’t see anything past them, just winding roads.
We pulled up to a small house with a barn and a few outbuildings around back.
A young guy came out and said Peter had called him and told him we were coming to look at the building.
He pointed out to no certain direction and said “It’s out there” explaining he owned the house and one acre around it, but Peter owned the property out back.
So we drove on this skinny ridge, with a fence on one side and an 8 foot embankment on the other side.
The van barely fit on “this road” and I was starting to think this was kinda sketchy.
A few acres out, I could see a small building by a little pond, the closer I got the taller it was!
We parked the van, and waded through thigh high weeds and grass.
First Look
Peaking in the door, we could see it was filled with lots of junk, chicken wire, old lawn chairs and old boxes of who knows what.
It had tons of wasp nests in the ceiling…
There were two old barn windows on the back…
…and one in the front by the door.
The old wood siding was covered with weathered and peeling white paint.
The door was half hanging off and held on with a wire grate
The back of the roof was rotten with wood shingles, covered by two other layers of roofing tiles, all were falling off….
The front of the roof wasn’t much better…
It was absolutely perfect!
The back was a cute as the front!
The building was 8 x 12 and a story and a half tall.
I told Ken, I have to have this building. I simply must have it.
Ken says “ Well okay… but how are we going to get this home?”
The Price
We called farmer Peter from the car and told him we wanted to pay for it TODAY.
I was not taking a chance that someone else was going to buy MY garden shed.
I wasn’t leaving this town without paying for it.
He gave us directions to his farm, which was only a mile or so away.
Usually I’m an excellent negotiator (used to have an antiques/gift shop…lots of auctions and garage sales)
But I already had the cash money in my hand!
The full asking price was $175.00!
Yes, you read that right.
A 1940’s, hand built, wood shingled,
1 ½ story structure, still sound as a drum…for 175 bucks.
I couldn’t pay him fast enough, lol!
Know a Guy
Just for kicks, we asked him if he knew anybody that could move this for us?…
He asked were we lived…ya ya, he might know a guy.
Ken and I looked at each other and swallowed hard.
“I could call him for ya, if you got some time… dialing, talking he said, Ya the tall one by the pond… you could let the air out of the tires if it doesn’t clear the bridge.
He turned to us and said “Well… he said he’d have to charge ya.”
“Of course” we said…how much?
Well at least $100.00 to make it worth his time.
We about lost it…I thought I’d faint.
Peter said” He can’t bring it today, maybe in a couple days…”
Guess you got to know a guy…who knows a guy.
The Delivery
Two days later, here comes this pickup truck, pulling a huge flat bed trailer with a winch on it.
Our thirteen foot high building was sitting on top of the wheel wells of the trailer.
WITH ONE STRAP holding it down.
When we saw that thing coming down our private drive, my stomach was in a knot, I couldn’t even take a picture because I was so nervous!
He drove back to the field with that building swaying back and forth like a skyscraper in the wind…I couldn’t look.
The farmer Peter had come with the delivery kid.
He told Ken to get his tractor (that Ken barely knew how to drive) and come over to help get it off the trailer.
Honestly, I couldn’t watch the rest…I had my hands over my eyes like I was watching a scary movie, trying to peak through my fingers.
Somehow they got that thing off the trailer and into the general spot that I wanted it.
I wanted to cry, I loved it so much!
I told Ken to wait, while I ran in the house to see if I could see it from my kitchen window.
I ran through the field, past the chicken coop, down the private drive, past the barn…through the backyard gate and into the back door…took a quick look and back out the same way.
He did have to move it about 10 feet to the north.
PERFECT!
Now I can stand at my kitchen window and see my garden shed!
I felt like a queen looking over her kingdom
….I still do.
NEXT TIME…part two of the Garden Shed.
Starting the renovation.
Fondly, Sandy
I read a post on Facebook mentioning your blog and I followed the link. I agree your writing is an easy read and I love your following your farming dream!
At almost 71 yrs. of age, that would have been more of a challenge for my consideration. You have a lot of well saved energy to go forward with such a work in progress with this shed. To say this was a find is downplaying your work at finding it in the first place. Wisdom in all things and well used time and energy. Blessings on this humble work station and the proprietor of same space. May it donate much to your plans in growing things.
Linda the way you write about life is so creative and encouraging. Thank you so much.
Fondly, Sandy
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