I’m a scrounger. I’ve mentioned that before. I dislike the rampant, exploitive consumerism of our current society. I dislike plastics and disposables, dislike the trend to toss away something that has broken. If it can be fixed, I prefer to fix it, or repurpose it if it CANT be fixed, but still has usefulness in it.

This shows a lot in my garden. I will plant in just about anything. Buckets, bags, tires, milk jugs, if it will hold dirt and isnt contaminated, I’ll use it.

But it goes beyond that, too.

Our hammock chairs are 30 years old, anyway. When I was very young, I remember playing monkeys on them with my brother. They’ve survived many kids, several moves, years in storage. They’re not NEW, is what I’m saying. Far from it. And it shows a bit. There are frayed and torn places in them both, the webwork is yellowed and dingy, one of the crossbars has mildew marks. But they are still extremely functional.

But given as this is one of the main structural webs, the fray makes me nervous. Now, I COULD just throw it out. Many would. But that isnt really how I roll. If something can be repaired, I prefer to repair it.

So, out comes the sewing box. I over-ordered on cotton twill tape a couple years ago…by about 10 meters. So it is a resource I have in abundance. Twill tape. Scissors. Thread. Needle. And patience. Patience is NOT something I have in abundance, but I can find it when I need it.

It isn’t good as new, of course. Things, once broken, are difficult to repair to ‘new’ status, but it will give us several more years of use.

And all it took was a bit of time.