UPCYCLE | bird feeder

{ via family fun }

MATERIALS |
plastic bottle, knife, small eye screw, 2 wooden spoons

BUILD |
1. Start by drawing a 1/2-inch asterisk on the side of a clean 1-liter soda bottle, about 4 inches from the bottom. Rotate the bottle 90 degrees and draw another asterisk 2 inches from the bottom. Draw a 1-inch-wide circle opposite each asterisk, as shown.

2. Use a craft knife to slit the asterisk lines and cut out the circles (a parent's job). Insert a wooden spoon handle first through each hole and then through the opposite asterisk, as shown.

3. Remove the bottle cap and twist a small eye screw into the top of it for hanging.

4. Finally, fill your feeder with birdseed, recap it, and use a length of twine to hang it from a tree. ::

UPCYCLE | horizontal plastic bottle planters

{ via recyclart }

HOW TO | build mini beds in milk cartons

MATERIALS | 

empty milk or juice cartons, knife, soil, small rocks

{ via ZEITonline }

{ NORMADISCH GRÜN 2012:117 }

BUILD |

1. Collect empty milk or juice cartons and rinse them well immediately to prevent them to go moldy.

2a. Put the cartons across, cut two quadrangles of the topside of the carton, pierce the bottom to let the water drain.

2b. Put the cartons upright, cut off the upside, pierce the bottom to let the water drain.

3. Layer bottom with some small rocks. Fill up with soil, put in seeds/seedlings and finish with another layer of soil. Water.

Cartons will last for 1-2 years until they start to rot.::

INSPIRATION | rio de janeiro

Community garden in a favela.


{ Christophe Simon/AFP/GettyImages via ZEIT online }