I've been bashing away at a long-term refinishing project that has been dragging on for about a year too long, and have been making progress on it, despite the very irksome setback of having one of the pieces fall to the floor and crack just enough to need repair, but not widely enough that I can easily get the glue in.
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I started saving birch twigs for a besom-style broom; these are best gathered when the leaves are off the tree. I decided to use the ones I have so far in my next foraged fall floral arrangement. I just added a few sumac branches with red leaves, and a coneflower stalk.
Birch twig brooms are said to work quite well on sidewalks; I gave our driveway a swipe with a handful of the twigs, and I think they're right.
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I've been reading a book that is a reprint of early 20th century make-it-yourself projects for children. In one section on tie-dyeing, it mentions boiling sumac bark, roots, and berries, plus a piece of "old iron" to make black dye. This may be chemically similar to a recipe I tried once which used steel wool and vinegar to make a gray wood stain.
The projects in the book run all the way up to a small summerhouse and a "garden cave" made of concrete over a bent steel framework.
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