Homemade pot rack

I made this pot rack recently out of some metal from an old harrow that was sitting rusting out on our land.  I'd been searching for some scrap metal to fill the purpose when I finally got the inspiration from the antique field implement half buried in the ground and fully obscured by the underbrush.  With a couple of chain lengths and some hooks I was able to put together this more or less upcycled pot rack.  I really like the way it turned out aesthetically, but more important, having the rack has freed up a lot of space in my cupboards for storage of other stuff.  It's also much easier to get and put away pots when they are hanging above you.

 

 

I've continued with my onion sets experiment by harvesting and drying the onions at the small scallion stage.  They've dried down and look a lot like the bundles of onions sets you'd buy at the store.  I plan to store them in the root cellar until spring, when I'll plant them out first thing.  I won't have to wait for them to arrive in the store. I won't have to plant some mystery variety that wasn't grown organically.

 

 

There's been some interesting insect life around my house lately that I thought I'd mention in the blog.  While harvesting my basil for drying and to save it from the impending first hard frost, I picked up a couple of stowaways.  These pictures don't really show their size well, but these praying mantises were close to 6 inches long.  As you can see they blend in well with the leafy basil.

 

 

 

This other bug is called a wheel bug.  I'd never seen one before as far as I remember.  It had laid a cluster of eggs on the back of my house and seemed to be standing guard above them.  It's named the wheel bug for the cogged crest on its thorax. One other useful bit of info I found is that that orange proboscis can sting you like a bee, so it's a good thing I didn't pick it up.  This one was about an inch and a half long.