Barebones: Must Have Gardening Tools
Beautiful gardening tools crafted for generations of use
Beautiful Garden Tools that also Work Hard
My New Favorite Gardening Tool is…
You ask, and I answer! One of the most frequent questions I get about my One Room Challenge Greenhouse is: what gardening tools are your favorites?
I have the answer: my tools from Barebones Living. These garden tools are gorgeous — and tough! When I opened the box that they sent me, I was shocked! Usually pretty garden tools are pretty terrible. These are amazeballs! The handles are walnut with copper trim. The tools are steel and feel like they were hand-forged. They are comfortably heavy. The gloves are buttery.
My sister asked me a few weeks ago what to get my mom for her birthday; I immediately sent her to Barebones Living. Yes, they sent me a box full of their tools, but I have zero reservations about recommending them. They are beautiful — and more importantly, they are really functional.
The Garden Scoop from Barebones Living
The garden scoop is my personal favorite! I didn’t even know I needed a soil scoop, but it does the job so much better than a trowel. Who knew!
Next on my list to get: their shears and scissors which look substantial. And the Harvesting and Gathering bag for carrying all these beautiful tools around in the garden!
Lanterns: Solve Gardening in the Dark
It’s hard to get it all done! With so many balls in the air, nighttime has to be a productive time, but until recently I couldn’t do any gardening after dark, because I don’t have electricity in the Greenhouse.
Enter Barebones Living. Barebones sent me some of their fabulous lanterns to use in the Greenhouse, and now I can garden after hours — or just escape with a glass of wine. Either way!
The larger Forest Lantern recharges with a USB, and the smaller Edison Mini Lanterns run either off of a USB charger or batteries. They have a LONG battery life, too. I put cup hooks under the shelves in the greenhouse, so I can hang the lanterns where I need them, and move them depending on where I am working. I love being able to go out there at night! Barebones has other outdoor lighting solutions, too — all with a vintage look and high-quality feel. They are great for all kinds of outdoor activities.
Whether you are looking for garden tools for yourself or a lovely gift for someone you love, I genuinely recommend Barebones Living. The quality of their products is impressive, and they represent a rare kind of craftsmanship. I suspect my Barebones tools will be used for decades.
Note: If you purchase something through a link posted on this site, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for supporting Mid Modern Mama!
New: The Library!
Introducing the Mid Modern Mama Library of downloads and printables!
Is there a better place to hang out than a library? I’m hard-pressed to think of one! So I’m excited to announce my own personal library of resources available to anyone! So many of the projects I post here have downloads of one kind or another — patterns, graphics, Cricut files. So I put them all in one place: the Library! Here you’ll find all of the file downloads for every project on Mid Modern Mama. And the list of files is growing all the time. So pop by and take a look! I am ready to decorate for Fall, and the files for the Autumn bunting are in the Library now. Very easy to find, and it is an easy project to make, too!
Speaking of projects, we are having a busy weekend around here getting ready for the One Room Challenge this weekend! Next week I’ll be able to tell you which room I am taking on, but let me tell you: it promises to be a BIG transformation. It’s one of those rooms that we tend to neglect in our homes, but by the end of it all, it will be so much more functional and beautiful, too. I am really excited!
And email subscribers will get a sneak-peek at the plans before anyone else, and will get to see the room’s progress before anyone else, too. So if you haven’t already, sign up!
Finally, on Instagram this week I’ve been sharing some of the Greener Living changes we have made in our house — an effort to reduce our carbon footprint. Because I know not everyone is on Instagram, I’ve collected all of those posts together to share here, too. Enjoy!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Ciao!
Angela
Greener Living Tips
a few easy ways to reduce your family’s impact on the Earth
9 Easy Tips for Greener Living
Easy and inexpensive changes we have made in our home to be more environmentally friendly.
This week on Instagram I’ve been posting about simple and inexpensive ways to reduce your carbon footprint. And I wanted to pull all of those tips together into one post — a list of a few of the things we do in our house to be more eco-conscious. Plus, not everyone is on Instagram! So here are the posts in order with tips and ideas for making small changes to your lifestyle which can add up to big differences.
Buy Vintage
Say “NO” to plastic holiday decor
Repurposing
Don’t Rake!
Buy Secondhand Kids Clothes
Freecycle
Mending & Visible Mending
Composting
Small Daily Habits Add Up to Big Changes
Pin it!
Greener Living: Journaling
A new project: creating an art journal from catalogs. Also Greener Living Tips, an update on the Fall 2019 One Room Challenge, and more!
Last week the world came together for the Global Climate Strike. Our child’s school participated. We did, too. And we were so inspired by the millions of people across the world who turned out to demand action on climate change.
But it is easy to feel powerless in the face of such a huge problem. And indeed individuals can only do so much — policy change is necessary. But there are small, simple steps we can take which do make an impact. They truly do!
Our family is very concerned about reducing our carbon footprint and being good stewards of the Earth. And we know that those changes start in our home. We aren’t perfect, but we have made and continue to make small changes — all of which add up to making a difference in our community and in the world. This week on Instagram I am sharing 7 Greener Living Habits — changes that are simple and easy to implement.
One of those Greener Living Habits: repurposing stuff you already have. In other words, finding a new use for something rather than getting rid of it. We have a long history of repurposing. Dressers have become entertainment centers. Table runners have become window valances. An embroidered shirt became a sewing machine cover. Jam jars have become lunch containers, paint containers, pen cups… well, you get the picture. And I’m sure you do lots of repurposing in your life, too!
So here’s my newest repurposing project: turning catalogs into art journals. I took a stack of catalogs and turned them into my latest art journals perfect for collage, mixed media, use as sketchbooks, watercolors, writing — you are only limited by your imagination! I collected a bunch of tips together and made a video as well as a step-by-step guide to creating your own art journals from catalogs. And they don’t have to be art journals! There are tons of other ways to use them, too!
Here’s the link to the tutorial! Enjoy!
And join me on Instagram this week for the rest of the Greener Living Habits, too. I’d love to know what you are doing at your home to reduce your carbon footprint. Little changes all add up!
@midmodernmama
If you make an art journal, tag me on Instagram! I would love to see it!
In other news: the One Room Challenge starts again the first week of October, and I can’t WAIT to show you what we have in store. I can’t tell you much, but… it is a room which frustrates many people, and I will be doing a LOT of KonMari-ing as part of the process. I’m also working to keep it as green as possible — lots of repurposing happening here! More on that beginning October 3, but I just can’t wait to show you! If you missed our last One Room Challenge, check it out! We did a Guest Room Refresh turning our blank and boring Guest Room into a retro-inspired traveler’s retreat.
Have a wonderful week! Fall starts today… and the temperatures are finally falling! Hooray!
XOXO
Angela
