Repurposing More Red Bricks at the Farm
It's always so nice to repurpose materials and put them to good use in projects around my Bedford, New York farm.
Recently, my outdoor grounds crew used dozens of pressed red clay bricks that used to surround my pool at my former East Hampton home to line a footpath inside my Silkie chicken pen. It looked so good, I decided to create a similar path outside the yard. I also thought the bricks would look pretty edging the garden bed in front of the enclosure, where we planted a hedge of European beech trees, Fagus sylvatica ‘Dawyck Gold' - a deciduous and relatively low-maintenance tree with a narrowly upright and columnar growth habit. The area now looks entirely different and more manicured.
Here are some photos of the project.
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- I have thousands of these red clay bricks. “Pressed red” is the general term given to solid red bricks traditionally manufactured from clay, pressed into individual molds by hand, and then heated at very high temperatures. Each of these antique bricks measures about eight and-a-half inches by four inches.
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- Before this project, we were using these flat pavers as a footpath to the pens; however, we didn’t have enough for all the footpaths I wanted to create, so I decided to use the bricks and pea gravel. I wanted everything to look uniform. Here, Moises removes the old stones. They will be saved and used for a future project.
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- Twine is secured to make sure the edges of the bricks are completely straight. We use a lot of twine for our outdoor projects here at the farm – it is easy to put up and creates a straight and accurate line every time.
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- Once again, Pete removes the grass and some soil along the line, creating a narrow trench just wide enough for the bricks and about five inches deep.
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- And then one by one, he angles the bricks and positions them in a sawtooth style, laying one on another at a 45-degree angle. It isn’t hard to do, but it must be done carefully, so everything is straight and perfect. The string also helps to make sure the points are at the same level.
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- Pete uses the end of the hammer to gently tap the brick into place. In time, the soil will fill in any gaps and keep the bricks secure.
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- From this angle, one can see how helpful the twine is to keeping the bricks straight. Using bricks to line the footpaths handsomely defines the boundaries between grass and path.
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- On this side, Pete uses the side of the air conditioner pit as his guide for laying the bricks.
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- Once all the bricks are in place, Fernando cuts the weed cloth to size within the path.
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- And then Pete follows behind to hammer in sod staples at various points.
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- These sod staples secure the weed cloth and are easy to get at any garden shop or big box store with gardening supplies.
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- Next, is the gravel. All around the farm, I like to use quarter-inch native washed stone. Each stone is about the size of a pea. This same gravel stone is also used to line the paths in my flower cutting garden. It s nice to keep everything uniform when possible.
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- Fernando uses our trusted Scenic Road wheelbarrow to transport the gravel from the truck to the path. We have more than a dozen of these wheelbarrows – they’re great for so many jobs around the farm.
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- The gravel is spread evenly with a hard rake. Afterwards, Fernando will go over it with a gravel tamper. A tamper is a tool with a long handle and a heavy, square base used for leveling and firmly packing gravel, dirt, clay, sand, and other similar materials.
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- Next, Pete digs another trench along the garden bed, where I planted a long European beech hedge three years ago.
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- The ganders are watching every move – guarding their mates. Here’s “Bear” coming to the front of the pen to see what is going on.
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- These two are also watching all the activity from inside their enclosure. The birds are always so curious.
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- Pete places the same bricks in the sawtooth pattern along the garden bed.
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- Every so often, Pete looks at the bricks from above to make sure they are all in alignment. He uses his feet to gently press any that look out of place.
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- These bricks look great marking the edge of the bed. They will also look very pretty this spring when the grass grows.
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- And here is the footpath leading to the Silkie chicken yard – so much neater and more tidy. Spring officially starts next week – what do-it-yourself projects are on your list? Share them with me; I’d love to hear from you.
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