GetThrifted

Historically speaking, I haven't been very good with plants. I've had a few cacti over the years, and in the last year or so, my two cacti have barely been clinging to life. One was a gift from Esther when I started college, and one I purchased at the Durfee Conservatory at UMass around the same time. When Esther and I moved to a new apartment recently, I considered calling it quits on the cacti and starting fresh from scratch with new plants.

Esther and I have had good luck tag sale-ing this weekend. One find from yesterday was a big ol' heavy duty metal toolbox. For the last year or so I've been keeping my bike tools in a sparkly blue plastic Lisa Frank-style makeup chest, complete with a butterfly on the box's latch, and a fold-out mirror inside. That box was itself a great thrift, a couple bucks at the Salvation Army, and it was actually pretty practical—a lot more practical than the system it replaced: a series of disordered bins and boxes.

A few weeks ago, at the very beginning of tag sale season, Esther read about a cool-sounding tag sale in our neighborhood, down by the Three County Fairgrounds. So on a weekend morning walk with our dog Zevi, we stopped by. It turned out to be a good tag sale indeed: a big house full of Hampshire College students selling their stuff. Artsy college kids tend to have pretty solid tag sales and this one was no exception.

Let's start off real simple. One of my favorite things to scavenge for at tag sales and at thrift stores is a mason jar. I've never canned food, but these jars are fantastic in the kitchen for storing beans or grains, or as a flower vase. I've also seen them used as to-go cups for iced coffee or smoothies. This gem, found at the Hospice Shop in Northampton, which is right in this neighborhood, distinguishes itself from your average utilitarian mason jar with its festive, plaid print lid: