When I was a kid, troughs were for horses. Now when I say "trough," I'm not talking about the large, galvanized metal watering holes. I'm talking about the rugged-looking, cement-based containers that ...

After talking about it for years, I finally did it, I made a trough. But I can't really take credit, because I'd still be saying, "Oh, we should really do that," if Ann Murphy hadn't tired of my wishy ...

In October, I made my first hypertufa troughs from a mix of peat moss, perlite, Portland cement, and water. Extremely durable once they set up, the resulting containers look similar to carved stone.