Things that happened in June

A couple of messages asking me where I’ve been (Thank you friends!)and why there’ve been no recent updates have prompted me to put together a random photo collage of June happenings.

In no particular order or relevance here is what June looked like:

Found some glowing mushrooms and planted them in the garden.  Love this.

Watched a sunset or two.

Was very successful growing Patty Pan’s that I didn’t even plant and don’t want to eat.  Hoping they’re like zucchini which you can make yummy bread out of and which I do like to eat.

Took a photo of this butterfly just for you.  I really did.

Bleached number 2 son’s hair because he let me.  It was a little orangey so we called him Dragon Ball Z, or DZ for short, till I got hold of more bleach to bleach it again.  Scary.  He didn’t mind.

Put these dried sunflowers outside and they looked so pretty there I decided you needed to see them too.  Pretty little dead things.

Went to several outdoor concerts.  This is Sara Hickman rockin’ out with Mr. Skinny Red Pants.  Did you know that she succeeded Willie Nelson as the Official State Musician of Texas this year?  Why, yes she did and is.  She’s a neat person too that does a lot for children and women.

She will make you laugh.  Especially when she takes off her hair mid concert.  She had us believing that her “I Dream of Jeannie” ponytail was real.  You’ll just have to see her for yourself.

She gave us hugs and told us funny stories.  We love summer concerts and Sara Hickman.

Did lots of “picking” and “finding” of goodies.  At one garage sale I found 3 things I adore:  a pretty floral English tin to add to my collection… and inside… vintage Birthday candle picks!  Just look at them.  Why do I love them?  I don’t know (said in a high, squeaky voice)!  And look at that Anthropologie towel with little crocheted black and white chickens!  It still had it’s $18 price tag.  Fifty cents, people.

Came home one night to cupcake shaped Rice Krispie treats (with sprinkles, we luv sprinkles) made from limited edition Cupcake Rice Krispies.  Double whammy.

Saw this growing and knew it had to be shared.

And last, last, last, the very last thing I did in June was eat some Banana Pudding that I think has the potential to change the world or at least bring happiness to a big chunk of it.  I will have to get you the recipe.  Not now though.  This is just a back-blog.

Mmmmm.   Banana Pudding.

Promise to write again this week as I have just completed an interesting project.

Technorati Tags: Sara Hickman,Rice Krispie Treats,Banana Pudding

Before and After

That is a big thought.

I wasn’t thinking of this today when I threw away a fuzzy caterpillar.  Not “away” away.  Just into the compost bin “away”. 

He was eating the lettuce in my garden.  The lettuce that I haven’t cared to eat.  The lettuce that has grown the size of Jack’s beanstalk.

Then I read this little thought and had guilt.  Beanstalk size GUILT.  Butterfly guilt!  Who would ever throw away a butterfly?

I had to go and rescue the “butterfly” from the compost bin.  The compost bin is an interesting place.  Lots of live crawly things, and smelly things and composty things.  And me searching, searching for a potential butterfly. 

Luckily, we found each other.  He was rescued… and so was I. 

Because “butterfly guilt” is a serious, serious thing.  To almost be something, and then not be, for any number of reasons is serious indeed.  To miss your  potential, your butterfly life, is very serious business.

Then D.R. brought this home from school…

“Before and After.”  Doesn’t that just sum up a caterpillar’s life?  

I’m trying hard to focus on my “butterfly life”.  Time to move on from the caterpillar-ness and be my “before and after”.

What about you?

Technorati Tags: R. Buckminster Fuller

A Predilection for Clocks

I’ve run across several interesting clocks lately and chose to heed  the nudge and pick them up.  Perhaps with another Birthday in the rearview mirror I’ve got time on my mind.  Now I have to find them a home…

In my foyer there is a a piece of furniture I fondly refer to as the “Holiday altar”.  I usually decorate it for the season.  It’s in need of an update.  Magazines are my usual source of inspiration at these moments.  One of my fav’s is House Beautiful .  This months issue is the Big Advice Issue and it’s wonderful.  Look what I found:

This is the bedroom of a designer out of L.A., Dan Marty.   Of particular interest is the long table.  The “gathered over time and travels” look is very appealing to me.  He calls it “British Colonial with a West Indies flavor and Napoleon III thrown in”.  Who knew I was so sophisticated?! 

Marty likes collections but says they need order.  “Here are some general rules.  You need harmony and balance, contrast, the right combination of elements and scale.  Symmetry and asymmetry.  Light and dark.  Group your collections - they look more important that way.  Like things with like things.  And don’t line objects up like they’re on a march.  Vary heights.  One more thing I do is stack a few antique books and put an object on top.”

I like him.  A lot.  So here’s the altar:

Using Marty’s pointers, I gathered up some stuff.

I think this looks pretty good. But it needs just a little something else…

A few extra details completes my foyer update!  Do you think Marty would approve?  Can you find the four “clocks”?

Here, again, is my inspiration picture and the completed foyer:

“Thanks” to my older sister for the lovely, English, turquoise tin to add to my collection.  It mirrored the shape of the wicker,teapot basket and added balance and color. 

Technorati Tags: House Beautiful,foyer,Dan Marty

How does your garden grow?

The garden has been both interesting and frustrating.  I’ve found that just because you plant something doesn’t mean it will grow into something you can eat!  But I have harvested several salads in the last couple of weeks.

There are several types of lettuce here and some cute, little radishes and 5 (count them!) sweet peas.  They were all delish and had the family hunting in their salads for the goodies. 

Other results… the broccoli was all flowers and useless.  The cauliflower is looking pretty good, I’m guessing.  I went out today and it’s leaves were like Swiss cheese from the many perfectly camouflaged caterpillars that were calling it home.  I used natures pest remover, my fingers, and gave them a new home over the fence.  I hope none hit my son who was mowing on the other side!  The cuc plants are still pretty small but they have yellow flowers.  The radishes have really taken off and were planted from seed.  I’m on my second crop. 

Here is my one glorious poblano.  Hmmm, how can I stretch one  chile relleno to feed 6 people?

Oh, this is funny.  This is some kind of subterranean evil that has taken up residence in the yard.  It’s a mole or vole or whatever.  Lovey went all “Caddy Shack” on it last week with some smoke bombs.  I don’t think I ever got a straight answer on whether that business was organic.  We still have holes so I’m calling this one for the subterranean’s.  Holes, moles, voles.  Interesting.  There’s probably something to this.

Last picture…

Here is one of the seven different tomato plants.  They’ve all got flowers now and even a few baby tomatoes.  I hope the timing on the lettuces and tomatoes will coincide.  

That’s all for the garden update.  How does your garden grow?

Technorati Tags: garden,cucumbers,cauliflower,broccoli,tomatoes,sweet peas,brussel sprout,mole,vole

“Mum’s” the word

Happy Mother’s Day to my “Mum”, big sister, sister in law and all the rest of you too!  I send each of you flowers…

…and more flowers… from Momma Cat.

And, oh, I don’t know if you’ve heard but  apparently I’ve made the news (and someone’s back)…

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=QPsW7wVQXjBU8MedhYdzjjQ4NzU5Nw--&referred_by=17742174-gi5TCOx

Okay, enough nonsense.

So what did you do today?

We ate fondue or fundue in my honor.  No nonsense here!

There was lots of chocolate though.

There were homemade cards and flowers from the chilies.

There was a beautiful dinner made by the Z-man and I.

This is Chicken with pancetta and sage, garlicky mashed potatoes, sautéed mushrooms and green beans a la orange.  You have to try this chicken.  It’s very easy.  The recipe came from Chef Marco Canora’s cookbook “Salt to Taste”.  The recipe linked above is the closest I could find on the internet to it. 

It was a great day and now I’m here finding some cheesy-ness to end this with.  Mom’s love “cheesy” on M-Day!

The Little Things

It is the little things that count
And give a mother pleasure -
The things her children bring to her
Which they so richly treasure...
The picture that is smudged a bit
With tiny fingerprints,
The colored rock, the lightning bugs,
The sticky peppermints;
The ragged, bright bouquet of flowers
A child brings, roots and all -
These things delight a mother's heart
Although they seem quite small.
A mother can see beauty
In the very smallest thing
For there's a little bit of heaven
In a small child's offering.

- Katherine Nelson Davis

Technorati Tags: Mothers Day

Composting and your teenage son

Do you have teenage boys?  Is it their responsibility to take out the trash?  What is your success rate in having that happen with or without grumbling?  Uh huh.  There is a better way.  Make less trash by composting!  Less trash equals less grumbling.  Composting can eliminate about 1/3 of your household trash.  That amounts to 1/3 less teenage son grumbling.  You’ll also gain numerous gardening advantages that you can read about here. 

It’s really not hard.  Here’s our set up.  First, you’ll need a compost  bin. It can be purchased or homemade.  Here’s what our compost tumbler looks like.

I purchased our tumbler at one of those large warehouse stores.  Lovey was very kind to work till dark one evening putting it together.  It had a lot of pieces.  It was compared to an IKEA “put together”.  Have you ever put together something from IKEA?  I’m not not always sure it’s worth the savings.  But any who… the lid lifts up to put in your composting materials. The pin on the right side slides out so you can tumble the contents.  No more pitch fork turning by the mother.  Tumbling is fun.  At least that’s what you will tell your chilies.

“ What do you put in your compost bin?”, you ask.  Why, kitchen scraps, of course!  Lovey’s morning banana peel, DR’s strawberry hulls, onion scraps from the meatloaf, my morning coffee grounds and filter, yard clippings and leaves! 

This pitcher sits on our kitchen counter and makes it convenient to toss kitchen scraps into.

I also like it because it’s not see through.  It’s not always pretty in there.  Does it smell?  No.  Not unless you leave it for days and days.  Consistent dumping of the kitchen scraps is what we have a “compost runner” for.  This is a good job for young chilies.  Because taking out trash, in any of its forms, is not in my job description.  One more tip.  I always put a paper towel or coffee filter in the bottom of the pitcher as this makes it easy for everything to slide out.

 

And all this is free!  So get composting already!

                              *****************************

Want to compost more stuff?  Here’s an interesting list of things that can be composted:

dryer lint, cardboard egg cartons, newspaper, sawdust, paper towels, shredded documents, 100% cotton fabrics, freshwater aquarium water, nail clippings, feathers, human and pet hair, vacuum bag contents, pencil shavings and facial tissues.

Strange and interesting.

Technorati Tags: compost tumbler,compost

Gardening takes Guts

Ah, what has she been up to?  Let’s start with the garden…

It took me three years to grow the Clematis flowers below.  They started as spindly ,little vines and didn’t do much the first two years.  Over the winter I pulled down some of the “dead” vines and luckily missed this one and look what grew on it!  Sigh.  This morning I counted 24 blooms.  Apparently Clematis grow into large, climbing plants and stick around for a long time. I read about one that is 26 years old.  I’m just saying  you might want to look into these for yourself.

About a month ago I bought a magazine, Urban Farm. It sang the praises of square foot gardening  and (my little obsession is back) city chickens.  I’m just a girl who dreams of growing her own salad fixin’s and someday watching chickens play tag in the backyard.   As I’ve sworn off taking in anything else that’ll nag at you if it doesn’t get fed, it appears that only half of my dream will shape itself into backyard reality. 

So, about three weeks ago Lovey and I set out to gather supplies at the local home improvement center.  That’s when we realized, with another freak Texas snow storm in the forecast, that gardening takes guts!  As the freakish snow swirled and blew, I trudged on and gathered up all the gardening “necessaries”.  The weather, apparently, had kept all the genteel (a.ka. warm and dry) gardeners at home and I had the entire outdoor department to myself. 

The fun part was picking out what I would grow.  Tomatoes?  Sure!  Jalapenos and cilantro?  Yes and Yes!  Lettuces and cucumbers?   Why not?!  A lot of hope has been put into such little, bitty plants.

Gardening Commercial…

The sunflowers above were grown from seeds last summer.  Please note the color coordinated spider.  When accessorizing in the garden, I prefer to match the spider to the flower.  I feel it  brings a more cohesive look to the garden.  If you would like to achieve this same look in your outdoor space, call 1-800-JUST-KIDDING.  That number again is…  And if you act now, they’ll also include synchronized swimming water bugs!  But only if you’re one of the first 50 callers.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program:

Recently warmer weather has prevailed and with our project complete we can now call ourselves Urban Farmers! 

I’ll walk you through the project and we’ll see how it progresses through the summer.

Here’s a (square!) footnote:

Square foot gardening is meant to use less space and be easily manageable.  First you build a 4’ square box.  The boxes are set above ground, directly on the yard, so you don’t have any heavy digging.  Pick a spot that gets plenty of sunlight and has good drainage, remove any weeds and line the box bottom with a commercial weed-barrier cloth.  The plants will grow in about 6” of soil. 

Here’s what that looked like:

Here’s how we made the planting “mix”:

I made two 4’ boxes instead of one 4’ x 8’ box, so that if any of the plants cross pollinate and morph into vegetable madness, I can move one of the boxes next season. 

Time to plant:

And then, I read some gardening tips in Food Network Magazine and decided to make a few changes…  They suggested planting lettuce near tomatoes or other taller plants that would give the lettuce some shade.  That sounded pretty good to me.  Another article  said that tomatoes need S- P –A- C- E and air flow around them.  I had planted mine right next to each other in tidy rows.  Also suggested was planting several types of tomatoes so if one type doesn’t work, perhaps the others will.  I moved some of the tomatoes and peppers to help out the lettuce.  I have homegrown salad and jalapeno poppers high hope that this all works out!

In between and basically all around I also planted low growing types of flower seeds.  I’m hoping this will prettify everything and keep out any weeds that may decide to sneak in.

I’ll keep you posted on my gardening successes and “won’t try that again’s”. 

Want to grow your own snack tray or salad fixin’s?  Look here: www.squarefootgardening.com.

Technorati Tags: Food Network Magazine,square foot gardening,clematis,tomatoes,lettuce,compost