Black Walnut Ink

What does a stay-at-home-mom do between baby wrangling and printing posters for a couple of upcoming shows? Simmer walnuts on the stove to make ink, of course!

Mabel has been helping pile up the walnuts in our yard, which then go into one of my big enamel pots (formerly used for canning), are covered with water, and then the liquid is reduced in half. I also gathered some goldenrod to add to one of the batches to see if I could get a bit of a yellow hue to the ink. I didn't gather enough goldenrod and the plants are at the end end of their season here anyway.

The result is a beautiful warm brown. I've bottled some up to take to the Handmade Market, saved a quart for Charlie to use as a wood stain, and have another batch I'm reducing even further to make it really saturated.

Want to make your own? Follow the instructions over on You Grow Girl! Gayla takes all the guess work out of the process!

Respect your Elders

There is one blueberry bush in our yard (of about 10) that has berries on it. I suspect that's because it's tucked beside an elderberry and the birds have been so distracted with the elderberry they haven't noticed the blueberry. Whatever the reason, it will have a nice-sized harvest when/if they ever ripen.

Yesterday I went to check on it and saw the elderberries are ripe! I'd had it in my mind that they'd be ready sometime in August. I guess that needs a mental correction? Anyway, it seems early to me. I harvested about 3/4 of the clusters from the 2 largest bushes. There were enough clusters that were nearly bare to tell me there have been ripe berries for a few days at least. The remaining unpicked clusters are mostly green and will be harvested in a couple weeks, I suppose.

Earlier in the spring I saved a few flower heads for use as herbal tea. Now I have about 2 cups of fresh berries. I'll probably dry half and syrup (You can verb 'syrup' right? You can verb 'verb' right?) the other half. Elderberries have historically been used for prevention of winter ailments, they're packed with vitamins (A, B, and C) and immune boosting antioxidants.

Later today we're going blackberry picking! Any berries in your neck of the woods? What's lookin' good?

For those interested in growing elderberries, one of my bushes was started from a twig I simply stuck in the ground. I believe it is Black Elderberry (Sambucus nigra). The other is one I purchased from Gardens of the Blue Ridge and is the North American native elderberry, Sambucus canadensis. If you're interested in purchasing one, I can't recommend them highly enough.

Mulch it good

When I first got into veggie gardening we talked about buying a tiller and working the land that way. Since permie school/hippie camp, I've come to know, love, and totally rely on building mulch beds. Remember how I do it? Start by suppressing grass and weed growth with cardboard.

Pile on layers of mulch in a variety of forms. We have a hill of decaying shredded woody material so I use that, grass clippings, leaves, chicken litter....whatever is free and handy.

Water well, add soil/finished compost in pockets throughout the deep mulch and plant directly into the soil.The next season that whole mound you made will be beautiful, dark, rich compost, full of worms and ready for growing.

The Pond, a recap

2008 - the plan in place

2008, just after we finished building the pond

2009 - 8 months later

2010 - 2 years later

2014 - 6 years later

Green Laundry

My sister-in-law was recently tested for allergies and learned she is allergic to cocamidopropyl betaine (CAPB). CAPB is used in many "natural" products because it's derived from coconut oil. Hearing about her allergies has renewed my interest in ingredient reading.

I think I'm pretty aware of what goes in and on my family's bodies, but to be honest I can't police everything. Some things are purposefully overlooked just so I don't beat myself up over the facts that M had a piece of artificial-everything candy or that Fox drinks formula.  Back to the crunchy part of our lifestyle...

My old recipe. The Fels-Naptha is way too fragrant, I switched to 

Dr. Bronner's castile bar soap

I alternate between homemade and Seventh Generation liquid laundry soap and making our own, but checking out ewg ratings, I noticed Borax that really brought the score down; boy did I feel ignorant. A quick search for alternatives and found out the possible danger was old news! A little more searching and I found a recipe by Amy Bayliss for a Borax-free version.  After I run out of my current batch (that I just made yesterday) I'll have to try her version.

In the meantime, what else should I try making? What do you DIY or trust a natural brand to do for you?

The 10 Minute Tiny Pond Project

Having a water feature can bring lots of new creatures to a garden. This isn't really a pond, but a planter I found on end of season clearance at Target. I added a solar aerator, goldfish and plants from the backyard pond, and voila! A new point of interest in the yard for Mabel (the goldfish have a magnetic quality). I'm also hoping it will be a point of interest for nature's own mosquito control, dragonflies and damselflies.

It handles beautifully

Before I really started learning about plants and gardening, I had no idea what an invasive species was. Now that I'm paying attention to what grows in our yard, I know first hand: wisteria, Japanese honeysuckle, privet, and many others. We fight them back as best we can by uprooting, avoiding chemicals, but most of the time it feels like a hopeless battle.

Out of his own personal curiosity, Charlie saved a few logs from chopping back the privet, air dried them, and saved them for a time when he could experiment in the wood shop a bit.

One of our back doors goes to a porch we never really used, mostly thanks to some out of control holly bushes that made the porch experience uncomfortable. The brick stairs were separating from the main porch, and though sturdy, their use always felt a bit precarious. Also the screen door handle (originally an acrylic rod)  was missing, so reentry was cumbersome. Out of sheer laziness, we just didn't use the porch. Until...

We were required, as part of the appraisal and loan approval process, to rebuild the porch. During demolition the hollies were leveled to the ground. Without the overbearing prickly shrubs, the area was once again functional. 

Over my maternity leave I worked on little projects around the house, including painting thresholds and sprucing up around the exterior doors. The missing handle could no longer be ignored, so I suggested we turn a handle from some pecan saved from a fallen branch. The pecan wasn't dry enough to turn. Charlie took the idea and ran with it though, making a lathe-turned handle from one of the pieces of invasive privet! He finished it with shellac (I believe), and the door is as functional as ever; dare I say it handles beautifully?

DIY Soil Amendment: Calcium

Calcium is one of those things we don't usually talk about in terms of garden nutrients, right? I mean, you buy a bag of soil amendments and the big numbers are NPK, but what about the little guys? The minerals and micro nutrients that feed soil health? I'm no soil scientist, I don't purport to be an expert, but I can recognize a deformed fruit when I see one. (Blossom end rot, anyone?) Funk lookin' fruits can be a sign of calcium deficiency. Calcium is vital for sugar production in plants, it's part of what keeps your vegetables from being bitter. 


To boost my beds with a bit of calcium I fill empty milk and dairy containers with water to rinse them, but instead of pouring the water down the drain I'll pour it on a garden bed. I'm also hoping the finished bokashi will add micro nutrients to the soil, and the addition of bokashi-composted bones from dinner should add a little something to the soil, too.

We also have a plenitude of eggshells. After a Sunday of cooking snacks for the week ahead I generally have a small pan full.Now, if you've ever thrown eggs in the compost bin you know they break down very slowly. When added directly to a garden bed they break down even more slowly, so they don't directly provide much calcium to your plants; something like Soft Rock Phosphate is better suited for that. This past winter I've been saving the shells from hard boiled eggs and grinding them up. I've also been taking the shells from other eggy exploits and sticking them in the oven to bake when I'm cooking dinner. My theory is to kill off unwanted bacteria and dry the shells out for storage. They, too, are ground up. In the end, I have something that looks like this:

The texture ranges from a fine dust to gritty bits that look like pulverized shells on the beach. Since eggshells are a good way to keep slugs under control, the grit should work double time. The powder will be more readily available to the plants and the larger grit will work as pest control.

It's not revolutionary, but I get a little excited about free garden solutions. Do you save your eggshells? What's your favorite free soil amendment?

Family Dinner Traditions

Family dinner is a fantastic thing. Unfortunately (brace yourself, I'm about to let you down) we don't sit at the table and have them very often. Um, actually never. We did for a while, but for whatever reason we haven't found a dining table set up that keeps that role. Instead it's covered in fabric or another project. Right now it's just sitting in a room that doesn't heat very well, so that room stays blocked off through the winter. I know, weird. Whatever.

But the past 2 nights we've made dinner as a family. That, my friends, makes for some spectacular fun while working the kid's brain and forcing C and I to maintain a steady and heaping helping of patience.

Some ground rules: Mabel isn't allowed to get near the stove. She's not allowed to use knives, either. She's a great helper with stirring, kneading dough, and, when all else fails, sweeping the floor. Inviting a toddler in the kitchen makes for messy cooking--none of that clean-as-you-go stuff. The extra bits of time go into engaging her young, active mind.

Sunday we spent the day being lazy and doing whatever we wanted,randomly convening in the kitchen to work on the simmering from-scratch chicken noodle soup. Mabel's job? Take the pasta dough and roll it into little balls, then help roll it out through the pasta roller.

So she's 2 and she's already helped Mama make buttermilk biscuits, egg pasta, and turned masa into tortillas. Now that's a family dinner tradition I think we can keep.

Pretty Green

The Mr. knows the way to my heart better than any other--for mother's day he gave me a greenhouse, and for our 6th anniversary he gave me shelves for the greenhouse!

The greenhouse is much prettier when surrounded by green trees.

We took a romantic anniversary trip to Ikea for 4 Molger benches. I thought they'd work stacked 2 high and be an absolutely beautiful substitute for the more widely available metal storage shelves. In my mind 4 benches, 2 sets of 2 stacked high, would be ample work space for the greenhouse, but when I saw them in person the benches were smaller than I'd imagined. It would take 8 to fill the space rather than 4. Instead I decided Gorm would be a much better solution and that's what Sugar Daddy bought me.

Ikea had a 30" tall unit on display, but when we got to the aisle to load them up they were sold out of that size. In it's place we bought the 68" tall unit and Charlie cut the legs in half and it actually turned out to be a better working height.

After a few seasons, some design adjustments were made, including the addition of

actual greenhouse poly-tape and poly to wood tape.

The shelves need an oil finish to get them ready to stand up to the humidity of a greenhouse, but I'm ready to do a little bit of rubbing on them.  Mr Sugar Daddy also bought me a metal pail with lid so I can put my dirt in it and keep the greenhouse all matchy matchy pretty and Martha'd out. I'm thinking some baking sheets with low lips will polish up the look even more, but maybe enameled ones so they don't scorch  the tender seedling roots. 

I've got my soil blocker ready, will pick up a few bags of seed starting medium (peat free, please) and will have my act together just in time to start my summer loving plants.

The $3 (plus the odd scrap or two of building materials) trellis

My oldest brother, Todd, has the gardening itch this year (actually it might be garden pox judging by his scratching) and is converting his front yard to a small farm. I promise to get more pictures of his projects, but first wanted to show off his $3 (plus some bits of building materials he had lying around) trellis.

The basics? taking a 2 x 4 and using a table saw to cut it down into lattice strips, while leaving about 6 - 12 inches at the base uncut. Cut some scrap wood  to create 2 spreaders to fan the boards apart. Todd used screws with scrap pex pipe (cut to about 1-inch lengths) instead of spacers to attach the trellis with wall anchors into the brick facade of his house, but any sort of strong, rigid pipe-like material would work.

We're moving our hops to a sunnier location this year, and a couple of these trellises will help 'em reach for the sky.

Are you planning a garden this year?  Check out this great post that spells it out for the beginner gardener.

A Serious Point

If you haven't heard, Wolfie & the Sneak have partnered up with the Mine Creations for a poster giveaway! Leave a comment on Julia's beautiful blog for a chance to win a Four Seasons poster!

Charlie is finishing up his newest boat, a little canoe. He did a little test yesterday in our friends' pool to make sure it's seaworthy (well, technically Intracoastal Waterway-worthy). There are still some cosmetic pieces to add, but all in all it's pretty sharp lookin', don't you think? I mean, that nose*...that's a serious point!

*For clarification: the boat's nose, not Charlie's. His nose isn't really what I'd call pointy.

All these "simplify" posts made me think I'd better show why I feel like we need to pare down. I'm thinking a little self-imposed homework/look book/workbook is sorely needed. You know, a little something like The Marion House Book did.

We (half-) jokingly call our style "Trash Americana". I think I first heard the phrase at a Wilco show, but maybe Mr. Tweedy described the band as Trash Electro-Americana? Whatever, living in a Wilco world isn't really my cup of whiskey; especially not since that last album. The style is also evidence as to why I think this Abe Lincoln needlepoint is A.W.E.S.O.M.E. (found on shopgoodwill.com)

I'm on a fairly strict self-imposed spending freeze, though, so I didn't bid on it. Someone else will have to give ol' honest Abe a good home.

A little bit about our stuff: Painting of creepy monkey face by Charlie--I love it so much I had it framed. The space between the painting and the boat are an in-process spot. I've got all sorts of little bits and pieces of art to put up, but I'm not sure what I want to put there. Big boat and display cabinet were both free--the boat from one of Charlie's freelance gigs, the display case from an architectural model we were getting rid of here at work.

Nautical float also a freebie that came home with C. Doily Skulls/assemblage art by C's friend Robert Childers. The wooden school-type clock was a new purchase--a gift for C for Christmas. Ship copper wire string art from Goodwill. The yellow fiberglass kids chair was from an attic sale. Vintage coffee table from eBay. I don't care for this grouping, but since it's behind the sofa I don't see it much and it's just going to stay there.

Plycraft Chair was a Craigslist purchase. The guy swore he took a Herman Miller tag off it, but it didn't take too much research to find out it's not an Eames chair. We're halfway through reupholstering it in tan leather.  The sofa was also a Craigslist find (though not a cheap score by any means) and was recently reupholstered in Alexander Girard for Herman Miller fabric. The best we can guess is that the frame and design are by Knoll.

The balance of pluses and minuses

I talk a good talk about decluttering, and there is so much advice on the topic. I do believe it's a good approach to love what you have.

I also felt like this, found via the Seventh Generation blog, is a good approach:

"Ask yourself what you want your life to look like over the next few years," Grufferman writes, "and you'll come up with a vision for your future, which will be your personal theme. Once you have your theme, you can work on getting rid of everything in your life that doesn't fit the theme, and you will be prepared to let go of the clutter."

Even though I've got a few years before I turn 50, it sounds like great advice. So what would you say is your theme? I think mine would be Greater ecological and creative sustainability.

In Andrea Zittel fashion, actions can be divided up into pluses and minuses:

Consumerism:

More trading/bartering.

Thoughtful purchases--living with a mend it mentality. 

Buying used.

Consuming: 

Food straight from the farmer.

Homegrown and homemade.  

Expending:

Biking.

Trading.

Giving.

And living by the William Morris quote {thanks for the reminder Sarah!}:

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

Gratitude, Beauty and Happiness

I've been thinking a lot about gratitude lists and taking moments to reflect on all the positivity around me. Yesterday I heard a clip on NPR about happiness and the science behind it. I can't find a link, but they referred to this study.

Essentially the guest was discussing whether it's better to want what you have or have what you want.
Later, at home, I started looking around at all the clutter and stuff with new eyes, categorizing each thing in want/don't want. When something was a don't want, I asked myself, "Is it necessary?" If the answer was yes, then the next question, "Why don't I want it? Is it broken? Just ugly?"

Then comes, "Can I remedy the situation? Can I fix it, paint it, love it for what it is?"

I don't think the answer to happiness is being surrounded by beauty, though a well-appointed house must surely contribute to a tranquil home. I do think there must be an aesthetic balance, and I do think contemplating need is important.

So simple, so revolutionary.

If you haven't checked out DIY Thing's DIY City Mags, you must!
Deb and Wendy are super nice ladies with great eyes for design.
Go be inspired!

in all actuality there were no ski masks involved

I thought it was only appropriate, this is Wolfie and the Sneak, after all, to show Wolfgang's (top) and Bill Murray's (middle) new summer do's!

It took a little bit of getting used to, on both of their parts, but I think they're settling into the short hair, appreciating the length during all this heat!

Several weeks ago (or was it last week?) I totally lost patience in the garden and just started planting seeds with total abandon. There was just too much organization and it drove me nuts, so I tucked all the leftover Giant Midori Soybeans, Clemson Spineless Okra and Burgundy Okra seeds wherever I thought they might fit. Seems the beans are coming up best around the corn and squash. There must be something to that 3-Sisters theory after all.

Me and the Mr spent the afternoon hand watering from the rain barrels, chatting about silly stuff, and calling each other Farmer.

Kris, the neighbor, brought over a big bag of squash. BIG squash. Lots of it.
I have yet to see a squash. I'm about to have it out with them things. But we have fresh squash, she gave us a ton of it, and oh boy, I can't wait to make Farmer Chuck grill it. ahem.

Other silly antics ensued (unfortunately. . . or fortunately? none of it involved drawing) and later on that night we donned black ski masks jumped in the pick-em-up and ran about town grabbing full bags of grass clippings. Farmer C nabbed 2 by bike (Do you see that trailer? Isn't it the hottest homemade bike trailer ever?) and I got 4 by truck. The Mr. drove the getaway vehicle. We were really covert and no one called the police.

Seems I have some major mulching to do this evening. . .or maybe I'll make crackers to have with the goat cheese I'll be making tomorrow. (Do you hear my gears turning?!?)

Using grass clippings will be my first step towards permaculture, which is an exciting prospect. I have to admit, I've been composting a while, but put all of the compost down to create a new bed for the hops (which are quite happy I did that!) and didn't save any for the vegetables. But if you couldn't tell, I have enough distractions that I'm not quite fully depressed.

living a technicolor dream

Next month I'll be down in Atlanta, visiting friends and selling goods at ICE. I will also be there for the screening of Handmade Nation, which will be super neat to see, having heard so much about it. I'll also get to meed Ms Faythe Levine, face to face, after chatting back and forth for a while about a couple different projects of mine. One of those projects is sending a piece to the Handmade Nation Silent Auction, a show of amazing magnitude--check out the company I'll be in!



Really, I just thought all these pictures went together well, so actually there is no cohesive theme in today's post. Except that it's about me, I guess, since it's my blog.


So here's the green bag, out in action this past weekend, holding my jacket and wallet. The camera was glued to my face all night. Neal M.F. Harper is the kind man who introduced me to my very own kind man. He owns the World Famous Milestone. That night he also poured more alcohol into peoples' guts than I'd seen consumed in ages.

Then there's the package I recently sent to darlingest Tess. A long time ago, in a land far away (actually I still live in the same place. . .) and in what now seems like a different lifetime, there was another man in my life. One who promised me the world, one who supplied and fueled perfect dreams. . . I was young and idealistic, and believed them all, ate it up like cotton candy.
Shortly into our relationship, he moved to Japan, telling me to join him there after he settled in. I started embellishing clothes and selling them on eBay. He settled in and moved on while I kept making clothes, some from scratch, some just embellished with hand stitching and applique. I pined and pined and pined my days away by little stitches, until the pain subsided and I had a closet full of brightly colored clothed decorated in robot skull and bubbles. Soon after that, I had a local shop ask me to do a fashion show of my work, after which I gave almost everything away (binge/purge much?) but every once in a while I find a straggler. Each time I find one, I stare at it a couple days before it ends up in the constant "take it to the thrift store" pile we seem to have lately. Except this one. This one had to go to Tess. When you see it on her, you just know it was made for her. . . 4 years before we ever met.

this renovation is longueur

LONGUEUR: lawn-GUR (approximation -- this word comes from French and has sounds with no English equivalents)\ noun: a dull and tedious passage or section (as of a book, play, or musical composition) — usually used in plural

All of this housework is definitely a longueur part of my life. (How much do I love the fact that this word has sounds with no English equivalent??) I worked on the bathroom, the bedroom, and the next room, which is more of a sunny sort of alcove (perhaps a 10 x 10 room that juts off a hall). This alcove received the most attention, however, because I targeted its bare walls as a place to try out a little installation idea I have in the works.

Wall color courtesy of Home Depot's Oops ($1!!) section:

The rest of the photos were taken from the floor, where I collapsed after intensive cleaning and rearranging. Orange shell Herman Miller chair (came with Charlie, what a great deal!), huge white frame on clearance then 40% off that price at AC Moore several months ago. Framed images are Gasoline Alley comics given to Charlie as a thank you for a portrait session with the artist. Lamp acquired from my parents (I think!)

New to us corner table ($25 Craigslist, perfect condition, danish modern details) that serves as a TV stand for our Goodwill purchased TV (also $25, which is a bit steep in my mind) that is all hooked up so I can do yoga tapes!

5' x 7' $35 Orange shag rug purchased at Old Time Pottery, formerly in the bedroom. I believe it was a Target item , they often sell past season/past clearance items from Target and Wal Mart for really great prices.Hans Wagner danish rope lounge chair ("borrowed" long term from my parents!)

Evacuated

Vacation was lovely, though not entire relaxing.
I worked a little more on the bathroom - just a couple paint touch ups and it's done!! (That is, until we do the floor, if we redo the floor!!)

Did 2 freelance jobs, one of which involved hot glue guns in a bar on a Friday night. Oh the stories I could tell. . .

At the end of the week, we went to the beach for 2 days, and though the time there was limited, we caught up with my family (some immediate and some extended) and it was a wonderful opportunity to evacuate my brain of the stresses of daily living.

The trip down and home both include a lot of time driving through rural NC, and some day I would love to take that drive without concern for time, to stop and take pictures or simply absorb the air from soybean, peanut, tobacco and cotton fields. There seemed to be a limitless supply of simple farmhouses, complete with barns, fields of cows and horses, and tractors abandoned in the field after a day of harvest. The drive was just as serene as the time at the beach.

I also opened a sister shop on etsy called Wolfie Digs. It's for the vintage goods I have hoarded for just a little too long, precious little thrift store items that seemed like I just had to have them at the time, but now I feel like someone out there will really appreciate them that much more than I do, so in an effort to make that clear and calm simplicity my own, I am purging (with reasonable prices) through this new shop. It's not so much a venture to make money as it is one to make back what I've put into it. Perhaps you'll find something you love there, too?