A few more garden critters

We're finding a lot of critters in the few minutes we spend outside each week. It's so hot I have a hard time motivating Mabel to play out there and should admit that I'm pretty happy to sink into the couch for a while each afternoon, too.

We found another batch of swallowtail caterpillars, both of which are now chrysalis. Saturday night I made a sorrel tart. The sorrel, straight from the garden to the kitchen, had lots and lots of little snails which I collected in a jar. I told M we weren't going to keep them, but they're still in the jar on her work table (aka the den coffee table). I'm thinking we could become Matthews, NC's first escargot farmers.  

Tincture Thyme

This weekend Mabel and I went to the community garden to do a little digging. Since I'm the newest volunteer there, I feel best about doing hard labor over planting any of the crops, at least until I get my sea legs there. That doesn't mean I can't enjoy a little of the bounty though!

It's still early in the season to harvest any veggies, but the herbs are going bonkers. I brought a couple handfuls of thyme and about a cup of chive blossoms home to make herbal vinegars.
According to TLC Family,

"Thyme has a pronounced effect on the respiratory system; in addition to fighting infections, it dries mucous membranes and relaxes spasms of the bronchial passages.
The ability of thyme to relax bronchial spasms makes it effective for coughs, bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma. Its drying effect makes it useful to reduce the abundant watering of the eyes and nose associated with hay fever and other allergies. And gargling with thyme tea can reduce swelling and pus formation in tonsillitis.
Thyme combats parasites, such as hookworms and tapeworms, within the digestive tract. It is also useful to treat yeast infections."

Chives have less medicinal value, but are high in Vitamins A and C as well as folic acid, sulfur, and iron. If you haven't tried a chive blossom before, they're in the onion family, so they have a mild onion taste, but also a surprisingly pleasant note of garlic. The chive blossom vinegar will be the perfect addition to homemade salad dressings.

It's fairly simple to make an herbal vinegar. For the chive blossoms I followed the recipe in Grow Great Grub. For the thyme vinegar I followed pretty much the same process:

1. Sterilize your jar,
2. Thoroughly wash and pat dry the herbs, stuff them into the sterilized jar. 
3. With the chive blossoms I warmed white wine vinegar and covered the chives, but with thyme I wanted to reap the enzymatic benefits of  apple cider vinegar in conjunction with the thyme so I didn't heat it.
4. Cap the jar with a layer of wax paper to prevent the metal to come in contact with the potentially corrosive vinegar.
5. Steep the herbs for several weeks. Give 'em a good shake or two each day. After at least 2 weeks you can strain the vinegar from the herbs for storage or leave the herbs and just strain off the vinegar as you use it.

down wind of chemical stench

My lengthy dislike for Scotts MiracleGro products started when I was just getting interested in gardening. Scotts was suing TerraCycle for using green and yellow on their packaging, though I never really believed that was all it was about. Perhaps a small start up company with a great idea for reused packaging and simple organic ingredients was putting a hurting on a major corporation's profits. Whatever it was, Scotts image seemed like the popular football star stuffing a nerdy kid in a locker.

Companies like Scotts promote chemical use in the garden, persistent chemicals that perpetuate reliance for gigantic yields and "weed-free" gardens. They promote the idea that a singular plant (grass) is the only acceptable basis of a beautiful, lush yard. A single variety plant space, such as a weed free lawn, is known as a monocrop, and a monocrop's lack of diversity can create all sorts of issues that need other synthetic products to resolve.

I won't get into the many uses of weeds...well maybe for just a second--some of those weeds might replace your prescription medicine, others could be pulled up and used to make an organic plant food, yet others simply feed the wildlife in your yard. Perhaps if the critters had natural forage they wouldn't go after your tomatoes and you wouldn't need that Scotts brand pesticide after all.

The more I learn about gardening, the more I learn that popular kid in the green and gold uniform had a few unsavory secrets. Enter stage left: Monsanto, wealthy, smooth-talking hip best friend to Scotts. Monsanto's own GMO-tainted politics does nothing to endear me to Scotts. 


To put my feelings into perspective, let's talk about something most people have some level of concern about: the honeybees. We've all heard about the rapid decline of bee populations and what will happen if they keep mysteriously dying. Bees an accessible environmental issue: less bees, less pollination, less productive crops, less food, higher food prices, food shortages...you get the idea. Scotts sells all sorts of weed killer monocrop the hell out of your yard. Make it all grass, get rid of that nasty clover...that nasty clover that bees find so useful as a source of food. Yeah, food, that little thing that keeps us all alive. Of course, Scotts' BFF Monsanto, the company that sues farmers whose crops have accidentally cross-pollinated with Monsanto GMO crops. The GMO crops that may or may not contribute to the decline of bee populations, certainly contributing to the loss of monarch butterfly populations (another handy insect that pollinates plants).

And then the National Wildlife Federation announced its partnership with Scotts. Frankly I took the news personally. I felt like an old friend went and made out with the dude that used to tease me every day about being flat-chested. Betrayal.


How do you feel about the partnership? Care, don't care, wish I'd saved my breath for some pretty furniture and lovely pictures?

* * *


You Grow Girl and Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens discuss the new partnership on their blogs.

Gardening Chit Chat

My oldest brother reminded me that it's a good time to pick up some soil sample kits from our local cooperative extension office. Consider this an annual PSA: send off soil samples now, so when the ground thaws you'll know what you need in order to balance your soil nutrients!

Those of you in Mecklenburg County can pick up soil sample kits at these fine locations.

While discussing gardening, I read a few articles on the topic yesterday:
Poisonous food and how agricultural chemicals hurt people at every point in the growing process.
Seeds, who owns them and what you can do with them.

Both articles strengthen my resolve to produce more of our own food this year. If you're new to gardening and interested in a super easy way to get started in filling your belly with homegrown goodness, check out Biophilia {images from Biophilia's site}. 

Biophilia is Danielle, a NC-based permaculture designer. Her shop makes it easy to jump right into a more sustainable lifestyle through gardening and producing your own healthy food.

A brief intro to our indoor composting station

In case you haven't noticed, we take our compost pretty seriously. There's a worm bin in the kitchen, and passive piles (sometimes hot...but to be honest I haven't had much time to keep turning them so they're passive for now) in the yard. The chickens do a lot of compost work by eating veggie scraps, but we don't give them spent coffee grounds, onions, garlic and a few other things; our worms get those.

The worm bin, though was too awkward for our new kitchen arrangement. In order to get into some of the cabinets the bin had to be moved, and worms don't particularly care to be bothered with that. They like to have little by way of change, so I'd been considering a vertical worm bin for some time. We'd kept them going for 3 years in the storage tote bin, I finally decided it was time to move them to something a little fancier: a Worm Factory. Lucky for me, I know a guy.

I got in touch with my friend (and fellow Master Composter) Stefan and ordered the Worm Factory and a bokashi bucket. {Because if you're going to have worms in your kitchen you might as well have fermenting waste as well, right?}

Bokawha? Bokashi is an anaerobic form of composting. You're basically fermenting the food scraps. I thought we should add that to our composting repertoire because you can add bones and dairy to the bokashi bin.

Adding meat to my diet way back when created a new challenge for our household food waste. Before, when there was meat in our house, it was only Charlie's meals and I wasn't a fan of touching/preparing the stuff, so everything was of the heat-and-serve variety that no longer resembled the formerly living creature it once was. No skin, no bones, no fat to cut off.

Now, though, the meat comes straight from the farmer; it looks like meat, there are bones, there is skin, there is fat. Usually trimmed fat and skin go to the furry kids, but bones pose a risk so they are sometimes used for broth preparation, but ultimately go to the landfill.

After little rearranging in the kitchen, the worms are in their new home and the bokashi has started a-brewing. I'll keep you filled in as things progress, but for now I love the fact that I can open the cabinets without shifting everything around. A bonus for the new set up? The two new bins take up less space than the old worm bin alone!

Oh, this new old thing?

I spent a little time over the holiday break working on home projects that weren't on the agenda. This particular one started by cleaning out a closet, finding a piece of upholstery that was about 7 yards long and wondering what I'd  bought it for. I couldn't and still can't remember. Surely it was a great price, though? As far as the fabric goes, I think it's a polyester faux brown pony hide sort of texture, but it's soft and almost velvety. Very very comfy.

Like all good procrastinators tend to do with all the more important things needing to be done in mind, I set out to make a slip cover for our hand-me-down sofa. If you couldn't tell which is the better version of the sofa, it's the velvety brown version on the left. I promise the slip cover is an improvement from the worn fabric of its bygone days, despite my lack of photography skills. I didn't have enough fabric to do the pillows, so I'm still deciding what to do about them. Even before the new look we'd just keep them in a pile somewhere in the corner of the room and use bed pillows for a little extra comfort.

I'll save reupholstering those for the next bout of major house projects...you know, for when I need another excuse not to do something.

We've been enjoying the new old sofa quite a bit  since winter weather has moved in. Lots of TV time and family snuggling, plus it's nice to have a cover that can be tossed into the washer when a certain little someone decides to try out a glue stick on the furniture! Best of all? It didn't cost a new old dime!

American made goods for the DIYer/adventurist/homesteader

Although Charlie and I have decided to give each other a surround sound system rather than a bunch of small things, I keep finding things I think he'd really enjoy. Of course, sometimes I'm totally off about that zany fella, but anyway...

All of these items are American made, too! What do you think? Have an adventurist/homesteader spouse for whom you need gift ideas? Here are the sources:

mako bike tool 

tool and tack gift set

betabrand cornucopia bag 

wood and faulk stool

otter wax standard essentials set
raleigh denim

Even though Petals & Pedals is in limbo (continue on? leave it alone as a nice memory?), I still find myself thinking throughout the week about what would be an interesting and experiential Friday post.


Well, several weeks ago we ran out of dish detergent for the dishwasher. I had on-hand the supplies to make laundry detergent, so I wondered if there was a recipe for something similar for dishes. Lo and behold, Homemade had the answer I was looking for.

I've tried variations since then, but the first batch was my favorite (and is now my go-to) recipe:
equal parts Borax and Washing Soda** for the dish powder, add white vinegar to the rinse aid compartment. With the powder you simply mix them together. I added about 10 drops of lemongrass essential oil to the powder and mixed it again. It made a heavy lemon smell, but not overpowering...I'm pretty sensitive to fragrance and it didn't give me a headache or anything. You can add some baking soda for an extra boost, but I actually prefer to leave the baking soda out.
 

All in all, I think the recipe that works for you depends on whether your water is hard or soft. This site has some good recipes to play around with.  Mix up a small batch and test it out 2 or 3 times, then try another variation.

**If you're unable to find washing soda, try looking at the pool supplies. That giant plastic container in the back is sodium carbonate, aka washing soda. We found it at one of those liquidation centers towards the end of summer last year.

The 3 day intensive potty training approach was a little more stress than we were prepared for (M included!) so we did a little more of a casual take and had one total success! We'll get there, but just take our time with it and try not to cause any toilet traumas in the meantime.

C took off for the morning on Saturday to go bass fishing. He came home with a cooler full of fish. As he scaled and filleted them I asked if he felt more manly*. He wasn't sure he did, but while we were eating the tasty dinner of fish tacos he made, he said, "Yeah. I feel pretty manly." Without turning this into a sexist conversation about macho behavior, I'd like to state for the record I would feel pretty *strong, self-confident, and proud if I'd provided such a feast for the family, too, and I just might proclaim, "I feel pretty womanly."

I had a few free moments (that's how I work these days, in free moments) to print up an alphabet poster I made from cutting and pasting hand drawn fonts from other projects. The world may not need another alphabet poster, but Mabel needs one, so why not share, right?

How Persistent is Persistent?

As a Master Composter, I'm part of an email circle with others in the program, and a recent one was from a man who planted a garden to feed his limited income family. He was writing to find out what sort of remediation would get his field back to a gardening state. Without publishing the entire email, he is, in short, frustrated.

I have got a ruined field that I spent two plus years creating from a wooded plot. Two years of incredibly backbreaking work, thousands of dollars for tree removal, fencing, etc -  not too mention months of seedling care, soil amending six plus months of rock and stone removal, etc.

The main suspect? Persistent herbicide. There are a handful of herbicides used on pasture/livestock forage, grain fields and some vegetable crops. Since they're approved for horse and livestock pastures, they're consumed (along with all those vitamins and minerals that make meat so tasty), passed through the animal in pee and poop and still remain active  even after the grass clippings and animal waste have been composted. The chemicals remain in the soil, and are taken up and redistributed by rainfall. Breakdown can take anywhere from 30 days to several years. **

Now there's a new herbicide in the neighborhood, one called Imprelis. It's currently available to lawn care professionals for weed prevention, but Scotts Miracle Gro is working with DuPont (Imprelis manufacturer) to develop a home-scale application, one approved for the lawn loving home owner.

The USCC [US Composting Council] is informing the composting industry and consumers that grass from treated lawns could end up in a compost pile, and unlike most herbicides, Imprelis will survive the composting process and still be active in the finished compost. *

Currently Imprelis has a 9 page instruction booklet. As it becomes available to the public, however, I'm wondering how obvious the warnings will be.

“One problem is that the warning is on page 7 of a 9 page label,” remarked Dr. Stuart Buckner, Executive Director of the USCC, “and unfortunately not everyone reads or follows the label. We are requesting the USEPA initiate a special review of the registration due to the likelihood of residual herbicide levels in compost damaging non-target plants.”*

Does that mean I shouldn't drive around town collecting bags of grass clippings for my compost? Should I find out who does the landscaping for lawns immediate to ours and see what sort of herbicides they use? How persistent is persistent?

How many people read warning labels? How many people know what goes into the trash, recycling, and what should be taken to hazardous waste? How many people care that the grass they put at the curb is picked up by the city for compost, and irresponsible disposal of "tainted" waste could end up in my food?

I found this article to be well-written and informative.

* Quotes from the US Composting Council statement on their website compostingcouncil.org.

**NC Cooperative Extension Herbicide Carryover

Change and Progress: Gaining Plenty

Before I ended up holed up inside for 3 days, I made a little chart for documenting resolution progress. You can click on the worksheet you want to use, or find links to them on the downloads page.

We {actually, C} worked on the chair a little more. I found out I was approved for my permaculture design certificate {Can I get a woot woot? What, you're not still stuck in the nineties like I am?} and getting all geared up for the Gardening Like a Forest workshop with Dave Jacke.

What else is goin on? 
Abbey is having a Valentine's giveaway.
Poppytalk kicks off Winter Colours Week with RED!
I'm enjoying Mothering magazine via Progressive Pioneer, and {thanks to her recommendations} have a long list of books to check out from the library.

How was your weekend? Whatcha got on your radar for the week?

Being cheap never felt so good!

We had an emotionally difficult weekend, mostly due to exactly what caused this rant. And while I left it so vague to drive the point home to anyone who may not have thought about the place for technology in a still-polite society, it was "inspired" by things going on in our home life. I'm sure, you, dear readers, know your manners, though. Please don't take the rant personally. It's all part of purging the toxicity.

All that turmoil aside, as emotion settles into goals for the future, we had an incredible, quiet, cozy, satisfying {. . . you get the point, right?} weekend. No going out to fancy restaurants or expensive movies, just quiet time at home with hobbies and each other.

Funny enough, our hobbies are frugal approaches to luxury goods. Chemical-free, naturopathic medicine from the fancy health food store? Nah. Healthy snacks all wrapped in hermetically sealed bags shipped from California (or who knows where) that line the upper shelves of the grocery store whispering, "Buy me! I'm good for you! I'll make you feel good about snacking!" Yummy! But no, thanks. Just how long have you been trapped in that little plastic bag? Micro-brewed beer at $5 a pint? Hmmm, yeee. . .nope.

Charlie started a bock beer, this time experimenting with adding a little rosemary. {If you grow rosemary you know it's one of those things you can never use up.}

I put the elderberries into watered down Everclear to preserve their beneficial properties, now I just need to shake it up everyday until it's time to strain out the pulp and save the liquid for cold and flu season. At that point I'll divide it into 2 bottles, add honey to one and leave the other unsweetened. We used Honey Gardens Apitherapy's elderberry elixir when our house got the summer cold that was going around; it was amazing! C took it as he started feeling the aches and never got the full-blown cold. I took it the day the cold hit full-force and it was gone the next day. M was too young for honey, though. At $12 a bottle {and you use one 4 oz. bottle a day} we aren't really in the position to keep buying it, so this {I hope!} will be a more frugal fix.


I took the peaches and apples in the fridge that we kept forgetting about, peeled 'em, sliced 'em, and stuck them in the new old food dehydrator. {We found one at an estate sale that has a thermostat and a fan in it! Super fancy! Out goes the old new old one!} No little plastic pouches to toss out, either! In fact, the natural packaging {read: the peels} they came in went straight to the chickens as a sweet treat that will become poop to nourish the fig trees.


When everything is all said and done, the beer is in the bottles and we're chowing down on some sweet dried fruit long after the oppressive summer heat has dissipated into a cool, reinvigorating fall, we'll still have these skills. The metaphorical black cloud will lift and we'll still have each other. We'll toast the life changes that reminded us to focus on the good things all around.

Cheers to being cheap! It never felt so good!

I had so much fun working on today's post on Modish I want to do more more more recycled outdoor projects like every single pallet project Eren has completed recently. That table and those casters. . .*sigh*! Are chandeliers a new theme?

Then there is this lacy little number I found for a song in Trellis' shop. It's going to be part of next week's project. . . and has a little something to do with another recent theme.

Happy Friday folks! Are you planning on playing outside?

I'm amazing {at least for the next 15 minutes}

Ignore the fact that M seems to have a cat hair stuck on her face and the scratch on her forehead. We do take care of her, I promise.

Now, look at that outfit. Handmade. By me! Yes, you read that correctly! I finished a project! Amazing. Gasp for breath. I know!

What you see here is a little girl that hates getting dressed and undressed. She smiles and laughs 95 % of the time. The other 5% of the time is when we're wrestling to change her clothes and she screams. Shrieks, actually.




What we have here is a shirt that unbuttons so it slips on easily and quickly without wrestling with tiny arms to get them through the arm holes with a skirt that goes on in about 2 seconds flat, before M even realizes what is going on.

I don't know how I did it, but I'm amazing.

At least until it's time to change her again.

{The shirt is vintage fabric I bought on eBay for who knows what reason (maybe bored at work?) and the skirt is made out of one of Flytrap's fantastic napkins. I made a frog one for M's friend Vera and I have 2 more for another project.}

This should be heading my way. . . though I'm still reading Food Not Lawns, Gaia's Garden, and the newest addition to my learning curve collection: Beekeeping: a practical guide.

Though I have a few small philosophical differences with Food Not Lawns, it's exactly what I needed in terms of reinforcing my ecological beliefs.

A few weeks ago, Pat with the Cornell Lab wrote and asked if it was okay if she send along news and events related to their work. Not only was it really cool to have her write (I felt special! though I'm sure she wrote a lot of people), it was also great to have the opportunity to sign on and spread the word to you, dear friends.

Well, I got my first email from her and it's about Project Feeder Watch. You schedule certain times into your day to watch your feeder (and after our experience this past summer it won't take long for you to remember to go check it out, and the few minutes you intend to sit and watch will probably turn into hours) and track what you see and when. They send you some goodies to help make identification a little easier, and if you capture some pictures of your visitors, you can share those with them as well! Perhaps I'm geeking out over this a little too much, but if I see a Shirley and you don't, you'll be the one with some ruffled feathers.

Well friends, I am officially poor for a little while. I'm happier than a bug in a rug about it, too. See, I've had a credit card on my shoulders for a long long (looooooooong time), and today is the day. The day I'm paying the balance off.
In all actuality, I should be bound to the MasterCard a little while longer, but yesterday as I checked in to see how much I owed, I noticed the auto pay feature had been turned off. Perhaps I had changed the settings or checked on it and accidentally didn't click the right button, who knows. But I do know every time I logged on to check my auto pay, I had to click through a very inconvenient series of screens to even find the auto pay feature. I was always leery of Bank of America for that. They have a savvy enough web design team to know ease of use.
Anyway, I would've had 2 more weeks of debt, with easy little payments, but since the feature "mysteriously" wasn't set, I noticed my payment was late. My first late payment in 3 years.

My credit is not so hot, but getting better, and this late payment will not be good. I've especially realized this since our house hunt several months ago. NOT GOOD. My interest rate was at the highest end of the spectrum (nearly 30%), causing over 10 years of battle with that little piece of plastic.

Of course, trying to buy a house will wedge your eyes open with toothpicks, making you stare unwillingly at your credit report. We had both been working on improving our credit for a long long time, so adding a $30 late fee was the tipping point. I talked to Mr. C, dissolved any spending temptation in my eyes, and scheduled a payment to pay the beast off.

I will keep it and buy gas once a month and pay it off every month. I will not use it for anything else. I will not give BoA another dollar in interest. Maybe one day I will figure out how much I've simply handed them because I was too sloppy with my money.


But I should be thankful. This is an excuse to talk about debt and talk about some of the steps I'm taking to get financially grounded. Don't worry, there won't be ongoing talk about this, but in the arts/crafts world, financial security just isn't a priority. We're used to being "starving artists", and used to that label entitling us to accrue debt until we "make it."

But just because I'm poor doesn't mean I can't tempt you with some debt-related goodies:

Obsessive Consumption--Kate Bingamen-Burt knows what debt is all about. Her fame supersedes my little ol' blog, so I'm sure you've heard of her and maybe you even have a few zines or pillows. If I weren't so poor, a framed drawing would be my treat to myself.


I'll just sneak a little door prize in here right about now: if you're visiting and working on debt, or simply frugal, share a debt-alleviating tip or a moment that made your realize you had to get out from under the man's giant credit card thumbprint. I've got 4 goodies to giveaway today, and I'm bent on doing it! Think of it as a party favor!

Things to keep me on the path:
Bit by bit I've been removing my name from e-mail lists--especially from shops and blogs that tempted me into buying. Hey, it gave me 10 extra minutes a day to blog or draw or daydream on flickr!
kelly LOVES whales: Recession Chic! One year strong.
Use what you have. Make your own cleaning supplies, don't let food go bad. Less waste is not only eco-sensible, it's frugal.
Grow your food. Save your seeds for next year. Make compost, mulch with stuff that breaks down relatively quickly and use what you've got. Why buy when you can DIY??

Right now, CSAs are out of the budget. Although they're well worth it (investing in a local economy, quality food, knowing your food provider) we haven't been in a place where we could afford signing up for one. What is a health food nut to do? If you have a plant loving friend, offer to take over their yard, you garden, they get to look good, you both get food! No community garden fees. With our limited sun, we are days away from making this offer to a friendly neighbor.

Ride a bike, walk the dogs, go on walks to explore your neighborhood. You don't need a gym membership, I promise. Just incorporate exercise into living; when in the world did we stop doing that anyway?

These homes are modestly decorated (understated maybe a better word than modest) via Emma's Design Blogg. If we could ever get out of the kitchen and get some cleaning done, I bet our house would look like a first cousin to some of these.

Design Freebies

Free Printable Fun

CreditBloggers has some answers.

Parks, libraries, potlucks 'n picnics. Borrowing, bartering, sharing, combining, carpooling, and Craigslist. Freestores and clothing swaps, yard sales are cheaper than thrift stores, too. Retrain your brain and open your eyes to creative potential.

Hello Monday, you sad sop of a beast.

Okay, actually Monday isn't that bad, but why isn't the weekend longer? It's like one of those falling dreams, that always seems to happen just as you're dozing off, and your body reacts and jaunts you awake.

I just want another few minutes of nap, Monday, just wait a few more hours for the work week to begin again.

This past weekend wasn't car free at all, which I missed badly. No long bike rides. I spent Friday night with my sister at the bookstore (and left with Lena Corwin's new book as well as a Sarah Vowell book on the super-clearance table for $3!), then Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market, talking food with anyone who'd lend an ear. I went home with a bag of yellow peaches, Bosky Acres Chevre (that tastes a lot like cream cheese--it's my newest addiction, so so good), fresh eggs, and garlic. Not a whole lot, but all of it is 100% flavor.

A little cooking, including biscuits stuffed with a honey/chevre filling and Sunday morning pancakes smothered in fresh fruit from the wild blueberry patch down the street and peaches from the farmer's market. A little computer time, adding to W&tS one of what will be a series of pinhole images Hi-C took with his growing collection of homemade pinhole cameras. It's amazing to watch the process--so foreign and fascinating to me.

This article, via please sir, is a perfect pairing with my Modish post on Friday. Is it a reaction to modern events such as the war in Iraq and Al Gore's popular movie?

With this ongoing theme of paring down, I have some exhilarating news (for me, at least) to share:
As of tomorrow, my 11 year old credit card* will be paid off, after an extensive battle with a 24.9% finance rate. Yes, folks, you read that right. My interest was actually that high.

I also just noticed one of my flickr contacts now has an etsy shop. She's partnered up with her friend Vicki, and they opened their art photography shop last week. Go check it out--her eye for color and texture is amazing, and I love that they're offering larger sizes, too! You'll love the timelessness of each piece, I promise!

*This was a card I signed up for because the store I was working for had a MasterCard promotion, and the corporate owners pressured the managers to have a certain percentage of customers sign up for the card. Obviously not many people go for that gimmick, so all of us employees signed up for them. At 19, it was my "new clothes fund". I have used it less than 5 times in the past 5 years--if that gives you any inkling of what a battle it has been for me.

In celebration of the financial freedom I will gain tomorrow, there will be giveaways!
Are you ready?

Phew! I finished--finally! I know it doesn't look like at lot of work, but I had some serious issues making decisions and trying to get the recipe cards to look a little bit old and grimy vintage, and somewhat original.

If you would like them as a pdf, email nobiting {the at symbol} gmail {period} com, and I'll be glad to send it to you FREE!


And then some little gems in the garden, from exploring the world through a bug's eye view.
(Which is something of a tiny thread like hint for today's post on Modish)

Looks like I'll be going back Chicago!

Renegade Chicago, with one of my favoritest gal pals, September 13 and 14! Woohoo!
Jess--Can we call it the Southern Belle Tour? Cause I think if you're looking at houses, you're officially suh-thurn.

AND. Califone will be playing.
This makes for one very happy girl.


and now some questions of philosophical nature:

Just how attached are you to your cell phone? At the end of the month I'm letting my plan run out. I'll keep the phone for 911 calls, which I'll hopefully never need to use. Did you know even if your cell phone doesn't have service you can still use it for 911?
Anyway, I flounder back and forth thinking "I need it!" then thinking of how long I made it without one. I don't like having to keep up with it, so once the void of "Crap! Where's my phone" is filled, I will feel better. *I think* Could you live without all these gadgets that not so long

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.