Potting Table in Progress....

This is the potting bench, in progress (view #1 on the left, view #2 on the right, along with the Hubbs).  

Jessica the chicken "helping... the finished table.  Hubbs wants to add another shelf under the top one, but I'm going to live with it and see if it's necessary.  LOVE IT!!!

Challenge: Days 25-29

Dang, sorry!  I know I haven't  posted since Monday, so here's the scoop.

Day 25:  I got my assistant a gift.  She likes to do cooking activities with our class and she was eying a cookbook at the Book Fair, so I got it for her.  She loved it.

Day 26:On Wednesday I had a good conversation with my new boss.  She is feeling a little "out of the loop" so I made sure to talk about some stuff that is coming up that she may not know about yet.  We tend to plan things, let everyone know, then not really send out reminders as things come up, so this is not really surprising, and nobody means to not let her know things, but she was not here for the start of the plans going on now, so she wasn't notified.  This is rectified now.  

Day 27:On Thursday, my new boss went to a meeting with our big boss, and I reassured her about the things she wanted to talk to him about.  This was her first meeting with him, and he's not always an open book.  

Day 28:On Friday, I gave a coworker a ride to work.  Her car is giving her a lot of problems lately, and I know how that feels!  Anyway, we had a lovely chat on the way to work.  I might try to institute an occasional ride together just for the chat.

Day 29: Today I made sure my daughter and I did something fun.  We've been financially strapped a lot lately, so we went to the bookstore and had a nice drink and looked at magazines and books.  I have really curtailed my book-buying over the last year.  Kaleigh went to the pet store and took pictures of adorable kittens and puppies.  Typical.

I also cleaned out my closet this morning.  I mean REALLY cleaned it out.  Ruthlessly.  I took everything out, and tried it on before deciding whether to keep, toss or donate.  If I haven't worn it in the last couple of months (except for cold-weather items), I donated it.  If it didn't look good or fit properly, I donated it.  As the donation pile got bigger, it got easier to do.  Anything that needed alterations went into another pile--ONLY if I was sure I would do the alteration.  Anything that was worn out went into the toss pile.  Very liberating.  If the item made the cut, I went back into the closet where it belonged.  I put my work clothes on the left (outfits together on the hanger), odd stuff in the middle with dresses, dress clothes on the right, and jackets, sweaters and winter coat on the far right.  I'm not kidding when I say I have about 1/3 of what I had hanging in there yesterday.  I immediately took the donate stuff to Goodwill, and threw out the garbage.  I even got rid (GASP!) of several pair of shoes.  While I'm not a proponent of that, I figure it makes room for new shoes.  Okay, not exactly ROOM, but you get my meaning.  

Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the sewing room.  I'm a very messy sewer (seamstress, not something to do with sewage), and I want to get the room ready for the things I want to work on for Christmas presents.  I have lots of quilt tops too, so I'd like to get some of those done.  

Tomorrow I'm also going to pull out my green bean plants, they are eaten up by something.  I have no idea what, but they look awful.  The squash never had ANY female flowers, only male flowers, so I didn't get ONE, SINGLE SQUASH!  Damn it!  Very disappointing.  Especially since I couldn't figure out why so I didn't learn anything to do differently next time.  My passion plant has caterpillars on it--this is absolutely the mark of success.  That means they will eat some leaves, but I will have more butterflies, which is a wonderful thing.   The world needs more miracles, and butterflies are miracles for sure.  

My Weekly Garden Center Haul...

I just got home from my weekly trip to Lowe's and I also stopped by Walmart's garden center that's across the street from Lowe's.  

I got four very nice bright green Coleus for 25 cents each, and they look great.  They don't look at all past their prime.  

I got four vincas for 25 cents each also, and they look a little leggy, but they always come back nicely, and you really almost CAN'T kill them.  They are pink. 

At Walmart I found four leggy white pentas.  They are pretty.  I'm thinking I'm going to cluster all these plants in groups in my cottage garden.  I guess that means I need to start digging out a bed tomorrow.  The plumbagos I got last week are still in pots and they need to be planted too.  I'm going to transplant some salvias into the bottle bed tomorrow, and use the pot for something else.   I also need to transplant my key lime tree into another pot as it falls over every time it rains. 

I said earlier that there were benefits to styling the garden either rows or cottage style.  I think I want to lay them out here so I can make a decision about how I want to start working tomorrow.  Nothing like a last minute decision.  But... the good news is that if I hate it the way I do it, I can just dig everything up and plant it the other way.  Soooo.... here we go.

Cottage Garden--clusters of different plants here and there.  All of it mulched between plants.  A few garden decorations here and there.  I have a small collection of birdhouses, and I want to make a (fake) bee skep for in there also.  The benefits to this type of garden is that it lends itself to the way I garden and buy plants.  Now and then, here and there, a little random.  Also, and not the least of which, this is the way nature works.  Nature has never planted a row of anything.  It would also be a lot easier to build this garden as I go.  Plant what I have in the space I have, then dig up the next space.  Add fruits and vegetables here and there, even a raised bed or pots look good in this style.  Also I can add pavers here and there in a meandering path.  I like that.  I'm a little crooked myself. 

Row Garden--this isn't really like a farmer's row garden, more like orderly rows of different plants.  This appeals to me because I like to think I'm organized and this looks organized.  I'm thinking as a guideline, 2 foot rows planted between 2 foot walkways.  The beds will be mulched, an the walkways will be different materials in each one.  Maybe gravel in one, then pavers in the next one.  I can build this one as I go also, adding a row at a time, but since I buy plants a few at a time, and usually on clearance, the choices are sometimes limited (sometimes there's only a few of each plant) and I'm not sure how that's going to look in rows.  

Wow, that didn't help at all.  But I have made a decision after all.  I think I'm going with the cottage garden style.  I like nature.  She's done things her way for a few years without me trying to force her into submission, and I already have some raised beds if I'm feeling like I need orderly squares or rows.  

Decision made.  

I'm feeling a lot better today about everything.  Some issues have resolved themselves with some help, for which I am so thankful I can't even express it yet.  I got a good night's sleep, which can only help any situation.

Enough of that.  

I went out to work in the garden this morning, it's cool out (as cool as Orlando gets in September), and overcast.  All the rain lately has been doing wonders in the garden, so there was truly nothing to do.  Everything looks great, is growing wonderfully, there aren't many weeds, nothing needed to be fertilized, so I just puttered around--checking everything out, and thinking about where I'm going to put the lasagna beds. 

There's a couple of options there.  I can do them English cottage style, with the whole area mulched and plants here and there,  and walkways meandering through. The plants will fill in as they grow this way, and I love the way this looks.  I will also add decorations here and there (not too many).  Or I can do orderly rows with different types of plants and walkways between.   The paths will be added as I need them, with whatever materials I come across when I'm ready to make them.   I feel I may be describing this in a little bit "grander" terms than I really need to because the area isn't very big.  It's the strip of grass between my driveway and the neighbor's yard.  It's maybe 10 ft. by 30 ft. not including the area I already have my raised beds in.  There are benefits to both ways.  

While I was thinking, I did pull some basil off the plant and stick it into the dirt in my large herb pot.  That works well, and I have a bare area in there.  The salvias are really looking pretty, even the ones that seemed like they weren't going to make it a couple of weeks ago.  I put them into a pot, but they are rallying.  No flowers on those yet, but the leaves look good and healthy.  

I've never had any luck with cucumbers and squash in the raised beds, so this year I decided to try something different.  I planted one squash and two cucumbers in the beds, and planted one squash and a two different varieties of cucumbers in pots to see if that made any difference.  I have also been using my homemade fertilizer (***Recipe Below***) on them religiously, and they are all looking really good.  The cucumbers in the boxes aren't growing very big, but they are flowering, and I've been making a point to hand fertilize them, and I think we have had more rain than they like, but they are looking pretty good, if small.  The ones in the pots are all doing well, but they are still little babies.  As for the squash, they are going berserk!  Growing like crazy in the box and the pot, and I see LOTS of flowers, which I will also try to hand pollinate just to make sure.  I LOVE CUCUMBERS AND SQUASH.

***Home made fertilizer-- I keep a large jar (probably two quarts) on my counter, fill it halfway with water, and crush up any egg shells I come across and throw them in as well as my coffee grounds and tea bags and let them all stew for a couple of days.  I shake it up every now and then and put it into a large watering can, fill it up the rest of the way with water and use it on the vegetables in the garden.  I truly believe this has made the difference in my garden this year.  

When I came in from the garden I cleaned up the kitchen.  Not nearly as fun, but necessary and a clean kitchen makes me feel good.  My lesson plans are done for this week and tentatively next week, all my things for work are done, so I can just be domestic and calm this weekend. 

Just like I planned.

It's My Birthday!

I've always been a big fan of my birthday.  So much so that I used to (even as a grownup) remind everyone around me how many shopping days were left until then--starting on August 1st.  Pretty obnoxious, I know.  Not that I care very much about the presents (although they are nice, don't get me wrong!), but it's just a whole day that I can be as eccentric, funny, silly, and self-centered as I want to and nobody can say anything about it....it's my birthday after all.  I've been known to wear a tiara all day, but not this year.  

Today I'm planting my lime seeds.  I soaked them all night in warm water, that makes them germinate faster (or so I read).  Later I'm going out to lunch with Brett, who is in the navy and is home visiting this weekend.  Looking forward to it.

So I got up and did a little pinning on Pinterest.  Mostly for my classroom, but here and there I come across something I need to see again later--like dwarf nigerian goats.  Someday....

Watering the garden this morning I noticed a BIG, FAT bumblebee pollinating my salvias--I love to see helpers in the garden.  There are also several little tiny toads out there, they are so cute.  I've also been seeing a lot of different butterflies, including zebrawing and gulf flitteraries.  They are a little unusual, and only feed on certain flowers, so it's interesting to see them here.    

I'm not sure if I've ever truly written about this on my blog, but I think I'll just outline my five year plan for my life.  Whether or not I'm here in this house, the plan is basically the same.  I consider myself a suburban homesteader--I garden (although not enough to feed myself), preserve foods, love to sew and do DIY projects within reason.  Kaleigh and I cook almost everything from scratch these days, and I'm very frugal (by necessity and preference).  

My plan is to expand on all these things over the next five years, to include making the garden larger, including a large herb and flower bed, as well as more vegetables.  Maybe enough to feed K. and myself.  I will be getting chickens as soon as K and I can get a coop built, which I have most of the materials for already.  Like I said, I'm pretty frugal so gathering materials can be slow while I wait for deals.  I'm anxious to get some girls, so I may cave and just buy a coop.   I'm thinking four chickens is a good number.  Several different varieties.  I want them for eggs, not meat, so I think it's okay to have different varieties and name them. 

Eventually I would like two girl goats (mini or dwarf), if I ever have a big enough yard.  They will be good for milk, cheese and predator control for the chickens.  

I need a good potting bench and area to work outside, I'd love an outdoor kitchen--it could be very basic.  I'd like to do more canning and freezing of produce that I grow.  I dabble at this time, but I'd like to really get into it.  

I love my fruit trees, and I'd like to add several more.  At least another lemon tree, another lime tree, several orange trees.  I love grapefruit too, but they take too long to set fruit, I don't know if I will still be here when that happens (in this house, I mean).   I'd like to also add some blackberry bushes somewhere, although I don't have a lot of sunny yard, so that may not be possible here.  Maybe on the side of the house.

I need to set up a good drip irrigation system, but the garden is small and manageable now, and I don't want to have to set it up, then change it in a year when things get bigger.  So until I expand the garden, that won't really be happening.  

When I do expand the garden, I would really like to cover the entire area next to my driveway up to my neighbor's yard with mulch and make raised beds for vegetables and a cottage garden type setup for herbs and flowers and strawberries here and there.  I can strategically place my fruit trees in there (I want to keep them in pots so they can come inside for freezes).  I'm not sure that will work without adding some kind of fence, which I don't want to do, but I'm still working out the details.  I do want to make sure that there are pavers for walkways (different ones in different areas).  

As far as my work life goes, it's very satisfying, and I don't foresee any huge changes there.  I'm very comfortable in my workplace and I love the people I work with--big and small.  I enjoy presenting at various conferences and other outlets, so I will continue to do that, and we'll see what other opportunities come my way.  Or what opportunities I can make.  

Cucumbers are Sprouting!

Went out to the garden this morning--things have been going on personally and I haven't been out there for a couple of days, so I thought I'd water and check things out.  I planted some cucumber seeds on Sunday (this is Wednesday!) and they are sprouting.  Almost all of them.  Very nice.  I don't have much luck with cucumbers here for some reason, so I'm really trying hard to plant different varieties, try different organic pest control applications, water the proper amount, etc.  

Like I said, things are going on personally, and I took the week off to take care of some things.  So today I'm going to get the house in order, mow the grass if it's dry enough out, and work in the garden.  I need some quiet time.  I keep reminding myself that I can't fret over everything, and sometimes things that don't seem good when they are happening, make better things come along.  I TRY to be an optimist.  

A Fresh New Start...and more Compost

I am a teacher.  A preschool teacher.  So I guess I don't have to explain why my new year starts in late August, and NOT January 1st.  I love a new school year.  Mrs. Jones (my assistant) and I have had a great first week with our new pumpkins.

Recently, I really feel like my work life is coming together the way it should.  Home life is settling down.  I'm ready to go back to concentrating on me and how I feel and what I want to do.  I am re-instituting the Year of Being Amie.  I did well with it the first time around, but life stuck it's big fat nose in and I got away from it again.  So here we go.

I'm sweaty once again.  I spent a hard hour and a half in the garden this morning.  I took some pictures but it was already so steamy out that they are completely foggy and you can barely see anything.  I'll take some more later and post them. 

I ended up planting some tomato seedlings--I grew them from seed myself, thank-you-very-much--in pots.  They look so tiny.  The "orchard" looks good, considering it's only two trees.  It's looking very garden-y out in my side yard these days.  

Below is my "orchard"--a key lime tree and a meyer lemon tree.  Love them!

Below is my green bean teepee--no green beans yet, but there are lots of flowers, meaning lots of green beans to come!

I mixed up a wheelbarrow full of planting mix, used some for the tomatoes and stored the rest in a Firehouse Subs pickle bucket for later.  I make my mix according (very loosely) to Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening recipe.  Bless Mel for figuring this out for me.  I usually throw a few shovels full of compost (more on that, my favorite gardening subject, later) into my wheelbarrow, then add several shovels full of vermiculite (which I store in a large bin in the garden area outside), and several shovels full of peat moss (which I also store in a large big on top of the vermiculite bin).  Stir it all around with my new shovel, and I use it in my raised beds and my outside pots.  Like I said, I store any extra that I haven't used yet in a five-gallon bucket.  

Compost...is there a more beautiful word in the English language?  What else illustrates the beauty of recycling better than compost?  Throw a bunch of trash in the form of food waste, dead plants, leaves, grass, animal waste (vegetarian animals only), dead yard waste, and it rots into something that helps you grow food!  It's a miracle, really.  AND, if you want to there are things you can do to speed it along...watering your pile, turning it, layering the correct ratio of green things (fresh, plant based materials) to brown things (dead, brown things), but nature does the trick all by itself, even if you do nothing.  Like I've said before--it's a fundamental law of nature--everything rots.  And of course, we humans can't help ourselves but to make a simple process complicated...with tools and thermometers, but they aren't really necessary.  

I do want to say one thing about my process.  I use a bin that I made from three old pallets (see above) and throw all my kitchen scraps in there.  I save them in the kitchen in an old plastic 5 quart ice cream tub and throw them out there when it's full--usually every 1-2 days.  My kitchen has a lot of scraps!  I put tea bags, coffee grounds, vegetable and fruit peelings, eggshells, dryer lint, and anything else that I would throw away except meat and fat.  I don't want any rodents in there!  When I dump my compost tub out there, I usually throw some dead leaves or grass or something over it so the food doesn't attract previously mentioned rodents (I know there are possums around, and squirrels, I don't want to know what else).  I don't really do anything else to this.  And as  a side note, I've read in lots of places that the pile has to "heat up" to do the work.  Mind is never hot--at least not hotter than it gets in Orlando on a summer day.  It just rots quietly.  And it DOES NOT SMELL.  Can't stress that enough.  It just smells like fresh dirt.  

That is Phase One.  Just kidding, that's just one pile.  

Phase Two (okay, maybe I wasn't kidding):  I have another compost pile right next to that one that contains finished compost.  I get some from the landfill, they have this beautiful (well, not so beautiful, but free!) pile of compost on a grassy area and there are always nice people there getting some.  I like to talk to them, much to my daughter's horror.  I don't have a truck, I have a Dodge Caliber, so I put all the bins, five-gallon buckets and whatever else I can find in the back of my car, grab my shovel and go to town (so to speak).  Yes, dirt gets everywhere in my car, but I don't care.  I also put my finished compost--mine takes about a year to stew and get done because I LITERALLY do nothing to it.    My daughter has a friend (yea, Erin!) with horses, and every now and then she drops off a huge bin of composted horse manure, and I add that to my pile of finished compost.  I've also been known to "steal" bags of dried leaves, yard waste, pine needles, etc. from my neighbors' curbs on garbage day.  Call me crazy.  In the spring, when I'm about to plant fresh, I will also buy a bag of several different kinds of compost, whatever I can find.  Mushroom compost, cow manure compost, etc.  Each of these adds different nutrients to the soil for my plants.  I use this to add a shovel full to each pot or raised bed as I replant, and to make my planting mix. 

Phase Three:  This pile is on the other side of the house, where most of  my grass is.  The reason it's there is because it's dry grass.  As I mow my lawn and the bag fills up, I dump them on the other side of my house to dry.  I just leave them there (they are out of sight of the neighbors) in a couple of piles.  As I use the most dry one for mulch (again, not pretty, but its free--I take that back, no mulch is really "pretty"), I add the fresh bags to a second pile.  When the dry pile is gone, I start using the second pile, and putting the fresh bags on the first pile.  

Phase Four:  Leaf Mold Pile.  This one is my favorite.  (I know I'm a composting nut job.)  I have a huge oak tree and other, smaller trees in my front yard, making it difficult to plant there, but giving me a true gift.  Leaves.  I rake these into another pile (behind a tree right in my front yard).  This is amazing stuff.  The dirt under it is black and spongy, and truly a gardener's dream.  When I plant a new raised bed (or bed in the ground), I get some of the stuff at the bottom of this pile and spread it in the bottom, under the planting mix or dirt.  If leaves are mixed in, I'm good with that.  Like I said, everything rots.  Eventually those leaves will nourish the plants.  

I told you this was a beautiful plan.  

This year I plan to scour the neighborhood for more of the neighbors' leaves, etc. and start a lasagna bed next to my driveway, with the goal of a cottage garden there.  Herbs, flowers, strawberries, and maybe some vegetables here and there.  It's ambitious, but it's a process.  Here's the plan:

• gather leaves, yard waste, etc.
• dig out sod, using it elsewhere in yard (low spots, etc.)
• lay down layers of brown cardboard, newspapers, etc.
• cover with free mulch.  
• start at road end (so neighbors are happy) and plant entire area with herbs, flowers, whatever I find that will look nice, and edging with strawberries.  

I think I may work on this in sections as I get materials.  Do areas 4' x 6' at a time, then moving on the next section.  This will keep my yard from sitting "naked" while I wait for materials.   I definitely garden on a budget so I can't go out and buy a yard full of plants at one time.  I'm getting pretty good at propagating plants so that's something that will help.  I do need to think about a low fence or something as a backdrop.  

Wow, this has been a long post.  Not like me at all....

Dirt Therapy. . .

I sit here at my computer this morning feeling sweaty and super-duper awesome, which is nice for a change.  My week has been rough.  Not awful, just not satisfying.  My class feels chaotic and out of control, I'm not feeling like I'm getting things done at home much, I've had a terrible gout attack this week, and I just feel a little out of it.  Not Amie at all.

So last night when I got home (Super-K is spending the weekend with a friend so I can be as self-centered as I want for a couple of days) I went out into the "garden" (it's really just a tiny part of my yard, so I was considering not calling it a garden anymore, but I changed my mind--more on that later) and started weeding, which led to watering and when I went over to turn on the water, I noticed some old concrete garden borders --not sure if that's what they are called-- behind some bushes that I've never paid any attention to.  I started pulling them out, and I remembered that I stored some more of the same kind behind the compost bin when I built that and I pulled them out too.  A disgusting job, since bugs were all over the bottom of them and they were partially buried in the dirt.  I hosed them off and they look just fine, even though one was broken, I gorilla-glued it back together.  I was feeling very resourceful at that point, so I laid them out at the end of my front walkway where there is an awkward square turn, and dug out a little area, partially buried them, and added compost and planting medium into the little bed.  Mind you, it's only about 24" x 12" in a half-moon shape, but it looks so cute.  

I've been reading a lot of homesteading and permaculture blogs (RESEARCH, PEOPLE!) and one that I read--sorry, I don't remember which one--said that if you wait for the perfect situation, you will never do anything--"start where you are".  

So I started thinking, I am lucky enough to live in a house that my parents own, so I can pretty much plant what I want, dig where I want, and I'm pretty secure in staying here awhile, if not forever, so why not just go ahead and do what I can now.  Meaning, I've been waiting until I can afford to build "several" (no specific number here) raised beds to start my little experiment, while working with the two beds and several pots I have going now, but why not plant some stuff in the ground now.  By the way, the raised beds aren't expensive, it's the planting mix that I make that is, but it will last a lifetime, all I have to do is add compost when I pull something out and replant, according to Mel Bartholomew (sp?) of Square Foot Gardening fame.  

Again with the theme of the year, "Never Underestimate the Power of Humans to Complicate Simple Things".  Plants have been growing in the ground for millions of years (no specific number on that either).  So I've been planning on building a raised bed just for herbs, but this little spot--the half moon--is so cute, all I could think of was a bunch of herbs growing there and seeing them and smelling them every time I come home and walk up to the door.  What is wrong with me?  Why do I get so hung up on how I want things to be "ideally" that I can't see what's right in front of my face?  So I have been rooting some adorable herbs in water on my kitchen window, and I'm planting them there.  There were also some little tiny basil plants that came from my old plant when it went to seed earlier than I anticipated, so I transplanted those in there.  

"Start where you are."  Valuable advice. 

So I came in last night, feeling a lot better about life in general, and this morning I decided to go out and work a little more.  Two hours later my compost bin is full of stuff that has been just hanging out waiting for me to put it in there, the coffee grounds that I get from Starbucks is spread into the garden and the compost bin, the invasive vine that my neighbors love so much and grows into my side yard like a tidal wave is cut back to their fence, I raked a crap-ton of leaves from under the oak tree and mulched the tomatoes, beans and cucumbers, and dug into my compost bin to see how my compost is doing.  This always makes me feel better.  Weird, I know.  I have also been "planning" (which I think we all know means looking at pretty pictures on the internet) to lay down layers of newspaper next to my raised beds and mulching over them for pretty paths (I guess technically that would be A PATH since my beds sit next to each other and are next to the front steps).  I picked a space where I want my potting bench to be--next to the compost bin--and dug out all the stuff that was there, and it's kind of where I've been throwing large sticks that I don't want to put into the compost bin, so it was kind of a mess.  I pulled out the sticks and stuff, cut the plants and vines back, layered on a bunch (at least 10 sheets deep) of newspaper, and covered all of it with free mulch, which is the leaves from the oak tree out front.  Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.  I wet everything down and walked around on it a little to compress it and I think it will stay put.  The area is not big--maybe 6' x 6', but it looks pretty good, and I have a place to put my potting table when I get it built. 

Which brings me to why I am sitting at my computer blogging while I'm still sweaty and dirty.  This all felt so good to me, getting out there and DOING SOMETHING, even though it didn't really change what is going on in my life right now, I feel better.  So in the spirit of starting where I am, I decided that my little garden is a garden, and I'm calling it that.  Now I have an herb garden too.  And a compost pile,  and a place for a potting bench.  I'm official.  I've planted stuff from seeds. which is my personal definition of official.  I'm sweaty, and happy and dirty.  (Although I will take a shower as soon as I finish writing this)

In doing my "research" last night, I found out that I can get free compost at the landfill, which isn't very far from where I live.  I'm going to empty out a couple of big bins that I have, and head over there with a shovel.  I wish I had a truck.  I also found out that some people around the corner raise rabbits for meat and give away free rabbit manure, so I'm going to try to connect with them too.  Good for the garden. 

I'm embracing my inner hippie.  Peace, love, and compost. 

Everything Rots Eventually, and other life lessons.

So much to say, so little time. . . . 

My plants are looking so happy out in the garden, the beans have reached the fence and are starting to grow UP it now.  The lettuce looks cute, and the tomatoes are okay, I guess.  There are a bunch of baby tomatoes on there, I guess I can't really expect them to perform like summer tomatoes. 

Last night I was reading a homesteading blog, and I decided to take another go at sourdough starter.  Kaleigh and I are making bread pretty regularly now, so I want to give it another try.  After reading this particular book and recipe, I realized I was trying to do too complicated a process.  It's kind of like compost.  Once I got over the idea that it had to be complicated, I had a revelation--EVERYTHING ROTS EVENTUALLY.  Without my help.  This is a fundamental truth of the universe.  So pile crap up in a corner of the yard and it will happen.  And guess what?  It happened.  Without my help.  Never underestimate a human's capacity for making something natural complicated.  But I digress.  My point is, all I REALLY have to do is mix flour and warm water and feed it every day, and wait.  It will happen.  Without my help. 

Last night our cable went out for what I assume was most of the evening, and I had to resort to figuring something else out to do.  I think it was the last straw in the cable's back, so to speak.  I had such a pleasant evening after I figured out what to do.  AND I GOT A LOT DONE.  Figures.  I think the time has come for me to part ways with cable.  I will miss Sons of Anarchy, though.  I ended up taking out the remainder of the English paper piecing hexagons out of the back of my Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt.  It's ready to hand quilt.  I think I will machine baste it this weekend, and start hand quilting it.  It will definitely be gorgeous when it's finished.  Picture below. 

No comments about my name over my bed, please.  Unless you absolutely have to tell me how much you love it.  My bedroom is very self-centric these days.  I spent a lot of years with a bedroom that I hated in muted non-gender-specific colors, so I like a little me in there now.  Sue me.  I'm embracing the Amie. 

I also spent a lot of time reading last night, which I enjoyed so much that I am going to do it again tonight.  I got a new book called "A Homemade Life", which is a woman's story about how food and her life are intertwined and everything good in her life happens with food around.  Her life story with food.  And it has recipes.  Looking forward to it. 



The stupid dog threw herself through a window on Monday, which really pisses me off since she doesn't have a checkbook to reimburse me for the $130.00 I'm out now to fix it.  Bitch.  i also had to take Tuesday off since nobody could come fix it until then, so I decided I could spend the day crying--again--or I could do something productive.  So I opened up my etsy shop.  Nothing has come of it yet, but somebody marked me as their favorite.  That's awesome.  Considering that I kind of feel worthwhile when people re-pin my pins on Pinterest, this is like the holy grail.  (Geek Reference).