A whole Monday at home with nothing on the calendar.  I've been into my beading kit, made a batch of lamb stew, did laundry, read some... lots of things that I haven't gotten to in a long time.  Same as opening up this box and typing in it.  But I had to write about today's lamb stew.  I've made lamb stew many times but never with a recipe.  Then ( Read more... )

I found an awesome tree key online. Here: http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/tree-key/simple-leaf-trees.htm This one is only good for trees with "simple" leaves, meaning that they are not compound, or rather, that only one leaflet is on the leaf stem. Some ( Read more... )

Lately I've been doing a lot of weeding. I can recall a few yoga classes after which my hamstrings were longer than ever before. That was before my hamstrings knew about gardening.

Now they know. Daily, they get that if you can't bend over, or squat, it's a real problem.

Just because
you can eat it,
doesn't mean it's food
--Paul Bergner

Pesticides, etc.
( notes )

Pretty interesting overview of the newest attack here on Natural News: FDA's scheme to outlaw nearly all nutritional supplements created after 1994 would destroy millions of jobs and devastate economy. In the new proposed rules synthetic nutrients are exempted. The target of administrative control appears to be animal and plant-derived ( Read more... )

Materials:
1 large plastic bucket with lid
some rope or chain for hanging the bucket
a knife or saw that will cut the bucket
a sheet of heavy plastic
scissors
five tomato plants well started (she likes Bonnie's Best, a foot tall or more)
enough good soil to fill the bucket
a hook or nail from a rafter on the sunny south side of a building

( Read more... )

A schoolmate just dropped off 17 potted plants that are to stay with me for the summer. He is going to Minnesota to stay with his girlfriend and then to a Buddhist retreat, and returning to Portland in time for school in September. I volunteered for plant duty; I love plants and did not especially want to go buy anymore...though I did buy a basil ( Read more... )

is a wreck. It has gone completely wild. All those plants that I left in there, months ago when nothing was growing fast, have taken off. The one that looked like a carrot plant may be queen anne's lace. The three lettuce plants have gone to seed. Those leaves are very bitter. The lavendar plant is useless there, when there is yards of ( Read more... )

SPOROTRICHOSIS ( Read more... )