December in the Garden

Thanks to our humid subtropical climate here it seems like we may be able to garden year-round. This is the second season for our strawberry plants, who are loving the chillier weather.

The potted herbs are also thriving. I've now harvested and dried enough chives, oregano and Italian parsley to last me well into the new year, so I'm going to make up some containers for my neighbors.

Our broccoli plant grew so tall we had to tie it to a dowel for support.

The brussel sprouts are smaller, but doing well, too. The just-sprouted radishes are probably our tenth planting; they grow very fast and we can harvest them every couple of weeks.

There are a few pole beans left on the vines, but their season is definitely over now. We will plant them again in the spring.

The bell peppers have just sprouted, too. I'm very hopeful they will stay healthy as I cook with peppers all the time.

Three more brussel sprout plant in another pot. If we get a bumper crop I may blanch and freeze most of them in single-serving bags, as I'm the only one who likes them.

Comments

Gifts

This is a story that starts out very sadly, so if you're depressed by the holidays you might want to skip the first part. As far back as I can remember I've dreaded the holidays. Being poor, having constant family troubles and belonging to a strict religion made that time of year always pretty unhappy. I just hunkered down and hoped to get through without being yelled at or punished because I didn't do something I was expected to do, like sit in church for hours without moving or making a sound while a priest spoke mass in Latin. Gifts were uniformly disappointing, too. My mother usually gave me dolls or socks or underwear for Christmas. I understand now as an adult that she was doing the best she could, and trying to save money at the same time, but as a kid I'd been told good children got what they wanted for Christmas. I was a pretty good kid, but while my friends received new bikes and cool toys and lots of treats from Santa, I didn't. I thought San

We Have Backsplash!

Yesterday my guy and I decided to chose this natural stone as the backsplash tiles for our new kitchen counters (which will be in the same quartz I'm holding at the bottom of the photo.) Since all the bids for installing the backsplash came in very high my guy is going to put it in himself; he's done a bit of tile work in the past, too. I swear there is nothing this guy can't do. :)

Detoxing Results

For twenty-four hours I left these five vintage cigar boxes sit with detoxing agents (baking soda, coffee grinds, dryer sheets, vinegar and Febreze) inside them to see which worked best to remove the tobacco/storage odors that came with them. I then removed the agents and did a sniff test. Before we get into the results, a reminder: none of what I do is ever meant to be expert advice, as I am certainly not an expert at anything. Follow my methods at your own risk, and please first consult an actual antique expert conservator or restorer to detox items that have value for you. Okay, let's see how my experiment worked. Baking soda (left) did nothing to remove the odors. I think if I let it sit for a longer period of time it might have done something, but for a 24-hour test it was a complete fail. Coffee grinds (right) removed 100% of the odors, and left behind definite coffee scent. I like that and think it goes very well with wood, but if you don't like the smel

Rayen

Search This Blog