During the holiday season I reflect on the things I am grateful for. At the top of the list is my family, and more specifically: my two young sons. The following article is my love letter to my boys. From the beginning through the end of every day, they are always in my thoughts. I … Continue reading A love letter to my boys
I made my original dead body bag about 4 or 5 years ago and I've learned some things about how to make these after having to repair it a few times. Like most of my projects: this is simple but impressive. I've seen some bodies in our neighborhood and online instructions (using plastic containers) and … Continue reading How To Make A Bagged Dead Body For Halloween
I had two main projects I wanted to accomplish this Halloween. One project was my Silver Faceless Aliens and the second was some posts with masks, or: Haunted Heads! I decided to do these after I saw a pin. But unfortunately, no matter which pin I opened I couldn't find the instructions to make these. … Continue reading Haunted Heads
This is a great project! I've been able to reuse the original for seven years because I bought a dress form and a Styrofoam head that I restretch the ghost over every year. I really recommend getting a form for this project. Find out how to make her below! Halloween 2022 Oh, I had fun … Continue reading Easy Packing Tape Ghost
It's Halloween time again! I'm trying something new this year! Silver Faceless Aliens! They are human height and shape and creep everyone out! I instantly had the idea after looking at this mask. So much fun! Like all of my projects: it's super cheap and has a big impact. I'm making four. Here are the … Continue reading Silver Faceless Aliens
Here we go again! It's time for my Halloween tutorials! I'm always working on our Halloween display. This year I decided I needed jellyfish! I love spooky stuff but the creepy, gory, sicko type stuff just doesn't light my fire. However, glowing awesome jellyfish sounded way too cool to pass up! I got this idea … Continue reading Glowing Jellyfish: Outdoor Halloween
Here's a walk through of what I have growing in my garden right now. I bought this plumeria last fall and kept it in the house through winter. It's huge! This rivals the plumeria I saw in Hawaii. It loves our heat and the water retention my raised beds have. I planted it in with … Continue reading In My Summer Garden
I would bet that most gardeners have a list of a few things that they do, out of habit, that are counterproductive. For me it's gardening without gloves or long sleeves. I almost never wear gloves or long sleeves. I love to work the soil with my hands, I weed bare handed and I harvest … Continue reading Curing An Extra Itchy Case Of The Gardening Stupids
The most expensive part of my garden is the city water that we're on. Our city water is piped in. The aquifer that our land is over does not have good water. We're near an air force base, started in the 50s and I wonder if over the years, that aquifer has been polluted from … Continue reading Watering In High Heat
Nonastringent Persimmon I started working on my perennial food forest about eleven years ago. Gardening is my hobby, not my job, so those eleven years took time I might have used for other things. That time I chose to use in my garden created a solid foundation in feeding our family, outside of the grocery … Continue reading Food Forest
I live in the South. Where I am: summer ends up getting really hot (above 100° Fahrenheit) with little to no rain for months at a time. In summer we get moisture that blows in from the Gulf of Mexico and that humidity (without rain) is a real problem. There are weeks where we don't … Continue reading Show Stopping, Southern Shrubs
I'm always looking for new ways to use my garden. After years of growing sweet potatoes I came across a recipe that called for the leaves. Sweet potato leaves are edible? Yes. Yes, they are.The sweet potatoes slips I got this year were supposed to be a bush variety. While they haven't thrown vines out … Continue reading The Greatest Green You’ve Never Eaten: Sweet Potato Leaves
I usually grow my vining melons on a trellis. Trellising makes them easy to care for and the plants themselves are healthier. Getting melon vines off the ground keeps the powdery mildew under control and I can easily spray the leaves when the inevitable aphid explosion comes. Since I like to research things, and I'm … Continue reading Melon Trellising
Right now I am finishing up the main chores I have left until our summer is in full swing. Our days are already in the 80's and 90's but we are still cooling off at night (and when it rains) so it's not officially summer weather for us. I have to hurry to get everything … Continue reading Pre-summer Checklist
Cardboard and paper trash is a gardener's treasure! This is a Hugelkulter/Keyhole cross, garden bed. I have grown in beds of this design for close to 10 years and I love them! I can grow an endless amount of things in these beds. This is a banana in the background and okra up front. Overwintered … Continue reading Building The Perfect Raised Beds
Sweet potatoes, beet roots (These are chiogga beets. White, yellow or striped beets have a milder flavor than solid red beets), beet greens and spring onions This is my recipe for using up spring veggies before the heat of summer ends their season. I grew all the veggies except the sweet potatoes (which are not … Continue reading Moroccan Sweet Potato Fritters with Ras El Hanout Yogurt Sauce
Spring is full of heavy lifting, digging holes and amending soil. I usually build or renew my beds in spring and then switch on and off between: planting/watering and harvesting the first spring veggies. It's usually beautiful outside and I enjoy the time I'm out there. I end up in a meditative state. I can … Continue reading Saving The Harvest
Both of my grandmother's had cast iron collections. These were things they either purchased in Kansas or are my family's heirlooms. My family on a road trip to Washington DC. My granny on my mom's side married a jerk, (to say it mildly) after my grandpa died. He made her get rid of her antiques, … Continue reading How I Restored My Antique Iron: Two Methods
This Easter we went to our family's low country shrimp boil in San Antonio. I love the food every year! This year though, was a bit different. I discovered last year that I can't eat wheat. I've developed an allergy to it, and it's pretty serious. I'm not gluten intolerant, either. I can eat other … Continue reading Best Damn Rainbow Fruit Skewers And Dip Out There!
Black pearl oyster mushrooms from field and forest. I was perusing some of my favorite nursery catalogs this winter and saw mushroom spawn. I have wanted to try growing my own mushrooms for years but never got around to doing it. This year I decided was different. I looked around online for a company that … Continue reading Growing Your Own Mushrooms.
Crazy Green Thumbs 