Learning to garden takes time. It's also helpful to have a seasoned gardener show you how to garden in your area. If you don't have someone on hand: you now have me! I may not live where you do (and it makes a huge difference if you are growing in a different area) but I … Continue reading Beginning Gardener: Class 2-Walking You Through What You Need To Know
If you saw my post about my past and the song "Used To Be Young" and maybe you have a similar background... Even if you are just interested in becoming a unique, strong, emotionally honest woman: who loves herself deeply and forgives her mistakes... Or, maybe you feel like you are at the end and … Continue reading Crazy Green Thumbs Reading List
When I'd walk through the fields and there would be deep cracks in the soil, it was Kansas summers. The smell of sweat and hard work, it was Kansas summers. Getting sprayed with "Off", examining mica rocks my grandmother had gathered, cigarette smoke drifting past me and the adults drinking Coors beer on folding chairs, … Continue reading In Those Times
Spring is on the way! It's time to brush up on your gardening skills and learn about new gardening ideas. This year I thought I'd get back to basics and start publishing pieces of my gardening advice from my page: Gardening Basics. For the novice gardener: read on and stay tuned! This is pretty much … Continue reading Beginner Gardener: Class 1 Walking You Through What You Need To Know
From the Noma restaurant in Copenhagen. Have you started a fermenting journey yet? I have been fermenting for almost a decade. I have some recipes I absolutely love. I've made them countless times. I'm so onboard the fermenting train and I have enough experience with it, that one day I thought... "What else can I … Continue reading Crazy Green Thumbs Reading List
What do you do when you have both a perennial orchard and annual vegetable beds? You document. If I hadn't created the folder with growing information for my fruits, I would constantly be stopping to look up the growing instructions for whatever plant is having a problem. Having a binder for your information is really … Continue reading Crazy Photos From The Garden
Who knew these make great wine? I started making my own wine last year. I was gifted a link to a gentleman who makes his own wine from store bought juice, granular sugar and bread yeast. I don't like sweet wines and I really didn't like how his recipe turned out. It's good to add … Continue reading Armenian Cucumber Wine
This is one of my favorite photos of my garden. Deep soil, straw mulch, indeterminate tomatoes on a tower, bananas in the background and fluffy clouds floating across a sunset. I absolutely adore my garden. There's nothing negative out here. It's all healthy and beautiful. I work hard on my garden, but I could more … Continue reading Crazy Photos From The Garden
Winner of the most colorful visitor I've had in my garden. This is a flame skimmer. In late summer I have dozens of large dragonflies. They eat all of the mosquitos they can find. I think they are magnificent! But, this guy is definitely not your average dragonfly! I've only seen the one. In the … Continue reading Crazy Photos From The Garden
This is actually a fruit wine I made with my own fruit and a wine kit. The instructions below don't require any extra equipment. I've made shrubs for years. Fill a bowl with imperfect fruit, add sugar, spices, macerate the mix, strain it, age a few days and add a little white vinegar and you … Continue reading Homemade Alcohol for a Shrub.
Winner of the "weirdest seed pod" in the garden this year: Matelea reticulata (Pearl milkweed vine) I've never seen this milkweed vine before, despite it being native. This plant was so fascinating that I let it go and enjoyed the green flowers, with a pearlescent ball in the center. The seed pod was crazy! It … Continue reading Crazy Photos From The Garden
I love using milk jugs! My kids drink a lot of milk and we always have empty gallon milk containers. These are always useful in my garden! I use them to harden off transplants and in this blog entry: to keep tender plants (like tomatoes) outside, where they're warm and have plenty of light, while … Continue reading Quick Mini Greenhouses From Milk Jugs
My grandmother used to make cinnamon pickles out of watermelon rind. It was a dessert she proudly put on our plates. They were delicious and in memory of her, I now make them yearly for my extended family and my kids. Last year I also tried a vanilla pickle which was pretty gross. I'm not … Continue reading Just In Time For Christmas: Modern Cinnamon Pickles And Lemon Candy Pickles!
So now that we're past the #!$@:! Frigging pool noodle lollipops, I have some relaxing projects to round out a candy themed Christmas display. First are the super simple candy cane straws. You can make canes with a bunch of PVC elbows but I think those look way more like a PVC pipe creation rather … Continue reading Candy Cane Straws and Ice Cream Sundae Outdoor Decorations
This tutorial shows you how to make the best looking pool noodle lollipops out there. Don't mess with the dollar store noodles. I decided to add some Christmas tutorials for my decorations outside. I'm creating a candy background for some characters from the Nutcracker Ballet. My first task was making some candy. I decided on … Continue reading Big Beefy Pool Noodle Lollipop Decorations
Winter is a wonderful time to read up on gardening literature. When your garden is fast asleep, it is the perfect time to make preparations for next year. Whether you are new to gardening or an old hand: this is the yearly time for reflection. What has worked for you? What have you struggled with? … Continue reading Winter: Garden Planning
So. I know better than to try and grow a large scale "defiance garden". That's what I call growing things that your climate and soil won't support. But, I'm a gardener. The whole point of gardening is to place plant matter in places that didn't have them before. Basically anything you purposefully put in the … Continue reading What If It’s Too Hot? Growing Fruit Trees In Texas.
Last Friday my youngest son came home from school and didn't feel well. He tested positive for RSV and he has bronchitis. He got some antibiotics to help with the gunk in his chest but we were having trouble getting him to cough it out. Fire cider to the rescue! This stuff is really good … Continue reading Fire Cider: Immunity Booster
Hmmm. Super long, snake bean. Usually when I am deep diving into large seed catalogs and I see "like ____, but better" I roll my eyes and think OK, I'm game. Prove it. This is what happened when I saw and then purchased seed for the Indian Python Snake Bean at rareseeds.com (AKA Python Snake … Continue reading Like Green Beans… But Better?
This is a great project! I've been able to reuse the original for nine 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 2023 Oh, I had fun … Continue reading Easy Packing Tape Ghost
Crazy Green Thumbs 