A Little Imagination and a Pile of Junk

in the garden, part 2

Summer is creeping up on us fast (we're looking at 95 degree F days for the next 2 weeks--and dry, of course) so we have to get our wonderful trees, herbs and veggies established before the brutal and relentless South Texas sun takes our breath away. Greedy old Hurricane Dolly took much of our shade last Summer so we have little to spare for the faint hearted. And our equatorial heat is not for the faint hearted.

 

Looks like we're running low on the mulch. Texas gardeners in-the-know recommend a minimum  4 inches of mulch. We'll need more than that to make it through September. Thankfully, the mango and avocado don't yet know what they're in for. Poor things.

 

 

The sugar apple and surinam cherry are still quite tiny. We're looking at, oh, our grandchildren, enjoying those?

To complete the whole homestead thing we're going for we need more chickens. We've been chickenless for a while thanks to the raccoons but, thankfully, our neighbors helped us out in the meantime by bringing home a newborn calf this week. With the garden in our backyard and the cattle next door, someone just might mistake us for a little house on the prairie.

 

 

in the garden, part 1

I'm working on putting together a Spring/early Summer homeschool unit on gardening for the kids, particularly growing your own food, composting, and the like to go along with our new favorite pastime. We are all having so much fun oohing and aahhing over the new plantlings. Three new raised beds are in and filled with herbs and veggies and best of all we have 5 new fruit trees. (fyi-Since the photo above we have installed soaker hoses, mulched the beds, and covered everything with bird netting thanks to The Urban Homestead.) We found a wonderful new-to-us local nursery with the most wonderful selection of fruit, nut, and flowering trees (pics below) and spent a small fortune on the  hope that one day we will be picking our own produce in the backyard.

 

 

 

We decided on mango, avocado, banana (lady fingers), sugar apple, and surinam cherry. There were mature banana and cherry trees on the property so we even got to taste them. Beautiful and delicious!

 

 

Stay tuned for part 2 back at the Cooper homestead....Doesn't this make is so much more exciting??

a very good place to start

I wanted to do something different. I thought I might sew. I haven't had much desire to sew in a long, long time, but it has started to come back to me. Then I found myself with a few hours free and all I could think was: I really should put up those last few dishes, Maybe I could go ahead and put the kids toys away instead of going through the ordeal of having them do it themselves, It would be a really nice thing if I actually ironed my husband's shirts for a change. Not that these aren't good thoughts, well, except cleaning up the kids' mess. But faced with the actuality of sewing--not the dreaming about it--I was preferring to clean house?? It was too hard. I hadn't touched my sewing machine in months. And the actual sitting down and doing it just seemed too daunting. I preferred to dream about it. It was easier. Safer. I mean, what if I didn't have it in me anymore? What if I tried to make the things I saw in my head and failed? After all, I had been looking at lots of great sewing blogs for inspiration--what if my stuff wasn't good enough?? Am I the only one who's ever been plagued with these crazy thoughts?

So, I'm easing into this gently. With no expectations. No comparisons with others allowed. Giving myself the freedom to play and even make something ugly or crooked or useless. Freedom to fail. But mostly freedom to fall in love with sewing all over again. And what better thing to cultivate that love than patchwork, I ask? From beloved vintage fabric scraps? Even better.  

 

 

 

 

Who knows where I'm going with this, but I spent most of yesterday cutting teeny tiny 2-inch squares (Gosh, they look so tiny to me!) with a couple of Ayumills' fantastic tutorials in mind. I'm thinking something pretty and practical would be a nice start.

the end of the (t-shirt) line

I've had a lot of fun with t-shirt yarn, but I think I'm done and it's just about time to move on to something new. It is my usual modus operandi to completely O.D. on whatever my favorite thing of the moment is and then to eventually move on. Well, I've finally O.D.'d on crochet and, though I'm not about to abandon it forever, I've had that need satiated and the mournful cries of my neglected sewing machine have reached my ears. But before I move on completely, I'd like to give my lovely t-shirt creations their day in the sun. Quite literally.

 

My new kitchen rug finished up to be almost 4 feet in diameter. And it makes cooking ever so much more pleasant. Although, I do keep finding myself walking around it instead of across as if I might fall through the floor if I do.

 

 

T-shirt baskets are now everywhere, most of them still filled with balls of t-shirt yarn. But I'm sure it will all get used up eventually. I like keeping them on the coffee table in the living room for those times when I actually sit down in the evening. Even sitting, I like to keep busy. Well, busy or sleeping. Either one is good for me.

 

Now that I'm taking a last look at all this stretchy goodness, I'll be kind of sad to see it go. So, you might find a basket or yoga bag in my Etsy shop eventually. For old time's sake. But for now, between the gardening and sewing, I've got plenty to keep me busy for a while.

hope

The early beginnings of a small town homestead....

~~The willingness to make a change: check.

~~A plan: check.

~~A little work, $24 dollars, and 7 abandoned pallets: check.

~~A new compost bin: check.

 

~~Raised beds for a garden: check.

 

~~Roma tomatoes, banana peppers, rosemary, and basil: check.

 

~~Patience: check.

~~Fresh from your own garden veggies and herbs: ...to be announced....

baking in the heat

Here we skipped Spring and jumped right into the 90 degree days of Summer. I sat in the sun yesterday for 15-20 minutes before being driven to only patch of shade around and, still, I'm sunburned.

But I am determined to get the backyard and potted plants looking nice and orderly again. And then there are plans for a raised bed and some Summer veggies on the horizon, too, thanks to the inspiration of The Urban Homestead and my sweet husband who is gathering building supplies as I type. I'm planning a proper review once I've finished the book but I have to say up front that this one is a good read. It's well-written and well-organized, but what I love is the voice of the authors and their sense of humor coming through the writing. They do a great job at keeping the reader from becoming overwhelmed at the amount of information they present with their conversational tone. They make it all seem if not easy at least attainable and certainly a process to enjoy and not to stress about. For most gardening or DIY books I buy, I pour over the photos for a while, look up and read about subjects I'm interested in at the moment, and then add them to the shelf for future reference. This one is getting read cover to cover. Now, if only I had a hammock and some shade.

for you

 

If you're looking for me, I'm buried under a pile of t-shirt scraps. I managed to get one arm out from under here to catch you guys up on what's going on, but, man, it's hard to blog with one arm.

 

 

I'm still enjoying the whole process, but I'm beginning to see the end to my t-shirt yarn addiction in site. I love the chunky look of the weave, but the cutting and cutting and cutting and cutting...is getting a little old.

    

I'm actually starting to look forward to the end of my mad crochet habit--at least long enough to do some sewing or painting for a change. But I still have a few projects that must be finished first. 

 

See how my pile of yarn is growing so nicely? And the pile of t-shirts to be cut is shrinking, too. I *think* I might actually have all the t-shirts I need to finish the projects I have in mind. I sure hope so. I've cut about 100 of these things. No joke.

 

Of course, actually finishing a couple of projects gives me the inspiration to just keep cutting. The finished product is so worth the work. Like this yoga mat bag for a sweet friend who introduced me to yoga in the first place and keeps inviting me places even though I usually end up with some excuse not to go. (I love you, Aranda!) I've been saving these softer colors just for her and love the combination of purples, grey, buttery yellow and olivey green--so Aranda, but with a little of me mixed in there, too.

 

Bet you know what I'll be doing this weekend. How about you? What creative plans do you have on the horizon?