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ranunculus has a blog post here on tomato canning. Looks pretty comprehensive to me, though I usually can sauce (or non-pureed tomato mush).
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T. linked me to an interesting infographic here: How big a backyard do you need to live off the land?
Be forewarned – the original source is a solar panel company (I think), so the infographic is slightly tilted towards “cover your roof in solar panels,” but it’s otherwise a pretty reasonable source.
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I started chive seeds last night!
Chives are one of my favorite plants, because they start coming up and are green and edible when the rest of the world is full of snow. Plus, they’re super low-maintenance.
I already have chives growing in my Invasive Plants garden (two sorts), but I want to fill in some of the bleaker and weedier parts of the hedgerow with chives, which will take, ah, quite a bit of chives.
I started one “flat” (in this case, two stacked take-out containers with holes poked in the top one for drainage), one of chives-chives (Allium schoenoprasum – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chives) and one of garlic chives (Allium tuberosum – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic_chives) I’m not sure about the second chives – they are listed either as the same thing as gau choy/Chinese chives or a completely different thing, so we shall see).
Each flat has 6 rows of 4 seeds each, which will get me a good start, but I want to do two flats each eventually and find other varieties of chive, as well as something that I bought from a nursery last year – society garlic (which is grown for its leaves, culinarily, and for its pretty flowers). Our hedgerow is going to smell beautiful. Well, depending on your tastes, but we’re downwind from a dairy farm, sooo…
This might be a good article for me to bookmark – http://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/bulbs/alliums-for-your-garden/
And more info on chives – http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Chives
Know any good varieties I can grow from seed?
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http://www.springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/character-build.htm
Gives you results like:
Coroner/Gardener/Velociraptor
Gemologist/Songwriter/Dragon/Sculptor
(why don’t I have a tag for “generators?”)
There’s also a character interests generator – Your character’s interests include candle-making, owls, web design, and old castles.
A skills generator – Your character’s skills include martial arts, horseback riding, and playing the guitar.
And check this out, a personality generator:
Courteous: Typically
Risk-Taking: Often
Ambitious: Sometimes
Curious: Often
Self-Controlled: Sometimes
Nurturing: Generally
Trusting: Never
Honest: Sometimes
Loyal: Usually
Affectionate: Never
Romantic: Never
Flirty: Never
Sympathetic: Generally
Altruistic: Sometimes
Optimistic: Usually
Observant: Usually
Logical: Sometimes
Social: Fairly outgoing
Emotions: Fairly controlled
This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/690344.html. You can comment here or there.
Links:
http://icestoneusa.com/
http://www.vetrazzo.com/eng (just recycled glass)
http://www.houzz.com/recycled-glass-concrete-countertops
Saw this on a This Old House or similar years ago, and have been attracted to it ever sense.
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Guys guys guys it’s a law generator!
(Link via Seventh Sanctum, which also has a zillion awesome generators)
“The penalty for a courtesan fighting in public is a small fine.”
“The penalty for stealing a hunting bird is a warning.”
There’s also a superstition generator!
“An artist happening upon a certain white flower in a grove of maple trees is thought to predict a death.”
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(Monday went by before I managed to write this up!)
We found a bay tree!!
Background: we have been looking for a bay plant to grow for several years, through several nurseries. They’re a Mediterranean tree and can’t survive outside in a NY State winter, but they can be brought inside for the winter if grown in a pot – and T. cooks with a lot lot lot of bay.
So we finally found one utterly by accident while looking for pepper plants! SO EXCITED!
(We also: saw the Avengers, bought a cherry tomato, and bought sage, mint, mint, and strawberries. And Lavender).
Capriox came to hang out Sunday afternoon for a while – we ate banana bread and showed off our mess. 😀 It’s always awesome when friends come to visit. <3
Then we got to work on the “invasives” garden: A spot by the eastern side of the house, between the chimney and the garbage cans, where I planted freecycled chives last year. This year I added chocolate mint and pineapple mint in these two giant square cement blocks that had been stacked near the chimney. Should take them a couple weeks to grow out of that!
Link du jour: Vertical Farm in a gutter!
Please check out the Summer Giraffe Poll and the Giraffe Theme request.
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The sun is out! My sandals are on! The weather is beautiful again! Summer must be here.. .*knock on wood*
I’ve been sanding away on the dresser, and hope to have it ready to paint by the weekend. I’m ridiculously happy about this. *bounce bounce*
Dinner tonight will be chicken soup – stage 2 in our 3-stage leftovers meal: Rotisserie Chicken –> chicken noodle soup –> risotto. Mmmm tasty. 🙂
Really, that’s about it going on in my life right now. I’m trying to stay back on the Weight Watchers Wagon, to start peeling off the rest of the weight before my cousin’s October wedding. And, of course, I’m writing.
Home-redo projects I like:
Floating Wall Display Shelf I might need one of these in my study someday.
Chair transformations – I’ve been contemplating doing something like this (get 4 mismatched chairs & paint & upholster them to match) – but that’s far down the line.
Also? been knitting like mad.
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It’s raining, but it looks like it’s finally warming up the normal way (gradually and damply, not in 90-degree bursts). Warm season might finally be here!
This weekend, we got the onions in, and we finally decided on what we were doing on the raised beds. Now to figure out how we’re getting them home… I really need a truck. Peas are next, and then the rest of the garden in a week or two.
I spent way too long looking at furniture DIY redos in the time when I was too exhausted to sand the dresser anymore. I have reaffirmed that I hate hate hate the distressed look, but that’s about it.:-)
I’m looking forward to starting to pull the house apart and put it together. Hopefully, we can get a lot done this summer!
Link du Jour: Literary Association Ads – teeny books! Giant books! Books on the stairs!
I am not yet certain about decorating with books. I’m also not sure where our bookshelves are going to end up. Would love built-ins. Will see how that works out.
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