I'm Out On...

I will be away on summer vacation for a while and won't be posting again until the second week in July.  I hope you are spending some time relaxing as well.  See you soon. 

by the season

SUMMER: June 20 - September 21

July 3 | Buck Moon

August 1 | Sturgeon Moon

August 31 | Blue Moon

Seasonal Food

+  Eggplant

+  Green Beans

+  Zucchini

+  Bell Peppers

+  Basil

+  Swiss Chard

+  Peas

+  New potato

+  Sweetcorn

+  Cucumbers

+  Okra

+  Strawberries

+  Peaches

+  Rhubarb

+  Raspberries

+  Walnuts

+  Cantaloupes

+  Tomatoes

+  Cherries

+  Blackberries

+  Nectarines

+  Apricots

+  Mangos

+  Plums

+  Watermelon

+  Fig

Fire*side Reflection (The most honest and real answers surface when sitting around a campfire with friends and sometimes even strangers.  Reflect on this question with loved ones or in your journal)

          What is your idea of earthly happiness?

4(for) green acres tip or tidbit


The focus this summer is really going to be on water, which was June's challenge.   Much of the country is still in drought and several wild fires are raging.  Create a water budget for the summer and stick to it.  Be wise with this resource.  


The 4(for) green acres challenges this season will especially motivate you so be sure to participate each month.  

Garden

Now that your summer garden has been planted, it's time to weed, mulch and add compost tea as a side dressing.  Mulching is great because it helps control weed growth, retains moisture in the soil, and keep plants with low hanging fruit from rotting when they touch the ground.  Mulch doesn't have to be expensive.  It can be as simple as leaves from the fall or straw.  


Compost tea is natural fertilizer that will give your plants a boost just as they are starting to produce your harvest.  I typically make my own (but I don't use an aquarium pump), but it's also available to purchase at garden centers.    

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Repurposing Vintage Locker Baskets

I ran across a treasure recently.  cc's family has land in the country with barns filled to the brim with junk.  It seems as if her grandfather was a "collector."  As her father was cleaning out the barn one day, he unearthed 15 or more locker baskets.  He stacked them in the toss pile and I happened to snag a few that were in the best condition.  

He had no idea how much these baskets are worth.  While I was out antique browsing I found two locker baskets on sale for around $30 each!  I took a quick picture because I knew he wouldn't believe me.  

These baskets come in so handy, but they needed cleaning up first.  I am fortunate to have a large sandblaster at work, so a co-worker of mine sandblasted all of them to get the rust off.  Once they were raw I was able cover the name plate and spray paint them. 

I painted basket 507 in white for my bathroom.  I have a vintage dentist cabinet painted a turquoise green that holds my towels and I'm using basket 507 to hold wash cloths.

I painted basket 504 in bright blue to place in this room and hold all my favorite publications. 

My favorite detail about the baskets are the number plates.  I wonder if the lockers came from a school or an employee break room.  They were made by Kasper Wire Works in Shiner, Texas (also home of a really good beer) so they didn't travel far.

I have a few more that will more than likely end up in my studio for storage of paints and other products, but I haven't decided on a paint color yet.  What would you do with them?

How to Make Your Own Stationary Envelopes

May's 4(for) green acre challenge was to ban junk mail.  I ended up with more junk mail than usual this month.  Maybe because I tried to get off the mailing lists, or maybe because I was more aware of what was arriving in my mailbox.  Typically, it gets thrown into the recycle bin, but with the abundance this month I decided to upcycle it instead of tossing it.

Colorful catalogs full of dresses I'd never wear, a 50+ page catalog from Restoration Hardware, security envelopes with pretty stripes: there was potential in all of them.  The easiest thing to do was put a spin on this junk in order to send it right back in the mail.  I turned them into envelopes of all varieties. 

I started by gathering my favorites from the pile (recycled the rest) and collected the templates.

click on image to print small template size

After that, it was a matter of cutting out the images to the size of envelope I wanted and gluing them together with a glue stick.  I made envelopes for small gift cards, letters, and greeting cards.  I will simply affix a white label to address the envelope and send it off. 

Simple as that.  No more purchasing envelopes.  You can use stamps and stencils for embellishment and a basic glue stick or Japanese washi tape to seal it.