Adding a few new prints to the shop today--two of them you'll recognize (purple, tan) from the tea towels we sell. The third design is the newest of the series (which I think I've shared here before?) and will be released as a tea towel soon, too!

Maintaining Interest

Chatting with Misti yesterday via email, she reminded me that I don't post about gardening much anymore. It's true but I have a good excuse: I garden mostly at the community garden and we work so hard there, by the time I catch up enough to take pictures I'm exhausted.

The home garden is much less demanding, and gets little attention anyway. All of that energy is spent on chasing around the little one, a full-blown hurricane of toddler energy, curiosity, and need for  attention.

Sometimes the two overlap and I get to tend the garden while she stays interested in the activities. Yesterday I pulled up some tomato plants and decided to pickle the remaining green tomatoes. Between those and the green cherry tomatoes I'd brought home from Little Sugar Creek garden, I filled 2 bowls with water and 16 cups of green tomatoes. Anything that involves water hypnotizes the little one, so she sat on her stool for close to 2 solid hours, moving water and tomatoes from one bowl to another then back again.

Another fun task? I sliced 3 1/2 pounds of eggplant into 1/2 inch medallions, laid them out on a baking sheet and gave M a basting brush and a small cup of oil. She had a blast painting the eggplant in oil so I could roast it in the oven.

If only I could get her so interested in pulling up weeds, then I might have a shot at getting back to snapping a few garden pictures and updating y'all on the progress!

Mabel's Pics

With the rewards from returning used ink cartridges and hefty discount from one of those "You Can't Miss This!" sales, we got a nearly-free video camera from Office Max. Mabel has since claimed it as her own, but so far has only used the still photo setting. 

This is life from her perspective. 

Corporate Accolades

I do a lot of corporate chastising on this blog, so I feel it's only right to do a little bit of back patting as well. I saw some "handmade looking" birds on Zulily* this morning tagged with the brand Silvestri! (the exclamation point is part of the brand name.)

I was a bit (okay, fine, a lot) suspicious about how closely they look like Ann Wood birds, so I sent Ms Wood a tweet, and guess what? They're totally legit, licensed products! Way to go Demdaco/Silvestri! It's uplifting to see a company that recognizes and pays for good design.

*Note: If you click on the Zulily link, sign up for a member account, and purchase something then I will receive a credit for your signing up. If you don't want that to happen (and I totally understand that), just click here to join.

Un-Useful

Our yard is no stranger to the "un-useful" plant...plants that might have some usefulness but take an inordinate amount of work to make the fruits edible, not to mention palatable.I consider it excessive to grow a fruit that requires 5 pounds of sugar for every ounce of fruit.

Mind you, that doesn't stop me from doing it. First there were tiny, pink, fuzzy bananas, and now we have tiny, yellow, fuzzy oranges.

After 6-ish years of growth, one of our two flying dragon citrus trees (Poncirus trifoliata) has set fruit! From the small amount of information I can find on the internet, the fruit requires boiling before use, then you have to sort through the pulp to pick out the many seeds inside. Oh yeah, and it oozes some sort of latex-y substance that doesn't come off your hands even after washing several times. Sounds totally worthwhile, right?