Composting

This summer I decided to try composting. I was intimidated at first because of all the rules about what you can put in, what you can't, what constitutes "green" compost vs. "brown" compost, the delicate balance between the two, the moisture content, the temperature, the turning....


Then my friend Cindy told me you can compost without following all those rules. She calls it "throw it all in a pile" composting. So I dove in. The house came with a big black plastic composte bin. It was a little beat up, with cracks and holes, but I decided it was good enough.

After careful consideration, I placed the compost bin near the deck, beside the house. I knew it would be 10 times more likely to get used if I didn't have to put shoes on to dump stuff in it. Plus, there isn't really a good place for it out by the alley.




It's been kind of fun to dump stuff in there all summer--it makes me feel less wasteful when I empty out the fridge of all the vegetables that went bad before I used them. One thing I learned, though, is that I should NOT put apples and pears in there. My backyard is carpeted with apples and pears that have fallen from the fruit trees, all in various stages of rot. So each weekend I dutifully pick them all up, and this year I decided I didn't have to bag them and put them by the garbage pickup, since I have a compost bin now. So I dumped the first weekend's load in there. Bad idea. A couple days later when I went out to toss some moldy lettuce in, I lifted the lid to a swarm of fruit flies, moths, and bees. A literal cloud of them flew up in my face. Yuck. So no more apples in there.


This morning I emptied the kitchen of veggies gone bad and wandered on out to the compost bin, wondering how the moth situation would be now that I haven't put any new apples in there for a few weeks. When I lifted the lid, I saw something dart really quickly from one side to the other. A MOUSE! *Shudder* I nearly fell down backing away as quickly as I did. There's just something about animals that move quickly. They freak me out. I can't stand those spiders that run really fast across the wall, either.


I wonder if I could have avoided this if I had done a better job of turning the compost often and keeping a layer of grass clippings on the top. I seriously might have to stop composting. I can't have mice hanging out chomping away that close to my house. It's only a matter of time before they find a way in, and I will be VERY UNHAPPY if I find mice in my house. I'm trying to live peacefully with all the little beetles I have this summer, but mice are a very different, yucky story.

Gardening

I haven't crafted much this summer, because I've been spending my spare time and DIY energy on my first vegetable garden. I got lots of free plants from friends with extra seedlings, so I dug up some grass, mixed in some composted manure from Menards, and planted away. Simon's Sarah gave me a whole bunch of heirloom tomato plants from her dad's garden, as well as some eggplant. Zoe and Ryan gave me two basil plants, cilantro, green peppers, and cucumbers. Kate gave me a pumpkin plant.

I've harvested two green peppers and five cucumbers. The cilantro didn't last long, but I was able to snip a bunch and mix it in with some salsa before it all started turning brown. It was delicious while it lasted. But so far the star of the garden has been the basil. I've made lots of margherita flatbread pizzas on the grill, and have done up a couple of batches of pesto, and have enjoyed caprese salads, although all of these will be so much better when the heirloom tomatoes start ripening!

I've been too busy watering and weeding to take too many pictures, but here are a few.

Got a bumper crop of blueberries this year. They only last for a couple weeks, but I was able to make a tasty blueberry buckle and blueberry pancakes. And of course I ate most of them straight off the bush.

My pepper plants aren't big producers, but what I have been able to eat was lovely.

New Headboard

I picked up this headboard for Abby's room for $5 at a garage sale earlier this summer. I couldn't have found a new one that I like more. What a steal! Good timing, too, since it's been the summer of houseguests!


June 19-22 - Addie O.
June 25-26 - Mom
June 27-28 - Ted S. and Nick M.
July 6-8 - Michelle B.
July 27-29 - Michelle B. again
August 7-9 - Abby C.
August 29-30 - Toni & Beth (fingers crossed!)

Teaching Myself to Crochet

I'm teaching myself to crochet. Mollie tried to teach me a few months ago, but I didn't get the hang of it. When I saw her awesome squares for Henry's blanket, I knew I needed to try again. This time I decided to teach myself using the Happy Hooker book by Debbie Stoller. I had learned most of my knitting skills from her Stitch 'n' Bitch book years ago, so I decided if anyone could teach me how to crochet, Debbie could.

Alissa gave me a handful of hooks and yarn last time I saw her, because motherhood means no time for hobbies, apparently. Bummer for her! Guess that makes me lucky to not be a mom right now. But as a side note, look at this picture from Henry's baby shower last weekend! I can still adore other people's kids and make time for hobbies.

Anyway, I started reading the book and practicing the stitches. Here's my practice piece. And no, I will not be using it for a scarf.

Check out the triangular shape down towards the bottom. Funny, that's how my first knitted scarf looked, too. Looks like I dropped a few stitches.

I started out with a few rows of basic single crochet stitches (sc). Not too shabby. The funny row in the middle is a row of slip stitches (sl).

Next I learned the half-double crochet stitch (hdc).

Then on to double crochet stitch (dc).

And finally, triple crochet stitch (tr).

I didn't go on to double triple (dtr) and triple triple (ttr) crochet stitches, because I decided I pretty much got the gist. So next I started attempting a simple shell pattern. It doesn't look as pretty as the picture in the book, but I think I'm starting to get the idea.