Decided to use the leftover top of my old jeans that were left over from my garden jean cap that I previously made and posted the instructions on the instructables.com web site.
I was able to make a purse and a pillow. I posted the instructions on how these were made on the Instructables web site if you wish further information on how to make these items. Please feel free to play with any of the ideas on this site and be as creative as you wish.
I am also posting the pictures of an apron that I enhanced with leftover fabric that was purchased and a craft store on clearance for $1.75. I was also able to make a matching wine sack and plan on using it for a gift after adding a bottle of wine from a local winery.
I am eating it while I type. That and some chicken drenched in “Sweet Baby Ray’s Award Winning barbecue Sauce!”
My potatoes are about the only things I have gotten out of my garden this year, says someone who normally has a very green thumb. It was more varmints than the drought. I had so many rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks this year, it was not funny. It is my own fault because I have a deck, they can hide or live there. I have lots of shrubs, trees and plants because I want to make my yard as much like nature as the city will let me get away with. I also have a small fountain, bird bath and keep a small amount of water in a tub for the thirsty squirrels to keep them from climbing into the bird bath.
Found a stone fountain clearanced at Krogers to go with the rock theme of my yard. Always keeping my eyes open for a bargain.
My yard is now semi-private and when I do glance over to some of the other yards near me, I am reminded of a depressed neighborhood. Some have a couple of plants or place one lone shrub at the far end of the yard. Most have no landscaping what-so-ever and instead barren, dying grass. Some of our neighbors have put out perennials in front of their yards with “free flower signs” after dividing, which is so nice. I will be doing the same next year with hostas if I am still here. I understand some don’t have the time or the money, but it is not very expensive to buy a few on sale and divide the next year or start them from seed. I guess you are either a plant person or you are not. I just love plants of all kinds and they help the environment in many ways.
I started my first garden years ago in the burbs with un-amended hard clay soil. My plants were great. I have no idea how some of the seeds ever took root, but they sure did. The difference was I had no varmints there. You never even saw one squirrel. There were woods nearby and obviously the bigger varmints got the little ones before they became a problem. Once in a while you saw, and smelled a skunk.
This year they got the green beans, both bush and pole, all squash, Spinach didn’t stand a chance, and most of the lettuce. With some things, such as beets and carrots, either the germination was terrible, or the birds were eating the seeds as well, they got all the black and red raspberries this year. I just happened to have a couple of left over Russet potatoes that were sprouting at the end of May so I threw them in the garden with the hopes of getting a few potatoes. They are still there and I hilled them this year. I will let you know how many I get from both plants in a later post. The first one was sweet with tender skin and very good.
Hope the rest of you are able to enjoy your harvest this year. God Bless!
There used to be a song titled “Bunny Rabbit Blues” that our preschoolers danced to. This bunny rabbit blues is different. I stuck up a make-shift gate of chicken-wire to try and keep the baby bunny out of my garden, but it just burrows under anyway. I keep watering once in a while, but with this drought, I am about to give up seeing as I am only feeding the wildlife in the area.
Took a bad video of one that got caught in the act and was trying to get out. Usually it lets me lift up the fence so it can run away, but this time it ran out the other side using the hole it burrowed.
Music by a local Detroit Group called Mudpuppy entitled “Funky Stuff.”
It’s that wonderful time of the year. Even with the drought, the blueberries are coming into season in Michigan. I usually just eat them plain after washing them in a vinegar rinse to get the pesticides off. As delicious as blueberry dishes are, I try to eat them plain because I don’t like the additional calories and added fats. However…
I did have some getting a little soft and always cook them up with some sugar or in a dish to preserve them longer. Waste not, want not! The following is a blueberry Scone bread that I made and I also cooked some berries in a couple of Tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch in the microwave for a few minutes to thicken into a sauce. Then I broke down and went to a local bakery and saw they were selling pieces of their chocolate fudge cake. I tried using the cake as a base for the blueberry sauce and it was really good! I replace the butter and or sour cream in the scone recipe with low-fat yogurt and some mayonnaise and it tastes great with less fat. Experiment. Then just eat your failures or give them away. I did not make all the dishes the same day! You can always freeze some for a treat during the winter months. I always cook up some fresh fruit sauces to eat during the winter months on pancakes or waffles. Hearty meals are not a problem as long as you don’t eat like that all the time.
My mother’s side has managed to hang on to all kinds of photos since the invention of the camera. Not sure when some of these were taken, but some were in the 1800’s.
Looking through the stash, I happened upon an envelope of black & white negatives. Most were of my great grandfather’s home in Detroit and his beautiful rose garden that he was so proud of. I had never seen these before and I was not aware that he had been such an avid gardener. I lived with his daughters growing up, my gram and my aunt Ruth, who tended a garden in the yard as well. Mostly black raspberry bushes and all kinds of flowers. They had one apple tree, not sure of the type and one Montmorency tart cherry tree. I used to love to climb the trees to eat of the fruit when they came in season. My mom tells me recently of all the worms because they did not spray. I don’t remember ever seeing any worms when I ate the fruit. I don’t know if that is good or bad. I guess worms are a lot better for you then pesticide.
I have scanned some of the negatives of my great grandfather’s gardens the best that I can. I am not sure what type of camera they were taken on, but there are two sizes of negatives, both very large and not numbered. My great gramps came to America from Canada. His parents were from Germany. He passed away before I was born so I never knew him. His wife, my great grandma, had passed a few years before these pictures were taken. Even though they are black and white, I hope that you enjoy them as much as I did finding the negatives and turning them back to print. Check out the rungs on the ladder. It appears homemade! It may bring back memories for some of the older folks, for the younger ones, enjoy a trip back in time to 1932!
We have really been having a scorcher all over the USA. Hopefully we will cool off soon and get much needed rain to put out all the wildfires and keep our gardens growing. Dearborn Michigan was over 100° for the heat index a few days ago, and I know we were one of the cool areas. It is 12:30pm and currently 86° with the forcast only for 87° I wonder. Most of the heat is in the southeast at this time with still no sign of much rain anywhere, especially in the areas that need it the most.
As a Christian I pray, but I realize I never really pray about the weather. I think this is a good time to start. I wonder what would happen if everyone reading this blog prayed for rain. It’s sort of like doing a little rain dance in your head, in the name of Jesus!
I used to think that breakfast meant cereal, yogurt or eggs and whole wheat toast. Even bagels and cream cheese from Panera or an Egg McMuffin. I have decided to shed about 10 pounds in the next month or two and I am now trying to streamline my eating for this loss. Then I figure I can add fairly normal carbs to each meal, even a small dessert, and maintain as long as I stay physically active.
The most important part of breakfast to me now is protein. A little fiber and even less sugar is OK too. I know my muscles need the protein and as long as I have sufficient carbs higher in fiber, it will be good for me even while losing the weight. I sometimes make up 6 of these little breakfast h’orderves. I do know that if I keep my portion small with enough protein, I do not feel hungry soon after like I was doing eating larger meals. It is a deadly cycle.
Eat alot, crave alot! I hate it!
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These are some breakfasts that taste good, and are high in protein but equally high in fat so not so good for you. Just make sure to eat smaller amounts.
These are the things that I have found on my latest yard inspection:
Too many weeds! (My fault)
Quite a bit of leaf damage that I blame on ants.
Minimal varmint damage such as chewed leaves and vandalism.
Birds are getting most of my berries this year so the chirp must have gotten around that I have both red and black raspberries.
My beans, both pole variety and bush, are not germinating very well or something is getting the seeds before this happens. Most of the green bean leaves have a lot of holes and insect damage. I was not vigilant early enough, but am now regularly spraying with my detergent, Fels Naptha bar soap and water and garlic powder. Doesn’t smell or taste too good to most of the bugs. Make sure to re-spray after watering or a rainfall, if you are lucky enough to get one this year.
All my plants maturity is behind schedule. It is warm enough so I blame the fact that I did not compost my soil this year or add extra nutrients. I have watered minimally and I live in quite a polluted area and saw the difference between gardening in this city compared to the areas that I used to live in that were considered the suburbs, but were almost country like in setting instead of factories all over.
There is a continuous group of all kinds of animals. My birdbath and fountain attracts all kinds of birds. I also keep a shallow pan of water for little animals to go to for drinking or bathing. Sometimes the birds are hogging all the water at the same time. They are cleanest birds because I see more of them taking baths than drinking!
The plants doing the best are the ones I placed in the flowerboxes this year instead of the usual annuals. You’ll see Spearmint, Dill, Yellow Banana Peppers and tomatoes along with a few Geranium.
Enjoying the latte art I am seeing posted online. Thought I would try it myself sans the Cappucinni maker. I got one of my son’s a machine years ago, but since I was never a coffee drinker, did not partake.
I made espresso and frothed my 2% milk with a wand. I attempted to pour it in at the one side as suggested. Not thick enough. I then attempted this again with foamier milk and got some type of shape, your guess is as good as mine what it might be.
I tried to outline a heart shape with chocolate syrup in the first failed cup. Ended up looking more like South America.
They tasted great and that’s the most important thing coffee needs to do. That and the caffeine kick!
I made espresso and frothed my 2% milk with a wand. I attempted to pour it in at the one side as suggested. Not thick enough. I then attempted this again with foamier milk and got some type of shape, your guess is as good as mine what it might be.
They tasted great and that’s the most important thing coffee needs to do. That and the caffeine kick! 
Po' Girl Shines 
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