fluffnflowers

Putting the gardens to bed.

2009-11-10T08:32:00.000-08:00

We haven't gotten our first frost this year, but things are pretty much asleep, outside. Leaves are coming off the trees, a few tomatoes are lingering on, and my bulbs haven't completely gone dormant, so I'm just itching to do a major cleaning. I haven't had a lot of time or energy to do the regular maintenance stuff this year, so I really need to get on top of that.

It looks like my glads are finally starting to shrivel up. I need to lift them, divide them, and figure out what to do with the corms this year. They've started to overpopulate the area that they are in and struggled a bit this year before it started raining like crazy. I may list some of the corms in my shop, but I'm not sure yet. Gotta see if anyone wants them, before I do that!

Nothing terribly new and exciting, though. I think this is going to be a nice day in front of the fire with my knitting and books.

Insanity still reigns.

2009-10-31T08:30:00.000-07:00

I don't think we've had a rest since August! Home improvement projects, storm cleanup, family stuff, life, putting the gardens to bed for the winter, etc. have occupied every spare moment of time. I'm loving it! It's so nice to feel well enough to be on top of projects and being able to cross of items that have been on the list for a long time.

I really need to get caught up on my etsy stuff, though. I've got a few things that I really need to list, but I haven't had the focus recently. I also need to get back on top of putting listings up here as I update etsy.

I should have some pictures to post soon...hopefully I'll remember! :)

posted from fluffnflowers.com.

When it rains, it pours...

2009-09-28T13:28:00.001-07:00

Literally! The past couple of weeks have been wet, wet, wet, as you may have heard on the news. We were out of town for the middle of the Great Rains, which was more than a bit worrying. There are some washed out spots, a few soft spots in lower areas of the yard, and a tiny bit of water damage from roof leaks, but I was very thankful to return home to such minimal damage.

One thing that really irked me, upon our homecoming, was a missing tomato. A beautiful White Wonder tomato was ripening shortly before we left, and I couldn't wait to come home and pluck it from the vine. When we got home, it was nowhere to be seen. I looked everywhere, and there's no sign of it. I've been shaking my fist at whatever critter decided to snatch it, and I hope it was mealy, grubby, and unsavory for the beast. Oh, how I wanted that tomato!

I'll be updating the shopping sections over the next few days and may have a tutorial or two to post, if I get a chance. Here's to productivity!

Shopping cart - check! Glass - check!

2009-08-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

I have perfected the set up of my paypal shopping cart and checkout, and things are glorious. After figuring out a couple of the quirks, I can set up new listings quickly and without hassle. For that, I must hurray!

As promised a few weeks ago, I thought I'd go ahead and share the magic machine that helps me create some of the fun new planters I have listed in my shop.

I am such a powertool junkie, and this makes me kick my foot with happiness! Love, love, love it. Up until now, I've been cutting my bottles old school, using tons of electricity to heat water or to run a small cutter, and possibly compromising my health a little.

With this machine, I'm able to cut a bazillion times more bottles in one sitting and use a LOT (I can't emphasize that one enough!) less energy to produce them. It's invigorating, and the interesting bottles and containers that have been sitting in the garage are finally being chopped up and used. (That's a good thing, because anyone who went out into the garage before would think we were total drunkards!)

I waste a lot less glass with this guy, and rarely have to touch up the edges so that they're safe to handle. Another benefit that also lops off a ton of energy expenditure!

I've only got two 'boat' listings currently in my shop, but will be introducing more of them, along with more traditional cuts, over the next couple of weeks.

Shopping cart advancement!

2009-08-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

I've been playing with adding a shopping cart to my website, and it looks like I've figured out the paypal shopping cart stuff pretty well. I do need to adjust the shipping costs in paypal, but I'm afraid that'll mess up checkouts done through etsy. I'll save that experimentation for another day, when I'm braver and have more patience.

I've only got three things in the shop on this site, but I plan on adding things as I add them to my etsy shop or renew listings. It might take awhile, but I'm not in a hurry.

It's extremely nice to have this all coming together. I hope I'll be able to build up traffic to this site, rather than relying on etsy to provide all of my sales. Since the reseller invasion over there, it's been tough to compete and stand out. My hope is that directing traffic here will provide lots of focus on me, me, me! :)

I think summer's almost over!

2009-08-20T14:55:00.000-07:00

Not a hurray for most people, but I'm glad things are cooling off. We've had a lot more rain than we have the past two years (thank goodness!), but we've started getting afternoon thunderstorms. I dearly love them, but the cat runs under the nearest couch or bed and the dog sticks to me like glue during them.

In preparation for the fall garden adventure, I've cleared a nice spot in the garden, and have started spreading guinea pig bedding. My fall seeds are in order, and I'll probably get those out in the next few days...if I manage to get my butt in gear and overcome the sapping exhaustion and aches and pains.

I also order 16 cu ft of perlite, joy of joys, and am mixing potting mix like crazy. We invested in a lovely machine for redoing the flooring in a few locations, and this magical machine cuts glass like a knife through butter. I'll post some pictures of the new, green planters I'll be posting in my shop soon.

I've got a couple new varieties of tomatoes that just went off for germ testing, so keep your eyes peeled for those!

x-posted to fluffnflowers' website blog.

Meet the new EOT!

2009-08-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

The EtsyOrganicTeam, after a short break and revitalization, is back! Things are much tidier, and we now have an all-in-one website with forums, a team shop, the blog, directories, slideshows, and the whole nine yards. Applications and reapplications have started trickling in, the twitter feed is up and running, and we're off to a great start.

The reorganization has been a great thing and I think the team will be able to have a much more involved membership, move forward with marketing projects, and generally be able to grow as a team. It's been a project, but it was worth the effort.

Check out the website and see what you think! :)

Bad blogger syndrome

2009-08-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

Things have been very busy here. It's the green season and things are really picking up speed. Of course, in the middle of it all, we had three trips to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.

I made my first pumpkin custard last week from this lovely. It's a Rouge Vif d'Etamps -- or the Cindarella pumpkin. I must say, it's delightful orange exterior is nothing compared to the delightful orange insides!

The potato blight is BACK!

2009-07-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

Yeek. The late blight is taking no prisoners this year. It's not here yet, but I'll definitely take the rain over the drought!

Green things

2009-07-16T18:35:00.001-07:00

By now, word has probably leaked around that the EtsyOrganicTeam is temporary closed for redirection, recentering, rebuilding, and a bunch of other re's. I've been working with Brenda, of NaturalStar, and Maura, of GreenWorks, and we've been making leaps towards a new, fresh start. Make sure to check back soon for an announcement that we're open and ready to roll!

Now for a few garden shots.

This is a flower on my asparagus pea vine. Look at the flower closely. Think. Giggle to yourself. Move on. :)

Here are some greenies. I believe this plant is a Black Zebra tomato, but I can't recall for sure. The hail didn't keep these guys too down, and they're putting out flowers and little tomatoes like crazy. With my luck this year, a hornworm will come along and gnaw them down.

This is a spontaneously occurring pumpkin. The vine put out this 10 lb (and growing!) beauty in a week. It's actually the variety of pumpkin that the Cindarella coach was modeled after, which is kinda neat. Can't wait for pumpkin custards!

Bounce back!

2009-07-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

We just got back yesterday after a week at the Mayo Clinic, and oh my how the gardens have changed!

In a week's time:

grass has done some damage in my flower beds
my asparagus peas are podding
my pumpkin vines spontaneously produced a 10 lb beauty (still needs a few more days on the vine, but it's lookin' good!)
little green tomatoes are showing their faces
my compost caught on fire
my lone hydrangea is in full bloom
the first fig of the year was picked

Tomorrow, I'll take some pictures of the upcoming bounty. It rained like the dickens today, so I just took a quick run through the raindrops to check things out.

I may also see about getting my butt in gear and putting together some new kits for my shop. I've been dragging my heels on that, but I have some plans and some inspiration fresh and ready to go!

Recovery

2009-06-29T10:53:00.001-07:00

After the hail storm, I took a bunch of cuttings of my tomatoes and thought I'd share a down and dirty how-to.

First thing is to identify a prime bit of broken tomato that you'd like to salvage. Branches work just as well as main stems, so pick a bit that has most of its leaves intact and minimal bruising on the stem. The piece I chose was a sucker from the main tomato plant.

You can see how the stem was broken and pretty much destroyed. Above all of the breaks, though, was a fairly sturdy vine. This is where I chose to cut.

Now that all of the decision making has been done and you've committed to a cut, the easy part comes. Plop that puppy into a pot. Since tomatoes root along the stems, I like to put a couple of inches (depending on the size of the cutting) under ground. This'll give you a pretty solid root mass in a shorter period of time.

I laid the bottom of the cutting across the potting soil in a 1 gallon pot. I bent the top of the vine upwards and packed potting mix around the stem. I watered thoroughly and gave the little puppy a squirt of Superthrive for added punch.

And this is what it looks like a week later!

Several of the cuttings are flowering and showing signs of greenies again. What a relief!

Oh hail.

2009-06-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

You heard right! HAIL.

About a week ago, we had a normal, everyday thunderstorm that dropped a nice bucket of hail all over my growing plantation. I'd just gotten the Florida weave rocking, and everything was beaten down quite nicely. Entertainingly, our roof, two miles away, survived without a dent. Drat!

We went over to survey the damage, and I took long cuttings from about half of the plants and have them going at home. They're doing pretty well, so I hope we'll be back in gear (albeit extremely behind schedule!) shortly.

Talk about taking the wind outta someone's sale. Mother nature, sometimes you royally stink. I wish they had home growers' crop insurance!!

Tutorial on how to take tomato cuttings should be up soon. ;)

I've been a bad, bad blogger

2009-05-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

My little world has been pretty wild for the past couple of weeks. My health and now my man-thing's have been keeping us on the run from doctor to doctor and hospital to hospital. I hope things will settle down in another two weeks and programming will return to normal.

Things are green here and the Tomato Plantation is up and rolling!

Some pictures from my back gardens:

Modish interviews greenthing

2009-05-02T10:41:00.001-07:00

My last post mentioned resellers in the plants and edibles section on etsy, and Modish published an interview partially describing the situation.

Check it out here.

And now for something completely different! Flowers. Here's an amaryllis that I got from my mother. They're everywhere around her home, and her beds are always overflowing with the lovelies. Sadly, I have to dig them up every fall, but I wouldn't be without them! This prized specimen was 8.75" across! I was impressed.

Selling Elsewhere

2009-04-28T11:49:00.000-07:00

The recent influx of seed and plant resellers to Etsy and complete dismissal of the issue by the Etsy CEO has encouraged me to find other outlets for my plant sales. While I won't be closing house entirely on Etsy, I feel that the situation has severely compromised the integrity of the Plants category and don't wish to be lumped in with blatant resellers and people lying about the origins of their seeds.

By the recommendation of greenthing, I will shortly be setting up shop on winkelf. I like the layout and general look and feel of the site, and I think it may end up being a good home.

I've had a couple of listings up on ArtFire, but I feel that the look and feel of the site is too cluttered, messy, and difficult to navigate. Supposedly, there are going to be changes made, but I'll be waiting for those before I decide whether to invest any more time in my shop there.

The second place that I will be opening up shop is Zibbet. It's still very small and developing, but the layout and listing process is very clean, tidy, and easy to navigate. They also have a strict 'no resellers' policy, which greatly, greatly appeals to me. I hope that means that, as the site grows, it will maintain its integrity in a way that Etsy seems unwilling or unable to do. My shop on Zibbet is located here.

We'll see how they do and what happens. I'll probably be checking into other selling outlets, but that's all the news that is news, for now.

Rain, iris, and snakes.

2009-04-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

The past couple of days have been a great break from the rain. We had one day of high winds that took down part of a dying Bradford pear, so I'll have plenty of mulch this year for my beds. My flowers are blooming and I've had a lot of visitors.

My iris are blooming for the first time this year. I've got a couple of yellows and possibly a couple of peaches that are budding out, and I'm very excited! Here's one of the purples:

And here's a little guy that visited last week. He was only about 12" long, but he gave me a start when I saw him sunning himself on the patio. I think we positively identified him as an East Midland Water Snake. He was completely non aggressive (but very slippery!), so we picked him up and carried him back across the street to the pond.

Sowing small seeds

2009-04-07T12:23:00.001-07:00

Seeds come in all shapes and sizes, and I've noticed, recently, that many people tend to shy away from small seeds. When I say 'small', you might think of tomato seeds, but I think of tiny seeds. Seeds that are so small that they can easily be balanced on the tip of a ball point pen.

You've never seen a seed this small, perhaps, because many times, these tiny tiny seeds are treated before you get them. Sometimes they're imbedded in paper or strips or coated in clay to make them easier to handle. For those of us who are small growers, these treatments are often costly and impractical for the batches we collect.

I've been told time and time again how difficult it is to start these plants from their tiny seeds, so I thought I'd provide a short list on how to successfully germinate your newest addition.

First, find your container. I know a few people who are able to sow these tiny seeds outdoors, but I always have the best luck starting them under shelter. Your container can be just about anything from a seed tray to a plastic cup.

Second, mix a soilless potting mixture with water until moist and pack it into your container. You don't want it soupy, but it should be noticeably damp, if you stick a finger into it.

Third, the moment of truth. Take a pinch of seeds and sprinkle them over the surface. If you like to see where your seeds are going, take a piece of damp paper towel and lay it over the surface of the soil before sprinkling.

Fourth, DO NOT cover these tiny seeds. Some small seeds are fine with being covered, but I've found that my germination rates are much higher when surface sown. If you are starting your seeds in a dry environment, cover your container with plastic wrap or a clear plastic cover. This will retain moisture and allow light in to your seeds. Make sure to keep the containers warm to speed up the germination process.

Knitting Paraphenalia and Geekery

2009-04-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

Last night, I expressed my inner geek and made these.

Up until last night, my double pointed knitting needles were tied or rubber banded together, which was extremely inconvenient. Add to it that, every time I needed to clarify the needle size, I had to look up which color was which set (great until you buy two sets in the same color!) or pull out my sometimes unreliable and unfindable needle sizer.

So I sealed together little needle cases. I love the look of the rolled cases, but I don't find them overly practical. Maybe I'm just a messy, careless knitter, but I was never careful enough to keep the roll just at the right angle to prevent needles from escaping or sliding around. With these, I just velcro them shut and throw them in my little knitting tool box. Handy!

I would like to use snaps instead of velcro on these, but I will probably not be getting a snap press in the near future.

Plant Profile - Mazus reptans

2009-04-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

My gardens are waking up for spring, and I've been captured, again, by this lovely groundcover.

First, the down and dirty. This little plant is hardy from zn 5-8, and does well in most conditions. I've got some growing in full sun, but I have a couple of plants in shaded areas. The full sun plants grow faster, but the ones in the shade do pretty well, too. It likes it wet, but it's taken the recent drought years like a man and made significant progress.

The leaves are small, usually less than 1" long, tear shaped with scalloped edges. The leaves grow in little clumps and send out runners in all directions. The foliage, here, in our warmer climate is actually evergreen, which is very nice when my perennial beds have quieted down for the winter. Due to its 'running' nature, the plant is very easily propagated. Cuttings take readily, and it naturally layers itself as it crawls and spreads. Even better, it can take light foot traffic, making it a great choice for area where you've got stepping stones or occasionally have to trek.

From early spring to late summer, the plant blooms with small (~1" long), unusual little flowers. The plant pictured is the white variety, but I also have a purple variety. A small amount of greenery can produce a huge number of flowers, and pollinators flock to this little lovely all year.

Now, we all know that a lot of groundcovers tend towards the invasive, but this little guy is very friendly. It grows dense enough to act as a living mulch, but it doesn't choke out plants, which makes it a great companion for areas where my bulbs are. It spreads readily, but it's not so fast that it's difficult to control.

SpottedBox Team treasury!

2009-03-31T14:36:00.000-07:00

Thanks, paisleybaby, for including me in this treasury!

More Tomato Madness

2009-03-28T09:09:00.000-07:00

I think this is going to be the last of the list for this year. I'm not going to hold my breath that the others are going to germinate, but they'll get to sit and wait for a couple of weeks before I completely give up.

Since last post:

Cherokee Chocolate
Chocolate Stripe
Costoluto Genovese
Coyote
Great White
Italian Tree
Kosovo
Marglobe
Marlowe Charleston
Mr Stripey
Nepal
Old Brooks
Old German
Omar's Lebanese
Opalka
Paul Robeson
Pink Ruffled
Polish
Red Zebra
Roma
Ruby Gold
Silvery Fir Tree
Speckled Roman
Super Snow White
Tigrovy

Hopefully, the rain will stop and I'll be able to start my squishes and corn and melons. Woohoo!

Petals and puddles

2009-03-27T09:27:00.001-07:00

Spring is here! For the past three days, all we've had is rain. It's great, since we've been in a drought for so long, but I wanna go out and play in the dirt! This is putting a bit of a cramp in my style, and I've had a few babies damp off.

My cherry tree is in bloom, and the pink 'snow' is piled up next to puddles. The petals look so lovely blowing across the yard.

And a picture of the cherry cuddled with one of my Japanese maples. I wish the forsythia would have held onto its blooms longer this year. That would have made a lovely combination.

So far...

2009-03-21T18:07:00.000-07:00

I've been obsessively checking my babies for germination, and I've got a few heads popping up. I'm very, very behind this year and just finished my tomato sowing a few days ago, so the list will get longer. So far, here's what's up and leafing:

Amish Paste
Azoycha
Big Rainbow
Black Prince
Black from Tula
Black Sea Man
Brandywine
Caspian Pink
Cour di Bue
Dinner Plate
Early Glee
Esther's Cherry
Fuzzy Peach
Green Bell Pepper
Green Zebra
Hank
Heinz 1439
Kellogg's Breakfast
Marianna's Peace
Schimmieg Stuffer
Supper Beefsteak
Transparent Yellow
White Wonder
Yellow Brandywine
Zapotec Pleated

I also have a handful of eggplant and pepper varieties that are going strong, but I don't have that list entered yet. I haven't started my corn, squashes, or gourds yet.

I have an illness. A serious, tomato bourne illness. I can't wait for shredded Jerusalem artichoke, chopped tomato, fresh basil, and parmesan salad! Spring is here and the madness has begun.

TheSpottedBox March

2009-03-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

polkatotboutique - cute little hairclip
kinderclothes - floral newborn hat (my friend's expecting a girl, so this is perfect!)
2by2boutique - mudslider
peas & carrots baby - wipe solution chunks (these smell so nice!)
Tiffany's Trinkets - earrings
naturebabyknits - stitch markers (which came in very handy last night, actually)
ohsnapusa - a baggie of lime green snaps
fairycakesandpixiebows - a lovely little clippy
scratchjewellery - fun blue zebra nail pendant (fun concept -- my SIL will love it!)
glorybeherbals - exfoliating scrub (my guy has already laid the claim to this!)
crochet frog - the cutest little crocheted bunny (it's already on our holiday tree)
distinctivedecals - fun flower decal
earth*school - a fun activity card (love these!)
thelilshoppe - two mama pads in fun colors
wooldins - soft wipe
twoseasidebabes - crocheted face scrubbie
tscrapper - very pretty bookmart (I'm going to share this with someone who won't lose it!)
princessjuliannescloset - gift certificate for $5
babus - teething bracelet in black
joyfulrose - hold it bag pattern (fun, easy project -- my favorite kind! :)
picnicbasketcrafts - diaper mist (all of her stuff smells so good!!)
elizabear - cute bear crayon

This was a great box! The stuff I can't use already has new homes.

Signs of spring

2009-03-17T15:08:00.000-07:00

A chunk of catnip. Every year I get to dig up the new plants that pop around the 'mother' plant and send them to cat lovers around the country. This chunk is already potted up and ready to go wild in a pot or in your garden.

What a great way to wake up!

2009-03-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

I woke up to a bunch of different messages this morning letting me know that my Jewels of Opar seeds have been entered into Etsy's Spring Equinox poll! I'm very excited about this and many thanks to Etsy admin for considering my items.

You can vote by clicking the picture below:

Thanks for the screenshot, monkeysalwayslook!

Good morning, Spring!

2009-03-01T18:11:00.000-08:00

After Sunday's 3" snow of the year, I think we can say that Spring is officially here. Things are starting to come to life, and my list of tasks is longer and longer. I've got seeds out of my ears and little plants everywhere. So much work to be done!

We've still got a lot more work to do on the new Tomato Plantation, but it looks like we're approved for a water meter on the lot! We haven't gotten the permit yet, so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

GOLD Treasury

2009-02-28T12:44:00.000-08:00

Thanks to sherilynne for adding my Teddy Bear sunflower seeds to this lovely treasury!

A treasury...

2009-02-27T20:29:00.000-08:00

courtesy of monkeytreecreations in honor of the March participants of TheSpottedBox!

Thanks for including my Erlenmeyer Terrarium kit!

TheSpottedBox of February

2009-02-23T22:49:00.001-08:00

This month's TheSpottedBox was a great box and there were so many delightful goodies! I'm never able to use everything in it, but everything always finds a good home. I've already started trying out some of the samples.

Not having a good health week and I don't have the attention span to list out everything that was included (I'm sorry!), but I'd be more than happy to look up anything that catches your eye and see who contributed it. I will, hopefully, be able to get some reviews of my favorites up in the coming weeks.

If you click the compound images, you'll be able to see them in greater detail.

Gotta get moving.

2009-02-16T07:53:00.000-08:00

Spring is officially here! Only a couple more nights are expected to be below freezing, and I've got soooo much stuff to do. I'm a bit behind this year, but that's what I get for always finding a new way to get sick.

I've got a handful of seed orders that are still in the mail and I want them NOW! I said I wasn't going to do any orders, but I broke down and decided, with the newly expanded space, that I must have new stuff to fill it in. My tomato trading group seeds should be here Tuesday, and that's what I'm most excited about. I'd love to top 90 varieties grown this year, but we shall see.

Now for the master list:

- clean up property; bricks to the back, unusable corner, hay raked in
- start more seeds!
- get a roll (or two!) of concrete reinforcement wire for more tomato cages
- get water hooked up

And back by popular request...

2009-02-10T07:40:00.000-08:00

More pictures of the demo for my destruction loving viewers! :D The demo is now complete and the site has been crudely graded, so the fun is pretty much over and we're looking at this:

Boring, right?

Demo, baby.

2009-02-06T09:30:00.000-08:00

Progress is being made on my future mini farm! The demo will be completed by the end of the week, if all goes well, and I'll be able to start cleaning up and preparing for spring. I was hoping I'd be able to go out and chart light this week, but my poor toes are in too bad of shape to even think about that.

And no, I don't get to keep the awesome yellow machine.

It should be spring!

2009-02-03T09:33:00.000-08:00

All around the garden, I'm seeing new things pop up. My daffodils are peeking up, my fig tree is starting to bud out, my forsythia is sneaking out a couple of blooms, I've got a crazy sedum, and my japanese maples are starting to look alive.

I also got my new toy in yesterday, and I hope to be introducing some new upcycled plastic creations to my fluffnfixings shop soon!

Yay for front page!

2009-01-27T21:06:00.000-08:00

Well, that lovely treasury that monkeysalwayslook put me in (I'll call her the evil wench, since she objected to the 'nice people' label) made it to the front page!

Yay!

It had my fly bags in it, and I think my little fluffnfixings shop got more views today than it normally gets in a month!

Yay for pretty treasuries!

2009-01-26T09:57:00.000-08:00

Thank you monkeysalwayslook for including my ginkgo seeds and fly bags in your treasury. You're the bestest!

Achievements and goals.

2009-01-24T22:09:00.001-08:00

I've finished my year end taxes, and I'm rather proud of how fluffnflowers has done. This year proves to be even better.

The acre piece of property that is owned by my guy's family is going to be demoed shortly. I hope to have it cleared and ready for planting this spring. I know that it'll take years to recondition the property into a fertile, perfect plot, but I think we'll be able to grow this year with minimal cultivation. I'm excited and can't wait to expand my tomato varieties and start growing larger quantities of some of my favorite heirloom 'other veggies'.

Sales have been extremely good this month, and I'm also excited for the rest of the year. As a go-get-'em-girl gift to myself, I bought a lovely sealer and hope to increased the value of the ecofriendly, recycled mailers in my fluffnfixings shop.

Not only that, but my friend monkeysalwayslook and I plan on opening up another endeavor that will be entertaining for us, if not profitable. Check out her shop, while you're at it. She's got the cutest little succulents in interesting containers. They're perfect if you're not up for an interesting plant that doesn't require the maintenance involved in outdoor gardening. She also has some pretty sexy vintage finds.

Here's to a new year!

TheSpottedBox

2009-01-21T09:48:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, I decided to join up with the Spotted Box. I liked the eco-friendly, family-oriented focus and LOVE the great communication and involvement of the community. I just got my 'free' box yesterday, and I'm even more in love! Not only did everyone send in some fabulous promos, but I learned a TON about what good packaging is. I got a few ideas to give my promos a bit of mmph next month, too.

Here are some pictures from my Spotted Box experience. I've put text saying what and where things are from that aren't immediately obvious on some of the pictures. You should be able to click them and get better detail, if you'd like. I apologize for funky formatting ahead of time. :)

I can't wait to start trying things out!

Not much excitement.

2009-01-15T11:21:00.000-08:00

It's officially winter and garden activities have been reduced to clean up and planning for the spring. My biggest project has been moving a massive forsythia that the former owners poorly planted and cleaning out the English ivy that the neighbors have let run rampant.

Here's the forsythia before I cleaned out the ivy around it:

And here it is after I cleaned it out:

After cleaning out all of the ivy, I found that the ivy had caused the forsythia to airlayer itself. This has given me a bazillion forsythia babies, all over 2' tall. I plan on listing those in my etsy shop, at some point.

The plant itself divided into two giant chunks that I have already planted where they will get much more light and, hopefully, bloom more frequently.

I did learn one thing from this entire escapade that I am allergic to English ivy. I will wear gloves the next time I fiddle around with it.

Sign of spring!

2009-01-09T18:51:00.000-08:00

I've been out in the garden a lot over the past few days, moving things around, cleaning up, and I've been noticing some signs of spring.

Here are some fresh shoots from one of my clumps of lilies:

I sold my first order of moss mousse yesterday, and I took a picture of what goes in the envelope before I packed it all. As you can see, there's the sealed packet of moss mousse, a business card, a thank you note, and a page of instructions on how to use the mix.

Busy busy!

2009-01-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

Despite the cooler weather and the rain we've been getting, I've managed to be pretty productive.

Yesterday and today I dug up a couple of plants and have evicted them from my gardens. Hurrah! I still have a bush I need to move, but it's not getting a one-way ticket out of here -- just a relocation.

The newest thing is that I've added a new product to my shop! It's called Moss Mousse Mix and it's something I've been using for a long time. I whipped up a batch and packaged it last night specifically for my shop, and I'm excited to have it available. It's ugly, but the results are great.

This is a just-add-water mix, which allows you to mix it as thin or as thick as you want. You can add extra water to dip baskets or rocks in, or you can mix it thick to slather on an upright surface.

And this is what you'll get:

I love moss!

Pinch Gardens

2009-01-02T08:56:00.000-08:00

I started listing pinch gardens in my shop a few months ago and realized that I've never shown any of mine. During my last illness, a handful of established ones wasted away, but I've started over and now have a small collection growing at the windowsill in front of my crafting table.

These three are salvages. I was cleaning off my plant table outside and found a handful of dessicated bulbs. Three of them having started showing signs of life, and I'm still waiting on the other two.

As you can see, two of these are simple, amber bottles. In fact, I appear to have completely neglected to take the label off of one! The taller one is a wine bottle that I cut off and etched in an uneven, cloudy pattern.

See more of my pinch gardens and pinch garden collections here.

Bit of a blog break.

2008-12-28T11:43:00.000-08:00

As you might be able to tell, I took a bit of a blog break. Life is going swimmingly, but a couple of things have popped up that are requiring a bit of work. One of them may lead to my own little farm for the spring! Excitement.

I've spent a lot of time inside because of rain, recently, so I thought I'd share my current project. I got a bunch of plastic from the lovely Katy of gir lindustries and have spent a lot of time piecing things together, testing, and thinking. She sent some clear bags that I just couldn't wreck by fusing. I, instead, trimmed off some undesirable lettering and added drawstring 'tubes' to the top. Now, I have some pretty fancy drawsting giftbags. I need to run them with some black cord, and they'll be finished!

Ginkgo -- Pt. 2

2008-12-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

I found so many amazing things while searching etsy for ginkgo, that I couldn't just do one post. Here are today's ginkgo finds.

westernartgl ass is now one of my new favorites. I love that this artist is recycling bottles and turning them into beautiful pieces of art. Check out these great ginkgo earrings.

This lovely drawing of a ginkgo leaf by AKJapan immediately caught my eye. The colors and simplicity really appeal to me.

And now for a YOWZA! This lovely pillow has great, bright colors and it really makes for a fascinating look. Even cooler is that cottageindustrialist designed all of the fabrics!

Ginkgo -- Pt. 1

2008-12-18T09:36:00.000-08:00

I was pondering some fresh ideas for spring, one including the lovely ginkgo tree, and I decided to see who else had been inspired by this striking dinosaur.

To start us out, I thought I'd share one of the many lovely works by the artist of ginkgo. I love the little bunches of copper leaves so delicately hung. Simple, yet striking.

And now, the lovely, pure silver ginkgo charm by the equally lovely MeridianStudio. All of her pieces are individually crafted, never cast, so you know you're getting a one-of-a-kind piece every time.

Next, the amazing filigree carved ginkgo gourd by trestella. This gorgeous piece definitely speaks for itself! The colors and textures are just wonderful.

Mmmm, compost!

2008-12-14T12:26:00.000-08:00

I've been pretty productive for the past couple of days. I finally got around to dumping out one of my composters and can't wait to start filling it up again. I dumped it out after it got rained on, so I declined taking pictures of the finished product. I added some leaves and bark shreds to it, and it's now sitting in our 'pit' to cure.

I set up these composters about two years ago and they've served me well. Here are some pictures.We assembled a 'deck' out of scrap lumber and fixed a bunch of small, fixed casters we got at Harbor Freight for .35 each.

I cut a door in the end, screw in hinges, and a latch. I also used a hole cutter and drilled 1" holes in rows along the sides for ventilation and drainage.

We got the white bin from someone who attempted to make a standing bin. She was moving and it hadn't worked out for her, so we happily took it off of her hands and have a nice second bin. We had to modify the deck to work with the way it was cut.

You can see how the bins sit on the decks. They roll quite freely and it's soooo easy to get things mixed up. I knew I couldn't do the pitchfork/pile method, but this has been great for us. These bins maintained temperatures into the hundreds all winter last year, which I thought was pretty surprising.

MMG Holiday Exchange!

2008-12-11T21:36:00.000-08:00

Out in the mail today is an amaryllis growing kit to one of our MMG members. It consists of a handcut, hand etched container, my container mix, and an amaryllis bulb that should be white with red candy stripes, if my tags are correct.

BURD!

2008-12-09T17:52:00.001-08:00

This little guy was hopping around on one of the trees in the front yard, confirming our suspicions that the tree is, indeed, dying (not that we needed a confirmation!). He was very shy and would hop around the other side of the tree every time I tried to open the storm door. I wish I could have gotten closer or, at least, gotten a snap of him without the branch in front of his head. Didn't happen.

A new MMG home! and trees.

2008-12-06T19:15:00.001-08:00

I've mentioned the BNR thread that I participate in and the great group of people who are in it before, but this little BNR has become something big! The lovely Dorana arranged a ning site for this group here. Check it out, if you're interested in hangin' with a bunch of great, supportive etsians with a ton of community knowledge who are always willing to help!

This BNR thread is having a holiday swap, and I've been kinda freaking out about what to do. The original idea I isn't going to be possible in the short period we had to get things together, so I've been trying to find Plan B. My brilliance kicked in this evening and I have a plan; all I have to do is check my inventory tomorrow and see if THAT'S doable. I think it will be!

And a picture from one of my front beds I took yesterday:

Snow!

2008-12-03T15:37:00.000-08:00

Alright, not really.

Monday night, we had some freezing mist, and the little fluffy balls of ice piled up on the ground. I didn't notice it sticking all that well, but Tuesday, around noon, I went to check the mail and saw this!
I love snow, and the South has totally cramped my winter style. Seeing this made my day...well, that and a handful of sales! I guess holiday shoppers are hitting etsy, finally, and the past couple of days have kept me busy. I've had to set up two custom listings and my Erlenmeyer Terrarium Kit sold. I was kinda sad to see it go, but I'll fix another up sometime this week, I think.

Of course, I've conveniently run out of bubble mailers and bubble wrap to make more mailers, so I'm waiting for both of those to come up. If I get any orders between now and when I get my supplies, I'll have to break down and see what I can find locally. Can't complain too much! :)

I'm back! -- and eggs

2008-11-30T21:20:00.000-08:00

As you may be able to tell, I'm back from our quick, Thanksgiving jaunt. I packed up five orders today and they'll all be going out Monday to their new homes.

I spent some time shopping around Etsy today, and decided to go for two eggs from SwedishDesign. I got a Santa and a Snowman, and I can't wait to get them! They're wonderful illustrations and will make excellent gifts for my sets of parents.

I spent a lot of time going through some incredible work by several very talented egg-workers, for lack of a better term. I thought I'd share some of these amazing creations with you.

Here's a wonderful pysanka ornament by doreseggs. The colors and patterning are captivating.

This artist, PysankyPanky, has too many incredible pieces to pick a favorite from, but this one is at the top of my list!

Here's a little wonder by 1eggman. This artist has the most amazing carved eggs I've ever seen!

Check out my favorite items and favorite sellers for more incredible egg artists!

Mmmm...chocolate!

2008-11-30T19:34:00.000-08:00

A big thank you to simplydoodles for including my chocolate mint plant in this lovely treasury:

New things!

2008-11-20T13:27:00.001-08:00

I decided to change my avatar. I may change it back to the one I've had since I joined (over a year now!), but I figured I'd give this one a try for a little while and see if I adjust. Talk about living on the wild side, eh?

I've decided to do a fluffnflowers sale from 28 Nov.-1 Dec. in honor of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you haven't already checked out my shop, you might want to take advantage of this sale before the spring rush!

Buy 3 packs of seeds or $9 equivalent (not including S&H) and get a free pack of seeds! AND 15% off of any CUT GLASS growing kit.

Beside myself with glee!

2008-11-19T22:07:00.000-08:00

Etsy streamlined the flagging system, and they actually seem to be RESPONDING to flagged items.

I spent a couple of mindless hours while watching some 'sodes and the items have been moved. HURRAH!

I think I am no longer as frustrated with Etsy as I was. This totally made my day.

(Shows how much of a life I have, eh?)

It's cold!

2008-11-17T18:29:00.000-08:00

It's finally gotten cold, here, and it looks like it's probably going to stay that way. I'm excited and I hope I get to see snow this year! I'm not holding my breath, but it'd sure be nice.

Our yellow tree is almost out of leaves, which is a bit sad. It starts turning first, holds onto it's lovely colors, and then fades out after every other tree. I should investigate and see what kind of tree it is, but it seems that I never get around to it until after the leaves have all fallen and then I don't know which it is! It looks quite striking between the pine trees.

Other than that, I seem to be recovering alright. It's only been a few days since the procedure and things are still pretty up and down, but I've definitely noticed some improvements. Being able to sleep through the night without being woken up a million times by a stopping/starting heart is really, really, really nice. We'll see what's happening in a month or so...

I made it out alive!

2008-11-15T08:20:00.000-08:00

I'm back home and comfy after my heart surgery. Sadly, the procedure wasn't as successful as we'd have liked, but we'll know better what the course of action will be in a month or so.

For now, I'm thrilled to be home, and I've been pretty busy. I've redone a couple of listings, added a few new listings, and have been getting together more promos to send out for the next big rush.

I spent some time before I went into the hospital cutting and finishing a bunch of glass bottles, so I've been taking pictures and introducing these 'pinch' garden kits. The containers are small, so I've chosen seeds that do well in tight quarters for several months. Spicy Globe Basil, Fern Leaf Bleeding Heart, and Jewels of Opar are some of the selections I've made.

Things are slowing down.

2008-11-09T16:32:00.000-08:00

Winter is obviously starting to set in. All of the trees are losing their leaves and plants have stopped their furious growth. I've been pulling in seeds, and I'll be lifting some of my cold-sensitive bulbs shortly. Entertainingly enough, everything is slowing down, but a handful of weeds are going insane.

Thursday (I skipped the 11th!) is the big day, and I hope I'll be back in fine form shortly after. Supposedly, the procedure is easy and has a fast recovery, so keep your fingers crossed that my heart is thumping the right way soon!

Today, while I was cleaning I found more of my business cards! I thought I was out, but I apparently just misplaced 100 of them. So, now I can staple together promos while I wait for my 1250 others to arrive.

I also ordered 100 post cards. I'm not going to mail them out and intend on using them on thank-you notes, actually. I normally use large note cards to write the thank you and tape seed packs to the back. These will be pretty and serve the same function. Woohoo!

MMG'ers strike again!

2008-11-06T08:30:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was the first day of what's going to be a new MMG (More Meaningful Gifts -- a BNR group started up by the lovely Dorana) tradition -- The Sneak Attack!

Most of us already know about the official Sneak Attack organized by The Handmade Movement, but this sneak attack is just for MMG'ers. If you're on the list by 9AM Eastern time on the day of the attack, you're put into a random drawing to be the 'victim' shop.

Last night's shop was Tsurfer, a lovely lady with lots of fun, creative pieces like these zipper pouches and purse organizers.

The next attack will be held next Wednesday, 12 Nov., at 9PM. Make sure to tune in and buy onto the list by 9AM to participate!

(You can find the link to the daily thread by checking out the last page of the previous day's thread.)

'Black Pearl' Pepper

2008-11-02T07:22:00.000-08:00

I've had this plant listed in my shop under it's botanical name, Capsicum annuum 'Black Pearl'. I changed it to 'Black Pearl' Pepper when I thought about it and realized that most people aren't going to know what the botanical name is. I've had more hits after changing it, so I'm patting myself for being clever. :)

This has been my favorite plant for several years, but I fall even more in love with it every autumn when I bring it in. The black, sparkly foliage is enough to make most people take a second glance and ask about it, and it's even more eye catching when it's covered with bright, red peppers.

It does wonderfully indoors in the winter and blooms and peppers all winter in my bright, south-facing window. That means that those tasty little balls end up in my soups and other dishes all winter!

Another lovely plant to propagate.

2008-10-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

Today, I'll be going outside, braving the cold, and clipping off a handful of cuttings from this lovely. Mine is still holding onto it's leaves and flowers, but I don't know how long that'll last with the weather being as cool as it has been.

I have decided that I will stop shipping live plants (not including moss!) at the end of the month, unless by special request. I've reduced my live plant prices, so take advantage of this and grab what catches your fancy or wait until next spring!

In other news, my heart surgery is scheduled for 13 Nov. Eek!

End of harvest.

2008-10-26T09:55:00.001-07:00

It's nearing the end of my harvest season, and I've been spending a lot of time sorting seeds, packaging seeds, and planning out next year.

New things for the week:

Seedpods! I sent some of these off to a friend to see what magic she could work with them. If anyone else wants them for whatever reason, I'd be happy to send some off to you. :)

My lawyer gave me the free-and-clear (and a handful of free templates found online with the same layout), so I also placed another business card order, today. I added another flavor to my stash, so I now have five different images. I hope to be able to continue adding variety.

Health news, my heart appears to be clear from obvious defects, so here's to hoping there'll be no exciting surprises during the surgery. I should be scheduling the procedure next week.

Dog 'poo!

2008-10-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

Being the handmade soap addict that I am, I decided to check out Etsy when my last jug of dog shampoo ran out. I shopped around and found several products that I was interested in, but I was a bit concerned about the moisturizing effect of these soaps.

I know most people love dogs with soft hair, but I've got a wire-coated dog with a thick, oily coat. I asked a few sellers about whether they'd consider their dog 'poo to be conditioning, and only one came back to say that they couldn't claim the soap to be conditioning. Score!

(forgive the hair on the bar -- I took the pictures post doggie bath!)

Well, my girl needed a bath a few days ago, and I got to try out wwi zebody's dog soap. I must say that I'm QUITE impressed with it!

What I love:

1. Size and shape of the bar make it easy to hold on to when wet.
2. Amazing lather made it a quick job to soap up the dog. A few swipes was all it took! The liquid shampoo concentrate I normally use doesn't suds up that much and takes a lot of work to get distributed.
3. The fresh smell wasn't overpowering but still managed to compete with the wet dog smell. It's been three days, and she doesn't smell like dog, yet! The fragrance from the soap didn't held in her coat, but she's not supposed to be an air freshener. :)
4. The great cleaning power! My pup's coat is shiny, clean, harsh, and not grubby feeling. No second wash needed with this stuff!
5. Less waste, if nothing else, makes this bar a great choice. Usually, I use about a cup of diluted, harsh-coat concentrate each time I shampoo my dog because the lather isn't very good. With this bar, the edges are barely rounded, and I don't have to worry about accidentally spilling the bottle!
6. It rinsed out easily and cleanly. 'Nuff said.
7. It's not conditioning, but it doesn't seem to dry out skin. No itching, no scratching, and no flaking. Hurrah!
8. The convenience. Usually, when I go out of town, I carry a premixed bottle of 'poo for her, in case she gets skunked, rolls in something nasty, or just gets filthy. There's nothing worse than finding you haven't mixed enough or having to clean up the ruptured container. Now, with air travel like it is, the liquid is pretty much impossible, and it's equally impossible to find in most locations. This little bar is a great size and it's SOLID -- perfect for travel.
9. The price. I have no doubt that this bar will last many more washes and be much more affordable, in the long run, than the concentrate I normally purchase.

Summer is over.

2008-10-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

Summer is obviously over. The nights and days are getting cooler, which I love, but it breaks my heart to see the bees that I spend all summer watching and cultivating a habitat for start to slow down.

That's how it goes, though. They'll be back next year, but I hate finding their fat, formerly busy bodies clinging to my flowers. :(

New DesignStyleGuide website!

2008-10-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

I am SO excited about the new DesignStyleGuide website! It goes live on Monday, but I've been playing around with the member access stuff for a couple of hours tonight. Can I say brilliant?

I opted for an 8 listing membership, rather than the basic 2, and I'm glad I did! It was a bit more expensive and I was afraid it'd be too much trouble to fill them out, but the listings are sooooo much more intuitive than I expected. I've already got 6 of the 8 I signed up for done, and I'm trying to decide what others I'm going to include.

There's a treasury feature that's not dependent on the ever crappy flash, so I'm able to actually USE it. Even more exciting!

Picture me very pleased.

It's dirty work.

2008-10-17T06:18:00.000-07:00

I was potting up some things yesterday and realized that I was out of my premixed container mix, so I thought I'd post some pictures of how I hand mix it.

You'll be shocked by the complexity, I'm sure...

The base to my mixes is peat. (I know, I know, not very environmentally friendly, but I haven't found a suitable alternative for an indoor, container mix yet. That's been in the works and I've been researching and testing for about a year, now.)

I mix 8 parts peat to 1 part bark and mix thoroughly. I usually make a lot of this up, because this 'base' doesn't usually change, regardless of what's going to be growing in it. I store this is big trashcans and pull it out as I need it. I just did a big mix, so I didn't need that today.

Then, for my general purpose container mix, I mix 4 parts 'base' with 1 part perlite. Perlite is a fluffy, volcanic glass and is excellent for opening up mixes and improving drainage.

Now, here comes the complicated part. Listen closely...

MIX!

My most used recipes:

Standard potting mix: 8 pt peat: 1 pt bark. 4 pt base: 1 pt perlite

Succulent mix: 8 pt peat: 1 pt pebbles or bark. 4 pt base: 1 pt perlite: 1 pt sand

A note to anyone who's mixing peat, sand, or perlite: Please wear a mask! Your lungs will thank you.

Any better?

2008-10-16T13:50:00.000-07:00

I worked on my Garden-in-a-Bucket idea today, and I think it looks pretty darned good!

Talk about neglect!

2008-10-14T07:27:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a week since I last posted and there's been a lot of stuff going on. I'll probably be out for heart surgery by the end of the month, so I'll get to check out etsy's new, shiny vacation mode.

I've been working on various kits to list in my fluffnflowers shop, and have had a couple of fun ideas. One is this Erlenmeyer flask terrarium kit. I call it the flaskarium, and I hope someone finds it as charming as I do.

I've also started working on some 'garden in a bucket' kits, but I don't know how, exactly, I'm going to work that. I don't have an eye for arrangements, so I'll have to work on getting some shots better than this:

Too bad I stink at gift baskets! I'll have to work on it some more before I list it.

It's been a good day.

2008-10-08T14:22:00.000-07:00

Today has been a good day. What's so good?

Well, it rained for the first time in 26 days today! Hurrah! Things were starting to get thirsty and the half inch we got today will definitely help out.

Other than that, it's been a plastic wonderland. I made about twenty envelopes from old potting soil bags yesterday, and six clear ones from scrap 6 MIL plastic. I listed the six 6 MIL ones and plan on listing a set of ten of the potting soil mailers today.

I couldn't bear to part with all of them, so half of the potting soil bag envies are MINE! :D I got an order for a book off of paperbackswap, so it got packaged up in one of these and is out in the mail. I hope the person receiving it reuses it!

Puffball or not?

2008-10-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

I found this lovely outside today and was extremely excited. I'm not a mycologist, but it looks like a puffball to me! My grandmother used to sautee what I think this is and make the most delightful yumminess.

Tell me what you think. I'm not allowed to eat it, so I won't be taking your advice if you tell me it's edible. :)

Summer is winding down.

2008-10-02T18:45:00.000-07:00

The nights are now in the 60s and the days are cooler (only reaching the mid 80s), and summer is obviously winding down. Leaves are starting to fall and a second rush of seed collection is happening.

I wasn't sure whether I was going to list seeds from my Northern Sea Oats plant this year or not, but I decided to go ahead and go for it. It's a fantastic plant, but I don't know how well ornamental grasses go over on etsy. You can see the listing here. It's one of the more attractive grasses I own, and I have plans for expanding it's growing area next year.

I also spent some time today breaking up another one of my monster lemongrass plants that was trying to anchor itself to the ground through its pot. People seem to find them appealing, which I think is fantastic. Not only are they attractive, but they're a joy to cook with. I'd love to know how people use them! :)

My kava got split up, but I don't know if it'll be listed this year. I'm trying to make up my mind, but that's sometimes difficult.

Tomorrow is my dreaded follow up appointment with a doctor that I've never met, so keep your fingers crossed that things aren't as bad as I fear! :) Hopefully, I won't have any blip in my online time.

Just because it says 'mist'...

2008-09-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

I got a new hose nozzle a couple of weeks ago and I'm loving it! It's very heavy duty, has great heft, and all of the settings are different and work like as they should. Even better, it was rather inexpensive!

Today, I went out to check on my flats of winter veggies and found that they needed a bit of moisture. I dragged over my hose, knocked my handy-dandy nozzle to mist, and went at it.

Just because it says 'mist', I learned, doesn't mean that it's a gentle mist. Yes, it mists, but I'm short and being only a couple feet away with the nozzle is a bit too much for tender little seedlings. I've been working on my technique and found that aiming the nozzle over, rather than at, the flats works much better and the little seedlings maintain their heads.

So far, arugula, some spinach, broccoli raab, buttercrunch lettuce, swiss chard, kohl rabi, and kale are all making an appearance. I wish the fennel was showing, but the seeds I found were old and hadn't been properly stored. I may go get some fresh seeds for this winter, if I'm feeling motivated!

Some pretty Etsy things.

2008-09-27T08:57:00.001-07:00

I haven't written much about my joining up with the Interior Design Team on etsy, so I figured it might be a good time to show some of the interesting and truly great things I've found through this group.

First would be MatthewHamblen. I can't even begin to explain how NOT an art critic I am, but I can't find one thing in his shop that doesn't pull me in and entrance me. Truly a beautiful tour and a wonderful artist.

Another fantastic shop is hillspeak. I'm not usually a fan of the 'shabby' look, but the mosaiced bird houses in this shop get lots of smiles from me. This is my absolute favorite.

I've come across BrazanDesign a handful of times and I always am completely drawn in by how clean and classy this shop is. I finally found a nightlight that my SO can sleep with, or one of these lovelies would be MINE!

Just a quick scan, for today. :)

Lemongrass divisions!

2008-09-25T12:13:00.000-07:00

My father-in-law expressed interest at having some lemongrass divisions, so I was only too happy to send him some. I divided up one of my plants for the year a couple of weeks ago, and set them out to recover in cups. Well, I pulled two out of their cups to send to him and this is what was in the cups:

I love these plants! They're impossible to kill, resilient, and amazingly tasty. What more could you want??

alysonscure

2008-09-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

A great etsy seller, MeridianStudio, has organized a shop to help the family of Alyson, a young girl with lymphoblastic leukemia.

Please check out the beautiful contributions of other etsy members in the shop alysonscure.

I have donated a new project, an etched glass, upcycled herb garden.

Treasury!

2008-09-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

A great treasury by LetYourLightShine! Thanks for including my purple beebalm seeds. :)

Fused business 'cards'.

2008-09-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of fun making these; and, while they're still obviously a first attempt and the design needs significant polishing, I'm pleased with the results. I've got several ideas for future designs, but I think these will keep me for awhile.

Assembled promos.

2008-09-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of days, I've been assembling my promos for various people who've requested them for their functions. Bad picture, but it gets the point across. :)

Hopefully, I'll be posting pictures of my new fluffnfixings promos!

Yummy basil.

2008-09-17T07:48:00.001-07:00

Thanks to FluffyFlowersVintage for including my lettuce leaf basil in this treasury!

A bit of a break.

2008-09-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

I got to take a short break over the weekend while visiting my in-laws. It was quite nice to come back to two sales, one in my fluffnflowers shop and one in my fluffnfixings shop. I'm a bit disappointed that the first sale in my fluffnfixings shop was not one of my upcycled mailers, but that's how it goes and you can't argue with any incoming moolah. :)

I've got a lot I need to do this week and a two days are already gone from it. I got my first business card order from vistaprint, and I must say that I'm very pleased. The colors are excellent, the printing and alignment is excellent, and the quality of the paper is also excellent. Even better, it was very inexpensive. I'd rather support an etsian or private printer, but it's hard to argue with the budget. I spent the morning collating (without the intention of binding them ;) them and have them ready to attach to my sample seed packs. I've got four or five people waiting for promos to include in packs, so I've got a lot of work to do on them.

Because I was pleased with my first order, I've placed a second order for a small run of labels (free except for the $3.93 rush shipping) that I plan on placing on my fused plastic 'business cards' that I cut out the other day for my fluffnfixings cards. I think these will be a LOT of fun to hand out and can't wait to get them. They take considerably more work, so I won't be handing out as many as the fluffnfixings cards.

Beatin' back the thug.

2008-09-11T15:32:00.000-07:00

Today I got to yank my heart monitor off, and I was free to go outside and get nasty and sweaty. Hurrah!

The first order of business was to get the chocolate mint under control, and it proved to be a bit more of a task than I thought. I ripped up about five buckets of runners, made two pots of tea, and have a ton dehydrating for this winter.

It took me about an hour and a run in with a lovely black widow, but I'm glad it's done. The runners are ready to go in the ground and I have no idea what I'm going to do with them!

I've got a promotion going in my shop for a free chocolate mint runner with a purchase of three packs of seeds or the cost equivalent -- $9. Check it out! :)

Some fun newness!

2008-09-08T12:21:00.000-07:00

I haven't been feeling well over the past week or so (cardiologist appointment on Tuesday, woot!), so I haven't been up and about in the yard as much. Yesterday, though, my guy was cleaning up the office and was trying to figure out what to do with his old 14" long 3.5" floppy file. I looked at it and was inspired!

It's a HUGE step up from my prior 'organizational' method -- the seed baggies were just tossed in a box. Now, each flavor of seeds has it's own pocket and the pre-packed bags that are ready to be shipped out are easy to find and I've got MUCH better inventory control.

Having everything so organized made me realize how many seeds I've actually collected this year! This 14" long file is completely stuffed, and I still have vials of bulk seeds not packaged yet.

Other than that, my winter basil is coming up. My Red Rubin didn't go to seed this summer after my guy conveniently mowed it down, so I started another pot with last year's seeds to keep indoors this winter. The little sprouts are so cute! I love the color that these have and they make such a great addition to pestos. Purple pesto rocks!

If all goes as planned, I should have plenty of seeds from these lovelies available on etsy for next spring.

Furry little fellow

2008-09-07T07:44:00.000-07:00

I saw this guy out in the garden the other day and thought he was absolutely charming. Not being the caterpillar expert, I refrained from handling him and have been searching for his identity. Anyone know what flavor he is? :)

Treasuries!

2008-09-04T10:38:00.001-07:00

In honor of the More Meaningful Gifts BNR, jvdarcy set up this treasury. Thanks for including my violet photograph! Here it is!

Hot Cherry Peppers on Stage!

2008-09-02T07:05:00.000-07:00

I really need to get Flash working (this is what I get for being a geek!) so I can click and comment on treasuries!

Here's a lovely treasury that has my hot cherry pepper seeds in it that was put together by VintageScraps. Thank you! :)

Another treasury!

2008-09-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks, debralinker, for including my chocolate mint plant in her treasury!

But they're PLASTIC!

2008-09-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

I got my latest order of seed bags in, and my SO asked me a very interesting question while I was working on putting together little promo packs.

Why do you use plastic bags rather than paper seed packs like you used to?

The switch to using the plastic zippy baggies came easily, for me, after a couple of seasons using the paper envies. I could never find a way to seal the paper envies well enough so that I could open and close them whenever I wanted and not lose any seeds. I'm not a person who normally uses an entire pack of seeds at once, so I found myself using three, sometimes four, paper envelopes over a couple of weeks for the same pack of seeds.

I got a trade in the little plastic baggies and I've been a convert ever since. For my personal use, I'll even reuse ones from other seed varieties. I also think it makes people feel more confident with buying seeds, because they can SEE them before they buy. I can open and close them whenever I want and have fewer lost seeds because of it.

I do miss the breathability of the paper envelopes, and it's now absolutely imperative that seeds are completely dried before packaging, but I've come to terms with that and think the benefits more than outweigh the extra day in the vent chamber of doom.

Instead of spending weeks making seed envelopes or buying 5000 a year (plus smaller emergency orders occasionally), I'm down to ordering 3000 a year and still having some leftover. Good thing all around.

Nifty stuff and new treasuries!

2008-08-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

A BNR I'm on, currently, has a treasury! debralinke r set it up for us, and I was able to see my first without someone having to send me a screenshot or upload one for me...because of a wicked crazy cool site called thumbalizr that dorana showed me.

Here it is!

Here's, also, an EtsyPHAT treasury that Sa pphireChild created a few days ago!

Some hard decisions and some good things.

2008-08-29T16:34:00.000-07:00

Fabulous! My toad lily has been blooming for the past two days, and here's a pic of one of the blooms. What I think is absolutely wonderful about it is that it's got blue on it. Not the wannabe blues that you see on most flowers, but true blue, dyed in the wool BLUE. I'm lovin' it lots. This is now my favorite flower, I think.

Besides that, I made the difficult decision today to cut back on the amount of recycled packing materials I use. A guy on freecycle asked if anyone had any spares, so I bit the bullet and put two large boxes out for him. He shreds them and uses them for other packing needs, so they're not just getting thrown away.

Most of them were too old and fragile to be reliable. His request came at a great time, because I'd already decided to stop using the ones in good shape. Why? you ask. Because, after three months of charting postage costs for private trades, I've found that reused bubble mailers increase the postage cost somewhere in the area of .16-.55 a mailer.

While it hurt, it seems like a good business decision and a good healthy home decision. I eliminated a large, ugly clutter that made me avoid my sewing room, and I'll now be able to reduce my shipping costs.

And the sugar on top is that I don't have to be concerned whether people are put off an old mailer, even if it was safe to ship in, and I don't have to worry about throwing away mailers I receive -- cuz I got the hookup, now. He gave me another box and told me that, as soon as I fill it up, he'd be happy to come and pick it up again.

As soon as I use up the stock of new mailers that I've been hoarding, I'll invest in some new bubble wrap and start making my own mailers to send my seeds. Using salvage plastics and saving money is even better than saving money! :)

Yay for treasuries!

2008-08-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

I got a lovely little convo from Ajewelryboxx today saying that she'd featured my Teddy Bear sunflower seeds in a treasury.

Check it out!

Thanks for including me! :)

Card crazy

2008-08-26T18:46:00.000-07:00

Due to recent concerns publicized on the etsy forums that these cards are copied, without authorization, from happygirlgreetings, I thought I would add this little disclaimer making it clear that this is my own design, as much as a generic design can be. The fonts are all standard in my graphics program and do not identically match that produced on the cards. The images are all MINE, from when I took them all of the way through to the final edit. These are OBVIOUSLY not direct scan and edits from the cards she sent me. I am deeply apologetic for any misunderstandings that may have occurred, and I will forward this on to my legal counsel for clarification on whether this may constitute infringement.

I'm crazed! I did my first small, custom run of cards last week by happygirlgreetings, and I've got the card bug. She did a great job, was super accomodating, and had a great feel for what I wanted. I've already got them all accounted for, so I needed to make another order and decided to play around with some other designs on my own.

And this is what I got:

I'm a complete computer graphics dunce, so I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. Compared to my original promos, they're about a million times more attractive. I was able to keep the upright thing going on, and they're just the right size to have a pack of seeds attached to the back.

I'd been doing some price hunting and was a bit disappointed that they were going to be entirely impractical to print less than 500 of each set (putting the entire order into the $130+ range), until I ran across a great deal with off-site codes by vistaprint.

I've heard all of the terrible things about them, but I decided to go for it anyway and ended up with a $35 order (including shipping) for 4 sets of 250 cards without their name on the back. I wanted to do a double sided card, but it wasn't worth $11 for each set of 250 for one small line of text on the back.

I think that these are flashier and will work better at shows and in promo packs. The happygirl ones are more sedate (dare I say professional?) and will be better suited to be included attached to bonuses in orders and for handing out to people who ask for them.

Hopefully, they turn out well and the entire order processes alright without any undue surprises. For $35 it was worth a try and the hassle of a potential chargeback. We'll see!

Health, life, and gardening.

2008-08-26T05:28:00.000-07:00

The past week has been filled with doctor appointments and imaging appointments, and it looks like it's going to keep going for the next week or so. Being tired puts a damper on how much I'm outside, but I've been going out and taking the occasional snap.

For example, my toad lily is going to bloom for the first time! It's Taipei Silk, I think, and has really been suffering since I moved it. I had to move everything in the spring in preparation for some major outside house renovations, and it's been getting too much sun and not enough water. So I'm excited.

I'll have to go outside in a bit, when the rain (thanks, Fay! we've needed it!) settles down, and see if it's survived the downpour.

The hacking of the lemongrass

2008-08-20T19:23:00.001-07:00

Today was a very happy day for one of my lemongrass plants.

I love lemongrass, I really, really, really do, but it's a weed! Like any grass, it grows as much as it can and that can is quite a lot. I've got two monsters in 15 gallon pots that I divide down to 1/4 of the original size each autumn, and they've filled the pots again by the end of the summer.

I usually start a bunch of divisions for trades and plant sales, and I ended up with an extra two or three this year. Instead of throwing them out, of course, I kept them. One is in a 5 gallon pot and the other has been trapped in it's one gallon pot since February.

It's only grown 5 growths because of it's captivity, but they're nice, fat, healthy stalks with a handful of leaves each. Today, I took it out, attacked it with pruners, and divided it up into single stalk divisions, pruned the roots and foliage.

I swear, I think that the divisions have already started growing and have halfway filled up their 12 oz cups with roots. I expect that, by next week, I'll see the roots punching out braille 'LET ME OUT!!' in the styrofoam.

I wish that the beasties would live outside and survive the winters because I'd have some honkin' specimens after a year or two. These divisions are located in my etsy shop here.

Shiny objects...

2008-08-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

Got distracted again. There's been a lot of stuff going on recently, and it's been a bit tough to keep up between doctor's appointments, imaging appointments, and life in general.

The EtsyOrganicTeam is off to a good start, and I've, apparently, been given full reign of the blog. So far, it's been a lot of fun, but not having flash really prevents me from keeping up with treasuries and that sort of thing.

It's also harvest time in them thar gardens. I've been doing a lot of seed sorting and harvesting, cropping and pruning, rooting and moving. It seems that fall is in the air, so it'll get really busy in another month or so. I've got a ton of bushes that I need to move to new homes.

I've also been dealing with a piecing nightmare. I came up with a pattern for a pair of pants and it's truly one of the most annoying things I've ever done. I haven't decided what's going to be victim first: the sewing machine or the square. Luckily, I bought 6 yards (a whopping $4.81 at 5% of the original price!!) so I've got some room to play with it.

Garden PIG!

2008-08-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

Here are my piggies! It's been cool enough out, recently, to give the girls a bit of outside time, and they're definitely enjoying it. They run around, chut at each other, nibble on the grass and the clover, and generally have a good time.

Bali, the most photogenic pig ever, is my rock star. She weighs 6 lbs and has the 'do. She's the red and white one, if you can't tell. Someone found her running around behind an apartment complex and took her in to find her a home. She's a terrific pig with an awesome personality. She's very lazy, but she's also very outgoing and very happy to tell you what she needs.

Karma, the skunky looking one, is a new addition. My vet got her after someone's children spray painted her, and we ended up adopting her. It took about a month for her coat to return to normal, but she's a healthy, happy piggie now. She's much more reserved than Bali and a bit high strung, which really isn't surprising considering that she's had a rough time of things. She's lean, slick, and has the shiniest coat I've ever seen. She's kind of silly, but she's still so skittish that I don't think we've seen the real Karma yet.

Yargh, bugs!

2008-08-11T04:39:00.000-07:00

One fun thing about organic gardening is that bugs are everywhere! They're fascinating creatures, and it's fun to see the good ones, the bad ones, and most excellent to see the good ones eating the bad ones.

Here are what I assume to be some sort of nymph. My first guess is assassin bug nymph, but I was unable to do more than two weeks in my entomology class before my health caused me to drop. Your guess is probably better than mine! :)

The fun never ends.

2008-08-07T04:56:00.001-07:00

Sometimes, I think there are little elves in my home set to torture me.

I had two orders to get out Tuesday, or they would have had to wait until next week. I pulled out my roll of tape...and it had two feet left! That's not enough when you need to reassemble boxes, tape plants in, seal, and attach labels. I knew I'd seen a roll lurking around somewhere, so I frantically searched the house for three hours before deciding that I was going to have to tell the people who ordered that I was going to have to delay the shipments. If I could legally drive, it wouldn't be a problem, but I can't.

I was lamenting this to the dog when she suddenly took off up the stairs...which got me thinking. Lo and behold, there was a partially masticated roll underneath the dog's blanket. Hurrah! The packages went out (with tape lacking chew marks) and life was good.

I wasn't feeling well, so I spent most of the day sorting seeds. I had about four cups of Rose of Sharon seeds on my lap and reached over to grab something off of the table. That yanked the blanket that the tray was on and all of the seeds dumped onto the floor. Yay. I'm just very glad that I have an indefinite supply of these and that they aren't the rolly kind of seeds.

Bug glamour shots

2008-08-04T04:10:00.000-07:00

I love 'bugs' and, even though this isn't a true bug, I ended up taking about half a dozen glamour shots of this lovely who I know then crawled/hopped off to munch on my plants. There's a nice closeup of the body in my flickr that I may get printed for myself. I've got a purple wall that it would be fun against.

More veggies

2008-08-01T03:49:00.000-07:00

My okra has really had a struggle this year. First, ants were colonizing aphids at an impressive rate on the flowers and tender, new growth. Then, the chipmunks got it:

I loathe chipmunks.

Finally, the few surviving plants are beginning to bloom:

I really love okra. It's an amazingly versatile plant that's got great flowers. I grow it for an ornamental annual and for my SO who loves to eat it. It's easy to grow and I direct sow it a couple of weeks after the last frost. It loves our crappy soil and I can't find anything to dislike about that!

If the flower reminds you of a Hibiscus, that's probably because it should. :) Okra and Hibiscus are cousins, of sorts, but okra definitely win in terms of flavor.

Busy, busy, busy.

2008-07-27T11:34:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been pretty busy.

Yesterday evening, I took a bunch of crappy pictures of seeds and put them into my etsy listings so that people could get a better idea of what the seeds look like before they get them. I know, when I first started growing from seed, I was shocked regularly when new seeds arrived and they didn't look like your stereotypical, clip-art seed.

I contacted the Georgia Market Bulletin, a Georgia Department of Agriculture newsletter, and asked about putting an ad to my etsy shop directly into my advertisement. They said that that wasn't allowed, but it was completely allowed to put my email address and forward interested buyers to an online shopping cart. It won't be up until next month, but I think it's worth a try for free. I'll see what happens after the first month and go from there.

I've also started writing up articles, I guess you could call them, about how to grow seeds. There's been a discussion about adding more info to listings, and I've decided that putting a link to additional info would look better than having a larger, cluttered listing with it all in there. The first is about growing tomatoes from seeds and is now in all of my tomato seed listings.

Cleaning and collecting seeds has been a large portion of my days, recently. Basil, tomatoes, nicotiana, etc. I can't wait until my ladybell seeds are ready! They're lovely and delicate and I'll be adding even more of the lovelies to my gardens next year. This is a great time of the year, for me, and I love the bustle of collecting and preserving things that will burst into life next year.

Outside of my plant world, both of my patients are doing well. I'm researching a new impulse sealer for my new shop, which will, hopefully, reduce the time and effort needed to create each envelope and mailer so that I can make them more affordable for more people. I'm really excited about that.