I'm still here!

I've just been sick sick sick! And super busy. I will post something fantastic this weekend. I promise.

Apple Butters and Sauces

Tis the season to be apple picking. If you're like me you are completely content with the idea of a cold winter and embrace the days of autumn. I like to spend my time visiting my favorite farms and orchards for the last few harvests of the year. With apples being the most common staple it is easy to get into a rut, making apple pie after apple pie after apple pie after... well you get it. And let's face it, apple pie really requires a lot of steps, time and creates a bit of a mess. The easiest and one of my favorites is Apple Butter but I shouldn't get ahead of myself because in order to make apple butter you first need to make apple sauce. I like to start making my Apple Sauce while I am carving heads to be shrunken in the dehydrator. I do this because I do not like to waste! At all!!!! And you shouldn't either. So I put all my usable scraps into a bowl and after a few heads I'll dump those scraps into a crock pot set on high. I like to start the crock pot with 4-5 peeled and sliced apples, the juice from one lemon and about 3-4 tablespoons of sugar. This will keep the smaller scraps from burning and the sugar will help draw out juice from the apples. I then continue until my crock pot is completely full and cook on high until the apples just start to break up and reduce. Keep an eye on the moisture content in the bottom of the crock. You should add water a cup at a time if there is not a lot of juice present. I like to keep liquid 1/3 of the way up the apples. Stir continuously throughout the cooking process (about ever hour or so,) turning the bottom pieces up so everything cooks evenly. Once the apples start breaking up, reduce your heat to low and continue to cook gently to your favorite consistency. I sometime prefer it chunky, light in color with soft pieces of apple suspended within and other times prefer it darker and smooth which requires a longer cooking time (usually I will leave it overnight on low.) I like my apple sauces light and mostly just flavored by the apples. I will sometimes throw in a pinch of ginger or cinnamon but nothing too spicy. On the other hand I LOVE my apple butters rich and spicy in flavor. I often go very heavy handed with cinnamon, clove and ginger with a hint of nutmeg. After the Apple Sauce is made the steps to continue to make Apple Butter are SO EASY! You just cook it longer and uncovered! See, couldn't be simpler. I would start adding spices once the apple sauce has reduced by half (it should be dark amber in color and just starting to thicken.) If you add spices too early the heat will damage their essential oils, breaking down and losing the flavor. Adding it too late will not give them enough time to mingle with apples and fully develop the flavors. Add a little at a time and tasting a few minutes later. Adjust to how you like it but remember too much of anything can destroy your finished product. The finished Apple Butter should be thick and paste like. I couldn't tell you how many times I have had Apple Butter that was basically dark apple sauce. Each should have a completely different texture from the other. Apple Butter should look more like Tomato Paste than Tomato Sauce. Make sense? After each is cooled, you can store in Ball Jar and keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, you can preserve them in the Ball Jars following basic canning times, temperatures and pressures or you can bag it and free it for up to 2 years. If freezing remember to leave the bag open and do not fill completely. If not you risk the bag bursting when the sauce or butter expands during the freezing process. Remember to chill anything before freezing as it will reduce any damages that can occur when freezing. Each recipe can be altered by adding molasses or some of your other favorite spices. Also a variety of fruits can be added like cranberries, pears or pumpkin. Pair things that you like and you can't go wrong. So go forth. Pick apples. Make sauce and butter. And be happy!

A Reminder to ALL!

The beauty in a lot of items posted here are in the details and sometimes for editing purposes the pictures are smaller than one would like. So as a reminder to all, you can click on every photo for a larger image. Once there you can magnify it yet again with one more click. This will create a SUPER JUMBO GIGANTIC PICTURE! Seriously! Anyway, I know I like to use this option to see the details closer. Look for Billy Stewart on Facebook starting this week. All photos will be posted there along with daily, bi-daily, hourly(?) updates on tips, events and snapshots from my everyday life. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, I must get back to homework and studying and maybe some cleaning. I still have to paint, too! Yikes, what am I doing on here? Why do I keep typing? Ok... I am done... right... now. Bye. Have a great weekend. Ok. Seriously now, bye. Lucy say's "Goodnight."

Hope you're having a great weekend

I am! I loved waking up to the rain this morning. It was so perfect and it really feels like fall now. I am looking forward to turning the heat on and pulling out the blankets and throw pillows and stashing the air conditioners and fans. Decorating is coming and I'm already looking at fog machines and cauldrons and much, much more. I wanted to share a few beautiful pictures from my garden... errr... jungle. It sure is starting to look like a jungle.
1. My Drosera is going into bloom! It sent up this long staff last week and finally the buds are starting to show off their hot pink petals. It should be quite amazing when it has fully opened. Plus I can just let them go to seed and we'll have many more Droseras in a few months.


2. My Euphorbia or Crown of Thorns are in full bloom. As I mentioned in previous posts, this is a member of the succulent family. It requires few watering, about every two or three weeks a water-through will do, and it is a constant bloomer, making it ideal as a gift or addition to a sunny spot. One of my favorite plants, currently having two in my collection but more to come... I'm sure. The blooms come in a variety of reds ranging from pink to salmon, also yellows, oranges and creams are common. It requires a 1:1 ratio of sand and compost but be careful, as its name suggests there are many, many thorns hidden beneath its long, oval foliage.

3. Last and certainly not least, one of the best additions to the garden. I stopped by Talisman Glass Studio last week to say hello to my good friend and teacher Sharon Gilbert. I have known Sharon for almost 11 years now when she first started teaching me how to blow glass. We've been great friends over the years and on this visit she gave me a little gift. It was an extra piece from a wall installation she did way back in 2001. I immediately knew where this gorgeous bulb would be placed. I wove a basket hammock for it to hang in and strung it up from the bottom of a golden pathos. It is just breath taking and looks especially stunning in the early morning when the light is shining through and the cobalt, greens and golds are illuminated. It's just awesome and I love it and cannot take my eyes from it.

Another Great Gift Idea!

I love giving little gifts for “Thank You’s,” Holidays or just because I think you're great. For the most part I like to keep my gifts simple, homemade and from the heart. One of my favorite things to give friends is a houseplant. This is one of my hobbies I enjoy the most and I absolutely love spreading the joy for gardening and plant keeping to my friends and family. You must understand though that not all people are "plant people" and will kill even the easiest of plants. That's fine and don't let it discourage you from giving them one anyway. Pick out a beautiful flowering plant for them but keeping in mind that the care should be generally easy. I like to choose from moisture loving plants like Cyclamen (as seen in these photos) or the lovers of dryness like cacti and other succulents. One great choice is the Crown of Thorns (also known as the Jesus Plant.) This is a desert, tree-like shrub that is a constant bloomer and does belong to the succulent family. It can go weeks without watering and grows in medium to high light. It's mostly available from late winter to mid-summer at most nurseries. Picking out a plant from either side will ensure that it will survive for a month at least. And who cares if it dies? It lasted longer than a bouquet of cut flowers will and there is a chance it will survive and be enjoyed for years to come... especially with a little guidance from you. Stay away from hard to keep plants like African Violets whose picky disposition will make it frustrating for the recipient. Houseplants make a wonderful and inexpensive gift. Wrap decorative paper around the pot it came in, set it in a designer pot of your choice or make your own container as I have done here from a roll of raffle tickets (a how-to to come.) Be creative, make it your own and make someone’s day just a little brighter with an unexpected gift of a flowering houseplant.

Birthday!

We celebrated my youngest sister's 24th birthday this evening at my parents' house. We ate a lot, laughed until we couldn't and toasted Jacqui, wishing her the best. It was a blast. It was so good to see Jacqui and Jerrad whom I haven't seen since our vacation together in Wisconsin. Because that was such a special and spectacular trip, I wanted to incorporate it into Jacqui's gift this year. Remembering all the fun we had swimming, tubing, hiking and hanging out, I knew the options for inspiration were limitless. One event, however, stood out above all the rest. I touched briefly on it a few posts ago; The Geocaching Trip. This may sound innocent enough but it wasn't. We set out that afternoon with a weak signal on our cellphone's GPS. Thinking that this wouldn't be too problematic we followed Jacqui's suggestion of "taking the next thing that looks kind of like a trail." Convincing ourselves we were on the right path we climbed deeper and deeper into the woods spotting mushrooms and looking under every rock we came across for the geocache. After an hour or so of hiking we found the lake where it was most likely located. We spent the next minutes surveying the area for any place a small army box could hide. No luck! We weren't discouraged and continued searching until someone finally said it was time to give up. So the four of us started back in the direction we had arrived until we came upon a larger graveled road. Surely this wouldn't steer us off course... Fast forward 2 hours... We've finally found signs of life, a house and a real street, following the tire tracks out we headed west. After 2+ hours of searching we found a road we knew and headed home. Now, I don't mean to make this sound miserable, sure we didn't bring water, sure we saw lots of fresh bear and coyote scat, sure I was preparing to figure out shelter for the night BUT it was so much fun. We laughed most of the way and really had a fantastic adventure together.
Back to the gift... with this great journey still fresh in my memory the obvious gift choice was our own Faux Geocache. Using a shadowbox (I bought on sale from Hobby Lobby years ago. I like to keep things like this on hand for these types of situations...) anyway, using the shadowbox I cut out strips of forest themed craft paper to perfectly fit sides and front of the frame. It is important to line up your patterns and images to make the finished product look neat and professional. Naturally there will be one section that will not meet up but if you pay enough attention while you are placing your templates, you can make this seam almost unnoticeable.

After I had carefully attached these panels with craft glue, I set out to collect the items that would adorn the interior. Using carefully selected pea gravel that I use in my terrariums (I pick out the most perfect and beautiful stones when I wash a new bag of pebbles. OCD? Maybe but it saves so much time in the end) I used this as the "ground covering." In my hiking pack I keep a fairly large, old book for pressing flowers. I am always picking and pressing flowers year round and find it extremely helpful to always have a book on hand while out in the woods. On the geocaching hunt I managed to pick several flowers and pulled a few out and set them in a base of hot glue. I also pressed ferns from one of the houseplants between regular computer papers with my iron set on high/dry. When pressing with this technique it is important to constantly flip and switch out the paper so the moisture can evaporate quickly, reducing any oxidation. These were set next to a dried morel the same way as the pressed flowers. For the scroll I simply made 1 1/2" strips of computer paper, soaked them in a hot cup of tea to give them their weathered appearance, let dry and wrote on it. I then secured the curls of the scroll with hot glue and mounted it to the background. Overall this is an easy project but with all the extra thought and care, it was a truly personal and thoughtful gift... if I do say so myself. So the next time you're out with friends or just out doing something fun yourself, take pictures and keep little souvenirs because you too can make something special and heartfelt.

The forest has officially moved inside!

Remember the terrariums we made back in the Spring? I was so inspired by these neat little ecosystems captured inside of sleek glass jars that I decided to redecorate our apartment around the terrariums. I quickly began designing a wall of terrariums that would surround our entertainment center. I also customized bookshelves bought from a thrift store. They were just two cases from a school library with an open top. All I did was cut a piece of pine to fit on top and screwed it down. It still needs to be painted the same chocolate color as our molding but for now it works. I then used this as a room divider, separating our open floor plan into two areas: the den/entertainment room and the library and kitchen. As you probably know by now, I am a huge outdoors person, always getting out for a hike or foray whenever I can. Naturally it made the most sense to try and capture the serenity of the woods in my everyday life. With this in mind I quickly started building upon my plant collection, taking it from 14 to 75 in just a couple months. I did my research and found plants that I would love and that would fit where I needed them. Using hanging baskets,I created even more of a division by planting two Golden Pothos and a giant Australian Sword fern above the bookcase. On top of the shelf I added many moderate to highlight houseplants ranging from Begonia Rex all the way to the desert's Crown of Thorns. This installation creates enough of a false wall effect to give the feel for separate rooms but still leaves enough openness so I can chat with guests on the couch while preparing drinks or dinner or keep up with my favorite television program while washing dishes. Happy but not completely satisfied with the spread of my plants I am still researching, looking to fill in dark spots with other potbound housemates. I also have passiflora being trained to crawl up a hanging grid system that will eventually create a beautiful canopy draped from the ceiling. These wonderful vines which produce passionfruit, branch out 15-30 feet and have the most unusual and fragrant flowers. I hope that by next spring our entire library will be shaded by this glorious vine.

Other than being used as a design element, plants have other fantastic benefits for their owners. NASA recommends that each home have at least 10 houseplants to purify air. Studies have shown that children who grew up with houseplants are healthier, smarter and lived longer. Besides this, many plants produce fruits and vegetables or edible leaves and flowers. If you have the right amount of sun why not grow your own citrus, herbs and other yummy treats. Many houseplants also produce fragrant flowers which will eliminate the use of those terrible deodorizing sprays like Fabreeze and Lysol. These are not only bad for the earth but also horrible for people and pets. Another benefit is that plants neutralize the homes atmosphere. Now what does that mean? Well they will keep the humidity up in the winter, keep the temperatures more regular (reducing the need for constant heating or cooling) and they absorb sound. All great things! If you have children who are nagging you for a doggy or a hamster, get them a plant first. Make sure they are able to take care of something without a heartbeat before getting them their first pet. I encourage everyone to head out and pick up a few green buddies for your home. Do the proper research for the area you want to add to. What kind of light exposure can this spot provide? Are you willing to make sure that it is watered regularly or would you do better with a more forgiving plant? These are all good questions to ask yourself before heading to your favorite nursery with your credit card out and ready. Take advantage of the employees too. They will be more than happy to help you and most (even at places like Home Depot and Loews) are quite knowledgeable. Don't go for the expensive, decorative pots either! These are often glazed and make plant keeping much harder. Certain moisture loving plants could potentially thrive in them but most will perish. I always use terracotta or another natural, unglazed clay pot. The only exception I make is when the plants will be put out in the summer heat, where the moisture will evaporate more quickly. If you have to have that gorgeous $200 container, buy a terracotta pot that fits easily inside it with a few inches of pea gravel in the bottom. This way the soil can still breath and moisture will disperse more quickly. I will tell you about all the different varieties I have, with pictures and care instructions soon. For now here's a picture of a large portion of my collection. The first is looking into the kitchen and the second is looking out from the kitchen. The longer hanging basket was achieved simply by removing the original chain with needle-nosed pliers and replacing it with 3 foot long pieces of chain I bought for few bucks at Home Depot.

Anyone else have this bug that's been floating around?

Well I do and it's no good! I know I promised you plants but I am just not up for doing a photo shoot and so on today... I wasn't even able to go to class. So here are some pictures from my portfolio for our current course. I have been lightly styling and am still not happy with my photographs but soon I will hopefully be pleased with my work.

I'm Back!!!

I hope everyone has had a great summer vacation. I spent my days cleaning, painting, re potting, exploring and having a great time. Chris, the dogs and I were able to take a long weekend at my family's cottage in northern Wisconsin in July. It was so much fun being able to be out and catching up on all the wonderful things going on in everyone's lives. We went "geocaching," have you heard of it? Basically its a scavenger hunt that is connected to GPS. You're told how far and the direction to walk. Once you are "over the geocache" you get other clues ("look under a rock" or "climb.") It was a lot of fun searching even if we never found it and got a little lost. It reaffirms that you should always take the same path in and out and if you have a cell phone... make sure it's charged. Another highlight from the trip was the amazing finds on my mycology foray. I found SO many mushrooms and other various fungi. I was stunned and kept running back to the house to show them off. The top two would have to be a giant Laetiporus sulphureus or "Chicken of the Woods" which is pictured below. This fungus is a heart rot, meaning it infects the trunk of mature trees through the roots and makes its way up 20-40 feet above the forest floor. That is where the giant blooms of orange tissue usually emerge but I was lucky enough to find 25lbs of it on a fallen tree the day after a huge storm. I was reeling with excitement. I brought a few pounds into class for soup day. It was so delicious and I was trying everyones, I probably ate a couple pounds of cream of mushroom that day. The second best find would definitely be the "Indian Pipes" I stumbled across on the geocaching trip. Now if you don't know about these rare and extraordinary flowers listen up. These are blooming plants that do not use photosynthesis to grow. From the research I have done not a whole lot is known about these miraculous plants but it is believed that they feed off dead fungus. I had always thought that they were always and only pure white. After all this is what I've seen in almost every picture I've looked at but on this trip out, the rarest of the rare was found... PINK Indian Pipes(pictured above.) I was blown away. A) I had just seen them for the first time ever only a few hours earlier and B) I had just found something I had never seen in any book or on any website. Other than our vacation north, I spent most of the summer redecorating our apartment, I won't get into too much of that now as there will be many blogs in the future with more on this. But my collection of plants quickly grew to 75 and I have just started really getting into carnivorous plants. They're super neat. Classes started almost 2 months ago and I am in love with Pastry school. We're having so much fun baking cookies and eclairs and quick breads and learning lot's of new stuff from fabulous instructors. It gets cooler and cooler everyday and I am so excited to be there.
So what's next? Well I have a lot in store for y'all.Autumn crafts, pumpkin and apple picking, tons of decorating tips with lot's of pictures from the "new" apartment and much, much more. I can never understand why people complain about the weather, "Oh I hate that winter is coming..." blah blah blah. I love it all! The idea of the leaves changing and cooler winds moving through gets my heart fluttering. I am so anxious to carve pumpkins and decorate for holidays and spend cold nights cuddled up with a movie and the four I love the most. Winter is nothing to fear, it's beautiful and enchanting and we should embrace it, not fear it. Complaining only creates misery. But all in good time, right? We don't want to speed through and miss out on the glory of autumn, one of my favorite seasons. So YES! Lot's lot's more to follow. We'll get started slowly tomorrow with plants and the benefits they have on the body and soul. Goodnight and hoping everyone enjoyed their summers as much as I did.

yikes!

I thought I had made it large enough but blogger.com likes it small I guess. To see the full picture click on the photo in the blog, then click once more on the new photo that pops up. That should enlarge it so the script is legible.

The Perfect Craft Closet

The overhaul of the apartment is finished! I have spent the past 3 weeks cleaning, organizing and installing important storage components like hooks, bins and racks. The best part is that I finally have the craft room I have always wanted. There is plenty of room to move around and spread out projects, the television is hooked up so Martha can be watched while I craft and everything is put away in its proper place! That is the best part. No longer will I waste time hunting for scissors or looking for one of the 50 glue sticks I own. Now I can just head to the craft closet and glance over the labels for the bin containing the tool I need. It's amazing! Now we just have to keep it this way. Of course there are still improvements to be made (mostly I need to put in a shelf or two so the totes aren't sitting so crooked... you can see it, don't pretend for my sake. But for now it is crafting heaven here in Billy Stewart land.

This and That

I started weeks and weeks ago but the major clean and re-arranging the apartment is almost complete. There really are just a few more drawers that need to be organized, a few more items need to be dropped off to Salvation Army (aka on top of my trash can) and some furniture needs to be waxed. Other than that this place is spotless. Chris had lots of homework and banished me from the apartment. So I took the last 4 baskets of dirty clothes to the Laundromat and spent 3 hours washing, drying and folding which was all supplemented with plenty of Martha Stewart Living's June edition. I'm now sitting around, well frantically pacing around the apartment finishing up mental notes on the next major projects (what chairs need to be re-upholstered? which cabinets need refinishing? Where do we need shelves installed? What plants need to be ordered? And the list goes on and on and on...) The next big step is painting the walls, doors and trim. We've agreed on a sage and chocolate combination which is perfect for the natural, "tranquil forest" theme. My favorite idea for the room is the row of terrariums above the media center. It will have seven 3-gallon glass cookie jars containing various orchids, ferns and mosses. Above that 2 large Boston Ferns in half-dome wall baskets framing glass lanterns from Nepal. Sounds like the perfect tranquil forest, right? I hope so. In the attempt to fill our home with more life and nature, I gathered clippings from all of our current houseplants and began procedures for propagation. I am thrilled to report that all have begun rooting and will be ready for transplant in just a few weeks. Hopefully they will hold me over until I am able to start my bigger projects which most likely won't be until July. But that gives me plenty of time for smaller things like baking, crafts and Dad's gift. And trust me, I need as much time as I can get! Sorting through, organizing and scanning literally thousands of pictures is turning out to be quite the task but good because with the house under control, I need something to occupy my time. I know I owe you a cupcake picture but for now enjoy this one from today's hike.

What a frantic fantastic day!

I never got near the kitchen last night but I did manage to make it to the store. Here's an exclusive Billy Stewart tip; there is no good produce left out at 11:20PM. I don't know what I was thinking and Jewel sells one single vanilla bean for $14.00, CRAZY! I probably could have gotten something done last night but really couldn't make myself and why worry with the whole day to bake and frost and decorate? I should have set an alarm because I woke up at 12:07 this afternoon. After running from store to store to get the rest of my needed ingredients, I started making lemon curd at 3PM. In the future I will have to manage my time better! I ended up getting everything made and assembling them at my parent's house while listening in on everyone's conversations. My piping was sloppy, I didn't grab the right size tips and the butter cream was just a little too stiff and I had no patience. Not the end of the world (they still tasted great) it just wasn't up to my standards. Oh well, I have another dozen naked cupcakes and a second bag of butter cream, without the time crunch and anxiety of performing in front of a crowd, I will pipe a few perfect cupcakes for a photo shoot and get a picture up tomorrow so you can see what these Meyer Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes should look like. The recipe came from Vanilla Bake Shop of Santa Monica, CA c/o The Martha Stewart Show. This is my go to recipe for cupcakes because they are so moist and tender. This was my first time using their lemon curd recipe. It was a much milder flavor than mine which is more tart but still really nice. Anyhow, I had a wonderful night my parents and the Webers. We had a huge dinner (I still can barely move) and boisterous conversations. Anytime with the Webers is always a lot of fun. Now I have to go tackle those dishes... or maybe that's a job better left for the morning.

What is wrong with me today?

My timing is all off. Instead of being productive during the day, I sat on the computer and shopped for a rock tumbler and learned all about the minerals found in Oneida Co. Wisconsin. Now that we are fast approaching midnight, I am realizing that I have just a cup of AP flour, only 3 sticks of butter and no eggs and I have to bake "something" for dessert tomorrow. Why didn't I just do this earlier and surf the net now. Stupid me! I'm gonna head straight for the fruit and see what looks best and just wing the grocery list. This might go terribly wrong. I'll let you know tomorrow if we had desserts or disaster... get it? Like the rap song... no?

Head Out to the Farm!

One of my favorite activities, any time of year, is heading out to my favorite local farms. Most of you are familiar with blueberry picking in Michigan during the early Summer months and apple picking in the fall but did you know that many farms offer a "pick your own" option on almost anything you could want? Fruits, vegetables, eggs, gourds, berries, flowers, etc... I'm not saying that anytime you need green beans or lettuce to head there but for a fun outing with friends or family or even for a lovely day by yourself, the farm is a great option. You might be wondering where you can find pick-your-own farms and of course I have the answer. At www.pickyourown.org you can find a farm for just about anything. The site is organized by state which is then broken down by region and county. There is also an option to search by product, meaning if you want to head out to a beautiful dahlia farm for an afternoon date, you simply search "Dahlia." It's that easy. Users of the site will post updates, informing other's of specials, farms that have closed and changes to any information posted. I do encourage you to call before going to see how the crops are doing, if they are open the day you plan on going and any other information you may need (is it muddy? are children allowed/encouraged to come? what are the prices? etc...) I tend to go overboard, which to me is the best way to go. Less is never more. The produce is at the freshest and usually best you can find so in that mentality I pick more than I can eat and preserve the rest for use in the winter. If this sounds like something you'd like to do, the website also offers plenty of canning recipes and tips. Make sure to follow proper canning techniques so your work, time and money are not wasted. There is nothing more saddening than opening a can of blackberry jam in December to discover a moldy top. A pressure canner is the best way to go but there are many recipes that can be properly sterilized and sealed in a water bath. So explore www.pickyourown.org for local farms near you for an incomparable summer activity.

Pickles, Pickles, Pickles (can't think of anything more creative.)

With a light breeze running through the house and the plants soaking up the sun I knew it was the perfect day to start preparing summer pickles. I have had the urge all week but felt that standing over a hot stove, boiling vinegar wasn't going to be fun in 90 degree weather. So I dragged Chris to the grocery store this morning to pick up some new pickling salt and spice and cucumbers and carrots. Once I got home and pulled out my recipes, I realized I had forgotten mustard seeds but decided to just fiddle around with ingredients and pray for the best (I'm not even a big fan of mustard so this could all be for the best and I know the pickles will be great no matter what.) Starting with the carrots, I peeled and sliced them on a bias making 1/4" chips, chopping about 6 cups total. With the carrots cut and placed in a large jar I crushed 5 cloves of garlic and dropped them on top. Then I boiled for 4 minutes a combination of 1 1/2 cups water and 1 1/2 cups white vinegar with 1 cup sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoon pickling salt, 1 tablespoon pickling spice, 1 1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper and 1 tablespoon dehydrated onion. After carefully pouring the hot brine over the carrots I left them open and on the counter to rest until reaching room temperature. Then I capped the jar and put them in the fridge. Next I moved onto the cucumbers, slicing two large ones into 1/4" chips. The process was basically the same and the brine was 1 1/2 cups water + 1 1/2 cups white vinegar +1 1/2 tablespoons pickling spice + 3/4 cup sugar + 2 teaspoons oregano + 1 tablespoon dehydrated onion + 6 cloves of garlic, crushed. Boil for 4 minutes but instead of pouring over the cucumbers let this rest until it comes to room temperature. I hate nothing more than soggy/soft pickles, I like a crunch and cooling the brine first will keep the crisp in the cucumber. Of course you will have to wait a few days before eating these but to me the wait is worth it. I'm anxious to pop the tops and snack on some fiery carrot chips and some cool, fresh pickle slices but until then I will just have to find a new project.

How-To: Building a Woodland Terrarium

Building your own terrarium from moss and plants you have harvested yourself can not only be lot's of fun but also very rewarding. It will keep you looking for different varieties and will get you to see things you may not have noticed on an afternoon hike. I have found interesting bugs, eggs, mushrooms and animals, just to name a few. The terrariums I made yesterday were entirely constructed from wild moss I picked up that morning. With the wet conditions, the moss had flourished and was easy to harvest. Whenever you pick anything for transplant it is better to do so when well watered. If the roots are dry they may not take to the new potting medium. Moss is quite possibly one of the easiest to gather, gently work your finger tips between the moss and the object it is growing on (stone, tree, earth, etc...) and pull it up in a sheet or clump. Place the moss in a Ziploc bag (fold root side in if needed) and seal. Toss in your bag and keep looking for other items you might like (small stones, pieces of driftwood, bones, etc...) After you have found what you like and will need, head home to start on the terrarium. To prepare the moss you will want shake the sheet out into a garbage bag or bin or bathtub. Leaves, bugs and other debris should fall out. Don't worry about getting all of it out, you can get it at the end.

You'll need a clean, large glass container with a loose fitting lid. Cookie and apothecary jars work and look best. Look at rummage sales, thrift stores and if all else fails Wal-Mart carries pretty inexpensive jars like the ones shown in this How-To. I bought these years ago and believe they were about $12 or so. Really not a bad deal. You might want to have a few handy because once you get going it's hard to stop yourself. Chris is worried and he should be! I have completely mentally redecorated the apartment to incorporate as many terrariums and plant life that I can but that's for another time. SO with your jar spotless and rinsed thoroughly place about an inch of cleaned gravel in the bottom. I buy the $2 bags of river pea gravel from Home Depot and that looks just fine for me. If you want color you can use aquarium gravels, glass blobs or rubies and sapphires if that's what you want, you just need a 1" layer of pebble-ish stuff at the bottom for drainage.

Next we need earth! I use a regular high quality potting soil but you can also use specialty mixes like those for African Violets or Orchids. In a large bowl place the estimated amount of soil needed (there should be at least 1 1/2"-2 1/2" of soil and you will need more if you plan on making hills.) Next add in aquarium or gardening charcoal, about a 1:5 charcoal to soil mix is sufficient. The charcoal will purify the terrarium over time, keeping it fresh and healthy. Add in enough water to completely wet the soil. You don't want mud! Just enough where you can make a mud ball and it doesn't fall apart. Place into the container on top of the gravel (don't mix the two.) Be as neat as possible trying to mind the walls of the container. I like to make mounds of dirt to create hills and valleys to add visual appeal. After you have the base to your liking, take a fork and rough up the surface so the roots will take. Using a spray bottle filled with water and set on "Stream" spray down the sides of the container making sure to get all the dirt down to the bottom.

Now the fun starts. I pull several different varieties of moss that I collected trying to change up the color, texture and size. I love how fern moss looks like a forest from far away and clump moss takes on the appearance of a meadow. You can gently ease pieces off your main sheet of moss or puzzle together small sections you have. Press the moss firmly into the prepared soil. If you are using a longer moss like fern moss, lay it on last so the bottom leaves can hang over and not become smothered by other mosses. If you are planting ferns or other plants, make sure to dig a little hole for them first. It is better to put the plants in first and lay the moss around them. After all the living objects are in place you can add anything decorative you found or like (skulls, driftwood, jade statues, rocks, etc...) To finish up mist down entirely, spraying off any debris on the walls of the container. Don't go overboard with the water, if you see it pooling in the gravel stop. You don't want it to be too wet. Look through and pick out any debris or bugs hiding in the plants. Now place the top on and set in a low light area of your house to enjoy.

For the next week or so after you'll need to monitor the moisture levels. If there was originally water pooling in the gravel, leave the top off overnight. Then put it back on the next morning. If condensation starts to appear on the walls, take the top off again. If the soil looks dry, lightly mist down the plants. It will take some time but once the humidity is up without the glass fogging up, you can leave the top on and pretty much forget about it. Occasionally you will need to mist and prune but that is almost bi-annual. Really easy right? Make several, start big, it's just easier.

Terrariums are the coolest!

I know I have disappeared yet again but I promise I didn't forget about y'all. A lot has been going on this past week and I haven't been in a very productive mood. Of course the rain didn't help either. I was happy to see it though, I love thunderstorms and rain means growth and rejuvenation. So I am getting very excited about upcoming hikes and forays. I was supposed to take a friend out today to collect moss and small plants that we would then use to assemble terrariums. We decided to postpone due to the abundance of rain. It's a good thing we did because everything is flooded. I went out for a quick trip through one of my favorite forests this morning. Salt Creek has spilled over into the forest and it's all mud out there. I did happen to collect some moss and assembled two terrariums this afternoon. I needed something to take my mind off of life and it did the trick. Tomorrow I will post a how-to on building a terrarium. Today though mucky, excited me for next weeks adventures with Cece. We have been looking forward to an outing together and this should just be wonderful. I'm already thinking of what to collect and planning many different terrariums in my head. Can't wait!

OH YEAH! The pictures I've taken don't do them justice! I am working on editing or using a different filter or something to show the variation in the mosses' color and texture. They look like small forests. I think I should head to Chinatown and pick up some jade Buddhas for them. I need more of the "middle path" in my life.

pictures

The new African Violet. Just stunning in person.









And the turtles wanted to say "Hello!" They are loving being out of the bedroom and amongst the creativity.

Mother's Day Madness!!!!

Wow so much is going on in the apartment right now and it making me just a little overwhelmed. I headed out to Home Depot today to pick up pots, soil, plants, plant food and some orchid moss. I decided to cut back on my original plan for Mom's gift this year. I ditched the tomatoes because it's just a lot of work to give as a gift. Instead I am making her an herb garden in a large blue pot. I picked out some of her favorites and other basic herbs that can be used throughout the summer and dried for use in the winter. Sage, a few types of basil, oregeno, dill and rosemary, a perfect mix if you ask me. While at HD I picked grabbed new orchid pots and moss and a new african violet. I have spent the night repotting the houseplants that I just hadn't gotten to yet and now I am all caught up. The new violet is just amazing; a fantastic magenta/pink flower that just shimmers in the evening light. All of the violets looked pretty sad but now that this guy has been transplanted and watered, he's perked up quite a bit. I might just have to pick up a few more. I am waiting to assemble Mom's garden till I am at her house, it would just be too heavy to transport. I did water all the herbs to ensure a healthy transission in the morning. Besides the repotting, I have also been drying out the last of my morels for winter soups and stews and trying to be clean about everything. As I told Andrea, one of my favorite friends, "I am practicing to be Martha Stewart... and it's slow and frustrating. I miss making messes." AND I DO! Of course I am not neat and tidy all the time or even when I am trying to be but trying to be neat and tidy is so time consuming. I literally takes me about 2 minutes to get one scoop of soil into a pot and after each one I am up sweeping and dusting. Oh well, a little mess isn't bad and maybe one day I'll have my own staff that cleans up after me. We can dream can't we? I am really looking forward to hanging out with Mom tomorrow and I think it might just be the two of us...? We'll see but it should be fun either way. I am also really excited for next weekend. Cece and I are heading out for a hike and foray. We'll be collecting mosses, ferns, stones and other little things from the forest floor. After a nice little hike we're going to head back to the craftroom and make terrariums (an easier project to keep neat.) I can't wait and I can't decide what trail to take her on! There are so many wonderful forests and so many are my favorite but I have narrowed it down and I'm thinking a section near my folks' place that is fairly untraveled and near Salt Creek. We'll see, I'll change my mind 20 times by the 15th. Well, I am off to clean up a little, walk the dogs and shower before Chris gets home.