Square Foot Garden

Have you ever taken a trip and passed fields growing, cows grazing and tractors humming along and think...wow, I wish life was still like that...simpler! Where people lived off the land, felt good after a hard days work and were proud of what they produced? A hard life no doubt, but fulfilling? If not...move to another blog, you won't like this one.

I had the simpler life desire from the time my life WAS simpler. Childhood. I loved watching Little House and The Walton's, walking around my grandfather's garden and picking things and growing things myself as I got older and had my own children. Our first "crop" was radish. My three year old then...now she's almost 19 (and studying...wait for it...horticulture!)picked them way too early and tried freezing them as a surprise for me. They were the size of a gum ball. Next year we grew other things and each year we grew something or another. I wanted a farm. As I grew older (I am 41 now...shhhh I pretend I am 40!) I knew my body would not be able to jump into farming at this age on a large scale. I am married to a wonderful man who shares this ideal of a simpler life and together we think we can manage a small Homestead. Of course being ADD I am itching to jump in feet first.We cannot do that, we are a couple years off. So....I am starting the process by educating myself and putting into practice that which I can practice from a HOA ruled subdivision with 1/4 acre (house on most of it) lot. We feel God has not only blessed us with each other and a wonderful family and life, but with a purpose. We see living simply and experiencing contentment as our goal but feel there is a bigger purpose for us...God knows what it is and maybe our Homestead will be the thing He uses to bring it to fruition?    I am excited! Here goes!

This is a square foot garden. It's a raised bed that is contained on the sides...in this case, by wood. I fill mine with 1/2 good quality compost (Black Hen or Cotton Bol) and 1/2 peat. It's expensive to start this, but I can tell you, where others grow in "soil" or "potting soil", this gives a better quality and more nutrients resulting in better plants and bigger produce. How do I know this...because this is my third year square foot gardening. disclaimer: I know I'm a newbie on the Homesteading thing...I do not think 3 years is a long time or much experience, I've just learned that this soil is great in that time :)

Our soil stinks in this subdivision. Raised beds were our choice because the HOA would let us have a couple and putting a garden in is not allowed :) 

Don't get me started...but I chose to move here!

The first year we had our bed on the side of the house (due to that being the only full sun exposure we had. Veggies mostly like full sun.) and back of the house. 5 beds total. Great crops that year! Squash, zucchini, green beans. tomatoes, peppers, cukes, variety of herbs and in the fall and spring radish, beets, chard, lettuce and broccoli. 

Next year we moved them only to the back and realized quickly they weren't growing well. Not enough full sun for long enough during the day. Plus...strike of the squash bug! He bores a hole into the stem and kills your plant :( Boo Hoo. We still produced a good amount of food though considering. Why did we move the beds...HOA

This year we have moved the heavy sun dwellers (ie tomato) to the bed closest to the side with sun, herbs and vine plants in the next bed and then flowers furthest back. Ideally you have beds in sun. Our HOA complained that our beds were too leggy the first year so the beds on the side (ideal location) were removed rather than deal with letters of disapproval! We compost all our food waste and this was our first step into self-sufficient or Homesteading practices! If you only have a patio or balcony, place a pot of cherry tomatoes or peppers. You can garden small scale. Grow some parsley on a window sill :) I highly suggest you read up on some homesteading ideas in this book:

It is packed full of ideas for small spaces and ideas on canning and other things you can do with no garden space! If you have ever desired a simpler way of life and a slower pace...this book is for you. It was one of the first of many books I bought on this subject.

 My next post involves a bored 14 year old, a mom that was also in need or a bit of time our of the house, ADD working on an impulsive person and a trip to the Farm and Tractor store where they sell baby chicks...you'll want to read this one!

Until Next Time Drear Reader,

Chatty Cathy

Homesteading...or trying to be more Self-Sufficient!

Homesteading...the Good life

Published by DK books available online or at booksellers.

Homesteading for me 2 years ago would have looked like Little House On The Prairie. (My favorite books and TV series) Large land, livestock, working the land, struggling and the love of a family to keep you going...oh and being happy no matter what...you know Caroline!

Caroline Ingalls- Little House on The Prairie mom.

Homesteading for me a year ago...changed a bit! The Walton's :) Think small land, cute house with porch, a cow, chickens and quilting's and of course laying under a nut bearing tree with my supportive hubby! Hey we can tackle anything together!

John and Olivia Walton- The Waltons TV show

Homesteading to me now? Well, much internet research, and ever increasing library of books, my own raising of three chicks to hen stage (donated to my very happy Aunt because she actually has an area for them unlike me- more on that adventure later!), growing my own veggies and herbs, making my own compost, sewing, bread making and grinding of my own grains...well the look of Homesteading has changed! It's more like this now...

square foot garden

"Maisy" the Barred Rock hen

You see, I realized: I could wait till I had acres to work with, or I could use what I've got! Now, what "I've Got" is a 1/4 acre that slopes into the woods, a house that takes up a good portion of that, sun on only one side of the house in plain view of the HOA that doesn't like "leggy" plants or "garden areas not already established by the builder without prior permission"...they also don't allow livestock...not technically a chicken, but they don't want them either! So what's a girl to do if she really wants to learn what she can while waiting for that property? Well, follow me as I tell you what I am doing and have some laughs, because the chicken one...well there's some laughs to be had there! Many of the posts that will follow will be on things we have done so far, they will come quick in succession, but the post as I do it stuff will be more spread out, so be patient Kind Reader :)

Until Next Time...

Chatty Cathy

Paper Therapy!

 So you know by now I have an addictive relationship with paper? I collect it, I create with it, I adore it, I pick it up at stores and practically drool over it! I have stacks and stacks of paper and make things from it all the time. I posted about my quilled heart last year that I made. 

I showed you some of the techniques for quilling (paper curling/twirling) back then find that post here

I found myself once again a bit mentally jumbled and in need of some "paper therapy" as I call it. I tend to become very focused and relaxed when doing anything tedious with paper. It relaxes me and allows me to clear my mind. I looked at all the quilling strips I had and thought...haven't quilled in a bit...why not do some quilling!

I looked through some line drawings I had and came across some stained glass window patterns I liked. It hit me that that might translate well into quilling? I decided to try it out and set about making all types of swirls and curls to fill in the drawing! I did the framework of the "window" out of black strips of paper 1/8". I then filled them in with colors I thought looked like stained glass colors. It turned out quite nice and I thought I'd share it with you!

 I'm already thinking of different geometrics I can create in colors more to my lifestyle like hot pink and black and white, greens and aquas? My mind was already planning the next project while already working on this one! Tell me what you think and...

Until Next Time Dear Reader,

Chatty Cathy

Scherenschnitte freehand...

I decided I'd give myself a little "creative" time today and here's what I designed. I have always thought Dahlias were quite pretty and decided to try my hand at cutting one out of paper. I think it turned out nice...I'm thinking it could actually pass for a peony though?????

Here's some close ups of the project:

Another quick project I took on today was cutting a saying from the Hunger Games for my daughter who just graduated H.S. She loved the books and the movie. Here's that little piece:

I've been cutting paper since I was 10 and have always enjoyed it and found it relaxing. Hope you enjoy the images and I encourage you to try your hand at it! There are many resources online for paper cutting or Scherenschnitte (the German term for it).

Feel free to use mine from this page as well!

Until Next Time Dear Reader,

Chatty Cathy

Spring Fever!

It's spring fever.  

That is what the name of it is.  And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!  ~Mark Twain

I'm longing for Spring. It's my desire to see flowers that is causing it! To be completely honest Fall is my favorite season, but Spring with all the plum and crab apple in bloom and the azaleas waking and blooming in downtown Summerville...it's so lovely in the South!

My longing for some flowers had me browsing Pinterest and I came upon a tutorial for making coffee filter flowers. You know I had good success on my coffee filter heart here

I thought...I can do that! I can make flowers. I must give credit where credit is due. I found the idea on this wonderful site: lovely crafty home

Her wreath is just something to drool over. I wanted a bit brighter one and since the "natural" coffee filters at all my stores are dark brown instead of pale oatmeal like hers...the white ones were what I went with. You can see it gives a bit brighter colors than hers...but I really want to make some softer ones like hers at some point as well. Please visit her site and let her know I sent you!

Here's hers and mine so you can compare the tones of using different filters:

Mine

Hers

As you can see hers are more muted and I love them! I have included a tutorial on how do do this project and hope you will give it a try. It's super easy and cheap! < You KNOW I love that!

Supplies:

*tons of coffee filters (by tons, I mean a package per wreath if I had to guess...as I mentioned I made enough for three wreaths!)

natural or white filters can be used

 basket filter not cone filters!

*acrylic paint (I use FolkArt brand)

water

*brown paper bag or surface to paint on

oven set to 200F or clothesline

*16" wreath form 

(I used grapevine because no store had any wreaths larger than 14" that weren't grapevine! UGH!)

*lots of hot glue sticks and gun

*non-stick or regular foil (helpful-not necessary)

*roll of masking tape

*ribbon to hang wreath- about 24" long

*scissors

Okay prep for project:

1- organize your paining area:

 by placing brown bag on table or old newspaper could be used but you'd have to change out the paper because it will come apart once it's wet.

water paint down 1:1 ratio

2- set oven to 200F if you are using this method 

(I did because it was cold and rainy here)

if using line method string up some string, yarn, ribbon whatever, and make a make shift line to hang wet filters on...they will probably drip so make sure underneath is something you can get wet.

3- start painting!

Painting/Drying

See the watered down paint? I just used a chip brush to brush the filters, I layered one on top of another until there was a nice stack. I then peeled them off the brown paper and placed them on a rack in a 200 oven. This is warm enough to dry them in about 4-5 minutes. I spread them out in a single layer and worked on painting the next stack while those dried in the oven. 

TIP: YES I did clean the oven later...maybe a smart idea (I have those after projects!) would be to line the oven under with foil? Or...lay them on the non stick foil...next time I'm doing that as I tried that at the end of this and it worked beautiful...no lines on the filters...which you don't see in the flowers anyway, but cleaning the rack was not something I would have had to do if I had done the foil method! Trust me!

Cutting flower

Fold dried filter in half

Fold in half again

scallop edge with scissors

cut center out of filter and unfold so it's only in half again

cut one side of folded filter and open so it looks like this

Hopefully that was clear. I tried to take lots of pictures!

NOTE: I kept making different dilutions of paint and colors so I achieved lots of variegated colors, you can always do an all pink wreath of whatever you prefer. 

I made so many I had enough for three wreaths!

See all the pretty colors!

Taping the flower

Take the circle from center- twist it so it looks like this. You are using three filters per flower, so you need three circle twisty things (It's a technical term)

stick half onto the tape (I used a piece of tap about 18"...fiddle to find what works for you.

Then... this part if a little tricky but it gets easier.

Take the inner edge of the filter and start ruffling and sticking it to the tape. The scalloped edge is NOT on the tape it's to your right in this picture. Do this one after another till you have three on the the tape. I made my ruffles loose...tighter flower would have tighter ruffles. You get the idea?

Rolling the flower

LOOSELY roll the flower...see how loose the tape is? This is important to have a nice full flower. I made this text big for a reason :)

Flower rolled to the end

stand it on scalloped edge

take fingers and squeeze the tape like so

fluff out flower

isn't it pretty?

Glueing flowers on wreath

as I mentioned, I used a 16" grapevine. They wanted $7 for a styrofoam one and $6 for a straw one...I'm cheap thrifty, so I used a $3 grapevine.

I started by glueing the flowers in some sort of order...as with most things this didn't last long and then just started sticking in whatever I wanted...gave a more natural look. I try not to over think these things as I have perfectionistic tendencies when it comes to crafting (Not housework mind you!- I wish!)

Do not worry if you get this look (bit pouffy on some areas)

Just keep fluffing and tweaking and it will come out just right!

Attach ribbon and enjoy!

I simply threaded a ribbon through the back of the grapevine and tied a bow. It's really that simple! I think these would be lovely in pinks for Valentine's Day and reds and white for Christmas???

I'm sure you'll see more on these later this year!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and you'll try it and share your version? Please do, I love to hear from people!

Until Next Time

Dear Reader,

Chatty Cathy

Love is a wonderful thing!

Each year I make our family a special breakfast. Usually waffles with shipped cream and fresh strawberries, sometimes crepes, sometimes pancakes. Always bacon, eggs and the normal stuff. I think what makes this breakfast special is that we sit down together and share time together. I always do a special family night on Valentine's Day. It's a tradition:

  I make special food

 decorate the room

have flowers

and candles or like last year:

Fairies in a jar!

You can get instructions on how to do these here

This year is no different! I am busily making items for tonight's celebration and homemade lobster bisque for my hubby is one of the specials on tonight's menu! He loves it and it's a labor of love... for him! He's worth every ounce of effort I can assure you! I will post tomorrow about our special evening and hopefully it will encourage you to plan a special night with your family. After all...who better to exert yourself for than your family?