Jul 29, 2008

My Verdict on the "Nicole" line by OPI

Ok saw this stuff at the local walgreens and liked the color Turbo Teal. I vaguely remembered reading something about OPI making a formaldehyde free line of of their nail polish. I'm not a super nails done kinda girl but once in awhile I get bored and paint my nails like a lot of others. I like it. My toes look prettier than they have ever looked. Even covered in dirt from the garden and splattered in raspberry jam from making jam tonight. In fact I think my raspberry jam kinda goes with Turbo Teal. http://www.nicolebyopi.com/ourphilosophy I think I am gonna paint Gypsy's nails now too to match. We just got finished filing hers down with the dremmel tonight. Although I am not sure if she will sit still for this...

Jul 27, 2008

Make Your Own Organic Insecticides, It's Easy

Well here is some useful info for you gardeners out there. I've been a busy bee in the garden this summer (which means no new things in the store really) and this weekend is no exception. Came across these recipes in this months issue of  Organic Gardening magazine and thought I would share for those who also like playing in the dirt.

 ~All-Purpose Spray~
"works on a multitude of pests, including slugs and Japanese Beetles"
  • 1 garlic bulb
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 tsp powdered
  • cayenne pepper
  • 1 quart water
  • 1 tbls liquid dish soap
Chop the garlic and onion in a blender. Add the cayenne pepper & water. Steep for one hour. Strain through a cheesecloth. Add liquid dish soap so the spray sticks to plant leaves. Mix well. Spray the mixture on both sides of the leaves. Store remaining spray in a labeled jar in the fridge. Note: Certain plants are very sensitive to soaps and can develop leaf burn. Always test on a leaf or two the day before spraying the whole plant.

~Hot Pepper Spray~
"Easy to make hot pepper spray repels insects and curious cats and dogs when they eat treated plants. Wear rubber gloves when preparing and uding the mixture. The peppers can cause irritation."
  • 1/2 cup hot peppers
  • 2 cups water
Puree peppers and water in a blender. Strain the liquid through a cheesecloth. Apply every 5 to 7 days until pests are gone.

~Tomato-Leaf Spray~
"the alkaloids found in tomato leaves are toxic to soft-bodied pests such as aphids. Bonus: This spray also will attract the beneficial Trichogramma wasp, which preys on corn-earworm eggs."
  • 1 to 2 cups tomato leaves
  • 4 cups water
Gather tomato leaves from the bottom of the plant so won't interfere with tomato production. Mash or chop the leaves and add 2 cups water. Let steep overnight. The following day, strain out the leaves and discard. Dilute the liquid with 2 more cups of water. Spray on the effected leaves, especially the undersides of the lower leaves where aphids congregate. To lure Trichogramma wasps, spray the entire corn plant.

Jul 14, 2008

Clean your Veggies! And eat them too

Well sorry I am not posting so often. I am so busy in my garden in the summer, and I celebrated my 30th bday in CA with my nephew and rest of family on the last week of June. I'm a busy girl right now! Although not busy with my crafty stuff :( Hopefully I will have time soon. I was washing my kale and snap peas from the garden in a bowl of water when I was reminded of the Oprah Earth Day show which I totally LOVED that she did and had all these fantastic topics and information for the masses who may not have otherwise accessed it. I remembered there was a friend of Julia Robert's (who was also on the show) on there who had a recipe for a veggie spray to clean your veggies and fruits. I am going to get the stuff to make it tonight, but I thought I would share it with you as well if you are interested.

Sophie Uliano's Veggie Cleaner Spray
Sophie Uliano's veggie cleaner spray










If you can't buy organic produce, you need to make sure you wash it thoroughly. Use this spray to make sure your fruit and vegetables are squeaky clean.
INGREDIENTS
Combine all ingredients in a large container or large bowl (baking soda will fizz up at first). Then, transfer to a spray bottle with a pump. Spray mixture on produce, and rinse thoroughly after 5 to 10 minutes. She said on the show that it takes 5-10 min to get all the pesticide residue and waxes to come off from your veggies and fruits. But also with organic you need to wash as well because of the manure, compost and possible other things they may use for fertilizer and/or pests that aren't necessarily safe to ingest (ie. diatomaceous earth I use in my garden). IF you are interested in Sophie's website and other green ideas check out her awesome website Gorgeously Green!

Jul 5, 2008

Garlic Scapes! How do I love thee? Let me Count the Ways



Garlic scapes are these curly things that grow from the tops of your garlic in the garden. They usually pop up early-to mid summer and they are actually how the garlic "seeds". The best time to cut them is about as soon as the start appearring, but be sure to gaze at them often, because they blend into the foilage and are hard to notice at first! I had to sit and stare at mine a few minutes before I noticed they were everywhere. Though if you don't plant more than a few garlic plants, you won't have to look so hard. I have two big patches of garlic growing in the garden right now as we love garlic and the flavor is SO much more amazing when you grow your own than buy that garlic at the store. There's no comparison.

But I really look forward to when the scapes are ready to harvest. Even if you choose not to eat them, it's best to cut them off when they start growing as they take away energy from the plant growing the bulb underground. You may be lucky enough to find these at your local farmers market. There are plenty of recipes for garlic scapes out there, but not many very unique ones. You will see a lot of the same ones out there, sauteed with butter and salt, pepper is most common and easy. Since they are mdly garlic flavored, but with texture of asparagus, they are good that way. I have a bag full of them to eat right now and I have been adding them to soup but last night I decided they would make a great pizza topping and I am glad I tried it! They were AWESOME on pizza! Here are the two recipes I tried and both were really good. I was nervous that the red sauce would overpower the flavor of the scapes but they blended beautifully and tasted out of this world.

We bought the inexpensive pre-made pizza dough at Trader joes, but any crust you prefer would work fine. We baked one on the pizza stone and the other we used a grill method, first baking it for about 5 min at 400 degrees, then sliding on the top rack of the grill (on low) and putting the cover over it. Keep an eye on this though, if it gets too dark on the bottom move it back to the oven to finish it. But it adds nice flavor and cooks it like it's in a woodfire oven. :)


Jul 2, 2008

My First Quilt Was a Challenge

<----My nephew Noah Napping with his grandma in his new quilt . Well I first say sorry I haven't posted in a couple weeks. I had no idea it had been so long! I don't know if many people even read this, but I got caught up with all kinds of business the likes of which I can barely remember. It is a blur, but I ended up flying to California to stay at my parents and visit with my brother, sis-in-law and nephew for his 1st bday party on the 28th. My bday is on July 3rd so we celebrated together. For Noah's bday I really wanted to make him a quilt but I had NEVER made one before. THose of you who are familiar with the process know it's not for the weary. I waited too long to make it as I was busy (as previously mentioned) and I had about 2 weeks to throw something together. I had fabric in mind for it and since I am a total beginner I used this very simple pattern from about.com to started. I used the diagonal pattern and I wanted to use sock monkey fabric, banana print, brown paisley for the backing and the sock fabric print for the border. After I got all the squares together using my serger (as some quilters do not recommend serging a quilt because of accuracy, I was too busy to worry about that stuff!) I realized that it was going to be huge, so I cut off about 5 rows of squares on the bottom entirely. IN the end it was about 36" square. After that I attached border strips using the sock fabric print, and then "bagged out" the quilt to finish it easily rather the more fancy, accurate way of finishing. I figure Noah may end up dragging this thing around anyway, so accuracy was not too important, and serging was important for durability. Quilting it was a challenge as I could barely fit all that stuff in my sewing machine and still sew straight. You must need a special foot for quilting but I was too flustered to even look for one, I just had at it on my regular little Brother sewing machine. I quilted the quilt in diagonal lines for easiness and to avoid highlighting my sometimes, inaccurate seams by not "stitching in the ditch". I bought my first cutting mat and rotary cutter for this project, they were on sale at Joann Fabrics 40% off so that was good enough excuse for me to get one. I have to say, if I cut all this with scissors it would have taken MUCH longer! Cutting all the pieces was the most tedious part of it. Ironing and sewing the patches was the next hardest part. I did little parts at a time. I cut one day, sewed the front another, sewed the backing another, and layered/quilted the last day. IT was necessary as I have no patience with myself. Overall, it's a cute quilt! Not perfect by any means, I would have liked to have the bananas on the backing and the paisley where the bananas are in hindsight. But there was no way I was gonna tear that thing apart and start over again! I also made Noah a sock monkey, I put it together in the car while we drove to the Seattle airport (1-1/2 hour drive) so it was very, ahem, home-made looking. I didn't get a picture of it but you wouldn't be impressed anyway.