Herb, Tea & Spice Organization

When we started purchasing many of our herbs, teas and spices in bulk, I don't think we didn't really understood how messy this new process would make our cabinets.  But bags of spices and bay leaves and Irish Breakfast tea take up a lot of space and aren't incredibly easy to keep organized...

Before

Unless, of course, you decide to get smart(er) and put everything (or most things) in labelled mason jars :-)  Now, thanks to Fish Girls organization skills, I can actually find what I'm looking for without 15 bags falling down onto the counter!

After

It really is the little things...

xoxo,

M

Reuniting Kids w/ Nature - Quick Sand

MATERIALS:
1 box of corn starch, 2 cups of water, newspaper (or a tablecloth that can get dirty), a large bowl, a small plastic animal (optional)

TIME FRAME:
15 - 60 minutes

PROCEDURE:

1. Cover a table with your newspaper or tablecloth
2. Pour your cornstarch into your bowl
3. Slowly add in the water until your cornstarch becomes pretty thick (think about how thick honey is, that a good consistency for your quick sand) and stir it gently
4. Play with it!  Try to poke at it with your finger or another object, pick it up, hold it in your hand.  Grab a small toy (a plastic animal will work perfect) and place it on your quick sand.  Experiment with how it feels and how it reacts when you do different things with it.

REFLECTION:
What happens when you play with your quick sand?  Does it get soft when you move it around?  What happens when you poke at it or are gentle with it?  Why might it be important to understand how quick sand works?

CONNECTIONS:
If you were to step into quicksand, don’t worry, it won’t suck you down.  Remember to stay calm, the slower you move, the easier it will be to get out.

TIDBITS:
Did you know that quicksand occurs when sand gets trapped above water and the sand is so saturated by the water that it can not support any weight?  Opposite of what you might think, the faster some one moves to get out of the quicksand, the harder it becomes to get out of it!

TIPS & IMAGININGS: 

• Aren’t you glad you’re a human!?  Now that you know how quick sand works, you can escape it!  Imagine how an animal might feel if it got trapped...luckily, you never have to worry about feeling like that!
• If you’d like to keep your quick sand for a little while, keep it in a plastic sandwich bag or in a Tupperware container.

This activity is part of a series of low cost, hands on activities that can be used by anyone who has a passion for nature and who believes that a child's time spent in nature is not only important, but necessary.  Each activity was either created by me or gathered from a variety of sources.  You can find the complete list of all of the activities on my Nature Activities tab.

xoxo,

M

Giveaway Winner

I'm incredibly happy to announce that the winner of my 2nd Blogoversary + Giveaway winner is...

Jacqueline Gatlin

who chose as her prize this silver and purple pendant...

I will be contacting you shortly to make arrangements to get you your pendant!

Thank you to everyone else for playing along and sharing this space with me!  Know each of you are appreciated every single day!

xoxo,

M

Ode to the Lemon (Flower)

Ode to the Lemon by Pablo Neruda

From blossoms

released

by the moonlight,

from an

aroma of exasperated

love,

steeped in fragrance,

yellowness

drifted from the lemon tree,

and from its planetarium

lemons descended to the earth.

Tender yield!

The coasts,

the markets glowed

with light, with

unrefined gold;

we opened

two halves

of a miracle,

congealed acid

trickled

from the hemispheres

of a star,

the most intense liqueur

of nature,

unique, vivid,

concentrated,

born of the cool, fresh

lemon,

of its fragrant house,

its acid, secret symmetry.

Knives

sliced a small

cathedral

in the lemon,

the concealed apse, opened,

revealed acid stained glass,

drops

oozed topaz,

altars,

cool architecture.

So, when you hold

the hemisphere

of a cut lemon

above your plate,

you spill

a universe of gold,

a yellow goblet

of miracles,

a fragrant nipple

of the earth's breast,

a ray of light that was made fruit,

the minute fire of a planet.

xoxo,

M

Harvest Monday

Happy Monday, everyone!

Welp, it's that time of year again...warm days and chilly evenings followed by snow on the ground and the reminder that it really is still winter, despite the Spring Fever that keeps tempting me to put some seeds in the ground on the sunny days.  Soon enough, though...soon enough!

Until then, though, at least our old stand bys can be counted on...

 Totals for the past few weeks:

• Mixed greens = 6 oz
• Eggs = 182

We've also been eating from our stores...pickles and pickled tomatoes, jam and jellies, soups and beans, tomato sauce and apple sauce, apple pie in a jar.  It seems as though we had a bit of a sweet tooth when we were putting things up last season...Which can be good (delicious, actually), but can also pose a challenge when thinking about dinner and not just dessert ;-)  And so the learning continues!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Happy harvesting!

Linking up to Harvest Monday @ Daphne's Dandelions

xoxo

M

Oatmeal Cookies

My Maternal Great Grandpa was a baker, though I don't have a single recipe that belonged to him.  There may be one (or 100) of Dutch's recipes stashed away in a cardboard box in the garage of one of my relatives, but if they do exist, chances are I will never have the opportunity to read them, let alone bake from them.  Families can be funny in that way.

Growing up, my mom always talked about how "Grandpa Dutch made the best oatmeal cookies in the world"...how they were so soft and chewy, and just plain perfect.  She believed we would find his recipes some day, in Grandma's writings or in the care of one of her siblings.  We talked about how, since he owned a bakery, we'd have to do the math to cut down all of his recipes just so we could make a batch for ourselves.

When Grandma passed, I half wondered if Mom had found any of the recipes in her writings, though she never said she did and I don't believe I ever asked.  I was young and distracted by my beautiful daughter and my exhaustion from working all the time.  If I had it to do over, I would have been more vocal in my longings for family recipes and stories.

When Mom passed, I thought I'd find something of Dutch's mixed in with some of the stash of family miscellaneous she collected when Grandma passed.  No such luck on the recipe front, though I did find some cool old photos of Dutch, Grandma, my mom and her siblings taken when my mom was just a tiny little thing.

While there are still conversations that could be had, if I found the patience and where-with-all to do so, for now I'm simply searching for my own "best oatmeal cookie in the world" recipe.  I don't try very often, and I am usually a little frustrated by how difficult it can be to bake a good batch of moist cookies here (is it the altitude? the lack of humidity?) but it is something that lingers in the back of my mind.

From time to time I think about the recipes I have adapted from the meals my mom used to make and how I should write them down and keep them safe.  That way, if someone wants them some day, they will be available.  Then, I get distracted with the act of cooking and cleaning and the simple act of living and forget about the intentional act of taking it all down to save it for the future.  I wonder if my mom or my grandma ever thought of writing down their recipes like I have, just never followed through (like I haven't)?

I guess that means it's time to start writing them down, now doesn't it?

xoxo,
M

Link Tag

Happy weekend, everyone!!!  Here are a few items that have caught my eye recently...

Food & Kitchen

• Spring greens recipes, because it's that time of year again :-)
• As soon as I feel well enough to have some sugar and not worry about it, and as soon as the weather warms up just a bit, this will be my drink of choice.  Holy moly!
• Clever uses for quinoa are always a good thing, but when they look this delicious...well, I can't wait to make this amazing-ness!

Education & Environment

• The tiniest, cutest little frog ever!  Gotta love nature and all Her wonders!

Farm & Garden

• Three Sisters Gardening works, and is delicious, too!
• Love this underground greenhouse!
• Chickens just might be the funniest looking dinosaur birds ever.

Preservation & Preparation

• Honey really is an important item to think about when preparing for any type of emergency situation.  No joke.

Just Because...

• Please don't forget to enter my Blogoversary Giveaway!  There are only a few days left!
• Does your city rank as one of the happiest (or most miserable) cities in the US?  Check out where Santa Fe falls...
• Have you seen this amazing transformation?  Found this on facebook the other day.  My mind is officially blown!

Hope you're enjoying a wonderful weekend!

xoxo,

M

Recycled Take Out

We all have those days when, after cleaning and yard work and trips to the dump, you just can't even imagine cooking dinner.  Right? We all have those days when it's just easier to jump in the car and go pick up something delicious that was made and packaged for us, bring it home and eat on the couch.  It may not be very healthy (depending on where you go) and it's not very environmentally friendly, but sometimes it just has to be done.  We had one of those days last weekend.

While cleaning up from our meal, though, I was struck (as I often am after such occurrences)  by the amount of waste that is produced from such a meal.  I mean, really.  Even if you ask for no plastic ware or napkins, there's still all of the vessels in which the actual food was transported.  Some of it plastic, some styrofoam  some paper and some aluminum.  Holy cow.

Now, not all of it can be salvaged and turned into something new or used again.  Styrofoam is just plain gross after a single use (I really hate that stuff), but some of the plastic, paper and aluminum can surely be used again, can't it?

When our take out comes in paper bags, we always fold them up and put them with our others to reuse again.  We do the same with plastic bags.  Sometimes these guys get used over and over again until they're too torn up or simply falling apart.

Sometimes though, you might have an Aha Moment...one in which you realize, "Hey, this isn't that dirty!  I could figure out a use for this!"  So you clean it up with a little soap & water and you re-purpose it in a way you never thought of before.  As simple as it is, you just want to knock yourself in the head for not thinking of it earlier.

So, an aluminum Take Out container gets added to some reused toilet paper rolls and makes for the perfect little seed starting tray.

Ta-Da!  Small victories, I tell ya...small victories ;-)

Now, I'd love to hear how you've reused items in surprising ways? Please share your A-Ha Moments and brilliant epiphanies!

xoxo,
M

Blogoversary + Giveaway!!!

It's my 2nd Blog-o-Versary!  WooHoo!!!  I can hardly believe it's really been two whole years since I began sharing this space with you all!  What a blessing and what a journey it's been!

How about we look at the stats first (which honestly, blow me away)...

• 578 published posts (including this one)
• 3, 481 comments
• 115 followers through Google Friend Connect + How many of you have me in your Reader???
• 58, 565 page views

Now, based on page views, here are the most popular posts published in the last year (just in case you missed them)...

• Buy It Cheap, Put It Up
• Our About Us & 1/8 Acre pages
• Can Your Own (Pinto) Beans (DIY)
• Best Potting Table (Ever)!
• Herb Garden
• Planning Ahead
• 2012 Garden Planning

I have to say, I really do love the community here.  Each one of you has brought a new perspective and feeling of support beyond my immediate (concrete) community and I am so grateful for that!

So, as a THANK YOU for your continued participation in (and support of) our journey, and as a celebration of two whole years of writing and learning and trying and failing and trying again, I want to offer a giveaway to my readers! 

I will be giving away 1) one of the pendants in my shop, 2) one of the mason jar cozies OR 3) a custom, single strand cream-and-one-color-of-your-choosing 24 inch X 24 inch baby blanket to one lucky winner!  

Here's how to be entered:

• Visit my Etsy Shop and have a little look around.  Then come back here and leave me a comment telling me which item is your favorite
• Follow this blog either through the little Google link on my page or by putting me in your favorite Reader 
• Follow me on Twitter
• Follow me on Instagram
• Like my EverGrowing facebook page 
• Pin one of my Etsy pieces to Pinterest 
• Post about this giveaway on your own blog or facebook page or Tweet about it 

For each entry, please leave me a comment on this post (or leave all of your entries in one comment) so I can better track who has entered how ;-)  If you already follow me in any of the above ways, just let me know!  When you comment, please let me know which item you'd like to win, too!

Can you believe it?  

Seven (super easy) chances to win in seven days!

This giveaway opens now (Wednesday, February 20, 2013) and will run through Tuesday, February 26th at midnight.  I will randomly draw the lucky winners on Wednesday (2/27/13) morning and make the announcement shortly thereafter.

Thank you & Good luck!

xoxo,

M

Reuniting Kids w/ Nature - Water Filters

Image Credit 

MATERIALS:
A 2-liter bottle, sand (fine grain and large grain), gravel, cotton batting, a coffee filter or an old sock, scissors or a utility knife, a large cup, water.  Note that a lot of DIY filters call for the use of charcoal, which is optional, but not used for the purposes of this activity.

TIME FRAME: 15 - 60 minutes

PROCEDURE:

1. Cut around the bottom of your 2-liter bottle using  your scissors or knife to remove the bottom 2-3 inches from your bottle
2. Turn the bottle upside down and remove the cap.  Add a layer of cotton batting along the end of the  bottle closest to the mouth of the bottle, (now the  bottom of your filter). The layer should be 1-2 inches thick.
3. Begin layering the sand and gravel on top of the batting (fine sand, then larger grain sand, then bigger gravel), making each layer about 1 inch thick. Continue the pattern until the bottle is 2/3 full.
4. Place your coffee filter on top of your final layer
5. Grab a handful of dirt from outside and put it into a cup of water.  Stir it up, then slowly pour your dirty water into your filter, holding your filter over another cup or a bowl so you can see how clear the water is.

REFLECTION:
What other materials could you use to make your filter?  Who filters the water you drink at home? When might it be handy to know how to filter your own water?

CONNECTIONS:
Did you know that, if you have access to clean drinking water, you are luckier than 780 million people on our planet!  

TIDBITS:
Clean water is essential to our survival as humans!  Did you know that our brains are 95% water, our blood is 82% water and our lungs are 90% water?  Wow!

TIPS & IMAGININGS:
If you do this project after you have completed the SOIL activity, experiment using your separated  materials for the various layers of sand and gravel and see what happens.

This activity is part of a series of low cost, hands on activities that can be used by anyone who has a passion for nature and who believes that a child's time spent in nature is not only important, but necessary.  Each activity was either created by me or gathered from a variety of sources.  You can find the complete list of all of the activities on my Nature Activities tab.

xoxo,

M

Linking up to the Seasonal Celebration
& The Creative HomeAcre Hop #4

Catch Up

I've been kind of out-of-sorts for a couple of weeks now.  Full-on sick (kidney infection first, then the flu), as have Tool Lady and Fish Girl (just the flu for them...horrible, no good, very bad, long lasting flu).

It's hard to focus on anything when your body hurts and you can't breathe.  We're doing better now, though still on the mend, and I've been struck with Spring Fever in the worst way...and there's still a lot of time to pass before much can be done.

So, in an effort to catch up, here's a little of what's been happening in our neck of the woods...

1. In addition to receiving the NM Lottery Scholarship to attend college here in NM, Caitlyn has also received a large scholarship through Girls Incorporated and the Lucile Miller Wright Foundation.  Such an incredible gift...and such a wonderful weight that has been lifted from our shoulders.  My smart, beautiful girl will get to attend college without being faced with tons of debt!  
2. We were nominated by an old friend of ours for our local 2013 Kitchen Garden & Coop tour through Homegrown New Mexico!  We had our preview yesterday (where they came and checked us and our space out) and have our fingers crossed!  Send good thoughts our way, we should know sometime next month if we will be on the tour or not.
3. The chickens are happily keeping us in more eggs than we can eat again!  Time to give some away and start selling a few again ;-)
4. The weather is gorgeous.  So gorgeous, it's tricking the fruit trees into thinking it's time to bud out.  Ugh...this will either make for a great fruit year (if the warmth maintains) or an awful one (if the trees remain on the their current course). Time will tell.  It's been so warm, though, that the frozen water in our rain barrels is finally thawing, allowing us to use it to water our thirsty trees and a few over-wintering beds (yes, that was ice in that bed, not glass).
5. The doggies are enjoying the warm weather, too!
6. Our compost pile is officially out of control.  I'm hoping there's some magic soil in there!
7. Our first batch of soap is all cured and we have begun to use it...and to give it away!  We figured that, with so many bars and it being our first batch, we should take a poll.  So, we're giving bars away to our friends and family and asking for feedback in order to better our next batch!  We're thinking we should "ask the customer" before we start selling it, instead of after ;-)
8. I'm teaching myself a few new crochet stitches.  So far I've learned how to make little hearts and I'm working on figuring out the Granny Square.  Definitely in my "learning zone" on that one.
9. I have some new items up in my Etsy Shop!  I'm now selling custom baby blankets and some cute little snail cozies.  Check 'em out!
10. I am also now on Vine.  Vine is a new app for iPhones that is kind of like Instagram, but in video form.  Yep, more social media tools!  You can post and watch very short videos, like them and comment on them.  I'm still on the fence about whether I really like it or not, but it's been fun to play around with it!  If you want to join in, you can find me by searching *people* for Melissa Willis.  

Alright, I think that's about it!  

Now, how are you all doing?  Any new projects or exciting happenings?  I'll be making the rounds and catching up with everyone shortly!

xoxo,

M

Link Tag

Happy weekend, everyone!!!  Here are a few items that have caught my eye recently...

Food & Kitchen

• How do you extend the life of your open jars

Education & Environment

• Have you heard about Matt Damon's strike?  Who knew toilets were such a big deal?!  I've joined in by sharing my voice via Twitter :-)
• Love this Bee Hotel!
• Water bottle raft?!

Farm & Garden

• Public Library/Seed Bank?  Hey, it's worth a try, ha?

Preservation & Preparation

• How to get more meat in your food storage

Just Because...

• How cool would this high speed rail be?
• The sand art of Tony Plant is just absolutely breathtaking!

I hope you all are enjoying a beautiful weekend!

xoxo,
M

On Dreams and Preparedness

A couple of nights ago I had this dream/nightmare that has me thinking about our emergency preparation and plans.  First, a peek inside my head...

In my dream, I was walking around the Plaza while a storm was building.  The clouds grew dark and the lightening clapped loudly overhead.  Such storms are fairly common in the summer here, so I didn't think much of it.  That is, until I saw a tornado approaching from the southwest.  Now, tornadoes don't really happen here (thanks to our climate and geography) so everyone began to panic.  Because tornadoes don't really visit us, most of our structures are built without basements.  Knowing this, my first thought was, "Where is there a basement?!?"  The answer was a bar down the street from where I was, so I began running there and got down into the basement with several other people with just moments to spare.  When the tornado came through, it demolished the building above us, trapping us in darkness below with no tools, water or food and no idea what was happening above us.

At this point I woke up and drank some water, thinking that was the end of that.

Upon falling back asleep, I went back into the same dream, but at the beginning again.  This time, everything remained the same except for the fact that I now had my backpack with me.  In my backpack I always carry  a bottle of water, a few granola/protein bars, my rain jacket, my Leatherman multi-tool, a small knife and a flashlight.  I was still shocked by the tornado and I still ran for the nearest basement and still became trapped.  This time, however, I did not feel the same panic as I had in the first part of this continued dream.  I felt more prepared and less scared.

When I woke up again, I had many thoughts floating through my head about preparation and the items I carry in my backpack on a daily basis.  I also recognized that, while I carry said pack with me while driving places, I do not carry it with me when I go for short walks (like from work to the Plaza for lunch, etc.) because I like to travel light...usually with my phone and wallet in my back pockets and my keys strapped to my belt loop.

While I may be kind of prepared for an emergency if something were to happen unexpectedly, I have found myself wondering about that fine line I see drawn in the sand...you know...the line between being prepared and going overboard.

While I still haven't figured out exactly how prepared for an emergency I want/need to be on a daily basis, it is obviously on my mind.  As I begin to sort through my thoughts and assess my needs and our needs, I would absolutely love to hear from you!

What do you carry with you on an every day basis?  What do you carry with you on a daily basis that would help you in an emergency?  What am I missing in my pack (besides a fire starter and a first aid kit...)?  Do you have a bug out bag?  Do you have multiple bug out bags in different places (home, work, vehicle)?   And, most importantly, in your opinion, where is the line between being prepared and being...well...a little paranoid?

xoxo,
M

Reuniting Kids w/ Nature - Compass Creation

Photo credit: Green-Planet-Solar-Energy.com

MATERIALS: 

A bowl, water, a needle, a piece of buoyant material (craft foam, a small piece of cork or a small piece of wax paper), a magnet

TIME FRAME: 

15 - 60 minutes

PROCEDURE:

1. Carefully run your needle back and forth across your magnet to magnetize it (at least 50 times).
2. Fill your bowl with about 1 inch of water.
3. Push your needle through your buoyant material so that it lies in the middle of the needle, then place it into the bowl.
4. Your needle will face due north!  You have created a compass! 

REFLECTION: 

How can you test your compass to ensure it is pointing in the right direction?  How could a compass be helpful in your daily life?  Who might use a compass as a part of their career?

CONNECTIONS:
A compass is a precision instrument designed specifically for navigation. The compass uses a magnetized pointer to determine directions in relationship to the earth's magnetic poles.

TIDBITS:

Written records indicate that the first magnetic compasses were used by the Chinese as early as 1100 a.d..  Early compasses consisted of a piece of lodestone on a piece of wood, a cork, or a reed floating in a bowl of water.

TIPS & IMAGININGS:

• Create a scavenger hunt using your compass that you can then implement with your friends or family (take 5 steps north, then 13 steps west, etc.).  The prize at the end can include anything you’d like!
• Imagine what it used to be like before  compasses...how do you think people found their way without  getting lost all the time?

This activity is part of a series of low cost, hands on activities that can be used by anyone who has a passion for nature and who believes that a child's time spent in nature is not only important, but necessary.  Each activity was either created by me or gathered from a variety of sources.  You can find the complete list of all of the activities on my Nature Activities tab.

xoxo,

M

Quirky Chickens

When checking for eggs yesterday, I was greeted by one of our two Black Australorps who was ready to lay.  Curious to see what she would do with me watching, I left the door open, stepped back and watched for a minute.  After assessing my intentions, she began moving the eggs around in the nesting box with her beak.

Apparently, after thinking about it for a few more minutes, she decided she didn't like me watching after all, so she jumped back out of the box and stood on the other side of it waiting for me to leave.  Honoring her request, I closed the door and let her do her thing.

When I went back to check for eggs a few hours later, this is what I found...

Apparently chickens like to be organized just as much as they like their privacy ;-)

xoxo,

M

Linking up to the Seasonal Celebration

Link Tag

Happy weekend, everyone!!!  Here are a few items that have caught my eye recently...

Food & Kitchen

• Preserving meyer lemons

Education & Environment

• Connecting the dots between violence against women and violence against the planet (Love, love, love Eve Ensler!)

Farm & Garden

• Kitchen Coffee Spice Bar Soap?  Oh yeah...
• DIY Worm tubes
• Straw bale gardening, start to finish!
• What not to feed your chickens!

Preservation & Preparation

• Airplane kit

Just Because...

• What do you think about a 4 day work week?  
• Missing tortoise found after spending 30 years in storage!

I hope you are enjoying a beautiful weekend!

xoxo,
M

Expanding Ripples

Live the life you've always wanted to live 

by Paulo Coelho

Even if you were to study your own life in detail and relive each moment that you suffered, sweated and smiled beneath the sun, you would still never know exactly when you had been useful to someone else.

A life is never useless. Each soul that came down to Earth is here for a reason.

The people who really help others are not trying to be useful, but are simply leading a useful life.
They rarely give advice, but serve as an example.
Do one thing: live the life you always wanted to live.

***

The social and environmental issues we are facing these days can feel incredibly overwhelming, big and unchangeable, despite our continued work to affect positive change in our own lives.  This feature highlights individuals and organizations who are working for positive change...taking small (and large) steps to create positive change for our environment and in our communities. I firmly believe that passion and action are priceless and that one person can inspire countless others...just like the expanding ripples in a pond are caused by a single disturbance.

Do you know of an individual, small business or small organization that you think deserves to be featured for the change they are affecting on the world around them?  Would you like to be featured?  If so, please email me at trinityvision3(at)gmail(dot)com or comment below with any ideas or suggestions! 

xoxo,

M