Procrastination Pays...Again!

White Flowers of Volunteer Potatoes

I am a big believer in procrastination...particularly when it comes to yard work. Once upon a time I was a devoted gardener who wouldn't let a spring day pass without spending some time eradicating baby weeds before they grew into the monster, flowering, seed-dropping weeds of summer. My flower beds looked great.

Then one spring I got busy (possibly lazy) and didn't get to my garden until much later. I found so many wonderful surprises! I had sunflowers coming up where last year's had grown and I had sunflowers coming up where none had ever been planted! Violas, lemon balm, lavender, lamb's ear, alyssum, and more, decided to fill some of the empty spaces between the plants who "belonged". I was happy to have free plants; I left some where they had put themselves and moved others.

Now I know that many plants look the same when they first break ground. Now I know to wait for a couple sets of leaves so that I can identify the baby "keepers" from the weeds. Today I discovered that procrastination will pay off in some potatoes in a few weeks. I didn't get around to planting potatoes this year, so I'm extra excited!

Procrastination has a bad name. Sometimes it's good to put off until tomorrow what you could have done today! I don't suggest it for doctor or dentist visits, but if you're thinking of saying something hurtful to someone you love, I strongly suggest you procrastinate! If you're considering a major life change, I say, "Sleep on it!". If you really don't want to do the dishes after dinner, don't...the dish fairy is real. She comes while you're sleeping and cleans every pot and pan in the sink...I say it's worth a shot!

Life is too beautiful to be sped through. What can you procrastinate on today to give you more time to just be? 

Peace,
Chris

Bee Happy!

Here's a little video I shot a couple weeks ago. The bees were finally happy because things had warmed up, which meant there was pollen to be brought in. Pollen is the bees protein and the queen won't start laying eggs until she decides enough pollen has been brought into the hive to feed the youngsters.

Pollen comes in all sorts of colors,  and I never tire of watching the bees bring it in. When I shot this video, I was unsure what plant was producing red pollen. After a little research, I'm pretty sure it's a weed called Henbit, which we have plenty of around here! The research says it's an important pollen and nectar plant for the bees. Hooray for Henbit, my new, favorite weed!

If you can, watch and listen to this with headphones on (unless you have really good speakers). There was a lot going on in the yard that morning...bees from all four hives were buzzing around, baby birds were chirping for their moms from some of the dozen birdhouses we have scattered in the garden, crickets were making their music, and I shared a few honeybee tidbits, too.

It was a wonderful morning in the garden!

Take time for the simple things.

Peace,
Chris

Flower Power

As I write this on a Friday afternoon, there is lightning, thunder and a lot of rain outside. A practically-perfect day, in my opinion, mostly because Mother Nature is watering all the gardens for me and I appreciate the help this time of year!

Every year, Don (heretofore referred to as My Carpenter), tries to get me to agree to automatic sprinklers in the beds, or at least drip hoses, and every year I assure him I don't need the help. He thinks I'm being a control freak because our well is a low-producer and July and August are such water guzzlers. He says I'm worried something might leak or forget to turn itself off, thus wasting precious drops. While I am pretty water-conservative (especially in the hot, dry months), I actually like dragging the hose over, under, and around things in the garden. It keeps me up-close-and-personal with each plant. I notice things...I pull a weed here, pluck a few dead-heads there, question whether that "flower" might really be a weed run-amok, and make a mental note on what needs moving this fall. But all that watering can take at least an hour each day, so I really do appreciate Mother Nature's help on days like this. Besides, the gardens and lawn always look so refreshed and lovely after a summer thunderstorm!

This post's picture is of the bouquet I picked from the gardens yesterday morning. I flitted from bed-to-bed, a large, middle-aged butterfly, choosing the flowers that I knew would make Hilda (92) and Charlotte (99) ooh and aah when they saw them. There's an assortment of daisies, purple phlox, day lilies, yarrow and liatris in there. 

The weather has to be just right for my ladies to want to be in the garden with me, so they love when I bring flowers in the house for them. Both were avid gardeners in their younger days...Charlotte had dozens of rose bushes that she tended to faithfully, and Hilda, a farmer's wife, had a large garden every year that she canned-up to feed her family through the winter, as well as flower beds to feed her soul. 

My flowers, in fact all my garden beds, have such power over me! In church I really do try to keep my mind focused on the service, but it seems like every Sunday there's a reference to a garden, grapes, wheat...something that puts my head back in my yard, thinking about what's doing or needs doing. That's when I hope no one asks me what I thought of the homily or the readings, because I might not even remember them!

I am moved today by a quote I sign-off with on each regular email. It's by Robert Louis Stevenson and speaks so clearly to me about appreciating the simple things:

The best things in life are nearest:  Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you.  Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life. 

Creating a bouquet of flowers picked from my garden felt like one of the sweetest things in life. What does it for you?

Remember to take time for the simple things!

Peace,

Chris

I'm Taking the Plunge!

That's me, jumping in. Which one are you?

I have been pretend-blogging for a couple years now. By "pretend-blogging" I mean that I've done it with no consistency and virtually no attempts at marketing it, or me. But now I'm taking the plunge and asking you to jump in with me!

Some of you know, and others may have suspected, that I fancy myself creative and quite crafty. I remember the exact day when I discovered Creativity (the capital "C" is intentional). It was soon after I quit my fulltime job to be a fulltime mom to my 5-year-old son. I had already been a weekend/late-into-the-night quilter for a decade. It was at my kitchen table that hot, August afternoon in 1991, with the sewing machine sitting in front of me and a project strewn everyplace else, that I was overcome with a sense of the importance of this thing known as making something.

More than 20 years later, my understanding of the importance of tapping into my creative side still drives me. As I say on my website homepage (itsthesimplethings.com); "Creating something...anything...brings a sense of purpose to my soul, forcing me to slow down, focus, and listen to myself. Genesis 1:27 says that God created man in His own image. Wow! If the Creator of all created us to be like Him, then the act of creating HAS to be hardwired in us! To go through life without taking materials and making something new of them is truly a denial of who we are meant to be!".

For the past couple years, a vision has been unfolding that brings me to this point in space and time. I love to make things, but what I love even more is to provide the opportunity for other people to make things...to give them the place and guidance to find the creative spark that I know is inside each of us, and watch that spark turn into a flame!

I am married to an amazing man who built us a beautiful house on 10 acres here in Colbert and, a couple of years ago, added a large, barn-shaped shop. After some mostly-kidding discussion of what my rent payment might be, he gave me the better part of one wing to use as a studio. He insulated it, sheet-rocked and painted the walls and ceiling, trimmed the windows, and traded some of his own labor with a friend who is a cabinet maker, giving me custom cabinets throughout the space.

Yes, I am spoiled, although I prefer to think of it as "well-loved".

My ducks aren't yet all in a row to open the studio to classes, but I'm getting closer. In these days of social networking, the integration of my website, blog and Facebook pages are a vital part of getting where I want to be. So I'm asking you to consider coming along for the ride by following my blog. You can access it from itsthesimplethings.com or by "liking" me on Facebook.

As best I can tell, getting folks to comment on your blog somehow magically makes it more appealing to folks who might just stumble across it. Those first "followers" are the hardest to get. If you feel moved to be one, God bless you!

If you like what you see/read, please, please feel free to share it with other folks who might be interested. I hope the blog will appeal to a wide range of people, but I'm especially interested in  reaching folks in the Spokane area who might, one day soon, like to come to the farm for a class.

Peace,
Chris

Cross of Peace

I am always searching magazines and the internet for things that spark my creativity. Time and time again, I'm drawn to projects that re-purpose things I already have lying around or can easily get my hands on. Websites like stumbleupon.com and pinterest.com are two of my favorite places to go for inspiration. Recently I stumbled upon savedbylovecreations.com and found the tutorial for this simple yet beautiful way to reuse something I have lots of...old magazines! This cross is created with two things...magazine pages and a glue gun.

I used the better part of an 8.5x11 sheet of paper for my pattern, which must have made my cross bigger than the one pictured on savedbylovecreations,because she posted that the project took about three hours...mine took nearly eight!

The folding is simple but needs to be done carefully, so I tried to be consciously "in the moment" while I folded each quarter-page and, once I had a stack of them folded, rolled them into circles. I listened to music, I prayed, and I contemplated the frailty of this thing called life.

We had an out-of-order death in the family last month. My 26 year-old nephew died suddenly...out-of-order and unexpected ...a double-whammy of pain if ever there was one! Danny's viewing and memorial service was held at the funeral home on a rainy, Pacific Northwest Saturday. Less than half an hour before the memorial part was to begin, his mother asked his father, "Where is everyone?" I heard the tinge of panic in her voice. It was time to say goodbye and to honor and celebrate Dan's life and sure, family from near and far were filing in for the viewing, giving condolences and sharing stories, but where were the others? Where were the friends who could validate for her that her son had lived a full life and had been loved outside of the unconditional love that comes from family? Well, they came like most of us come to church...five to ten minutes before the service began, and they kept coming until the church, with a maximum seating of 200, was standing-room-only. They lined the walls, they stood in the lobby and when the time came, they stood and shared their memories. We laughed, we cried, we celebrated the gift of Dan that we'd been briefly given.

A month has passed since Dan died and the simple rhythm of folding and rolling to create this cross gave me time to reflect on life, death, and the incredible gift of a loving family. I cried new tears and wondered what it felt like now, a month later, for my brother and sister-in-law. The busyness of a death was surely winding down and I wondered if they were allowing themselves proper grieving time. Their love is strong, but still I prayed that they will be gentle with each other in this new reality. I thought about Mike, Dan's older brother, and how his pain will be eased, but no more than eased, by Jen, his wife, and their two young sons.

Sometimes projects engage my whole being and when I’m done(for the day or with the project) I appreciate the complete immersion…the escape from the burdens and minutia of day-to-day life. In the end, I often feel I’ve left pieces of myself locked in those projects.

This cross, on the other hand, was exactly what I needed now; it forced me to sit, kept my hands busy and let my mind process things still burdening me. Instead of feeling pieces of me locked in the project, I felt my concerns, my cares, my fears, come, pass through the work, and release to a higher power. I felt peace. It’s the adage “Let go and let God”.

There’s so much to feel in this world. If we try to hold on to all of it by staying so busy that we don’t have time to process, we get bogged down. We get sick. We get depressed. We get insomnia.

Life-altering-moments...there's no getting around them in this world. I hope you find a gentle way to work through yours.

Peace,
Chris

Think Outside the Pot!

A simple way to add character and joy to your garden, deck or patio is to plant flowers in unexpected containers. Pots are nice…they come in a myriad of sizes, shapes, and colors, and guests usually ooh and aah over the carefully-placed flowers. But I’m hoping they laugh in delight when they see what I’ve planted in my husband’s old boots or an old cookie jar missing its top or a garage-sale-50-cent teapot…or my latest plantings in thrift-store purses!

A few years ago, my church started holding an annual Spring Tea. It isn't so much a formal event as a fun one, with exotic teas, delicious sandwiches and desserts, a speaker, and a hat contest. I have been in charge of centerpieces (they become door prizes at the end of the tea) and I scour thrift stores and garage sales for unique containers (mostly homeless tea pots for the past two events). One of my favorites the first year was a beat up, old, metal lunchbox…the manly, rectangular kind. I planted both the lid and the box, and since it was a lunch container, chose to fill it with food stuff like lettuce, chives, and other herb starts taken from my garden.

This year’s tea will feature a fashion show. In honor of that, I’ve chosen to make the centerpieces planted purses (and maybe even a pair of high-heeled shoes or two!). Here’s a picture of the first finished purse. I’ve decided that, once upon a time, a lovely lady in a lovely red dress and matching shoes carried this purse with her to a very important event. Because she felt so confident, was so witty, and looked so lovely, she got the job she was hoping for, or the man she was hoping for, or the (you fill in the blank) she was hoping for.

I like to think that same lovely lady would smile in delight to see her purse live on as home to two white Alyssum, one Dusty Miller and a bold,red-trailing geranium! I’m sure this purse, and the 14 I have yet to plant, will be big hits at this year’s tea!

Here are a few tips for planting in any container, especially things not originally meant to hold dirt and plants.

Because these will be sitting on a table and I don’t want them leaking, I’m using grocery-store plastic bags to line the purses. For this one, I used two bags, one inside the other, opened them inside the purse, rolled down the bag sides until they were lower than the purse top by about an inch. Then I hot-glued the bags to the purse.

Drainage is another must-have, no matter what container you use! I put a good inch of pea gravel in the bottom of the purse and then filled it with a light potting soil (if your potting soil needs lightening, add some perlite…you can find it in any garden center).

Water lightly! Remember, without holes on the bottom, there’s no place for excess water to go, so don’t over-do it! You don’t want to drown the roots.

I like to give my containers a weekly watering of a standard Miracle-Gro solution. It goes a long way in guaranteeing big, beautiful flowers all season!

I encourage you to think outside the pot this year and plant something whimsical! Choose the plants based on the container, like I did for the lunchbox (another time I had an old marshmallow tin and planted it with Althaea Officinalis, more commonly called the marshmallow plant), or simply plant what looks good to you. Either way, have fun!

Simple Bud Vase

On a recent road trip, my daughter, Elizabeth, and I stopped for road food. Road food, by definition, can have no nutritional value whatsoever, and on this stop we filled the car with gas and grabbed a bit of chocolate and something to drink. While we chose different chocolates, we both went for a lemonade that we'd never tried before, and, after tasting it, probably never will again! It wasn't lemony enough for either of us and left a strange after-taste in our mouths. HOWEVER, the drink came in a uniquely simple glass bottle, and I couldn't bring myself to throw them away once we got home from the trip and I cleaned out the car (which, in all honesty, was probably a week after we got home).

It took a couple days of seeing the bottles sitting on the kitchen counter before I finally realized that they should become simple bud vases! Out came the magnificent Cricket machine and some scrap vinyl. Once the stencils were cut and placed on the bottles, I brushed Armor's Etching Cream over the exposed areas, waited 10 minutes, took the bottles to the sink, rinsed them, peeled off the vinyl and had two sweet little vases!

The next step is up to mother nature...in my neck of the woods we're one day away from setting the record for the longest number of spring days taken to get to a high of 60 degrees. In other words, it's been cold and wet! The only things blooming are a very few, very brave daffodils who've had to take so much abuse from the weather that I don't have the heart to cut them! But gardeners are ever-optimistic and the buds on the lilac bushes seem plumper every day...my vases and I will wait, if somewhat impatiently!