Recyling and Re-using kitty litter buckets

A friend called me last week and asked if I wanted a few kitty litter buckets?

Aaahhh, Yes, please! I’ll take a couple.  It was perfect timing, because just the week before I had two very old buckets finally crack in the bottom. They still work for wedding and other things, but nothing to do with holding water.

I went to pick up my “couple” of buckets, and she kept bringing out more and more, and we kept loading them into the truck.

I love using them around the yard:

• When I am weeding
• To carry manure from the wheel barrow to gardens
• To carry produce from the garden
• To set under leaky gutters when it is raining.
• To soak a really dry potted plant or plant before planting in ground

Oh, I am sure there are other things I use them for, I just can’t remember right now.

What kind of buckets do you use around the yard for different tasks?

Sincerely, Emily

Coastal Sandspur (Cenchrus spinifex)

Sandspurs! UGH! What a pain! A pain in the heel, foot, ankle. A pain in the cat, cat and other cat. A pain when you step on one in the house because it came in on the sole of a shoe or the cat, cat or other cat. And a BIG pain to try to get rid of them growing in the yard!

The variety we have in our yard is Coastly Sandspur (Cenchrus spinifex Cav.) and is also known as Fieldspur, Common Sandspur or Spiny Burrgrass. It is a US Native and there is a particular song bird that eats the seeds (Pyrrhuloxia or Desert Cardinal.) Well, I would certainly welcome a flock of those birds to come a eat as many seeds as they could in my yard. Take your pick, front or back yard. Free. No Charge. I don’t think they know how many of these dang spurs are in our yard, let alone in the State of Texas.

I recently mentioned a “weed” that I welcome to grow in our yard, this WEED is not one of them. I do not welcome this at all. There are no barefoot days. There are no sandal days. Those are completely unheard of in our yard. Sandspurs are considered a noxious weed. I consider it, not only noxious, but OBNOXIOUS too.

Oh, I have had some people tell me, “just frequently mow your yard to keep the plant from producing seeds.” I have tried that. Put the mower on the lowest possible setting which took everything down to within an 1″ of its life. I mowed every week, sometimes twice.  The darn plant just stopped sending its seed heads straight up…. it now sent them out horizontal and right at ground level. Hmmm, that didn’t work. I think they even produced more spurs that were sticking their tongues out at me!

Are you plagued with sandspurs? How do you handle them?

Sincerely, Emily

Blooming Right Now: Straggler Daisy (calyptocarpus vialis)

We do not have a proper green-grass lawn. In fact most of the things growing in our yard are “weeds” of some sort. Some are nasty and unwanted (sand spurs), others are wildflowers (wanted) and the more persistent of the lot is the straggler daisy.

Straggler Daisy (calyptocarpus vialis), also known as Horse Herb, is a members of the Aster family and it  grows really well with some rain and thrives in the shade or dappled light. It also spreads easily, sometimes in places I just don’t want it. Some people consider it a pest, but I am happy to have it.

It is mainly in the backyard.  It is a low-growing plant (1-12″) and the stems can get as long as 12″. I can’t quite tell how it travels throughout the yard, I believe it propagates through the seeds from the flower.

In the Spring, or if we have had some regular rains, it is a welcome sight. If it weren’t for the Straggler Daisy, there wouldn’t be a whole lot of green out there. Not only that, but the bees and butterflies appreciate it also.

Do you have a “weed” that you don’t mind growing in your yard?

Sincerely, Emily

Planning ahead – Trees and Plants

The entire East line of our property (300′) is full of cedar (Juniper) trees. They are wonderful because they help keep the morning sun off our house and that helps to keep things cooler for a while. They offer shade for some of the herb and flower gardens from the morning sun. They provide habitat for the variety of birds that live in our area. They also provide shade for the clothes line, because the hot Texas sun will fade our clothes rather quickly otherwise.

Around here, you will hear a lot of people say that the cedar (Juniper) are invasive. You will also hear them say the steal water for other trees and plants. Well, an invasive (to me) is an opportunist.

Head over to Not Dabbling in Normal to read the rest of my post.

Sincerely, Emily

Caterpillars on my Dill

I plant more than one dill plant in hopes of being able to harvest some each year. I’ll keep hoping.

Each year more and more black swallowtail caterpillars show up.

follow the leader

Each year, I still hope I will get to harvest some dill.

This year I stopped counting at 35 black swallowtail caterpillars on my two dill plants. This isn’t going to a year I will get to harvest any again. They were beautiful to see. They were beautiful to watch. I am glad I have a healthy garden and they come. Now I need to keep my eyes out for the the chrysalis and also for the tiny eggs.

This year I was only able to get 2 dill plants in the ground. When i am back into full swing, I will plant more dill to try to keep up with the growing numbers of caterpillars.

We have a lot of the black swallowtail butterflies around here. They are beautiful.

Do you plant anything for the “bugs” or caterpillars?

Sincerely, Emily

Step back and Breathe

I was talking to one of my best friends a few days ago.  We were talking about tough things that have recently happen in our lives and how we are handling them. I was reflecting on how hard the hot summers are on me here, and how they wipe out a lot of my energy. As they drag on, my mood gets worse because I am unable to do a lot outside and feel like I am not accomplishing anything. We were talking about my recent healthy issues and how well I am handling everything.

Head over to Not Dabbling in Normal to read the rest of my post.

Sincerely, Emily

Swap and Barter without money (May)

I was really worried about going to the swap this month. The temperatures are on the rise here, and my energy levels and my stamina have taken a huge step backwards. A friend and I car pooled and she was a big help loading and unloading all of our swap stuff. The area were we set up is shaded, but when it is 90+ that is still hard for me.

I had been making soap like crazy to try to stay ahead of these swaps. They are spread 4 weeks apart and that just isn’t long enough (for me) to cure soap. I prefer longer, especially as the temps heat up because it takes longer for the moisture to dry out of the soap to make a nice hard bar. So as I was making soap this past month I made 2 and 3 batches of everything. That way they will have more curing time and be ready for the swaps as they come each month. This month there were A LOT more people that came to participate. More people to swap with meant more things to swap for and I came home with more great things.

What did I bring home:

• 2 quarts of beautiful canned tomatoes
• Fresh eggs
• salsa
• canned carrots
• yellow squash
• some mystery red flowering bulbs & aloe
• 2 loaves of zucchini bread
• whole wheat bread
• goats milk (going to make goats milk soap!)
• sprouting seeds (clover and broccoli)
• Cookies
• a rock (beautifully painted by a 5 yo boy)
• Celery Leaf
• 2 fly fishing lures
• a coffee grinder
• dishwasher powder
• a notebook and book markers
• 2 purple tomatillo plants
• fresh Mexican oregano and Greek oregano
• Blueberry coffee cake

What did I take to swap:

• Soap, soap and more soap!
• Whole Grain Mustard
• Zucchini Relish
• 4 mint plants

My soap was very popular again this month and so was the whole grain mustard and mint plants. I have more mint rooted and ready to pot up and I will be making more whole grain mustard and some Dijon to take in June. Other things I am thinking of taking are: granola bars, bottled ginger beer, and rosemary/black olive bread.

The swap went great. I paced myself and sat down when I needed to. I also took a box that I could load with a few of my items and carry with me to swap so that I walk table to table to see what people had. If I saw something I was interested in, I could ask them right there, show them what I had in my box and not have to take them back to my table to see if there was something they wanted so we could swap.  I met more great people and look forward to the swap in June.

Sincerely, Emily