Unplugged... at least for now

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Shut Down Day is this Saturday May 3. There's still time to join in if you're interested.

I know for me it doesn't seem like a big deal until I try and do it. What's a day without a computer? It's something about voluntarily giving it up that makes it so hard for me. Sure if I'm too busy or if I've got something better to do it's not an issue. Staying off the computer on an unplugged night isn't usually much of an issue either, but staying off for a whole day?

It's going to be interesting. Especially since it's on a weekend this year. It'll be me, my camera, and my ipod for most of the time. Maybe I'll even get around to finishing Kitchen Literacy.

And while we're on the subject of unplugging, there's a great article over at electrolicious (the home of 52 nights unplugged) on etsy, the alchemy feature, and a jacket.

You can't dream for me now.

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Daisies II


I spent a lot of time this week poking around homesteading and gardening sites. I looked at everything from square foot gardening, to container gardening, and building houses on rural homesteads. All in all a very interesting bit of research, I learned a lot but I still haven't decided what I want to grow. I know I want to start some herbs inside on the window sill, basil, parsley, thyme, coriander and some stuff for my tea, mint, lemon balm, chamomile, maybe some stevia. Thing is I haven't decided what and how I want to grow stuff outside. All I know is I want to grow something, and badly. I'll figure it out eventually. I'm not too worried, although I'm hoping I don't get sick of it the second the temperature gets into the high eighties.

I also spent a lot of time this week on etsy looking for birthday presents for a couple of friends. I haven't found exactly what I wanted, but I found a bunch of really cool stuff in the process.


Jack - Swirl Bubble Pendant with Onyx Bead by enca
I love the sort of French style curve in this one, especially with the contrast between the two colors.


life is bitter, but sweet by nanako
I'm not usually a fan of Polaroids especially when the processing can totally ruin the original effect, but all of the prints in this shop are breath taking.


Wine by eclecticchaoscreated


Grilled Cheese Pendant/Charm by OneElf
I love OneElf's collection of spunky charms. There's everything from ice cream sandwiches to robin eggs and bird's nests. They really look like miniaturized objects, it's the neatest thing.


Moonstone Necklace with Charm by eastsidejewels
This was actually the first necklace I picked out of the bunch that I was looking at.

Earth Day aka "Green Love" 2008

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Leafy Tree Pendant from OneElf

 

Earth Day’s fast approaching and I’m super excited. My ‘hug a tree’ shirt’s ready and waiting and I’m impatiently counting down the hours. Yes I’m a giant geek, but it’s the one day where spreading the green love is totally socially acceptable. Although I will still try and refrain from yelling at people who chuck plastic bottles in the trash; I will not refrain from rolling my eyes at people who look at me funny when I remove perfectly good rolls of wrapping paper from the trash.

It’s going to be fun. However since it is Earth Day I know everyone’s being berated with things like ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ and ‘turn the water off when you brush your teeth’. Important, yes, but I think there’s a bit of a bigger picture that gets missed in all that, so I’m going for something different. I’m not going to talk about it, at least not today. Today I’m talking about worms.

Yes, I’m finally writing a real entry about something, and yes it’s about worms. I happen to think they’re cute, most people don’t, but that’s not the point of this whole thing. The point is that they’re very useful little creatures.

They help aerate the soil and provide nutrients in forms more useful to plants. They also are quite useful in composting. Composting is important in so many ways from reducing the amount of trash that ends up in landfills to providing nutrients to plants that you grow. It can, however, be difficult for people who live in apartments or in houses with small or nonexistent yards.

If you're in the above group you can go the indoor composting route, invest in an indoor composting unit, or try bokashi (which is awesome if you’re looking for ways to compost meat and dairy products) or you can go the worm route.

Vermiculture, or composting with worms is something of interest to me; not only because I love worms but also because I hate throwing things out. Long before I found out that landfills produce methane, a greenhouse gas, I thought composting was cool because it took something you couldn’t use and turned it into something that you could. Worms it turns out are particularly good at this. Plus you can put together a bin for little to no cost.

First you’ve got to fine an empty bin, something the size of a dishpan and add bedding, worms, and a little bit of dirt. The worms you can get from your backyard by laying out a piece of wet cardboard overnight and harvesting the worms in the morning. You want the ones that live near the surface, not deep down in the dirt, so don’t start digging. Then all you’ve got to do is start feeding them.

Simple, yet effective. If you want some more information try a google search, or check out a couple of sites that I really like:

...and things move along

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It looks like I'm going to be playing catch up for awhile so I figured I'd hop over and update before I got started with all of that.

I managed to make it to a local rummage sale last weekend and found a lot of really interesting stuff, some for myself and a couple of things for projects I wanted to start.  They had a couple of old cookbooks that I snagged and a few Mary Higgins Clark books to add to my collection.

I haven't gotten around to binding any more books although I'm hoping to soon as I made up a couple of thicker sheets for book covers in my last batch.  I think I might have actually found a more efficient way of drying the paper, but we'll have to see how it holds up for a second time.

Things on the crocheting front have died down a bit now with the backlog of hats I have to post.  I might save them for next season, although we'll see.  I'll get the paper listed in a week when things calm down a bit and we'll go from there.

I haven't got any interesting finds to post this week, but I've got to say I really liked the interview etsy did with gaiaconceptions.  All of her stuff is incredibly beautiful and yet it's simplistic, it's very eco-friendly, and I love the fact that none of it's covered in patterns.  Normally I might disapprove, but in this case there's no need for all the extras.