In my garden

We finally got our rain barrels set up, just in time for April's rains. We now have two of them, with plans for two more. One on each corner of the house. Since we have a multi level house, we can actually accommodate two more, for a total of six. But I don't know if we will try for that many or not. The first one is set up by the back door near the recycle bin. David rigged it up to the gutter downspout with another piece of gutter acting as a sealed off diverter. It works wonderfully and the barrel was full to the brim after the rains last week. We just need to get a piece of screen to keep the mosquitoes out this summer.

The second one is on the front corner of the house. He used a recycled hose to connect it to the gutter, via a hole drilled into it. This is a permanent fix, so don't do this if you are renting or don't plan to keep your rain barrel up for good. We are waiting for the rains today to see how well this works because it is a smaller opening than the other one.

These barrels are blue, but I would love to paint them up something like some of these I found around the web.

Love the sunflowers and the frog! What a wonderful way to save water this is. We saved alot last year and this year we will have so much more. Once they are all four set up we will have water within a short distance of every garden area we have. Yeah!

In other news.....our peas are up and growing well. Sophie is very excited and cannot wait to be able to eat sweet peas fresh from the garden where she grew them herself.

Thrifty Hippie Find

Check out this awesome suede patchwork jacket that I found at the local thrift store. I am so loving this thing! It is so retro looking, but I believe it is fairly new, though I can't find one online like it anywhere. It is suede patchwork with faux fur around the collar and cuffs. Love, love , love it!!! It so fits in with the boho style I have embraced.

Freeganism Revisited

This is what greeted me on Mother's Day evening. David found these in the dumpster at our local CVS Pharmacy. In the dumpster! There is nothing wrong with them, and there were many, many more that he did not get. They were marketed for Mother's Day and thrown out at the closing of business on that same day. These flowers are in perfect condition, all bulbs, daffodils, crocus, hyacinth, and amaryllis. This is so disgusting to me, the waste. These could have been donated to retirement homes and nursing homes to those who have no family to give them the brightness of fresh flowers. Or to those in the hospitals. What a waste, I am glad to have saved some of them, most now reside in my gardens. See the photo below. (For more on freeganism...check this out.)

Earthfest 2008

On Saturday we went to Earthfest. This is an annual event that has been held since 2000. They have had to move to a larger venue every other year or so, because it keeps growing. How wonderful! This is held in Knoxville, which is the closet "big city" to us. We have not missed a year of going yet. Here are some pics from our afternoon there.


Sophie very much enjoying some smoked corn on the cob.

A great poster made by some school kids.

A booth of hippie tye dyes.

A booth on the Clean Water Coalition

GreenWorks for your business "greening"

Awesome local band, the MacDaddies

Rolling in the"green" fun.




Semi trailer loaded with plastics of all kinds.

"Green" car of the local nature center, Ijams Nature Center.


The Purple Paper Eater of the Knoxville Recycling Coalition. All in all, we had a lot of fun and learned alot too. Next year I hope to have a booth myself, 'Sunflower Designs', selling my handmade, recycled patchwork skirts and tshirt shopping bags. Yeah!

My First Skirt is Done!

I finally finished my first skirt! I am so stoked! This skirt is made entirely of recycled material. The denim were two pair of blue jeans that had seen better days. The blue flower print was some leftover vintage calico from another sewing project, as were the yellow solid and the vintage yellow behind the sunflower petals. I have some practicing to do on my applique technique, but as this was my prototype, I think it turned out really well.
This shows the back side of the skirt with the drawstring bustle waistline, it fits between a 30" and 50" waistline.
Close up on the applique, doing the satin stitch on a basic sewing machine that is 20 years old, was harder than I thought it would be. I am going to enjoy wearing this skirt and I am raring to go on the next one! Yeah!

Sweet, Sweet Compost

Here is my compost bin. A gift last spring from David. And here is a little of the lovely compost that I got from it this year. Still needs a little more cooking time, as this is a passive system. But I am so psyched about it. My gardens are going to flourish even more this year with my own organic home made compost! Woo Hoo! I think its beautiful. Here are some places to find out about making your own. Mother Earth News , always a great source for all things in life. Organic Gardening has some wonderful articles about what else.....organic gardening. Enjoy!