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Upcycling: Hot Box to Garden Bench
Last week I broke the old hot box. Not being one to waste wood (the wood was already on its third use), I put the Man-child to work. old hot box The Man-child has a slight obsession with real tools. By real, they have batteries and absolutely may not be used around the Baby. He held the screws as I disassembled the hot box, sat on the boards when I needed some assistance in holding them in place, helped finish…
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The Reality of Gardening with Kids
When you ever see the bucolic photographs in gardening magazines where docile children are gently brushing the tops of feathery leaves while their curls glisten in the late afternoon light, do you ever roll your eyes or do you wistfully long for those magical moments in your own back yard? The truth is, those moments are fleeting with a preschooler and better left for the child models, the professional photographer and the rolling landscape you will never afford. In our…
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10 Weeks of Vegetable Gardening: Week 6
Each Friday I am posting a weekly guide for prepping your home vegetable garden. In Raleigh, the last killing frost date is April 11 (on average, give or take a week), so my first weekend for planting (summer crops) outdoors is April 9.Can you believe it is only 4 weeks left until the last killing frost? I am absolutely delighted to see redbuds blossoming, although I know my sinuses will soon be barraged by pollen. This week I have been…
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Bamboo Teepee Meets Fibonacci
At the end of last week, the gusty winds blew over our teepee. The Man decided that I needed the help of concrete (while he was installing fence posts), and we erected one lone bamboo pole to serve as a cornerstone of sorts for the boys’ future teepee. My best friend, Bear, was over, and in her great design wisdom suggested we do a Fibonacci teepee. A whuh? I hadn’t heard of that concept since high school math, or was…
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10 Weeks of Vegetable Gardening: Week 5
Each Friday I am posting a weekly guide for prepping your home vegetable garden. In Raleigh, the last killing frost date is April 11 (on average, give or take a week), so my first weekend for planting (summer crops) outdoors is April 9. This week we remember our pollinators. I would write out a beautiful article for you on bees, but alas, that has been done here. Please check it out. To summarize: Don’t use pesticides Use local native plants…
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Mini Herb Pail
I have a terrible habit of buying dollar pails in the entrance of Target. I always claim that I buy them so the Man-child can keep his toys in them, but now we have an assortment of little pails that we use to lazily stick random writing utensils, buttons, and screws that we find lying around the house. They have become clutter pails. Anything with a flat surface, a hook, a knob, or a cavity serves as a clutter magnet in…
