Art/Craft

December 2, 2011

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Make Your Own Herbal Bath Tea

This is an old project that I originally posted to this site back in the early 2000′s. It was lost when we switched over to a new design, but I’ve brought it back in time for holiday gift-making. (p.s. the photos are small due to the original page design)

You can expect a few more oldies, but goodies to appear here over the next week.

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This is a simple, but satisfying gift to make using herbs grown in your own garden. I’ve been making them for years and can fire off a large batch in one night. It’s the perfect gift for those who bathe — which is just about everyone.

What You Need:

Cotton muslin or pre-made resealable tea bags (large size).
Ribbon or string
An assortment of herbs (see recipes below)
Essential oils (optional)
Rolled oats, epsom salts, sea salt (see below).
Cellophane bags, cellophane roll, other packaging.

To make the bags you will first require some unbleached cotton muslin. Other cotton fabrics can be used, but I prefer this kind the most because it is dirt cheap ($2.00 and change for a yard or cheaper if you buy scraps from the ends bin) and has an open weave that holds in herbs yet allows their goodness to leach out easily into bathwater. In the past I have purchased ribbon (I’ll explain its use later), but this year I found some nice seam binding tape in earth tones for a very good price (29 cents a yard).

If you don’t want to sew you can purchase special large-sized, sealable tea bags made especially for this purpose. They are relatively cheap to buy and can be sealed with an iron. However, I guarantee you that even the most inexperienced sewer can make this. Keep in mind that it is going to be used a few times and eventually tossed into the compost heap. Precision is not necessary.
Read more…

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May 24, 2010

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Stealing Plants? You Suck.

I took advantage of the overcast conditions on Saturday afternoon to plant out some perennials into the street garden. And since I just used the words street garden (along with the above photo) you can probably predict where this is going.

The next morning I went outside, looked over at the garden, and found a large gaping hole where a large, beautiful (so, so beautiful), and terribly prickly sea holly (Eryngium) ‘Big Blue’ had been planted the day before. I hope whomever stole it poked their eye out on the way home. No, I don’t mean to wish anything that terrible on them. Yes I do. No, but… Yes, but… No, but…

Ironically enough, I bought that plant (it cost $15 on sale) BECAUSE it is such a hardy, prickly bad ass mother of a plant. Surely no one would attempt to damage it in the way they have so many other plants in the garden. Little did I imagine that someone would just take the entire thing outright. And when I bought it, I also announced that this was the last plant I was going to buy for that garden. “Never again!”, I proclaimed. Freebies only from here on out.

Soon after I vented my frustration about the theft on Twitter, responses started to pour in from gardeners who have also had plants stolen from their gardens. Some have lost several plants to theft. This bewilders me. What gardener would steal an entire plant from another gardener to replant in their own? Aren’t we better than that? I’ve dealt with a lot of bull in the approximately ten years I’ve been growing that garden, but it never occurred to me that the damage could (or would) come from a fellow gardener. Surely someone who has put labor, time, effort, money, and emotional attachment into growing their own little patch of land understands what a blow that would be to another gardener.

I have long said that in the act of gardening in such a public space, I have learned more about human psychology than I have about growing plants. I have experienced care, helpfulness, interest, connection, and generosity from my community through the garden. But I have also experienced the negative impact of how messed up, selfish, aggressive, destructive, and narcissistic some people can be. When my garden has come under attack, I have learned a thing or two about myself — what pushes my buttons and what I can withstand. And I suppose I am still learning this last lesson as I keep announcing I am done and will never garden there again only to go back in and try again. And again. And again. Resiliency, stupidity, an intense need to garden, or all of the above? Whatever it is I am done complaining.

Yesterday, after we found the gaping hole, Davin went home and made a sign for me. Bless him. It’s a nice sign that says what I wanted to say but couldn’t. If I had tried to make a sign at that time it would have come out as a string of expletives. Since so many of you have responded with your own stories of garden treachery and the need to place a sign, I thought I would make it available here as a printable download. It won’t last forever, but should last long enough to get the message out.

Please feel free to vent about a recent theft from your garden below.

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January 13, 2010

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A Swell Fencing and Privacy Screen Idea

While in St. Lucia I was given a tour of Jade Mountain eco resort. I’ll save the interesting gardening and botanical design features for another day; however, take a look at this simple, yet elegant fencing or privacy screen idea. We found this in the parking lot of all places. When you’re the #1 resort in the Caribbean, you leave no detail or corner unaccounted for.

Here’s a close up on the construction to give you a better idea of how it is put together. I have no idea what kind of wood they are using here but I’d imagine you could find some long, flexible strips in an affordable material that would work. It looks a bit labor-intensive with such thin strips, so a nail gun would be necessary to make easier work of it.

The hanging basket combination, a staghorn fern and some kind of caladium(?) is pretty cool too.

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August 1, 2009

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Now In Colour (For a Limited Time)

Last night, at a party, artist Prashant Miranda painted my tattoo with watercolours. Please go have a look at his journal pages. Prepare to be blown away.

Since getting the tattoo last year (drawn by Davin Risk), loads of people have asked me if I am going to get it coloured in. I’m still debating getting some light grey shading, and MAYBE having the tomatoes done in red, but my plan was always for a monotone tattoo. The only part that has felt unfinished are the tomatoes because the lines are thinner and there is a lot of open, flat space inside of them.

But it was fun to see it done up colourfully. I really like the out-of-the-lines, messy softness of Prashant’s painting. Oh, and how painless and quick the whole procedure was. This took about 10 minutes while painting with an actual needle… let’s not think about it.

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June 22, 2009

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Happy Summer Solstice, 2009

In celebration of the advent of summer, my partner Davin replaced the chalkboard portion of this frame with a new one (the old had become warped from a year spent outdoors) and made the first drawing of the season. Our goal this year is to document all the drawings on the board with a photo. We didn’t do that last year and subsequently lost any record of some brilliant drawings.

Photo by Gayla Trail All Rights Reserved
This first drawing was inspired by the collection of pots set on the table underneath the chalkboard (the shadiest part of the roof). Here’s what it looks like hung above them. Most of the plants sitting on that table are greens, lettuce, and violas that have been shifted to less intense heat and sun regions of the roof as a way to extend their life a little bit longer. We still have a ton of lettuce going and can’t possibly eat it all at once! Most of the remaining plants are occupying space underneath taller plants that provide a little bit of respite from the heat and are in larger pots that stay moist longer.

I wrote more about making a chalkboard for the garden when we came up with it on a whim last year. This year we picked up two chalk pastel pencils at our local art supply store Woolfit’s that allow you to draw much thinner lines than a typical piece of chalk. They’re so great and easy to use that we plan to get more in a wide variety of colours.

More chalkboard drawings (2008): Swiss chard, We Want Sun, Rain, No Squirrels, Flowers, in progress, torture and waterboarding.

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