putting things back together

plants and broken pictures
my desk in my studio
poppy's room, in progress
above my desk in my studio


we've been in our new place here in chicago for two weeks, tomorrow.
my mom came a few days after moving in to help out and take care of p while i set to work putting things in their places. having her here was amazing…i was able to get a lot done. without her here, the same work would have taken me months to complete. because 3 year olds need to be cared for, fed and entertained, you see… :)
there's still a lot of work to be done, but little corners of the house feel settled and for now, that's enough.

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every day i am surer of our decision to move to chicago. i have and always have had a lot on my mind, but my soul feels more at home and at rest here than i have anywhere in the last two to three years. i believe i'm allergic to suburbs. :)
i'm really loving how *close* our new place is to everything. how i can not bother using the car most days, and can just hop on a bus or train to get me where i want and need to go. or just use my feet. it just feels easy and right.

growing here & growing there

kale peas tomatoes cabbages broccoli lettuce beans
onions cabbages tomatoes chard peas and basil
herbs and onions and tomatoes


i'm gardening again this year, in my patio container garden, and things are coming along great. this year we've implemented the SFG system and built a couple of narrow 6' x 1' boxes and have utilized the existent apartment boxes, our half barrel containers, and various smaller pots, and are growing:
6 bush tomato plants, one purple eggplant, one white "ghostbuster" eggplant, chard from seed, radishes from seed, basil, mint, lavender, dill, purple and white onions, cabbage, cauliflower, snow peas, bush beans, chives, kale, rosemary, oregano, lemon and german thyme, sweet pepper, and...i am sure i'm forgetting something! hopefully my onions will be done soon and i can get some cukes in.
we had red leaf lettuce and romaine but i just hacked it down last week and ate it. YUM.
just like last year, things are coming along great. no massive failures...yet! seems some caterpillars have taken a liking to the cabbages, but no big deal; they were a springtime experiment; i wanted to grow something a little different and i tried a few. probably won't try them again. live, garden, learn. :)

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watering our plot at the community garden
celery
peppers, sweet and hot
all sorts of tomatoes
cherry tomatoes, yellow straightneck squash, tomatillo, bush beams


as alluded to in previous posts, we also joined a community garden here in greenwich, the armstrong court community garden, which resides next to a small stream directly behind a public housing complex here in the city. we've been working on the garden most weekends for the past month and a half, and things are coming along great! in our plot at armstrong we're growing tomatoes (various types, including some cherry varieties), sweet and hot peppers, a tomatillo, bush beans, chard, romaine lettuce, celery, and yellow straightneck squash.
pete and poppy come over and help me with the garden, and it's really a family project! we're having so much fun and it's nice to get out and do something together and meet people. the other gardeners are so nice and helpful and everyone really pitches in and makes the garden look great, keeping it maintained and growing strong. and holy moly, the garden as a whole is kicking butt. we had several weeks of rain, followed by a couple weeks with some heat and everything is looking really happy! can't wait to see what it all looks like once summer is in full swing.
our tummies are sure to be really really happy come july and august! i totally want to make buckets full of preserved tomatoes and tomato products (sauce, salsas, stewed tomatoes, and the like), and if our tomatoes are successful (at home and at the plot), we're likely to be inundated with tomatoes and quite busy at the end of the season! hahaha. here's hoping!

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what are you growing this year? what do you plan to do with your harvest?

recycled, renewed: green at heart's (tee-shirt) rugs

greenrug2.jpg
(image via green at heart)


how flipping cool are these handmade braided rugs by green at heart? each one is made from a plethora of recycled tees. i remember seeing these a while back on the interwebs and coveting them, but noticing one in this recent apartment therapy smaller cooler kid's room entry made me fall in love all over again. i wouldn't mind putting one under a circular table in an eat-in kitchen (over top of some kind of white or light flooring, natch). or even in a little bright bijoux of a living room, where everything else was pale. or, or! maybe even an otherwise all-white, uber-moderne austere bedroom, maybe something with white or pale pastel walls and a high ceiling? YES! but, whoa, totally breathtaking, any-which-way you might style them...