• Art - Blog - Kitchen

    T Tuesday: waste not edition

    Here I am, once again, at dark thirty writing my T stands for Tuesday post in between getting kids up and making lunches. Perhaps of these days…weeks…years…I’ll get the habit of preplanning these things. I think it’s my personality though to wait and see where life takes me.

    T Tuesday waste not edition | Halle's hobbies

    Today I wanted to share a couple of things I did this week to repurpose items that would have been thrown away or in this first case, composted.

    I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making apple cider vinegar. I’ve read numerous posts on this old fashion technique. Usually this time of year we have apples coming out of our ears from our neighbor’s trees. This year happened to be a poor production year with their trees.

    Homemade apple cider vinegar t tuesday waste not edition | Halle's hobbies

    I did have a couple organic store bought apples that we’re definitely past their prime. Not wanting to completely waste expensive apples, I decided to experiment. The recipes or tutorials I read used peels and cores but I’m certain that using the whole apple will work just fine. I sterilized my quart mason jar in the dishwasher then filled it with the chopped apples. I used spring water to completely cover the apples. A scrap of cloth was placed under the ring to allow it to breath. I placed it in our basement storage room while it does its magic. Hopefully by Christmas, I’ll have some homemade apple cider vinegar.

    The second waste not piece of this post was using a paper scrap in an unexpected way.

    t tuesday waste not edition | Halle's hobbies

    The scrap started as a misprinted Christmas letter from last year. Then it protected my journal from paint and sprays, glues and inks.

    t tuesday waste not edition | Halle's hobbies

    Now it’s the base of a new art journal page. Who know where this page will take me.

    Do you use any “throw away” items in unexpected ways? I’d love to hear about them…

     

     

  • Blog - Outdoors - Tutorials

    T Tuesday: smudge stick edition

    During the process of putting the garden to bed for the winter, I drastically trimmed back my herbs. Now I am crossing my fingers that the plants themselves will overwinter.

    Anyway I decided to make some smudge sticks as I have heard that burning sage helps deter mosquitoes.  Worth a try.

    IMG_0619

    I found a spool of heavy duty cotton button thread in my stash and set to work.

    Smudge sticks

    I likely could have made 4 bundles but honestly they were a pain to make. It will be interesting to see if they work next summer.

    I’m linking up once again with Elizabeth for T stands for Tuesday

    vintage look tea

    my beverage is coffee again. Soon with the weather changing I’ll be back to tea to stay warm.

    Lots on calendar today including 2 doctor appointments.

    What are you doing today?

  • Blog - Outdoors - Tutorials

    T Tuesday: worm tower edition

    T stands for Tuesday

    Today for this edition of T stands for Tuesday I thought I’d share a DIY project made from recycled pieces of the kids old play set.

    recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

    I read about worm tower composting on Pinterest. It looked like a great solution for my raised bed garden. Most of the links I saw used a PVC pipe instead of wood.

    Since we had scrap cedar laying around it seemed like a perfect use without spending any money. Mr. G did the construction and drilling of the holes for me after I explained my idea.

    recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

    The holes let the worms migrate in and out of the tower to spread the compost throughout the raised bed.  Isn’t that awesome…they do the work for me!

    recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

    We even had an old handle in the shed from the sandbox cover. A perfect fit for the lid.

    recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

    Now it was time to  install … I dug down to the bottom of the box…well truth be told the box doesn’t have a solid bottom….just landscape cloth. I assume eventually that will rot away.

    recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

    I back filled all around the tower and attached it with one screw just in case some critter decided to try and mess with it. It looks like it’s always been there.

    recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

    Now all I needed was some composting worms.  Amazon.com never ceases to amaze me with what I am able to order.

    recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

    This was a strange bin to find on my front step a few days later.

    recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

    I started saving kitchen scraps after ordering my worms. The paperwork that came with them said they also enjoy paper and cardboard. I grabbed a couple handfuls of shredded paperwork and started layering the material in the tower.

    recycled wood worm tower | Halle's Hobbies

    Honestly I was worried about getting the worms…would they still be alive? Yep…red and wiggly. I have no idea if they will survive a Minnesota winter  in the garden and worm tower. From what I read they do have a good chance of survival.  Only time will tell.

    Do you compost? I’d love to hear about your system.