March Picks on Etsy

Check it out! These are my picks for March - stuff I think is awesome, and that you might love as well!

ETSY LOVE <---click me!

Crabby likes Etsy, too.

Bridgeport Beautifies

I'm highlighting my new favorite blog: Bridgeport Beautifies!

Learn all about seed bombing and moss graffiti:

http://bridgeportbeautifies.blogspot.com

Weekly Wrap-Up, Mar 7

The gears have been turning in my head...which doesn't always translate to action. I have a lot going on, so I am motivating myself to step it up! The Public Allies Team Service Project is kicking into high gear - March and April are it!!! GBAPP is having its City Kidz Got Skillz event in late May - and I am the lead organizer. Also, the GBAPP website is getting revamped, and I am responsible for the content. I am looking for summer employment, as GBAPP has asked me to come back for a second year in the Public Allies program - woot! But, this means figuring out income for the time between June and September. Also, I have plans for opening an online store. And gardening season is arriving! Yikes!

1. In other news, yesterday was Otter the Quadrapus' first birthday. It was a wonderful excuse for Lover and I to indulge in ice cream sandwiches. 
2. I finished designing the invitation for the "Bridgeport Beautifies" kick-off! The event is for our partners and our volunteers. I am super excited!
3. I worked on revamping my resume and writing a cover letter for a potential summer job position. It's kind of agonizing.
4. I had carnivorous plant seeds germinating in the fridge for six weeks, and I finally switched them over to a pot in the windowsill. I'm not sure this is going to work, but I am willing to try.
5. I face painted at the CT NOFA Winter Conference in Manchester! What a great conference filled with workshops and superb vendors. I met a beekeeper and spent some time discussing his self-built hive and way of keeping bees. Can't wait to try it for myself!

 In lesser news, I finished reading the StrengthsFinder book assigned to us in Public Allies. It read like a large infomercial for the StrengthsFinder test, but the test results are fun, as they often are. My highlighted strengths were:

• Maximizer (someone who focuses on assets and pushes ahead even in the light of mistakes or failure), 
• Positivity (someone who encourages others and helps to keep the situation in a positive light), 
• Input (someone who researches and organizes information),
• Intellecter (a person who enjoys reading theory, philosophy, and intellectual discussions) and 
• Learner (a person who absorbs new information and enjoys learning and applying new skills). 

That pretty much sums me up when it comes to work.

How was your week?

Bombs away!

There are a lot of lots in Bridgeport that can only benefit from some added color and vegetation. The cheap and easy solution?

Seed bombs.

It's not only cheap and easy, it's fun. You can have seed bomb workshops with kids, neighbors, friends, and family. The below links will provide with you with a couple different recipes that can help you on your way.

Seed Bombs on Instructables

Seed Bombs on EcoLocalizer

Ideally, you'll have to throw these bombs down after the last frost, which in Bridgeport, CT, is projected to happen at the end of April. Also, use flower species native to New England - you can often find wildflower mixes in local garden stores.

The big day for the Public Allies Bridgeport team and their partners is April 30th. We will be cleaning up 24 targeted neighborhoods and installing gardens and unveiling murals. You can do your part by having a seed bomb workshop in your neighborhood, or making seed bombs beforehand and then spreading them on April 30th. If you're taking it up, please let us know! We'd love to see pictures, also! You can e-mail us bridgeportpact@gmail.com. Happy seeding!

Moss Graffiti

Here's a cool idea: MOSS.

How to Make Moss Graffiti! You can make it yourself and try it out!


More amazing art and graffiti with moss!  Seriously check these photos out. They'll blow your mind.

Keep it green.

Honeybee Lust

I spent part of my childhood growing up on a hobby farm - meaning we didn't keep animals for our livelihood, but for the fun of keeping them. We had sheep, goats, chickens, peacocks, and rabbits to go with our dogs, cats, and various fishbowls. One thing I always said I'd do again was keep chickens. Their manure is great for the garden once it's spent some time composting, and they lay eggs. In addition, they are great entertainment!

I have shared this with Lover on multiple occasions, more so he would be aware of how far the animal and garden enthusiast in me will go. One of his responses has been, "I'm surprised you wouldn't want to keep bees."

Bees? Really? Why on earth would someone keep bees? They sting, and when I get stung, the reaction is bigger than for most people - if they sting near a joint, I can't move it for a day. I told him this, and still, he said those words more than once.

Bees, huh? Well...I keep worms. I vermicompost. Keeping a bin of worms in my basement so I can have great compost and worm poo tea I guess goes on the list of odd hobbies. Beekeeping...also an odd hobby.

Then I read Novella Carpenter's "Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer." She speaks of hives lost and swarms won. She talks about pressing her ear against the side of a hive to hear the thrumming of bees within. She talks about getting stung. My interest is piqued. She gets to the point of extracting honey and sharing it with neighbors and using her own honey to sweeten tea and other goodies. Keeping bees?

I then read up on beekeeping in Connecticut. A local-to-me beekeeper has written a book and holds workshops on keeping bees. Other people talk about using the wax to make candles, and for encaustic painting. Encaustic painting?! I have wanted to try encaustic painting for years.

I love the taste of honey. I buy local Connecticut honey. There are debates within vegetarian and vegan circles of whether this counts as an animal by-product and if using bee honey is ethical. I don't get into it. I buy local honey produced by local bees and hope the beekeepers treat the bees ethically. But if I had my own hives, I could be certain that there are no chemicals used, and that the bees have enough honey for themselves. Bees would pollinate the flowers of my gardens, and use that pollen in their hives. I could extract honey twice a year and ensure they don't get brought down by a mite infestation or some other kind of disaster (bees have been having some difficult times lately).

I am convinced. Make Magazine just came out with an issue containing a DIY beehive project. It's my project for next year, as this year is all about the new garden beds and new composting processes.

Books I am Going To Read:

The Weekly Wrap-Up - Feb 27

This should be more like a monthly wrap up, since I haven't posted in some weeks regarding the highlights but anyway, here goes in no particular order:

1.) Public Allies Mid-Year Retreat! The above shot is from a workshop regarding our personal values. These are mine. Below is a shot of some of us having a beach party, and then pretending to be fishing off of a bridge.

2.) A visit the to the Maritime Aquarium. Lover and I had a nice Sunday together and went to look at weird and funky creatures in Norwalk. The non-human ones.

3.) Valentine's Day. Lover got me a beautiful orchid (I have wanted one for years and for some reason never got it for myself, though I always had a ton of plants around!) and a gift certificate to a fancy-schmancy salon, because he heard me complaining about my hair.We ate dinner at our favorite Thai place and had our favorite dish - Pad Si Ew. Mine with tofu and his with chicken. We picked out photos of us and our adventures together to put into frames to have around the house. It'll be another fun activity to do together on another weekend.

4.) Ordering seeds and general spring anticipation. I put in my order for seeds just this morning. Everything from yukon gold potatoes to joe long cayenne peppers to english lavender. This garden is going to be the bomb! And I can't wait to spend all summer eating fresh vegetables and trying out recipes. Summer and fall I plan to try canning and freezing, sauces and salsas. Also, I planted crocus in the front yard last fall, and I have been eagerly awaiting their spring debut!

5.) Bringing in new additions to the menagerie. We welcomed Ponyo, Chihiro, San, and Valve to one freshwater tank. Chihiro didn't make it. Ponyo and San (the Glofish) are swimming about happily, and Valve (an albino pleco) likes to hide inside the tiki god in the tank. This tank has had an algae problem, so we've also introduced a Cherry shrimp named Pepino Rodrigo Serrano Gonzales. (You'll have to refer to the Muppet-Wiki article on Pepe for this reference.) New tanks can be problematic, and this one has been particularly so. The tank was too cold to begin with, so we added a heater. The algae problem has decreased with the algae-eaters (Valve and Pepe), and the pH is being maintained at 7.2. Twenty-five to fifty percent of the water is replaced every week using a gravel siphon.

We also welcomed Otter, or "Quadrapus," as we so often call her. She's a loud meow-er, super cuddly, and loves to sit on my papers when I am working and get her fur all over my fabric when I'm sewing. In other words, she is a perfectly normal and healthy cat.

6.) Sewing Project of the Month! Yesterday I realized it was nearing the close of February. I hadn't yet done a sewing project for the month, so I got out the fabric and the sewing machine and in a few hours, had sewn up a garden apron with pockets! Pictures coming soon - it's fabulous!

7.) I can has books? I finished reading "Farm City:  The Education of an Urban Farmer" by Novella Carpenter. It was fascinating! Novella lives in Oakland, CA, guerilla gardening on a lot next to her apartment building, breeding rabbits for meat on her balcony, and keeping bees, pigs, ducks, turkeys, geese, and chickens in the backyard! I can definitely appreciate the farmer who raises and slaughters their own livestock, even though I am vegetarian - I just can't stand the factory farming. I give big kudos to Novella for her lifestyle.

Books currently reading: The Best Buddhist Writing of 2006 (reading essays here and there), The Handmade Marketplace (taking notes!), and Strengths-Based Leadership (assigned reading for Public Allies)

Coming soon...apron pics, honeybee lust, and Warrior Dash training...

Scene It!

For the past year and a half, I have been helping out here and there on the paints crew for shows by Staples Players in Westport.

Shows include "Guys and Dolls," "Little Shop of Horrors," "Rent," and "Curtains."

This time the show is "Brighton Beach Memoirs," written by Neil Simon. The image above is me wallpapering. I've never done it before, so this was certainly a learning experience. The below image shows the type of wallpaper we used - anaglypta, a very cool textured kind of paper.

 

It's going to get painted another color. Below is some other parts of the set. It looks a hot mess right now, but it's going to be pretty cool once the set is done. The dummy on the couch was used in the production of "Curtains", and the students have named him Harold. 

 It's so funny how much in theater is faked - the "hardwood flooring" you see above is actually luan strips painted with two kinds of brown and then sealed. It's a very different kind of painting (and often uses many different mediums) than your traditional fine art painting, but it's fun to see how all the pieces fit together.

Boom! Bridgeport Beautifies

I want to share something that is very near and dear to my heart.

I and nine other Public Allies in the Bridgeport area have created a team service project that is just amazing. We created a blog today to help inform would-be volunteers and collaborators about further details, and how they can be a part of the movement even when we have reached full capacity on what we can manage.

It's bare bones right now, but it will get updated soon with info on seed bombing, moss graffiti, and street clean up.

Even if you don't live in Bridgeport, you can have your own beautification project in your neighborhood. Coordinate a clean up, or get involved in a local community garden. There are even funds and organizations out there that can help you design and create a neighborhood mural. Get creative, start networking, and tap into whatever resources you can - it will be well worth it in the end.

Spring is On Her Way

I'm back at ESCAPE to the Arts one afternoon a week to teach Sparks! I'm so glad to reconnect with old students, and meet new ones. (Sparks is a curriculum for middle school students that involves learning about significant events in American history, and then taking a week long trip in the summer to travel to these places and actually see them. Past years have included Boston, Newport, Amish country, Washington D.C., and New Bedford. This year we'll be going to San Francisco and Los Angeles!)

The students at one point began begging that I tell them a Greek myth. I often retold these old stories while we worked to entertain the kids. They asked for me to tell them about Spring, and how it came to be that the seasons would change. I recounted the myth of the grain goddess Demeter losing her daughter Persephone to Hades, King of the Underworld. Since Persephone ate of the food of the dead, it was agreed that she would stay on the earth with her mother for part of the year, and remain in the Underworld for the rest of the year. Each time Persephone makes her journey to the Underworld, Demeter begins to grieve, and the trees lose their leaves and the frost kills the grass. In due time, the goddess Spring retrieves Persephone from her underground dwelling, and reunites mother and daughter. Demeter's happiness results in new growth and warmer, longer days.

While it is still February, and only a couple days ago we were treated to a gentle snowfall, there are signs of spring going on inside my house.

The amaryllis has bloomed. It was once an ugly little bulb sitting forgotten in a pot at Stop 'n' Shop. I immediately loved it, and though it wasn't in their inventory and we had no idea what it was, we purchased it anyway. Lover dubbed it "Lord Stubbingtons." In time, long green leaves emerged, and I soon recognized it as Amaryllis belladonna.

Also:

A weeping pussy willow, in bloom, and a male, as you can see by the plethora of yellow stamens. Once the ground is warm again, I plan to plant the little tree into the backyard by the forsythia.

I mentioned in my last post that we had a new addition:

Peekaboo! Otter, or Quadrapus as we call her. A beautiful tortoiseshell Munchkin.

A Munchkin cat is a cat with shortened legs. The gene is similar to the gene in dogs that produces dachshunds and corgis. It doesn't interfere with her ability to jump or run as cats with longer legs do, and there are no spine-related issues despite the short legs. Munchkins are very lovable, trainable, and precocious!

This morning, I found my gorgeous amaryllis on the floor among dirt and shards of porcelain, roots exposed. Otter had gotten a little too excited about the fishtank that the flower was placed next to, and this mess was the result. Lover helped me to clean up, "Lord Stubbingtons" was repotted, and I have since forgiven the little pest. She's too cute!

Coming soon... painting theater scenery, beautifying Bridgeport, ordering from seed catalogs, and finishing art projects!