Monthly Archives: November 2009

What the *@#! was that?

Posted by Lesley on November 18, 2009 1 comments

The bang was so loud that I immediately thought it was John’s boat crashing to the ground.  He keeps it propped up against the fence.  It’s a little 10-footer, but sounds much bigger when the wind blows it over.  But when I opened the side door, the boat was in place – bringing me to my question – what the *@#! was that???  I walked around the whole house and still no clue.  That was Monday.  Fast forward to this morning – I’m watering the plants in the Florida room and something on the window catches my eye…

Oh my God – that’s what caused the bang!  This isn’t the first time we’ve had an incident like this, and I’ve done my part to prevent them.  I haven’t washed a window in this house since spending the afternoon nursing a Mocking bird back to health.  The poor thing slid down the window and landed ass-up in a pot of Gerber daisies.  I didn’t think such a tiny animal could survive such an enormous impact.  It took him a good part of the afternoon to shake off the shock and fly away. I was forced to watch the recovery through the window. My rubber gloves and towering stature seemed to negate any bedside manner I was trying to achieve, but somebody had to pull his little head out of the dirt. As southern hospitality dictates, I laid out a hefty buffet of sunflower seeds and a dish of water before leaving.  He didn’t partake in either, but he did fly back up to his perch in the grapefruit tree.

Back to the latest bang – it was louder, and it happened two days ago!  I didn’t want to look, but this is all I found…

That’s one lucky bird!

Growing Luffas

Posted by Lesley on November 15, 2009 None comments

Last week, I thought luffas came from the ocean.  This week, I’m growing my own!  Four luffa seedlings were among the parting gifts from my visit to the Earth Angel garden.

If I find the right spot, these little seedlings should grow into some sizable vines.  The vines produce long, green gourd-like fruit.  When the fruit is small, it’s edible.  As it grows larger, it dries and hardens into a sponge.  I’m going to let Groovy Green’s blog post, How To Make (and grow) A Luffa! be my guide.  It seems easy enough – grow, peel, deseed, and dry.

On the Road with Rosemary

Posted by Lesley on November 12, 2009 1 comments

Rosemary – the überherb – is also a symbol of love and friendship.  So, where did my rosemary bouquet end up?  With my new friend Karen Leonetti at Earth Angel Preschool.  Earth Angel is a certified green preschool on Siesta Key.  Gardening is at the core of their curriculum and why I was so excited to be invited into their garden.  Here’s Karen with her cacao tree.

This tree will produce cacao nibs, which are organic, raw, dark chocolate chips.  She bought the tree at The Sarasota Fruit and Nut Society and was told that pollination can be difficult.  The flowers are not self-pollinators and the bees won’t help either; they rely on tiny gnat-like insects called midges.  Chocolate cravings can’t rely on midges alone.  Here’s Karen taking action; she calls it paintbrush pollination.

It was mouthwatering to walk through the garden and see everything from teeny tiny seedlings to the massive mango tree that shades half the yard.  Here’s some ripening papaya…

…and a Ponderosa lemon.

Ponderosa lemons can grow up to four pounds!  It might look like a ripening orange, but it’s all lemon on the inside.  The rind too will eventually catch up and ripen into the bright yellow color of a typical lemon.  Another giant to catch my eye was the Florida Sunflowers.  They had to be 25 feet tall!  This is my view looking up at them.

And here’s the beautiful bouquet I was sent home with after a delicious lunch.

Thanks, Karen, for inviting me into your garden.


I’m sorry Rosemary

Posted by Lesley on November 11, 2009 5 comments

Yesterday I posted about having too much rosemary, but today I may not have enough.  Stacy commented that she uses a rosemary and ginger shampoo, but she doesn’t know why it’s good for her hair.  Thanks for the comment; it prompted me to pull out my Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs.  It’s a 1987 edition that undoubtedly came from a Good Will book store – the absolute best source for cheap books.

Back to your question, Stacy – a rosemary rinse will brighten up brown hair, but the most likely reason it’s in your shampoo is the pleasant piny scent.  The next best reason is that it can perk you up in the morning.  Rosemary contains a volatile oil that gets your blood pumping.  It can stimulate and refresh a tired, worn body.  Make a strong tea from the leaves and add to a bath.

A few of the more reaching reasons of why rosemary could be in your shampoo are to improve memory, treat headaches or ward off bad dreams.  In ancient Greece, students wore rosemary garlands in their hair when studying.  They believed the rosemary would help them remember.  In the Middle Ages, rosemary was thought to have protective powers.  People would place sprigs under their pillows to ward off demons and bad dreams.

Bouquet on a Budget

Posted by Lesley on November 10, 2009 1 comments

I’m overrun with rosemary right now.  My plant is nearing three feet high and I hate to say it, but rosemary isn’t even one of my favorite herbs.  Give me three feet of basil and I’ll have it soaked in oil, pureed for pesto, and rubbed between my fingertips to inhale the scrumptious smell, but rosemary?  I’m running out of options.  I’ve used the sprigs for skewers, and exhausted all the pairings – rosemary and garlic, rosemary and lemon, blah, blah, blah.  I needed another use.  Like basil, rosemary smells wonderful – my absolute favorite attribute of the plant.  It’s what inspired this bouquet.  I needed something in a hurry and within budget, so I grabbed a vase and headed to the garden.  The rosemary was so plentiful and fragrant that I grabbed the only rose blooming, a Joseph’s Coat, and two snips of milkweed and voila!  There was nothing else needed.  More on where I brought this beautiful bouquet tomorrow…

Attention peppers – Only onions make me cry!

Posted by Lesley on November 6, 2009 None comments

Crisp, sweet, colorful bell peppers…yum!  Carcinogenic, toxic, contaminated crops – yikes!  Bell peppers are number three on the Dirty Dozen, a list of the twelve most pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables. That’s why I planted a square-full of bell pepper seeds last week.  Next time you find an especially delicious organic bell pepper, dry the seeds on a windowsill.

I kept track of my seeds at first – these are the red ones…here are the purples…  But when it was time to plant, there was just one big unorganized brown paper bag full of seeds.  There may even be a few jalapenos mixed in.  Oh well, I’m going for quantity over variety this year – I love them all, the jalapenos too. Last year, three plants yielded two bell peppers and I only got to eat one.  When I saw the first one, excitement took over and I pretty much pet it to death.  It got sick of my constant groping and dropped straight to the ground as I was showing it off to John one day – oops!  I won’t be suffering that kind of devastation this year.  Here’s a row of my seedlings, and there are six of these!  Of course, I’ll be thinning the rows, but I’m still reveling in the possibility of so many pesticide-free peppers.

I’m especially conscious of my surroundings lately because I just read Living Downstream by Sandra Steingraber.  Steingraber is a scientist/cancer survivor.  She delivers scientific information on the link between pesticides and cancer, while offering a personal account of winning and losing against cancer.  It’s a reminder of how important it is to know what our bodies and environment are exposed to every day.

Download the Dirty Dozen list here:

ewg-shoppers-guide-download-final

The download also includes The Clean Fifteen, a list of fruits and vegetables containing the least amount of pesticides.  Onions, avocados, sweet corn, pineapple, and mango are the top five.

Stubborn Spiders and their Silk

Posted by Lesley on November 2, 2009 1 comments

I found another crabby spider hanging around, but unlike the last one that made its home at a comfortable distance underneath the grapefruit tree, this one overstepped its boundaries.  It attached to the house along the garden path.  After part of the web caught part of my ponytail, I was sufficiently creeped out enough to take action.  I thought a couple quick tugs on the anchor threads would do it, but spidey kept hanging on, so I kept walking.  I walked a good 25 feet before the web finally snapped.  And after all that, it took less than a half-hour for it to rebuild.  Here it is laughing at me; you can see the very minor damage I caused toward the bottom-right.

Pound for pound, spider silk is stronger than steel and stretches up to 40% of its normal length!  The Museum of Natural History in New York is exhibiting a naturally golden textile made from spider silk.  More than one million female golden orb spiders contributed to the 11′ x 4′ woven textile!  Here’s a creepy crawly tidbit: it’s difficult to cultivate spider silk because when kept together, spiders like to bite each other’s heads off!