"yard art" table is coming along nicely

The purple turned out more grape-ish than deep burgundy, but it works.

Added another Brood Box & a Honey Super to Beehive

Bad Kitty Himself

Here's Noa the destroyer mulling mayhem on potting table.  He found a way to reach the bird nest built in the basket of our fruit picker, smashing tiny eggs on ground.  While watering this morning I found my thick aluminum plant tags mysteriously pulled out, bent & full of holes.  He likes to CHEW METAL.  Crazy cat.  We can work on projects & garden only if he allows it.  If we show too much interest in something, he gets jealous & tries to destroy it.  If I want him to leave something alone I have to lock him in the atrium or pretend I'm not interested in it and walk away.  He's also the flesh-shredding cuisinart of the animal world, and I thought he'd mellow out as he grew into adulthood, but noooo.  He growls at the mailman (any man, actually), plays fetch til you're tired, insists on drinking from the tap while I brush my teeth, and beats the shit out of our other cat if he sees you petting or talking to him.  He likes to bite & swat at ankles if you try to push him away from something he's determined to wreck.  Puppy Cat, Cuisinart Kitty, Bad Cat, Felonious Monk, Monkey Cat, Gato Diablo... evil has many nicknames. But he cracks me up to no end.  I've had dozens of cats & he's definitely the most hilarious. 

My first attempt at steam distilling rose geranium for essential oil/hydrosol

plant material turning a yellowish color as it steams

 

 

 

Various Projects I'm Working On

The entire house has become one big, dirty, greenhouse/lab/art studio.

Assembling the essential oil steam distillation "lab"

Potting up an assortment of moss, tiny corsican mint, trailing dichondras &  contrasting ground covers that will look cool spilling out of pots & creeping between them. This is in the atrium, which is an open, glass-enclosed room in the center of the house. Good humidity.

Coffee table I found on the street that I'm making "yard art" out of.  The white is primer.  I'm going to paint it a deep maroon with light "barely lilac accents (there are swatches in the foreground). On top is rose geranium I harvested yesterday that is wilting a bit before I distill it.  The whole house smells incredible already!  I'm thinking of putting a piece of beveled glass on top to make it more weather-resistant & to create a space to display oddities underneath. The edges of the table are higher than the surface, which would fill with rain water like a bowl & rot the table if I don't cover it with something.  Thought about decking it out & putting it back on my neighbor's doorstep just to freak them out.

The unholy project mess in the livingroom. Outgrew my bedroom desk.  Collecting books on plant propagation, beekeeping, sustainable farming, politics, organic chemistry basics, seed catalogs galore, files... It's no wonder I'm spending 16 hours a day working.  Oh...um... the hideous simulated wood grain coffee table & embarrassingly pink couch are NOT mine!

Check out my beehive!

Starting over.

Howdy cats n' kittens!

As you know, the 'organic' potting soil I bought to start my seedling project sucked ass & I'm having to start again.  A friend who works at a marijuana dispensary is going to give me a bag of soil that sells for $16 a bag to try.  He guarantees my plants will thrive & I believe him.  Since pot growers pay top dollar for seed, they probably know better than anyone what works & what doesn't.  No, I'm not going to grow pot.  I'm legal to do so in CA, but where there's pot growing there's trouble & I don't need any trouble.

One of the snail flower vines finally sprouted.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the others.

The melons are sprouting.  Orangelo watermelon, golden midget, Sakata's sweet, Old Time Tennessee & Burrell's Jumbo are all making an appearance.  They won't be ready to sell for another few weeks, though.


The tomatoes are struggling.  My Gold Medal all died in the crappy soil.  It's a little early for them yet anyway.  They'd be further along if I had a cold frame & better dirt.  Live and learn.


The pole beans are doing the best of all the seedlings.  The purple pole beans & the blue lake pole beans are already 6" high.  Not all of them germinated though, so these ones will be kept for breeding.


One of the rare Pink Feathers Morning Glories sprouted.  I'm really excited about it.  Can't wait to see what they look like in real life.  I'm hoping they'll stop traffic & bring in customers.  


My new honeybees have settled in. I put on the full beekeeper getup for the first time & took a peak inside the hive to make sure they're doing okay. Lots of eggs, nectar, honey & comb.  They're doing better than expected.  I won't remove any honey until the end of next year's bee season, though.


Peace!