• Thoughts

    Prolific | February Wrap-Up

    So. February. Was a bit better than January but still proved to be hectic. Writing went well, mostly because I also busted out about 4,000 words over the weekend. Honestly, if I just devoted an hour to it at least a few times a week with a larger spurt in the weekend things would be done faster. But I often find so many other things to do, which shouldn’t be the case. Alas, I’m happy with getting that much written. Running. Well, 9 isn’t good either. I have made myself a schedule for the next month though and hopefully that number goes up as does the yoga. I ran 3…

  • Sprout Dispatch

    A New Writing Adventure | Sprout Dispatch

    Sometime in early January I came up with the idea of Sprout Dispatch. Of course it wasn’t called that initially, it took the brainstorming of Chel, my brother Curtis and myself to get the name, but here we are, ready to start. What is this about? Well, it’s a collaboration between the three of us on our gardening adventures. I wrote more about it in the post that is up today. There will be thrice weekly posts, one from each of us, for awhile. We’re starting with themes and interpreting them our own way, but I’m sure the blog will evolve as time goes on. So, please, subscribe to the…

  • Thoughts

    Sunday with a Red Admiral

    Taken *last* Sunday at our community garden, perched on the flowers of a cabbage, Vanessa atalanta the red admiral butterfly +This week…this week….whew, I am glad it is done. I ended up in the field for a few days, honestly thinking it was going to be two days max, but then it looked like it was going to bleed into the weekend. Chris is in the field full-time right now but the project I was on was nearby so luckily I was able to stay in his hotel with him. When I realized I needed to run home to check on the cats, mostly because I wasn’t sure if I’d…

  • Gardening

    The Turnip Harvest

    We pulled all of the Golden Ball Turnips last weekend in an effort to make room for a spring crop of cucumbers. Some of the turnips were gigantic, including some that I had thinned and transplanted in a spot that we’d just harvested radishes several months ago. We took the turnips home and made two batches of mashed turnips and froze them for future eating. I love having all of this food, but I can’t wait to get a deep freezer and more storage space for keeping food for throughout the year.

  • Creative,  Crochet

    Almost-Instant Creative Satisfaction

    The awkward mirror self portrait. Followed by the faux day dreaming self portrait. I brought out Big Bertha to work with this yarn. The yarn was a skein of Lang Maxima I received from my mother in law for Christmas. I chose the yarn to work with because I knew it would be fast and get results (creative satisfaction) in the manner I needed. The problem was the thickness. I was going for a cowl initially but there wasn’t enough yarn for that, so I went for skinny scarf instead. After I reworked it a few times, when I realized I wouldn’t have enough for a thicker scarf, I finally…

  • Wildflowers

    Texas Wildflowers | Erythronium albidum, Trout Lily

    Trout lilies are wonderful and beautiful native wildflowers, blooming early in the spring, really late winter. The last two years we’ve ventured out to Tandy Hills to check them out. The first year we found many blooms, but last year not so much. This year I ventured out with with my brother to show him where a small population of them were; he’d never seen them. When we arrived I didn’t think there were any blooms yet. I’d thought there would be with the warmer winter we’ve had this year. But it took looking a little closer to find the flowers. Most were just budding but one was fully open.…

  • Creative

    The Creative Process

    The other day I was lamenting that it is incredibly frustrating that I have my best creative moments in the middle of the work day. Those moments where I think, ‘Man, I wish I was at home because I could really get some writing/art/whatever done right now.’ So, in those moments, in the middle of the day I get excited for my creative energy and inspiration and then, what happens? I go home. And what happens when I go home? I’m hit with being tired, lack of motivation and an overall brain drain from working on projects for clients instead of my own works. I thought about this as I…

  • Family

    Weekending with the Whitlocks

    Last weekend I went up to DFW to visit my family and to see one of my good friends who had recently had her first baby. I was excited to be going up there because my niece and nephew were going to be staying at my parents house for the night on Friday. Slumber party!!!!! You can see Zoe above making ‘poop and pee panckes’. Yep. That’s right! Her imagination runs wild! And yes, I had to ‘eat’ a few of them too. Zoe crashed in my bed and boy, definitely not your best sleep. But, that’s ok because I got to snuggle with her as we fell asleep to…

  • Food

    The Final Product| Sauerkraut

    Last week, about a month into the fermentation of the sauerkraut, I skimmed off the last bits of mold that had formed on the surface water and jarred up the sauerkraut. I gave it a taste beforehand and it tasted pretty good. Still crunchy and there was no mold growing on the actual cabbage itself. Will I make sauerkraut again? Maybe. I know we will have more cabbage in the garden in the future and it is hard to eat it all so I may end up doing this again. I might try the jar method next time. I only put the sauerkraut in the jars and stuck them in…

  • Food

    The Great Sprout Experiment

    A few weeks ago I was at a local garden center, The Arbor Gate, and they had some seeds on clearance. I found a package of broccoli sprouts and jumped at the chance to try them out. I thought it would be fun to see how it worked but also to have sprouts on hand, and a specific amount of sprouts at that. Of course it takes a few days to have sprouts ready, but if you were planning a meal for a few days out that involved sprouts, it would be easy to start. I always feel bad when I waste sprouts bought at the store because it is…