Category Archives: Naturally Creative

TV-Free January Challenge

Have you ever heard of Dry January-where people stop drinking alcohol for the first month of the new year? Well, I’m not doing that.  While I can see the advantage of giving up booze for a month to jumpstart a weight loss resolution or just take a pause after too much holiday indulgence, it’s not an area that is going to have a significant impact on my life.  So, what could I give up that might? Without a doubt, for me, it’s television.

TV has been my bad habit for longer that I can remember. It’s my pacifier.  It’s my entertainment.  Even when it isn’t that entertaining, somehow, it’s a still a comfort.  This was particularly true when I was recovering from an awful fall 10 years ago that left the middle of my face broken and my teeth badly damaged.  It was the easiest, quickest (legal) escape and I definitely needed one!  Unfortunately,  it got me in the habit of leaving the TV for hours at a time whether I am actively watching it or not.

It turns out that I am not alone when it comes to excess TV viewing.  The average American watches over 4.5 hours a day.  It’s kind of funny that most of us think we don’t have enough time to get things done.  In reality, we have time but we choose to spend it watching other people doing things on TV.

I’m pretty sure I am not cool with that anymore.  So, I stopped watching TV on 12/31/22.  So far, so good.  It’s only been a few days but last night for the first time since I can remember, I slept through the whole night from 10 until about 5:30.  Normally, I wake up between 1am and 3:15 am with my thoughts racing for 1-3 hours.  Also, I have actually been consistently reading.  I used to regularly read about two books a week.  Now, that’s a habit I wouldn’t mind getting back into again.

Stay tuned- I mean, check back in February to find out how this TV-free January Challenge went.  Better yet, take the challenge yourself and let me know what you discover!

– Cynthia Lenz,  January 4, 2023

Proper Pineapple Project Bag Unboxing

One of my favorite hobbies is crocheting.  I just started about a year and a half ago and learned a lot from watching YouTube Channels.  I found the Proper Pineapple pretty early on and just love watching Holly and her family.  She just always seems like she’s having the best time!

Recently, I ordered a Halloween project bag from her website.  The package was so cute that I decided to test the video feature on my new camera by doing an unboxing.  Here it is:

How to Master Life

I am a life-long procrastinator when it comes to personal projects. (Work for anyone else- I’m a mule!) It’s something I am really trying to tackle in 2019. I had an epiphany about it this morning and realized I have been going about it all wrong.

I have been trying to overcome procrastination by becoming more efficient. I have been studying how to establish good habits. I have been watching endless videos on effective morning, evening and writing routines. I have been trying to establish these good habits and efficient routines, only to get derailed by life events and end up feeling like a failure.

Oddly enough, it was my new favorite hobby that led to this epiphany that changed everything. I started learning how to crochet last April and I LOVE it! It’s one of my favorite things to do. Although, I realized that when I crocheted for a long time, as much I enjoy it, there was still something amiss.  There was a little nagging voice in the back of my head saying, “you know, you haven’t written anything in a really long time!”

It was then that it occurred to me that there are things you need to do like eat, sleep and maintain good hygiene, things you love to do like crochet and then there are things you are meant to do- and for me- this is writing.  The things we are meant to do, often, seem to be what we resist the most to our own detriment.

The truth is when I don’t write anything at all, I don’t feel quite well.  Life is literally draining out of me. I realize that sounds dramatic but there is probably something in your life that produces the same effect.  I enjoy crocheting and it adds a lot to my existence but nothing makes me feel quite as alive and purposeful as having written.

So, why do I avoid it?  Why do I procrastinate? Steven Pressfield writes about resistance in the War of Art as if it is a real life bogeyman who quite literally wants to kill us. Whether this is actually the case or not, it’s really the only compelling explanation I have found to demystify the phenomenon of procrastination.

What are you meant to do? What have you been resisting?

Time to Get this Garden Started!

It’s that time again!  One of my favorite things about gardening is watching seeds turn into plants. I am really excited about this year’s seeds because I purchased them from Seed Savers Exchange.

Seed Savers was founded by Diane Ott Whealy and Ken Whealy in 1975.  The mission of this nonprofit organization is to save and share seeds in order to preserve biodiversity for generations to come. They maintain a collection of more than 20,000 heirloom and open-pollinated vegetable, herb, and plant varieties, including over 1,000 varieties of heritage apple trees.  Their collection includes many organic seeds.

I am happy to support an organization with such a great purpose.  I have to admit though, I am even more excited about seeing what comes out of these seeds!  My tomato plants this year have names like Velvet Red and Black Krim! The peppers are Jimmy Nardello’s and King of The North. How cool is that?

Check out this description for Redfield Beauty Tomatoes: “Historic Variety introduced circa 1889 by H.G. Hastings & Co. of Interlachen, Florida. Flattened pink 3″ inch fruits with excellent full flavor.” When was the last time you ate a tomato from the Supermarket that matched that description? Never.

I think that one of the most marvelous things about gardening is the opportunity to discover something new (and delicious!) right in your own yard. There is a romance to gardening. You nurture these plants along on the promise of the rewards to come when they bear fruit.  The prize you end up with is largely determined by the seeds you have when you begin… like all great romances!

Are you starting your garden from seeds? Have you used Seed Savers Exchange? Please leave me a comment. I would love to hear from you.

 

An Opossum Primer

The other day I overheard a conversation about ‘possums.   (FYI, I wasn’t eaves-dropping. I was three feet away.  I couldn’t help it!) When a woman remarked that ‘possums are scary, I wanted to run over and exclaim, “they are not!  They are really misunderstood!”  I didn’t, of course, because it wouldn’t have been appropriate.

So, I figured the next best thing would be to write a blog post, just in case any of my dear readers may be laboring under the same misunderstanding about our friend, the opossum.  By the way, opossum is the proper spelling.

I can understand why people may make assumptions about opossums based on their appearance.  They look rather intimidating with their long thick, rat-like, bald tails and a mouth full of impressively sharp, pointy teeth.  However, oppossums rarely attack attack humans or other animals.  When threatened, they are far more like likely to go into a catatonic state, looking like they are dead or sick…thus the expression: “playing ‘possum.”  In fact, they can even secrete a foul-smelling liquid making them smell as if they have passed on.

Now that we know opossums aren’t scary, let’s address another common misconception: ‘possums probably have rabies.  Unlike raccoons, cats, foxes, coyotes and dogs, opossums are unlikely to get rabies because their body temperature is too low.  So, if you see one even during the day, don’t freak out.  It may be a hungry mother with up to 20 babies in her pouch.

That’s right-pouch.  Opossums are North America’s only native marsupial or pouched mammal.  How cool is that?  You don’t have to go Australia to see a marsupial.  Just watch your garbage cans at night.  Here are some other neat facts about opossums:

  • The opossum has opposable thumbs and weak nails, much like primates.
  • They use that rat-like prehensile tail for climbing and gripping things. They can even carry things with their tails, making it similar to a fifth hand.
  • They have a built-in venom antidote.  They can eat rattlesnakes without getting poisoned.  Personally, I am down with any creature who eats snakes.  (I know I am a vegetarian but snakes freak me out!)
  • Opossums actually eat a lot of insects and pests that you don’t want in your garden like slugs and snails.  So, you should be happy if you spot one in your yard.  If you have any blackened fruit, leave it out for their dessert.

I hope opossums will seem a little cuter, or at least, cooler to you now.  And if you see one that is injured, please contact your local wildlife rehabilitation center to see if they can retrieve the animal or advise you on proper way to capture the opposum and bring it to them.

* Photo by Norman Curtis

2017 Garden Moments

A week ago, it was in the 70s then Fall finally arrived for a few days. Yesterday, it seemed like Winter came early.  Brrrrrr!!!!

Here are some shots from my 2017 Garden to warm things up (Click on the photo to view a larger image.):

Tiny seedlings

Tiny seedlings turn into Great Starts

 

 

 

 

 

Waste not! Eat those thinned out seedlings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miles the Compost Pile is born!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Care and Feeding of Miles…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything in my little pocket farm was grown from seed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gotta have some ornamentals too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tillandsia (air plant) Garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the tomatoes: Baby Beefsteaks, Baby!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zuke and Cuke Blossoms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby Zuke!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reaping and eating the harvest!

Zoodles! (Zuke Noodles)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby Cukes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home for the Bees ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunflowers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for viewing.  I hope you enjoyed my little garden tour.

Many blessings,

Cynthia

Meet Miles The Compost Pile!

I have been feeling a little guilty ever since I put up this post, Naturally Resourceful: Getting Scrappy with Vegetables! I mentioned in that post that I was too time-crunched to have a compost heap even though it would be great for my plants and the environment.

Nothing has changed schedule-wise for me since then.  However, my passion for gardening is now completely unhinged.  (It gets me through the day, people!)   I found I was spending an enormous amount of money on compost which is so riduculous considering I was, guiltily, throwing away things all the time that can be composted.  So, I decided to save money, myself from guilt and, hopefully a little of the environment by starting a compost bin.

I decided to use this garbage pail because it has a lid and I want to keep creatures out of my bin.  I burned holes in the sides:

And the lid:

With a hot glue gun.  I do not endorse this method because melting plastic never seems like a great idea.  However, my cordless drill wasn’t charged (as usual) and I really wanted to get it done.  I waited until I could no longer smell melted plastic and then gave the can a good swabbing before I started to add compost ingredients.

There are so many good resources for what to put in compost and even more importantly, what not to, like Jeff Yeager’s Rotten Luv, I am not going to go into too much detail.  Basically, you want a 2:1 ratio of brown matter to green matter.  I used newspaper shreds for brown matter.  (I figured The NY Times was appropriate for a compost heap named Miles) and for the green matter, I put in coffee grounds, eggshells (No, I didn’t eat the eggs!), plant stems, veggie and fruit peels.

Yum!

I layered the ingredients and gave it a stir.  And that’s it.  I’ll keep adding the ingredients in that 2:1 ratio, and keep stirring it up.  Mostly,  I can just let nature turn it into Black Gold for me.  There are more significant holes in the bottom of the can.  I placed it directly on dirt in the hopes that some worms will find their way in and take up residence, further enriching Miles with their castings.

Why did I name my compost heap?  Jeff Yeager named his Gomer.  I thought it was funny.  So, I decided mine needed to be named too.  So, Miles the Pile was born yesterday May 27, 2017.  I am looking forward to seeing him and my garden grow!

Many blessings,

Cynthia

Eat Your Seedlings!

Is that a vicious title or what?  Actually, I’ve decided eating seedlings is the kindest thing to do.

The hardest part of gardening, in my opinion, has to be thinning seedlings.  You spend a week or more, wishing, hoping and praying that your seeds germinate and grow.  Then they do!  Then you have to wipe out a sizable portion of them because there are always too many or none at all, nothing in between. They need to be spaced properly or they won’t grow but MY GOD, I don’t want to decide which ones have to go.  I want to nurture them but in order to do that I have to ruthlessly pick which ones get to live.  Yeesh!

The other thing that bothered me is that it seemed so wasteful to just toss them.  So, I decided to eat them!  Now, I prefer to think of them as sprouts, instead of my victims and they are delicious!

So, how is your garden growing this year?

Many blessings,

Cynthia

Seeds Update

There is some good news and not so good news.

Bad news first,  the indoor herb seedlings didn’t make it.  I suspect I didn’t get the peat pots wet enough to start and the sides needed to be covered better with the plastic.  I’ll direct sow them again outside.  I think they will be fine.  I’ll just need to wait a little longer to harvest them.

Now for the good news!  The tomato plants are doing great.  So great in fact, I needed to find homes for them.  Several people have said they will be happy to adopt the little leafy guys once they are hardened off and can live outside.  They should be ready in about two weeks.

So, tell me how is your garden growing?

Many  blessings,

Cynthia

Planting Seeds of Hope and Happiness

I was at Home Depot last week trying bring a project that was banging around my head to fruition when I spied the organic seed section…  Uh-oh.  It’s amazing how quickly seed packets can stack up in your cart.

Now, I have tried to grow plants from seed several times before. I haven’t tried indoor seeds in many years.  I tend to be more successful when I direct sow outdoors in the Spring but that means I never get to grow certain plants like tomatoes from seed.  So, with a heart full of optimism, here we go again…

Baby Tomato Plants

Baby Basil

Do you grow your own plants from seed?  I would love to hear from you.

Many Blessings,

Cynthia