Early brassicas and flowers

I am quickly learning that a one year old affords me very little time in the garden. I have to choose my projects very carefully and today I knew I would have one, special hour in the garden. The husband and I have been playing with a paleo like diet so I decided to plant broccoli and cauliflower. Earlier this week the baby and I a couple of hours to kill so rather than go to a park we found ourselves my favorite nursery. I bought three different kinds of cauliflower and two different types of broccoli starts. Broccoli is particularly wonderful in the garden because when you cut off the main head it continues to sprout  little florets throughout the spring and summer. 8 little plants will be way more than we can possibly eat. My  starts ran about $2 for four pack, so $4.00 will amount to  broccoli all spring and summer and I don't have to mess with seeds. Because I'm not a huge fan of weeds I decided to cut a hole directly into the burlap that I had put over the bed to keep them safe last winter, add a little bit of Organic soil amendment, give it a water and call it a day. With my remaining half an hour I planted some peas and cabbage and a couple of flowers. With luck, today's hour spent in the garden will pay off all spring and summer. Stir fry anyone?

January and the Sea Horse.

Well, It's January, and January is in some ways the best and worst time.

It's the best, because the year is a blank canvas.  Any thing is possible.  Do I grow ridiculous amounts of tomatoes this year or 17 different varieties of pumpkin?  Perhaps I will take up a new hobby or discover a diet that will make me look and feel like a million dollars... perhaps I will stick to it.

Its the worst because, here in the northwest, it is dark.  Spring feels like years away, and the holidays are over... and everything is wet.

So I'm planning my garden, and fantasizing about 2014.

And doing some carving. 

Right after Thanksgiving, I got into an... altercation with a jigsaw.  Long story short, I wound up in the urgent care with 3 stitches and a fractured finger.  As a music teacher this was devastating.  I have new found respect for people who get real injuries with amputations, and big bone breaks.  In urgent care, I told my husband "I would make a terrible solder."  After my wimpy injury, I am sure of this.  8 weeks after the injury, I still wear a band aid so I don't have to look at my somewhat kind of healed finger.  I can mostly play music again. I can't imagine a situation where I would be shot at.

I took some serious courage to use a saw again, but I decided to invest in a scroll saw.  I wanted more detail in my Waldorf type creations.

My first project with the new saw was for my mom.  She is awesome, and spends her winters by the ocean.

I made a Seahorse for her.

I looked up images of seahorses on the internet, sketched them out, cut them out of paper, then traced them to wood that I cut out with the scroll saw.

 I took my carving knives and added the detail.

 I took Sharpie markers and colored the seahorse. 

The sharpie looked dumb, so I took white soy paint and added a layer to soften the marker colors.

Last, I added a hook and some shellac so she could hang it where she wanted to, and so that if the baby ever came across it, there would be limited toxins.  (Because he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth, and frankly I worry that there are too many toxins in the world.)



She liked it.

I am pretty sure I've created a little magic with this project. If for no one else but me.  Isn't that why we grow and create things any way?