I love Autumn…   The cool crisp airHay rides Hot caramel apple cider The rich vibrant colors of the leaves Fairs and festivals The decorations Pumpkins Scarecrows The taste and aroma of baked apples and cinnamon Leaf pile jumping Acorn and pinecone gathering And the excited screams and laughter of children Trick-or-Treating   Oh how I love Autumn

Okay… This is the last post about the Straw Bale Garden, at least for this season. What you’ll get in this post is mystery, adventure, tips for people considering trying this, a recipe for “24 Hour Pickles” and photos of my garden as it was winding down for the season. It was surprising to watch how fast everything grew! We’d spot a new baby melon ...

When Hometalk asked me to curate another clipboard for their social media platforms, this time about desk accessories, I thought oh what fun, this will be easy. I spent several hours searching through posts to create the collection for this board. It was not easy! I was surprised at how few posts there really were actually about desk accessories. However, through the process of getting the ...

An entire day of planting: Red, Yellow, White and Green onions, Okra, Cabbage, Pumpkins, Watermelons, Tomatoes, Green Beans, Cucumbers, Carrots, Red, Gold and Russet Potatoes, Yellow Summer Squash, Acorn Squash, Radishes, Garlic and all kinds of different Peppers! Whew! Then the plastic covers (tents) went on, and then the bird netting went up over and around the whole garden. Whew again!! I have to tell ...

Okay, I put in the support boards. These go at the end of each row of bales. They not only help keep the bales in line, they hold your vine wires in place as your plants grow. I drilled mine every 10 inches up the board, starting about 10 inches above the top of the bale. I threaded the vine wire on the first or ...

STRAW BALE GARDENING??? It might be my familial Iowa farming roots, or it might be my love of watching something I planted grow. I know it’s never been about living off of what I planted, that’s for sure; and thank God I didn’t have to, but I love to grow vegetable gardens. It’s the only thing I’ve ever been able to grow. Seriously, I even ...

I have been crafting now for about 47 years, since I was 7 years old, or at least that’s when I can first remember really crafting. When I say crafting, I mean sewing, woodworking, painting, etc.  Making things that were either useful or decorative in some form. As I grew older, around the age of 14 or 15, I also started refinishing and building furniture. ...

Okay, here it is… My husband’s birthday is 2 days after Christmas, which sometimes presents a problem. Christmas gifts from me are generally whatever someone wants, but when it comes to your birthday I prefer to give something more personal. This is the story about his birthday present this year, his hideous old family wing back chair, and my hesitation about the project. The history ...

Recently Hometalk.comasked me to curate a board about Spare Room Flips, for their social media platforms. While doing the research for the project I noticed that all of us use different names for our extra spaces. The keyword search was like playing the “Name” game. Just for fun you should try it!  No matter what you call your SPARE / BONUS / EXTRA room/space; Closet, ...

A great little Christmas gift for my Tuesday Workshop friends was what I needed. Something that they could actually use… Something that I hadn’t already taught them how to do. Well, after driving around to my go-to thrift stores, I found a few of these ordinary knife blocks. After cleaning, drilling, sanding, painting and filling with supplies…. Vintage oil cans with a little bling make ...