pterodactyls:

The opposite of a mosquito is spooning: mosquitoes are awful, whereas spooning is super. The one thing I haven’t really figured out is where the person in the back is supposed to put that bottom arm.

Good Night and Tough Luck

Ugh, that bottom arm KILLS me every night.  I usually end up putting it on top of Ryan’s head. Often he gets an elbow in the face. hehe. oooops!

whitehousephotostream:

P090109-0127:

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President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their daughters, Sasha and Malia, sit for a family portrait in the Green Room of the White House, Sept. 1, 2009. (Official White House Photo)

Photo by Annie Leibovitz/Released by White House Photo Office

This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.

I had a dream last night that Michelle and I were in her kitchen and just talking up a storm.  Then the president came in to finish off the last of a bottle of wine.  It was the end of some kind of dinner party so everyone was a little tipsy.  Obama then poured me some wine in a giant plastic cup, like the souvenier cups at the gas station. We sat down and just joked around for a long time like we were BFF. I remember patting him on the shoulder at one point to give him encouragement for something! HA! Getting drunk with the pres = BEST DREAM EVER!

jessiehotpants:

“Swine flu”

S- sweet

w- wine

in- in d

e- evening with

f- friend

l- like

u- you

“Swine flu” Spread it to all friend.

SWEETEST MNEMONIC DEVICE EVER!

Here’s a sweet article about growing seeds in space!

I probably read on the internet you can take seeds from flowers that are ending their life cycle.  When you take off the dead flower, more grow in its wake. What a perfect combo! Marigold harvest is really easy, though slightly stinky.  Just rip off the dead wilted flower and put the dried petals out of the flower head.  They should come out easily and some seeds will come out as well.  To get at the rest of the seeds inside, just pull apart the green flower head and you will find tons of little seeds. They are black with a small straw like end.  I just pass by neighbors yards and pull off the dead ones.

As I was grabbing some marigolds, I spoted some black eye susans that were on their last leg.  I plucked them off with force (they didn’t come out easily). I went some and just fiddled with the black part, the seed head.  I found out that if you rub the spiky part, the seeds just fall out! Great. Here are a few pictures to show the harvest.

This is the deconstructed flower. The seed head is in the lower right.

The Carnage of rubbing the seed head. Notice there are seeds as well as some of the polliators here.

Here are two seeds (left) and two of the polliators (right).

I really didn’t want to rifle through all of the carnage, so I just scooped everything together to preserve for next year.  I’m pretty sure that the seeds will grow while the rest will just decompose into the dirt.

I also did this method with Echinacea flowers that I found. The seeds were much larger and fell out with just a little teasing.

I’ve been doing research on the disease my green zebra has. I have NO IDEA what is going on with it. It doesn’t look like ANY common disease.  The one tomato it’s growing is looking might fine, though.

Also, after replanting my Cherokee Purple, the tiny little tomatoes still won’t grown. I don’t know what’s going on.  However, one tomato just lost it’s flower and is about the size of a pea!

The Cherkee Purple has TONS of flowers and lots of small tomatoes.  I mean LOTS. There must be around 27 blooms/tomatoes on the plant.  The small tomatoes, won’t grow and I determined it was because of the shallow, small pot.  My gardening neighbor, a few houses down, let me borrow a bigger pot to replant the tomato.

Here are a couple of the small tomatoes.

This is the newly repotted plant.

The Green Zebra has about 3 flowers and this one tomato.

When we brought it home from the store, the leaves were hard and curled. They kind of feel waxy, like someone sprayed them with wax… If anyone has any idea what this might be let me know.

One last thing, I built a small trellis for the ornamental gourd and the luffa.  I thought that the luffa was on it’s last leg after being transplanted about 6 times, but the leaves are turning back to a brilliant green! The gourd has been exremely healthy throughout all of its transplants and is growing bright green leaves. (Luffa, Gourd, Pumpkin)

Food Inc. still really bothers me. Not the movie, but the information provided.  I signed up on their site to get regular emails about things to do to help reform agribusiness in America. If you haven’t seen the movie, please do.  It tells a very intriguing story about how capitalism creates corruption.

Here is a list of ways to get involved. Reforming Child Nutrition, Rights for Farm Workers, Tracking Cloned Meat, and the carbon footprint our food creates are a few topics.

This is the United Farm Workers website.  Please sign a petition or sign a letter. It’s really easy: you just fill in your name in a few boxes and the pre-fab letter is sent.

PEPCO CAME TODAY!

The squash, that I hastily planted, had to be dug out.  I just took the plants, with a clump of dirt, and set it aside. I did the same with the marigolds.  Of course, there were some casualties.

These were the beautiful nasturtiums that I showed in a previous post. All the nasturtiums near the fence are gone, too.

However, after they refilled the hole I ran around like crazy digging holes around the perimeter of the garden and planted some more nasturtiums and marigolds. SO EXCITING!

Here is a picture of the garden.

From left to right. Peppers*, one Ace Bush tomato/peppers, 5 pumpkin, ornamental gourd, and luffa.

*Somehow, while the peppers were seedlings, they were mixed up and I thought they weren’t going to make it, so I planted some more.  I know which 4 are definitely poblano peppers, the rest are a mix of poblano and bell.  All together I have about 20 to 25 pepper plants. HAHA! SO SILLY!

I also left some plants (including peppers) in pots for lack of room and because I wanted to keep some organic.

YAY!

I’ve also noticed a lot of wasps in the yard and remember hearing that they weren’t good for a garden. Well, I’m WRONG. They are great for a garden because they eat all the bad garden bugs. They haven’t stung me yet, so for now, I’ll let them prey on all the grubs that I keep digging up. YUCK!

Ryan and I decided that I would be the spring gardener and he would plant in the fall.  After finding the lead in the soil I’ve been on a war path trying to find a way to turn the soil.  I came across a really great resource for sustainable agriculture: Green Manure.

One, Ryan in this instance, sews certain plants in the fall which help the soil.  The plants grow through the autumn/winter and are cut to be folded into the garden in the spring.  Certain plants add nitrogen while growing, like legumes. Others just add some healthy minerals when cut and thrown into the soil.

Here is a resource for growing fall/winter plants and green maure.

I’m pretty excited about Crimson Clover,  Hairy Vetch (Only planting it because of the name! haha), and Oats. I don’t know if we can plant all three, but the clover is probably my first choice since it’s really pretty and attracts all kinds of healthy insects!

Ryan also wants to plant dahlias and garlic. Beautiful and delicious!

Also, I spotted 2 more tomatos today! One is a Green Zebra and the other is on the Cherokee Purple.