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Friday Favorite: Ice Storms

March 31st, 2017

Even though we often lost power and they cause a host of problems, I love a good ice storm. This past week had a beautiful layer of ice on everything outside.


It was lovely during the day and it was even better at night, especially in the old apple tree out front draped in white lights.

What are you loving this week?

A Favorite Free Item

March 29th, 2017

Many years ago (in fact I think one of the first years I started seeds), I started using an old dish soap container to water my seedlings. I think that this is the still the original container, which means it’s probably 15 years old.

This container waters seedlings like a dream, especially soil block, which can be sensitive to too much water at once. You can drop water onto flats that haven’t terminated yet without worry about washing away seeds. You can also squirt a lot of water at once when you’re bottom watering entire flats of seedlings.

The only down side is that it’s small and needs refilled quite often, but that’s a small price to pay since it’s such a wonderful (and free) tool.

Do you have any items you repurposed for gardening that you’d love to share?

Not Giving Up Yet

March 28th, 2017

Winter is not willing to give up quite yet. This past week we’ve have quite a bit of winter weather. It’s been extremely beautiful though, so I can’t complain. Soon enough the snow will melt and we’ll be in that horrid in between stage where everything is a dull, muddy mess.


Friday Favorite: The Last Blizzard

March 24th, 2017

Just when I thought my snowshoeing was over for the year we had a big blizzard hit (last Monday/Tuesday). Out came my snowshoes again and off I went.

I managed to get in a solid week of snowshoeing before the snow started getting to thin on the trails I use. Even though I’m really for spring this year, I was happy to have a final week of one of my favorite winter activities.

What’s something you will miss about the winter when it’s gone?

Learning New Skills

March 22nd, 2017

In the winter I spend a lot of time sewing. Last year, Mr Chiots got me this serger for Christmas. It’s a nice machine, I read through the manual and have used it a few times. Since the manual isn’t the greatest, I finally decided to purchase the Beginner Serging class from Craftsy.com.

I’m on lesson three at the moment and thoroughly enjoying the class and I’m learning a lot. The techniques I’m learning will definitely come in handy on some sewing projects I have planned in the coming weeks.

One of the things I really appreciated about this class was figuring out how easy it is to thread my serger. I’ve heard horror stories about how difficult sergers are to thread. In fact, I was at my local fabric store once and a lady was dropping off her serger to be threaded by the sewing machine repair guy.

Now that I’m mastering what I can do with my serger, I’m certainly looking forward to all the projects I have in the works.

What new skills are you learning this year?

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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