Quote of the Day: Alexander Pope
“All Nature’s difference keeps all Nature’s peace.”
I was thinking about this quote the other day when someone asked me about my pest control in the garden. Here at Chiot’s Run I just let nature run it’s course. Occasionally I’ll lose a crop to a pest, but I like to observe to see how nature works and what will happen. We must remember that the “pest” insects feed the benficial insects and the birds. If we meticulously get rid of all “bad” insects in the garden we’ll be inadvertently getting rid of beneficial things as well.
What’s your favorite beneficial insect and which is your more loathed pest insect?
Share this:
Rolling out the Welcome Mat
Ever since we moved in here at Chiot’s Run, there has been an expanse of lawn with no path that leads up to our front porch steps. I’ve been wanting to put in a path, but couldn’t decide what kind of material to use.
We have crushed gravel in the back but really dislike that it’s always getting tracked into the house. Concrete wasn’t an option because we wanted to use something native and natural. I finally decided to simply use some of the rocks I dig up all the time and inset them into the grass. (I have a few large piles of rocks in various places to harvest stones from when I need them).
I laid each stone on the sod then cut out the grass in the shape of the rock. I removed the sod and used it to fill a raised bed in the back and then laid the stone.
They’re set just at the soil level so that they can be mowed over easily. The grass should grow in around them and make them look like they’ve been there for a long time.
I plan on using my old Craftsman push mower to mow the path shorter than the surrounding lawn to emphasize it. It’s quite welcoming and definitely something I should have done a long time ago.
What’s your favorite kind of garden path?
Share this:
Friday Favorite: Diablo III
I mentioned a while ago that Mr Chiots and I enjoyed playing computer games together. We’ve been playing both Diablo and Diablo 2 for a LONG time. Not many people know this about me and they’re surprised when they find out.
We’ve been waiting for Diablo III to come out for so long. We preordered our copies last fall and were hoping they’d come out for Christmas. The game didn’t come out for Christmas, but Mr Chiots got me this mousepad instead.
This past Tuesday the game officially launched and our pre-ordered copies arrived via UPS. Sadly, I have had too much going on to play. Mr Chiots has played for an hour or so.
It’s too bad the game arrived during our super busy season. Not only are we trying to get everything ready for selling and moving, the gardening season is in full swing and our business really picks up in the summer. Looks like I won’t be playing much until this coming winter. I also like playing board games, Scrabble being my all-time favorite.
What’s your favorite game, either computer or other board games?
Share this:
Distractions
Every now and them I’m doing something and then I get distracted by something interesting. Usually it’s something I want to get a photo of at that exact moment because the light is just perfect. Yesterday I walked by a window and saw the sun lighting up this little spiderweb on the front porch. I dropped whatever it was I was doing, grabbed my camera.
I proceeded to walk around the gardens to get a few more photos since everything is lush and beautiful and I want to document this year in my garden well. When I came back inside I couldn’t remember what it was I was doing, so I moved on to something else on my to-do list. This happens to me all the time, I find myself often stopping in mid track, dropping whatever it is I’m carrying, and either grabbing my camera or just looking closely at something I see or listening keenly to something I hear. I’m definitely easily distracted!
Do you find it easy to stay on task or do you get easily distracted?
Share this:
Non-Toxic Cleaning: Doing the Dishes
Here at Chiot’s Run we typically wash dishes by hand. My dishwasher control panel went out about a year ago and we decided it was faster to wash everything the old fashioned way. I mix castile soap in a foaming soap dispenser (see instructions here) and use a Twist compostable sponge. I also keep a parmesan cheese shaker with baking soda at the sink for sprinkling in any pots and pans that need a good scrubbing.
Like most people, I have a collection of various bottle brushes and stainless steel scrubbers for kitchen and household cleaning. They certainly come in handy for washing water bottles and hummingbird feeders!
Scrubbing the dishes by hand really doesn’t take much longer that loading and unloading the dishwasher, at least for us here. We wash them as soon as we’re finished cooking/eating and then they’re done. No saving up a sink full of dishes here – one of my biggest annoyances is dirty dishes on the counter. I don’t want to see them. Having the dishes all washed and put away right away is also a great benefit to hand washing, no waiting for hours for the dishwasher to wash and no noise either.
What would the non-toxic cleaning series be without a proper automatic dishwashing detergent recommendation? So I ordered a new control panel and a new seal from Repair Clinic and the dishwasher was fixed for a fraction of what it would cost to replace it.
Up until a year ago when the dishwasher kicked the bucket, I used Ecover Automatic Dishwashing Detergent and was fairly happy. I purchased a container of Tropical Traditions Detergent Detergent with Enzymes, but the dishwasher died before I could use it.
It was used for the first load and I must say, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Tropical Traditions detergent*. The first time I used it I was amazed at how spotless the dishes came out. We have hard water and the dishes have never come out this clean, ever. I’ve washed a few more loads with it and it has performed just as well each time.
What goes in my rinse aid dispenser? White vinegar, citrus infused if I have it. Even with our very hard water, it seems to work just as well as the store-bought varieties at a fraction of the cost!
I do use the high heat wash setting on my dishwasher. Since our diet includes lots of butter, whole milk and other high fat foods, the high heat setting is needed to help dissolve all the residue on the plates. The low-temp simply doesn’t work.
If your dishwasher isn’t doing a great job cleaning the dishes, think about cleaning it. Once a year, we take apart our dishwasher and clean all the parts, this keeps it cleaning perfectly. I can always tell when it’s needing a good cleaning. This step is especially important if you don’t clean all the food off of your dishes before loading it. You’ll also extend the life of your dishwasher saving you money if you take the time to perform yearly maintenance.
Even though my dishwasher is now fixed, I’ll continue doing most of the dishes by hand. For me it’s a great way to get some down time, I really enjoy looking at the tulip hillside and the woods while I clean. There are claims that washing dishes by hand uses more energy/water, but I have not found this to be the case. My electric bit went down when we started doing dishes by hand.
Do you do dishes by hand or with an automatic dishwasher?
*Disclaimer – I do have an affiliate program with Tropical Traditions, if you click through my blog to make your first purchase they give me a gift certificate. Rest assured, I have been spending my hard earned cash and recommending Tropical Traditions long before they offered a program like this.
NON-TOXIC CLEANING SERIES
Stocking Your Non-Toxic Cleaning Kit
Learning to Love Castile Soap
Make Your Own: Foaming Soap
Make Your Own: Infused Vinegar
Make Your Own: Multi-Purpose Cleaner
Make Your Own: Color Safe Oxygen Bleach
Homemade Whitening Scouring Scrub
Friday Favorite: Charlie’s Soap
Friday Favorite: Twist Sponges
and more to come
