I would like to share some links today about gardening. You can learn about gardening in your own yard and how people are using gardens in communities all over the world. Or if you don’t think you can garden yourself, you can find local farmers to purchase your food from. 

Last week, we purchased 11 rain barrels. We turned one into a manual rotating compost bin. This will give us compost faster than our 3 bin system. The remaining barrels will be linked together under the deck for all of our outdoor watering needs. We hope to plumb our shower and kitchen sink too, but more research is required. My husband wants an outdoor shower as well, so we will see how far we can get!

Here are a few links I have been studying. The Spin Farming method is how we would like to plant our garden next year. Very organized and productive!

Spin Farming

Victory Gardens

Local Harvest

Somerton Tanks Farm 

Your Backyard Farmer

Seasonal Ingredient Map from Epicurious

City Farmer

Diggin Food

Vermont Compost  

Instead of hitting the grill, I decided to so something different with our crop and came up with this: Squash & Onion Surprise. It was a real surprise that it tasted so good! This is part of the current seasonal crop for our area, so we are trying to come up with some dishes to whip up in a dash with ingredients that we have around the house.

Here is what I did…

Heat about 1-2 tablespoons real unsalted butter in the pan.

Toss in 2 medium squash and 6 small, white, sweet onions (chopped).

Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the top of the veggies (I use a fresh peppercorn medley with a little kick) - if you use salted butter, salt accordingly.

Sauté until onions start soaking in the butter or turning a yellow brown color.

Pour in about 1/4 cup water and place the lid on top to steam and soften the squash.

Once all the steam has evaporated, pour in 2 tablespoons of half and half (or other organic milk) and 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour.

Toss until creamy and top with flax seed to serve.

This made about 3-4 side dish servings. We served this along side a Dr. Praeger’s Tex Mex Veggie Burger (no bun) and steamed broccoli.

YUM. YUM.

Photo by me. 

We have a little experimental garden this year and this is our first pickin’. We are so excited to eat from our yard! We will grill these with some olive oil and spices for dinner. This morning at the local farmer’s market, the vendors had squash, onions, cucumbers and potatoes, so I think we are on the right track. My cucumbers aren’t doing so well, but we have got a few hot peppers on the way. 

The compost bins have been started for next year and I am harvesting some worms. I think they are almost ready to step up to their new home in the compost pile. 

Photo by me. 

 

A friend just sent me a link to this….

Way Basics

This company sales furniture building blocks (zBoards) that are made of post-consumer recycled paper. The zBoards can be recycled with no waste when you are finished with them. This is easy shopping and easy assembly with no tools. Way Basics are also the founding members of the Sustainable Furniture Council. Their tagline says is all: Keep it simple. No waste. No rules. No tools.

 

notNeutral

This is purely a designer shopping site with lots of fun items for your home. I just love the simple and bold designs from the Rios Clementi Hale Studios in Los Angeles. This is where you go for alternative color palettes and contemporary design.

 

Okay guys…I have an excuse for not writing on my blog…really.

At the beginning of May, I started a new job at The Jones Group. This is a great firm in downtown Atlanta and I am excited to work with this talented group of people. My title is Creative Services Manager, so I handle all outside vendor resources, do large print estimates, assist the account managers to develop timelines and estimates as well as insure quality and profitability of the firm. I also have a few accounts of my own to manage. This position utilizes my design and business skills, which has been a great fit for me. It has taken me a little time to get up to speed on the systems and processes of the firm, which have been developing in the month that I have been there. I am also re-establishing a vendor base, so I have been meeting with lots of printers, photographers, copywriters, etc. that we can hire for resources. 

The firm is also moving to a new building, which will utilize all renewable and sustainable resources. We are talking about having a “green wall,” which will actually be a wall of green plants indoors. With my great passion for our mother earth, I am very excited about this. In conjunction with the move, The Jones Group will go through a re-brand and I am involved in that stimulating process as well.

So, you see…I am not a slacker…just busy! I will continue to write on my blog when I can and hopefully, in a few months, I will be back in the swing of things. I continue to find wonderful information and resources that I can’t wait to share with you.

This is my current reading list:

As A Man Thinketh by James Allen

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Think Like a Cat by Pam Johnson-Bennett

The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

Country Wisdon & Know-How (Everything you need to know to live off the land)

Interesting and recently visited websites:

Good Works: 

Next Einstein

Give a Drop

Gastronomy: 

Blake Makes

Culinate

Fresh & Easy 

Chocolate:

Filthy Food Company

Gu Puds

This week, I met:

Scott Raffe of Raffe Photography who is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Scott is a great photographer with a large body of work. He has a book called Oklahoma: A Portrait of America, which I viewed this week. It is a wonderful compilation of images that are real and dramatic. It is a fascinating inside look at middle America.

Movies:

Charlie Wilson’s War

Lions for Lambs

Dexter - The First Season

Zeitgeist 

Wow! I couldn’t believe that I found this on YouTube. Check out this 1940s carton, The Tale of Two Kitties, with the debut of Tweety Bird. So awesome!

If you don’t know about TED yet, I suggest checking it out. 

The video I have posted below is a talk from Alisa Miller, the CEO of Public Radio International, about “Why we know less than ever about the world.” When I saw this video on TED, I thought it did a good job illustrating how our news sources are centered around us. 

The first real job I landed out of college was at CNN International in the summer of 2000. Until then, I had no idea that CNN International is totally different than CNN Domestic. The CNN that you see in the United States is dedicated to the United States only, but CNN International broadcasts all over the world. As a designer, I did graphics for business shows in Asia and England. I also saw all the special news packages that were being put together for Africa and Asia. These are things that we, as Americans, never saw. The news that we get in America is catered and focused on us. Personally, I thought CNN International should be the only version and it was much more interesting and thought provoking. Even the marketing and advertising spots were targeted quite differently. It seemed that the international side was much more design savvy and refined.

If I ever ran into someone from another country and we started talking about where we worked, they always asked why they couldn’t see CNN International in the United States or why the CNN is so different here. They thought that the domestic version didn’t have enough reporting about other countries that they were used to. They felt like they were closed off from the world. Maybe that is how we should feel too.

Check out this “news map”

 

One reason why I love TED videos is because of the comments after the video, so please go to this link and check out the comment section for this one. There is a lot of interesting thought and debate!