Arbor Day: 3 Tree Tips

Thank you to Tayebug at LivingHappy & Healthy365
for this beautiful award.
"Today's mighty Oak is yesterday's little nut that held its ground."

Three tree health tips from Arborday.org:

*Topping trees usually causes more problems than it solves. Besides being bad for the tree's health, often after being topped the side branches will grow up as tall as or taller than the original height of the tree.

*Tree roots grow 1 to 2 times the height of the tree. And roots do not like the poor soil under roads often the roots are stretched out all along side of the road.

*Be careful with the weed wacker and lawnmower if you remove bark all around a tree it can kill it. This is similar to a process called girdling.

All of these tips come from  Arborday.org. Visit them to see '9 important things everyone should know about trees'.

I have passed this award along to: AuthorHaven which is a valuable resource to all writers. Priorlives which showcases amazing creations from items that have had 'priolives'. And TheWalkingStick a blog details one families outdoor adventures.

Decorating With Bird Houses: Photo Tour

Poking around on flicker I came up with these great ideas for decorating with birdhouses. All of the photos are from the creative commons and you can find the attributions under the photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/avenefica/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlwwycoff/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thatgrrl/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisasanderson/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boliyou/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/avenefica/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/otherjoel/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roosterfarm/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barretthall/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cstreetus/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/phoenixwolfray/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roosterfarm/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonderlane/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/way2go/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanwoodswalker/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adactio/ / CC BY 2.0

Vacation Idea #16 - The Family Reunion

WISH i was on HOLIDAY

Every Monday from January to September

- Vacation Idea #16 -

The Family Reunion

Some tips for planning family reunions:

 Each year I look forward to my bit of planning ours.  My family does NOT have a long tradition of holding reunions so I have been in on the "ground floor" helping to set them up.

(a photo collage of our 2007 reunion -the smoke is from fireworks and a bbq)

We started by setting up a  private yahoo group that is only open to family and requires permission to join the group. Facebook has been a great way to connect with each other too, you can set up groups there too. We log the reunion in the events calendar along with any birthdays, weddings, showers along with other special family events. And create albums titled "reunion 2009" (or whatever the current year). Everyone in our group uploads photos from the reunion to the album. We also have an album named "old family photos" so that some of the older photos can be shared easily (although be aware, all of the photos in yahoo and on facebook are resized smaller than the photo you upload).  As the reunion draws near we start posting schedules to the group for food  and outings. We try to hold the reunions in a family members home as this is cheaper than renting anything. And there is a sense of familiarity you get when you have stayed in someone elses home. Of course not everyone's home is big enough to house tons of family so we have had to be creative with tents and rv's, but usually we manage somehow. (The kids love this! Little one man tents in a secluded area of the backyard)

Our schedule usually looks something like this:

Day 1- Arrive, visit, and get settled - Dinner.

Day 2 - Breakfast,  pack lunch, go on hike or other nature outing, bbq dinner on porch (pack breakfast and lunch for the men for the next day)

Day 3 - Men go fishing or other such outing, while the women scrapbook, or make beeswax candles or other fun talent that someone wants to share.  Campfire in backyard dinner.

Day 4- For us is the 4th of July so we just hang out around the house and visit, lighting sparklers with the little ones. Breakfast is cooked, lunch is light and always includes watermelon, dinner is bbq.

Day 5- packing up and going home. Breakfast is something simple like fruit and muffins, lunch is sandwiches and things that travel well for those leaving earlier.

(All of the meals are divided amongst different families to make sure that everyone gets a turn to cook, even the kids take a turn. And the host family makes the first dinner for everyone that is traveling to their house.)

We always bring bikes, family recipes, s-more makings, anything we want to teach others how to make.

We make a time for music as musicians run deep in our family. And we talk!

We talk about what has happened in the last year, our jobs, our ancestry, the news, vacations we have taken, with family there seems to be no end to the talking.

We pass around a paper for everyone to add their current addresses, phone numbers, and e-mails too.

Once it is all done and we are all home again, we return once again to our group and post some memories. Both to keep a record and to fill in the people who wanted to, but were unable to attend. The group then quiets down for another year, except for the occasional message sent to our e-mail in boxes to let us know that someone's birthday is coming up.

And I smile because I know that even though our family doesn't have a long tradition of reunions I have helped to set up a tradition that hopefully my children will remember fondly and carry on.

(the brick foundation on our families old homestead in Missouri)

Dried Flower Remembrance Wreath

This wreath started as one of eight matching wreaths at my wedding. They were all lovingly handmade by my mother and I. At that time it was full of fresh white beautiful flowers and lavender. I have given all of the wreaths away now except this last one which serves as a reminder not just of the wedding, but of every birthday, valentines day, anniversary and special occasion since. When I am given flowers I do the usual thing and put them in a vase to enjoy them. When the flowers start to nod, before they actually die, I take them out of the vase and hang them buy the bunch full upside down to dry in my kitchen. (I am sure there are better ways to dry flowers, if you know one please feel free to mention them in the comments.) When I have a couple of bunches, or am tired of looking at dried flowers hanging over my window. I attach the flowers to this wreath with a thin twine and hot glue.

I smile everytime I look at the wreath.
When I look closely I still see:
A bit of lace and lavender from my wedding...
The two single stem roses that my husband had my sons give me one valentines day...

The flowers my father-in-law gave me when I turned 30....




 

The rose that my husband gave me in the hospital when our third son was born...

The pink roses he gave me on our anniversary...

The handful of daisies my oldest son gave to me when he was still young enough to want to bring me flowers from the yard...

So many sweet memories.

Easy / Laziest Way to Compost

Today is Earth Day so I wanted to share my easy, lazy way of composting.

Garden or utility wire fencing and makes an easy compost bin.

In my area the home improvement stores carry rolls that fit easily in a regular car trunk between 25 and 50 feet long for $12-25 depending on the height and quality. Anything that will stand up on its own will work for this bin.

I use the loose ends from cutting the length of fencing to secure the ends. It is open at the bottom and at the top.

And I then make a "lid" by cutting a circular shape and bending back the loose wires from the extra fencing. I have found that a lid is important to keep crows from scattering the compost.

I then add kitchen scraps. Such as apple cores, corn husks, and other waist. You can add anything that is plant derived. Animal derived products such as cheese, meat, and egg are not advised because they can attract rodents.

After you add the kitchen scraps then add a layer of yard waste such as leaves, or straw, to hide the unsightly kitchen scraps and keep it from smelling badly. I then just alternate between kitchen scraps and yard waste till the bin is full and then I leave it alone to become dirt for next years garden.

This pea (which we started in egg shell starter cups; see them HERE) is planted in the compost I made last year, combined with mushroom compost and just a little native soil.

Compost tips:

• Grass clippings: are stinky! If you want to add grass clippings I would add them instead of your kitchen scraps and alternate them with dry leaves or straw or other dry-ish yardwaste.
•  Too smelly: Add more dry waste.
•  Not breaking down: add water from time to time. If you live in a rainy area you may never need to add water.

And now you know my easy lazy compost method! Seriously it is that easy.

Whistler Condo TableScape!

For our recent vacation to Whistler we sublet a condo and were greeted by this lovely tablescape when we arrived.

Simple white plates and bowls.

Lovely textures.

Vintage candle holders.

Wine glasses.

Paper napkins folded in half, to make a triangle, then folded accordian style, folded once more to make the V and set in the glasses to make quite a beautiful effect.

And the chairs were beautiful as well.

Vacation Idea #15 ~ The Canadian Maple Leaf Game

One of the beautiful water features in Whistler, BC.

WISH i was (still) on HOLIDAY

- Vacation Idea #15 -

Maple Leaf Game

We invented a game!
During our recent trip to Canada we invented the maple leaf game.

Above my older two kiddos are on a bear statue. The condo we stayed at is in the background.

Below is a photo from a hike we took.

During this trip we noticed the amazing way maple leaves, which is Canada's national symbol, are used throughout Canada. We joked that in the same way Disneyland has 'hidden mickeys' (these are mickey mouse shapes hidden all throughout disneyland); Canada seemed to have 'hidden maple leaves' everywhere and we had fun finding and taking photos of them.

Here are some of the maple leaves we found:

The ones on the sign above were found on a tourist shop.

And this one was probably for the benefit of tourists as well. 

But this one is all through Canada on a popular grocery store.

And in the grocery store we found maple cookies!

Bacon (which I have see in the U.S. too).

On the milk.

On spices. Notice the side decorations too.

On the ATM.

And the pub.

On a 'green' gas station. (If you look very closely you will see 12 of them).

And as Petro's symbol.

As a decoration on a menu.

We found this one in a childrens playground embedded in a 'sandcastle'.

These were in a library.

On a matchbook in our room.

On a child's carseat in a tour van.

On the side of a grayhound shipping van.

Photo boxes in a drug store.

100% Canadian (notice the maple leaf in the window next to the cup too).

And as a highway sign.

Even the arches got into the act.

And there were plenty of real maple leaves too.

Now that we are back in the U.S. I kind of miss seeing all of these fun little leaves!