Growing Ginger

I have this great book called Don't Throw It, Grow It.  It has 68 different windowsill plants grown from kitchen scraps!  Today i tried the directions for growing ginger.  I had some left over ginger that I wasn't able to use before it started growing.

Though you don't have to wait until your ginger is growing like mine to try out this simple DIY.

All you have to do is grab a shallow dish with drainage holes.  My holes are really large, so I used this piece of handmade cabbage paper to cover them up.  I tore off two pieces.

Then I placed them over the holes.

Next, I filled the dish up 2/3 of the way with regular soil, and then I placed the ginger on top of the dirt.

I watered the little guy.

Then I placed him under my grow light.  No photos of the lights, but I use two ikea FOTO aluminum pendant lamps with 65 watt compact fluorescent full spectrum photo bulbs.  I've had great luck with just one of these guys, and just recently up it to two lights.  

This is my little garden.  A Gerbera Daisy (in a DIY planter), an orchid (no clue what kind), some tiny cacti, and our newest addition the ginger!  

Happy DIYing! chris

  

Cat Hat!

Today we are celebrating our cat!  Cricket was diagnosed with mouth cancer six months ago.  When she was diagnosed the vet gave her a life expectancy of only two to six months.  We left the veterinarian's that day thinking we'd be lucky if Chicken made it to the end of three months.  It's six months now, and she still seems pretty healthy.  I have no idea how much more time we may get with her, but we are cherishing everyday.  So today I made her a hat.  Yes, a cat hat!  

All you'll need is one willing-to-please-kitty, a cap to a plastic bottle, an old sock, scissors, a hot glue gun w/glue, and a cereal box or something of similar weight & thickness.  

Start by cutting the toe off of a sock, make sure to have enough to wrap around the bottle cap.  Place the lid inside the piece you just cut off the sock.  Put a healthy amount of hot glue inside the bottle cap, and fold the sock in.  Use as much glue as you need to make it stay.  Now draw a brim for the hat on a piece of cardboard.  I did this by tracing the piece I just made, and then drawing a brim off of that circle.  Then I cut it out, and dry fit it under the cap.  Trimmed off whatever I needed to, and then hot glued it in place.  

Then I cut off another piece of fabric from the sock to fit around the cardboard brim.  Wrapped the fabric around the brim and glued it in place.  

Now you have a cute cat hat!

Isn't she adorable?  Don't worry, no cats were harmed in the making of this cat hat.  

This may make me a crazy cat lady, but I don't care, cause dang is my cat stylin'!  Happy DIYing! chris

Pencil Toppers

I photographed 180 kids today, which really isn't many compared to some days, but I'm still exhausted.  This spring program we are doing this year is super physically exhausting.  I think I used up most of my energy setting up my equipment this morning.  C'est la vie, such is life!  The pics are super cute, and I like getting paid, so it all works out in the end.    My point is, my job left me extra tired, and not much in the mood for DIYing.  I've been terrible about planning ahead this month, and I had no idea what I wanted to do when I got home.  I grabbed some pencils and my bowl full of yarn.

this is how they started off

this is how they started off

The blue heart topper I made with blue tack, and wrapped some string over the tack to keep it from sticking it too everything.

Hope ya'll enjoyed, happy DIYing!  chris

Mardi Gras Earrings!

Happy Fat Tuesday!  I thought some earrings would be a great DIY for some fun today!  I made my first pair out of an old Mardi Gras necklace, and the second pair of earrings is made out of some fun sting.  

The Mardi Gras earrings take only seconds to make!  All you need are hanging earring wire, and a strand of Mardi Gras beads, plus a pair of scissors.  Cut the beads to desired length.  Make sure one end finishes with a small bead.  Now slip the string between the end small bead and the next bead thru the bottom wire earring loop.  The small bead will keep the strand in place.  Now you have a great accessory for the holiday!

I like to wear different earrings at once, and this pair work beautifully together!  Plus these earrings are just as easy to make as the Mardi Gras earrings.  Find some fun string or yarn, and cut it to double in length.  Thread the string thru the bottom loop of the wire earring and tie a knot.  Tie as many strings on as you like!  I was able to fit about four or five on.  

Hope ya'll enjoyed todays DIYs, and Happy Mardi Gras DIYing! ~chris

Root Vegetable Soup

I'm liking the idea of having Monday's be food themed.  I will try to keep up with this idea from now on.  Tonight I made Root Vegetable Soup.  I got the recipe from the fantastic soup cookbook The Soup Bible.  I definitely recommend this book, it is a great resource for soup lovers!

ingredients:

3 carrots, chopped

1 large potato, chopped

1 large parsnip, chopped

1 large turnip or small rutabaga, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 tablespoons sunflower oil (I used extra virgin olive oil, because my market didn't have any sunflower oil)

2 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 quart water

1 piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and grated

1 1/4 cup milk

3 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt and pepper to season

sprigs of fresh dill, to garnish

I added a clove of garlic.  Everything taste better with garlic right?

Directions:

Chop all the carrots, potato, parsnip, turnip (or rutabaga), and onion up.  Heat all of those veggies up in a large pot with the butter and oil.  

Cover and let everything sweat together for fifteen minutes on low heat.  

While that is cooking I measured out the water, and set net to the cooking veggies.  Then I peeled and grated the ginger.  I also crushed some garlic in with the ginger.  In it's own measuring cup measure out the milk.  In a third container measure out the dil, sour cream, and lemon juice.

Once the 15 minutes has passed for the vegetables sweating it out in the butter and oil add the 1 1/2 quarts of water.  Season with salt and pepper, and I threw in some krazy jane salt mixes.  Turn the heat up a bit and bring to a boil, let simmer covered for twenty minutes.  

When the veggies are all softened, drain off the stock and save.  Place the veggies in a food processor with the ginger and garlic, and blend until completely smooth.  

Then add the stock and pureed veggies back into the saucepan.  Add heat and slowly mix in the milk as the mixture warms back up.  This shouldn't take long, the mixture doesn't loose much heat in the blender.  Once warm enough, remove from heat and add the dill, sour cream, and lemon juice mixture.  Mix together, and then serve.  If you need to rewarm the soup, don't let it come to a boil or it may curdle.  

Serve with a spoonful of sour cream, and a couple sprigs of dill to garnish.  This soup was really smooth and rich.  This is a fantastic winter soup!  It really helps warm you up on a cold day.  

Hope you enjoy as much as my family did, happy DIYing! chris

Toilet Bowl Shenanigans and Cacti Love

I am dang clumsy. I started off my day by flushing the toilet roll holder down the toilet. Fixing that mistake took most of the morning. My husband and I had to go out and buy a new wax ring for the toilet. We then drain the toilet and the tank, and turned off the water to the toilet. Then we lifted the tank and bowl off the floor. When we turned the toilet upside down we could see it stuck in the curve. Aaron was able to poke the thing out with a straightened wire hanger. ((Gosh, that sounds awful!)) We pressed the wax seal to the bottom of the bowl, then lowered the bowl over the two screws in the floor. We both took turns sitting on, and adding pressure evenly to the wax ring. We used a ratchet to tighten the nuts down on either side. Put the tank back on the toilet bowl, reattached the water connection. Made sure all the nuts and bolts everything was tight as can be, than we turned the water on. Toilet seems to be back to normal now! Next time I'll try to remember to close the toilet when I'm putting on a new roll of paper!

I also did a lot of boring cleaning, and that took up a bit of time. I did manage to get my cacti replanted into a larger pot though! I started with the large pot, a box to maintain the mess, cacti soil, 3-4 cacti, fine grit, and I used a metal saucer to scoop my dirt.

I mostly filled up the planter with the cacti mixture, and then placed the plants in the soil. I put the larger cacti in the back, and the two smaller ones up front. Start to add a thin layer of fine grit on the top.

Don't cover the bottom of the plants, you can use a rubber glover to hold the cacti and remove any dirt between the needles. Once you are done covering the top you can give them a bit of water. Since it is winter I didn't give them much water.

Meanwhile, Cricket was listening to KCRW.

Hope you all enjoyed, happy DIYing! chris