blackstar

IR: 65

blackstar's blog: Gardener, Herbalist, Artisan

Autumn's Calling Mon Aug 25 13:48:00 UTC 2008

The mornings are a bit cooler here in middle Tennessee. The Black Walnut leaves are starting to drop from the trees. The turkeys are coming out of the woods. It's foggy in the morning. I can smell Autumn. It's just a matter of time until the Equinox is here. Can you hear it? Autumn's calling.

Until next time.....

Don't Play With Your Food Thu Aug 21 20:41:00 UTC 2008

One of the good things about being a 'grown up' is that no one can tell you not to play with your food.

We're knee deep in tomatoes, beans, okra and tomatillos right now. Might as well play with some of it.

Until next time.....

EVST SALE August 8-17 Thu Aug 07 22:13:00 UTC 2008

And that stands for Etsy Vintage Street Team. We're having our first sale and it starts tonight at midnight. Here's the scoop:

Etsy Vintage Street Team $12.00 and under SALE August 8-17.You can find sale items from our participating team members by using Etsy's pull down search menu, click on "All Items: Tags and Titles" and search for EVSTsale.

I'm participating in both my shops and have an EVST SALE section set aside. I've already reduced prices. Plus, don't forget that there's free shipping in my jewelry shop for the month of August.
I have to say that there are some incredible vintage pieces on our team! I was adding favorites to our team shop on Etsy. I felt like a kid in a candy store. I'll be shopping. Will you?
Until next time.....

Spider Webs Tue Aug 05 13:26:00 UTC 2008

I love looking at spider webs! There are as many varieties of webs as there are spiders. August seems to be spider web month in Tennessee. Maybe it's due to the foggy mornings that we have this time of year. The webs stand out and glisten in the fog.

We were up at Crystal Lake and saw the most amazing spider webs. I don't know what kind of spiders built them, but take a look.

The first one was in a pine tree. All the pines and cedars had them floating on their branches. With the sun coming up over the mountain and the mist rising from the lake, it was a magical sight indeed.

The second one was built in an abandoned bluebird house. This web was pretty creepy, yet cool, looking. And I saw the spider. He was huge!

One of my favorite beads are glass spider web lace beads. They were made in Japan in the 40's and 50's in the Cherry Brand neighborhoods. The artisans would trade the beads for food and goods. I've been collecting them for years. I have them for sale in both shops. You ...

Staking Tomatoes Sat Jul 19 19:43:00 UTC 2008

In my 25+ years as a gardener, I believe that I’ve tried every possible way to stake my tomatoes. Wooden stakes eventually break and/or rot, so that’s like throwing money away. My plants get too big for tomato cages and fall over. Bamboo tripods work great and look beautiful, but if you grow as many tomato plants as I do, that can get pretty pricey.
Several years ago I staked my tomatoes with metal fence posts. They are perfect and range in size from four feet (one meter) up. They don’t fall over, not even in August when the plants are heavy with fruit. Plus, they’ll last a lifetime.
Whatever you decide to use, staking tomatoes increases the yield and cuts down on waste. And your local turtles can still reach the lower tomatoes on the plants.

Until next time.....

Hot Tomato Wed Jul 09 19:01:00 UTC 2008

I've been spending a lot of time in the garden lately. Last week was dedicated to staking and suckering tomatoes. It's a late year for tomatoes around here. We've yet to eat our first ripe one. I've had a strange song, or should I say chant, in my head. Maybe it's from being in the sun too long. But I keep singing over and over and over again.....Hot Tomato, Hot Tomato. Imagine if you will, this being sung to the beat of a Western Swing song.

The necklace in the first picture, which is named 'Hot Tomato', has since been oxidized. The beads are from the Miriam Haskell collection. Tomato-y red. It's in my jewelry shop.

Until next time.....

TULIP SALE Tue Jul 01 13:00:00 UTC 2008

~Tulip Sale ~ today only ~ July 1

Sale ends 12:00 PM EST

While supplies last

See my 'Tulip Sale' section in my bead shop

http://blackstarbeads.etsy.com/

until next time.....

Yart Sale Tue Jun 10 21:07:00 UTC 2008

~~~~~ Wednesday, June 11 ~ Friday, June 20 ~~~~~~ FIRST ANNUAL KICKOFF TO SUMMER YART SALE ~ An Artistic Slant to a traditional Yard Sale. 10 day countdown to the first Day of Summer. See my Yart Sale section for my Summer treats in both of my shops. I'll be adding new items throughout the week.~

Hope to see you there! Until next time.....

How Do You Keep Cool? Mon Jun 09 20:37:00 UTC 2008

This morning I set up the sprinkler to water the flower bed on the south side of the house. I used one of those sprinklers like we used to play under when I was a kid. I had it set to only go in one direction. Up, forward, up, forward. Perfect for the area that I was watering. The timer went off, so I went outside to shut the sprinkler off.
I walked to the side of the yard and saw something on the edge of the bed, where the grass meets the soil. What is that? I walk closer and see what it is and immediately run into the house to grab the camera.
Right at the spot where the water falls back down to Earth, sat a turtle. In the sunshine. Keeping cool! He/she was a beauty. So clean and shiny. I snapped a few photos and then me and the turtle went on our merry way. It's June. Turtle days will soon be here!
Until next time.....

Recycling Ornamental Grass Tue Jun 03 20:04:00 UTC 2008

Two weeks ago, I went outside to transplant my new Ebb Tide Roses. I decided to plant them in front of the house, along part of the driveway- where the Ornamental Grass grew last year.
I got ready to sink the shovel into the ground to dig up the old, dead clump of grass when something caught my eye. I was being watched.

A pair of, what I think are Chipping Sparrows built a nest in the middle of the two foot high clump of grass. And in that nest were four tiny blue/gray and brown speckled eggs.

A few days later, the eggs hatched.

And in a matter of days the babies had feathers and were crowding the nest.

Both parents worked to feed the babes throughout the day. I'm hoping that those green worms hanging from their mouths are cabbage worms from my garden.