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Thrifty Gardening Tip: Free Wood Chips!
Got your attention? Good. Okay, technically they aren’t free. The tip should read: Develop a relationship with your local arborist, so they will give you free wood chips. In other words, once you’ve hired them for something, they will probably help you out in the future. We recently had to have some trees trimmed and so we hired Grun Tree Care. This was the first time I had hired an arborist, so I had no idea what to expect. When they pulled in to the driveway, with their wood chipper, a light bulb went off. It had been recommended to me, in my Comprehensive Organic Gardening class, that wood chips made good pathways…
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Mom’s Mustard Potato Salad Recipe
My mom is in a nursing home now and no longer cooks for herself, but growing up she made the best mustard potato salad. I remember it being one of the first things she taught me how to make, because I begged her to show me how. I’m so glad I did, because it has become a staple in our house. Matt absolutely despises mustard, but he loves my mom’s potato salad recipe, even though he knows it has mustard in it. He is constantly asking me to make it for him and get’s really excited when I do. I think it’s because my mom’s recipe has just the right…
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Makers Market Recap
It’s been an exciting time over here at Rake and Make HQ! So exciting that this blog post was scheduled for last week and got missed. Makers Market was such a well put together and fun event, that I have to still blog about it, even it if it is a wee bit late. For those of you that missed my post announcing this event, Makers Market was a neighborhood craft fair of sorts, featuring local artisans, and took place at White Center’s own Center Studio. Flower and I shared a table, thank goodness, because with the birth of my lovely new nephew, I got a little behind on making stuff. My…
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Blogger’s Summer Camp
I am starting to realize how many cool things I discover via Seattleite Megan Reardon of the blog Not Martha. Through posts on Not Martha, I have discovered the Colette Sewing Handbook, Go Mighty (I really want to go to Camp Mighty now) and most recently, Blogger’s Summer Camp. I may sound like a bit of a super fan of Megan, but I have to give credit, where credit is due. I subscribe to Not Martha on Bloglovin’, so I was intrigued when I saw that she was going to be a panelist at an event called Blogger’s Summer Camp. What sold it for me, was that it was going to be here in Seattle,…
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Makers Market
We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog post for a special announcement! This Saturday, June 15th from 4-8 pm, Flower and I are going to be vendors at Makers Market at Center Studio! Between the two of us, we are going to have some pretty awesome handmade goods for sale. Flower will be selling her silkscreened dish towels, handmade pillows, up-cycled outdoor hanging lanterns, terrariums with mythical creatures and embroidered art. I will be selling my handmade napkin sets, oven mitt and potholder sets, aprons and dog beds. I’m really excited to be a part of this event as Center Studio is such a great space and their classes are awesome too. So come support Flower…
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Watering: Drip Irrigation
June is off to a great start here in Seattle, with sunny, high 70s weather this week. It hasn’t rained all week! What that also means though, is that it is time to start thinking about making sure my plants are getting enough water. There are a few routes one can go when watering their plants; hand watering, soaker hoses, upside down bottles filled with water (good for containers), etc.. I considered all of these when I first started gardening and even tried a few. I now know that I suck at hand-watering, because I always forget to do it. With a large garden like I have now, it’s not…
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Tips for Growing Tomatoes in the Pacific Northwest
One thing I get asked about a lot, is how to grow good tomatoes here in Seattle. With the cooler climate and short “warm season” in the Pacific Northwest, growing tomatoes can be tricky. In an effort to learn what works best, I have planted my tomatoes with slight variations every year. There has definitely been a lot of trial and error. Below is a list of what has proven to work well for me over the years and a few tips on what NOT to do as well. 1. A couple of weeks before I plan on planting my tomatoes, I heat the soil by covering it with plastic. That will start…
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A Gray Ribbed Scarf for Mother’s Day
With my mom being so sick this past year, it has been a roller coaster ride of a year. My mother has proven to be one tough cookie though. She had a rough go over the winter. As a result of the liver disease, she had pneumonia twice and several bouts of hepatic encephalopathy, where she was confused, sometimes to the point of unresponsiveness. I am (and I think the doctors are too) surprised and impressed by how well she is doing health-wise and how gracefully she is accepting HUGE changes in her life. I hope if, and when, I am faced with a serious illness like my mother’s, that I will…
