bee creative

making things, growing things

Salve making:

Olive oil (about 1 cup) that  calendula petals have been steeping in + beeswax (about 1 tablespoon).

I usually dry any plant matter before adding to the olive oil.  This keeps it from molding.

I have a dedicated jar that I use for melting the beeswax in and use a frying pan as a double boiler to heat the oil and the wax.  Once the wax is melted, it is poured into the heated oil and stirred (I usually use a wood skewer).  If you try this, be careful with this step and don't walk away. 

The salve will solidify as it cools. 

The proportion of wax to oil will impact how hard the salve is.  My proportion makes a fairly soft salve that can almost become a liquid on a really hot day. 

Sewing:  This was dress length.  I never really wore it much and it's been sitting in a "re-do" pile.  Today I cut it to just above knee length and am now hemming it.  I will probably make a bag with the fabric I cut off.

Growing: 

The ginger has sprouted! I will put it in a planter and give it a good dose of fish fertilizer (recommended by a local farmer who grew it to sell at the farmer's market for many years).

The cherry, plums, pears and one of the apple trees are blooming.  This cherry has never set fruit.  It's supposed to be self-pollinating but I don't think it is!

Eating:

Pasta + homemade ricotta + sorrel (garden) + oregano (garden) + asparagus (garden) + hazelnuts and hazelnut oil (local, farmer's market) + parmigiano reggiano (from far away Italy because I am not perfect and I love it so).

Listening to:  Where the Deer and the Antelope Play by Nick Offerman.  Interesting, sometimes funny, political, and seriously concerned about the state of our world. He sometimes seems to go off on a tangent, which might drive some crazy, and he has what I would call a "potty mouth."

I am not quite done yet, but am pretty sure one of my favorite things he discusses is about how disconnected we become from our  environment and what it means to be a community, when we are only consumers... 

waste not

A new challenge has been on my mind and it is pure coincidence that I am posting about it on Earth Day.

This is what I am starting with: 50 projects that use up what would be commonly considered "waste," weeds or salvaged materials.  Depending on how long it takes me to get to 50, I may keep going.  I've already got ideas to start with such as making a rag rug, making paper with paper scraps, pieced clothing, baskets and...

Dandelion wine!

It will be a small batch as I really don't know whether I like it or not.  Two cups of petals are now soaking in water for the next week.

This could qualify as a project although it feels a bit like cheating.  All I did was gather some vines and put them in the tins.  Mom was the one that tended the fire.  The top piece of charcoal is from Mom and Dad's fireplace. 

Along with some other things, my aunt sent me this beautiful table runner that has tears in it.

So many possibilities!

This isn't a daily challenge, I am just going to take my time and see what I can do. 

 

 

#85 capacity

Tonight's dinner: broth (store), potstickers (store), spinach, dehydrated carrots/celery/tomatoes, a splash of tamari sauce, a few pieces of dehydrated tomato sauce.

Perfect for a chilly day.  There is a chance of snow in the forecast!

A perfect project for this afternoon...a few rows on the wool blanket.

A little help from Gibson.

I listened to Rumble Strip while I knitted.

The question discussed was "What class are you?" What a complicated question...what an important question. 

For me it's not just about income or education but also...how vulnerable are you? 

Today's mark making:  A layered image that I did several years ago printed out.  And then I dropped rose hip ink over the top.

Thinking about the capacity to imagine, the capacity to absorb;

 first we have to imagine that it is possible.

#57 mending

It was Hazel (cat #2) that shredded this basket. I thought it might be mended by wrapping yarn where the raffia was thin.

But that would take forever so I switched to pulling fabric strips through and then tying them.  I hope this will keep the cats from being interested in further shredding.

Today's marks started as three drops of rose hip ink that I pulled down with a card.  From left to right, a drop of oak gall/iron, then a drop of indigo, and last coffee ink.

I am hoping to make some new inks this weekend.

altered again

Sewing in the dark, taking pictures when it is dark, seasons changing...

Sunrise: 6:56     Sunset: 7:07

I did use the thimble while mending this pair of pants, made with a heavy cotton.

It was helpful.

 

maybe

Three yards or so of hemp/cotton knit soaking in Buddleia. It's been there overnight.

This is the second soaking, the first in soy milk.

I will wring it out and hang it to dry today.

And then, perhaps, a dip in my almost exhausted indigo vat? Or maybe iron water?  I have some made but have yet to try it. Or maybe a bit of both for comparison? Or maybe a stencil with the iron?

I want to make a dress with this but it will need some mending or strategic cutting.  I was using it on my bed as a sheet. 

Knit is not a great choice for kneading kittens.

And, shared before but coming to me often right now:

Crepuscular midnight stands by the road,

Where the stars have spilled from it's purse.

You can not go over the road past the fence

Without trampling on the universe.

Boris Pasternak, "The Steppe"

not what I was going to post but good stuff because we need it

I am not able to post a picture this morning so for now want to share this link to a project called "Small Bells Ring" and Heather Peak and Ivan Morrison.  Found via the Toast podcast. 

A library on a boat is my idea of heaven... 

The idea they express about "social sculptures" fascinates me.  

Community, for me it isn't about similarity or agreement.  It's a group of people who gather, either by choice or not, to participate in living...

rearranging

Yesterday morning I spent a couple hours working on my GOOD Enough COVID 19 quilt.

This isn't the way it ended up but rather a practice run at what 6 feet by 6 feet would look like. Makes me think of a path.

I need 12 to 14 more blocks.

Which means it will be made from 36 to 48 blocks.

That makes me think of years, 3 or 4?

I am leaning towards 36 blocks, with strips of fabric along the sides to make the 6 foot by 6 foot measurement.

Another practice run, it's really lap quilt size at the moment.

I had a random thought awhile ago, that it might be strange to sleep under and use a quilt named and created in response to a pandemic.

I've decided it's not. 

This quilt is mostly about living and celebrating what we can and protection.

It's about caring, which is a form of mending and a form of healing.

It's about life, which is really, mostly...complicated and messy.

other things

From last weekend's walk.

I love this one just as much as the loon floating on the water.

Going under...what will be found?

Leftover soup found it's way into quiche as the liquid component.

(Avocado is one of the few non-local foods I eat, from California so not too far.)

My hummingbird feeders: fuchsias and petunias.  As well as lobelia and creeping charlie.

And "mending to wear."

That's when you mend something and then put it on so you can wear it that day...

 

heading towards spring

A pot of pansies.

A golden moment.