Make Make Make Grow Grow Grow Nom Nom Nom

The later part of May had us feeling behind on our gardening.  At the end of the month we noticed that the neighbors down the street who "know what they are doing" had planted, so we didn't feel so bad that our first round of indoor seeds needed to start again.  We used that time to build these 4 boxes on the side of the house.

Our four planters are 2'x6' each and run the length of the south side of the house which gets a ton of sun.  I am also looking forward to piling all our snow on top of them later this winter (well I will enjoy it the first 5 times and no more thereafter.)  We used about 1.5 yards of topsoil from Purple Cow Organics in order to fill the boxes and once the weather finally got warm (and we saw that the folks down the block had planted) we placed our seeds in using the square foot gardening method as our guide. Some things have grown, others have not.  

The white object at the upper right end of the garden is Marcel.  I think he is chasing a chipmunk into our storm drain.

This is the garden now about two months later! Holy cow.  We have enjoyed beans, radishes, lettuce, cucumbers and squash and there is more of all that coming.  The weather has provided lots of rain, and we just add when we need a little extra push.  I am looking forward to learning from what didn't take well this year and adding in some other items next year.  We have strawberries in another location and that may get a complete overhaul next season because they are thieved by birds, bunnies and chipmunks now.  The strawberry plants are spreading themselves out, so if we can enclose them I think we just might get a bumper crop.  

Here is a future heirloom tomato.  Thanks to Miriam for the awesome seeds for our wedding shower last year.  This little wrinkly guy makes me real happy. 

Machine Knitting class at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts

Looking for something fun to do August 1, 2 and 3, 2014 in the Driftless region of Wisconsin?

Carole Spelic', an artist and educator from MP, and I will be teaching a machine knitting class. Machine knitting is a slightly mechanized method used to knit items.  The machines speed up some processes and allow you to work more quickly through basic techniques while also freeing you up to experiment with advanced techniques that you might not try in hand knitting.  I love my machines, and also occasionally curse them as there are quirks.  SO before buying one or leaving one to gather dust in your basement, come learn the basics from Carole and I.  Carole teaches fibers courses at UW Platteville and is an avid fiber artist on her own time.  She also plays a nice upright bass.  I have some unique skill sets but mostly prefer to cultivate the textile ones.  We would love to have you come to Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point, WI and take this really cool course with us.  Please follow the link for more information on the set of classes or an individual one.

Machine Knitting

Things we've been making

We've been moderately busy around here band practicing, gardening, remodeling, crafting and learning new skills in general.

AB tuning up at SummerFest 2014.  Well performed, Hell on Heels!

Our garden is a bit out of control- amazing that I was worried about getting things into the ground late.  We will have future reports from here!

Interior of a cherry bowl that AB is turning.  Stay tuned as items will be making their way to Etsy.

Marcel enjoying his new crabby pool, or mostly making giant muddy messes in the yard.

Making a template for a window shelf.  AB instructs how to use the compass to make the job easier.  I suspect I learned this is math class some time long ago. This was about day 5 of the nail challenge and they were doing pretty well.

Enjoy!