#BringBirds Back - 7 Simple Actions

3BillionBirds.Org

Doing even one of these things would be a wonderful Christmas present for the birds. Read more here.

Greenhouse and Raised Garden Beds

Yes, please! I love the all the raised beds. This is truly a gardener's paradise though too large for me. I would love a miniature version. via

Blue and White on a Kitchen Wall

Just my style! I love this kitchen wall and the artful arrangement of the owner's collection of blue and white Staffordshire serving pieces. The artwork is perfect and the Staffordshire figures add a bit of color and interest. The decorative shelf supports are lovely but don't compete with the wall arrangement thanks to the white paint. You have to look very carefully to see the subway tile backsplash. There is so much to absorb in this single photo found in Victoria Magazine. Enjoy looking and have a great weekend. xo

Egg Carton + Egg Shell Seed Starters

I must start saving my egg shells to use in the lid of the egg carton. I adore this idea for a DIY seed starting kit. Be sure to buy your eggs in paper cartons from now on. It is cold and wintery today with a mixture of rain and snow and slippery roads. A friend just called and she said she had to use her four-wheel drive to get home from an early morning appointment. I'm not going out at all except to walk to the mailbox once the mailman arrives late this afternoon. Be safe wherever you are. xo 

Tiny Greenhouse

Sweet. Tiny, but this little greenhouse must fit the needs of the owner. I'm pretty sure it was built from found materials. via

Greenhouse in a Walled Garden UK

An estate management firm publishes so many swoon-worthy photos of their work on Instagram. I love them all. Wouldn't you love to have a place like this to work and garden? It's like a giant adult sandbox. The greenhouse is the perfect size too. This is the kitchen garden on a large estate in Glouster.

Fabulous greenhouse/orangerie

This small greenhouse/orangerie is full of wonderful things to lust over. The terra cotta pots from England are of special interest to me. via

Wonderful Paris Greenhouse

I especially like the greenhouse floor. via

How to Make Your Own Seed Tape | Tutorial DIY

I've spent quite a lot of time lately cleaning up all my bookmarks. I ran across this site I've been saving forever and it's the perfect time to post this wonderful tutorial since summer's over and there are tons of seeds to be saved. This is the ultimate recycling project that looks like a lot of fun.

"The intent of seed tape is to make planting easier when you have teeny tiny seeds that need to be planted just inches apart (like carrots and radishes). But it’s also fun for gifting flower seeds or giving away seeds you’ve collected from your own garden. And it’s a pretty simple and very kid-friendly project." How to Make Your Own Seed Tape

Don't forget this little seed planting rhyme:
"One for the fox, one for the crow, one to rot, and one to grow."

Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Gardens in Late Summer

My late summer garden looks awful this year. The summer in NJ was brutal this year. A friend sent me an article from The New York Times today just in time for this post. Thanks Marybeth. I was glad to get a new recipe for a homemade weedkiller. I can't wait to try it. Click on the following link to read more.

In the Garden - Use Old Newspapers to Kill Weeds - NYTimes
"Try spritzing weeds while they are still sprouts with this homemade solution: a gallon of vinegar mixed with 2 tablespoons canola oil (other oils will gum up the sprayer head) and 1 tablespoon liquid Ivory dish detergent."

Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

The Story of Cosmetics | Annie Leonard Video

How toxic is your bathroom? Watch this short but informative video and find out.



Learn about how major loopholes in U.S. federal law allow the $50 billion beauty industry to put unlimited amounts of chemicals into personal care products with no required testing, no monitoring of health effects and inadequate labeling requirements—making cosmetics among the least-regulated consumer products on the market. Think twice before putting on that lipstick, you might be putting on lead!

If you ever find yourself with a spare 20 minutes or so please watch Annie's video entitled THE STORY OF STUFF. It will forever change your shopping habits.

Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

BE THE ONE to Help Restore America's Gulf

Watch this video and Sign the petition.




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

May Is National Bike Month

Check to see what events are going on in your town. Most are sponsoring a Bike To Work Week May 17-21. What a great idea. I love the red rims on this bicycle, don't you?




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Bike To Work Week Free Tee Shirt

My illustrated quote was picked to go on a tee shirt for the Greater Mercer Transportation Management Association. This organization provides Green transportation solutions for employers, commuters, and the community. It's in Princeton, New Jersey so the Einstein quote is most fitting for a biking event.

May is Bike Month and Bike to Work Week is May 17th through the 21st.

Ride, Register & Win!

* First 50 people to sign-up receive a limited edition Bike2Work T-Shirt.

* Prizes from local bike shops and businesses will be raffled on May 24th.

* Registration is FREE and open to everyone. Read more...




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Laundry Day Here At The Cottage

The washer is on the spin cycle right now. I can hardly wait to hang the first load on the line. The ironing board is up for quick pressings before putting the clothes away. It is going to be in the high 60s or low 70s today. So happy. Later, Rosemary


Photo: Twig Hutchinson


Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Unpackaged Grocery Store in London

An Idea Whose Time Has Come ~ Bring Your Own Container is the theme at Unpackaged, a London grocer offering many of their goods without packaging, or at least in refillable containers. Items range from the usual bulk and whole foods, but also include items not normally found in bulk, like herbs, oils, vinegars, soaps, toiletries, and even wine.

I can remember when most health food stores were like this. They would weigh your container when you entered the store and you could fill up jugs or jars with honey, oil, shampoo, peanut butter, milk, etc. Everything old is new again, right?

The Unpackaged Grocery Store in London


Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Emma Watson | Fair-Trade Ethical Clothing Fan

'Rather than give cash to charities you can help people in poorer countries by buying the clothes they make,' says Harry Potter star Emma Watson, who's lending her considerable fashion savvy - and the modelling talents of friends - to a covetable new fair-trade clothing range. Read more. The more I learn about this lovely young lady, the more I like her. A shining star indeed with a conscience too. http://peopletree.co.uk/ (fair-trade and organic fashion)

Have a great weekend. I'm so happy that I live in the part of my state that did not get very much snow. It was mostly a coastal storm.




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Do You Know Where Your Food Comes From?

Watch OPRAH today or record the show if you will not be home. Michael Pollan (Food 101) and Alicia Silverstein will be guests. Alicia will discuss her new vegan cookbook The Kind Diet.

Read more about the show, watch a video, and try 4 recipes from The Kind Diet. My DVR is set to record in case I'm not home. This should be good.




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Laundry Room Love

You know how much I love to do laundry by now. I am totally in love with the amazing room in the photo above dedicated to this necessary task. Have you ever seen a better one? I certainly haven't. I'm sure there is a clothes dryer in there somewhere but it is not the focus. How heavenly. I am absolutely positive that there is a drying yard outside too. I did five loads last week to take advantage of warm temperatures and sun. Now we have rain. It was great while it lasted. I am still quite pleased with my homemade laundry soap/detergent too. I just wish I'd made it sooner. Happy Monday, Rosemary.

via Crush Party




Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.

Laundry Day + Homemade Detergent = Perfect

aundry day at the cottage yesterday. I finally got a good day to hang out a couple of loads of sheets and towels. The weather was nice with temperatures in the 40s and a nice breeze. I couldn't wait to jump into bed last night. There is nothing to compare to the smell and feel of line dried bed linens. I haven't been happy with my laundry detergent for quite some time. Everything I buy is too highly scented. I don't like many scents except citrus, spice, and vanilla. I am especially not fond of floral smelling anything except flowers themselves. I finally used up a tub of powdered stuff from Costco that literally took my breath away when I took off the lid. And it didn't get my gardening clothes clean either. I got some liquid from Costco last trip and it is even smellier though it did a pretty good job of cleaning. I am taking it back. I read a bunch of recipes online for a simple homemade natural detergent and this is what I made. I grated one bar of Octagon soap with the big side of my box grater. Then I put these shavings in my food processor and buzzed until I had tiny pellets. (This step was my idea and it worked perfectly.) I dumped these pellets in a stainless steel mixing bowl and added one cup of Borax and one cup of Washing Soda. I mixed it all together and then transferred the mixture to an airtight container. It smelled fresh, that's all. I have a front-loading washing machine that requires low-sudsing HE detergent. The blogger who wrote this recipe (altered a bit by me) said this would work well in such a machine. And would you believe you only need 2 Tablespoons for an entire load? When I took the clothes out, guess what they smelled like? NOTHING. Perfect. After a day on the line the bedding smelled like sunshine and wind. The photo was taken yesterday just to prove that we can still have nice weather and blue skies with white puffy clouds in January. I am going to do a dark load or two today. xxoo Rosemary

Here is a link with 10 homemade laundry soap recipes.
This is a photo of my finished product. I put it in a tall glass jar that once held dry roasted peanuts. It's perfect. I can roll it around and mix everything up to evenly distribute all the ingredients before every load. I have darks in the washer right now. So happy!