Best week gardening in two years. My dye garden failed in the Southeast drought, but checked out the local Raleigh 50-60 community gardens and experts whose land thrived. Learning tips and meeting people is a delight plus you get to pick food for the neighborhood. This past week is particular highlight as got to learn about gleaning when a local farmer who planted the corner of an acre field with 4 rows of watermelons contacted the local community gardens about picking the extras for the church. Four trucks, forty volunteers, and 1,000 watermelons later, everyone who picked got a free watermelon and the chance to feed all the food bank, soup kitchen, and meal boxes for seniors in Raleigh. What...
Sometimes you plan and God laughs. Was all excited to start painting the shop and Raleigh got record rainfall after months of drought. 8+ inches. The plants are happy and the paintbrushes will keep for a few more days while our city is filled with people laughing downtown. Families and groups of friends out for a nice meal. Birthdays. It’s really nice to sit and have adult philosophical conversations about life, the universe, and everything else. There’s a Revelation theme in the 3rd seal/famine horseman going around, but it seems to more mindful eating and drinking. Got to try new fruits called Spanish limes and Amish style orange watermelons. Perfect with salt. Speaking changes for the better, about two years ago discovered that many popular drinks contain bull’s blood in them for color and switched to water and local...
Finishing part three of the fall festival linen quilt class: embroidery. All the pomegranates. Shout-out to Freeman’s Creative in Durham for all the new linen yarn they’ve gotten in lots of color if you’re looking for nicer Italian linen yarns in North Carolina. So many colors! Also, finished our 50-60 local RTP community gardens survey in an attempt to figure out how to survive a century extreme drought next time. Some community gardens failed too, but a number sailed through with no problems which are worth sharing. The ones doing the best are 40-50 raised beds with fertilizer around a water central source from wells and rainwater barrels for easy watering. Little libraries, benches, food pantries, and counting scales feature heavily. Many churches have an adopt a bed program for roughly $10-20/year to cover costs of fertilizer which is clever. Small children’s books are loved. Edges of the gardens often have fences with pretty passion flowers, herbs, and grapes on them to produce 1,000-2,000 lb/year on average. Some gardens are doing closer to 5,000-8,000 lb/year, but that’s the exception. It is nice...
July 4th weekend went great in downtown Raleigh. Grills were popping chicken and burgers. Epic fireworks. The city did an excellent job organizing events and managing traffic. Neighbors smiling and people being happy everywhere. A gentle feeling of mercy and goodwill wandering around. What a nice experience. Hope you had a great time and are blessed too. If you missed it, no worries, most sales are still going. 250 years...wow. Being an American can be complicated like adulting or marriage as no place or person is perfect so the good moments are worth remembering and sharing. Need to go watch the Young Washington movie that’s getting all the positive buzz too. Good job everyone who worked so hard to pull this nationwide event off. You did good people. Speaking of good things, the new raised beds in the backyard garden have become a cat magnet as trying to Tetris a layout now that they’re done before starting to repaint the shop. If you’ve ever seen a cat and cardboard box before, raised beds are the next...
Last night, I literally watched a wild owl swoop down and snatch a squirrel right outside the window. I'm talking full-on nature documentary moment—and got to witness it live. Absolutely wild. This week, I'm dropping the first video in a 5-part YouTube class series (https://youtu.be/DE8zSTIHyVg) on making linen embroidered quilts. Perfect timing if you're thinking about creating something cool for the Fall Harvest Festival or Sukkot at the end of September. Consider it your warm-up lap before the big September 29th Linen Swap (6:30–8:30 PM). Here's the thing: I've been all-in on linen for the past couple years—wearing it, sleeping on it, the whole deal. And honestly? Game changer. My favorite creation is the linen quilt (I've made a few for friends...
