ghost plant babies

The ghost plant I got around Christmas lost a number of leaves when I moved it.  I was worried at first, but it was a blessing in disguise as I now have a bunch of ghost plant babies!

 

katiejobphoto

artist trading cards

I love snail mail and I also love arts and crafts!  When I  was about 16 years old I discovered the ultimate combination of both these passions: Artist Trading Cards (ATCs).  Artists from around the world make cards about the same size as baseball cards (21/2 X 31/2) with a variety of themes and in a vast range of mediums.  They then find swap partners online at sites like ATCsforAll (my personal favourite) and mail their cards out, waiting anxiously to receive their partner's card in return.  

I don't know which part I love more: the alluring mystery of creating things with my own hands only to ship them off to a complete stranger or the anticipation of an equally interesting piece of craft-work that will soon arrive in the mail.  The best part is probably opening the mailbox and finding something has finally arrived!  I spent all day today making ATCs but my camera battery is dead so these are a few samples of some ATCs I made a while ago.

morning glory update

The first morning glory seedling came up today!  It's been a while, and there's no sign of any others.  The bathroom windowsill where I'm trying to grow them is fairly cool so I don't think the rest are going to germinate just yet.  I'm going to add a few more and try again on the bedroom ledge which is much closer to the windowsill, should provide more bottom heat.

katiejobphoto

Funny that they come up with the seed coat still attached to the cotyledons!  Reminds me of trying to get a sleeping bag into/out of a compression sac haha :)  I'm so impatient to see the leaves (and eventually flowers)!!

green juice

I have been feeling pretty immunodeficient and it was my first day back to school so I figured I'd boost myself with a great green juice.  I purposefully didn't post a picture cause I think it would deter most people - it looks like swampjuice... I had candy stripe beets from the market, thinking they would make it prettier, no just made it swampier!  It has to be done with a juicer (not a blender) as the leaves just get mushy and gross in a blender - trust me, I tried it out! 

Leafy Green Goddess Juice
-8 fresh spinach leaves
-2 kale leaves
-1 beet, top intact
-2 stalks celery
-1 apple

mealybug

My poor jade cuttings have mealybugs :(  I tried alcohol and cotton swabs, then neem oil but its just on a few jade cuttings and I don't want it to spread so unfortunately it think its curtains for these ones.  I don't want them in my other plants!  I think I'm also going to wash all my plastic pots again too, I just can't bring myself to throw them all out.

katiejobphoto

houseplants

Today's theme is: houseplants!  I got this "Ghost Plant" (Graptopetalum paraguayense) at the school greenhouse for some colour variation in my succulent bowl but its actually turned out quite green instead of the promised rosy grey.  And a beautifully prolific "Bolivian Jew" (Callisia repens), also known by its much cuter name "Turtle Vine".  It's growing beautifully in this window and you can practically tear off handfulls of it to pot up!  I'd like to see how it does on the balcony as trailer in planters this summer, I'm sure it'll last until then.

seeds

My Morning Glory seeds have finally arrived after weeks and weeks and weeks!  I can't wait to get them germinating and see if they'll grow in the sliding door window.  If not there should still be lots of seeds leftover to cover the billboard once spring rolls around.  And who knows what fun we might have with them in the meantime??

UPDATE:  they're soaking to remove the seed coat... next step: germination!  They look like little eggs hatching...

pizza

Camden and I made pizza tonight on the pizza crisper we stole borrowed from my parents.  My food photography isn't so great but I plan to work on that this year.  I'd love to do something like falling cloudberries someday!  The pizza turned out great: whole wheat crust, leftover pasta sauce, broccoli, onions, feta and mozzarella... mmmmmmm and I also made great cheezy toast to go with baba ghannouj from the market :) which I still think must be too good to be true! 3x a week all year round, 2 blocks from my house!!

chair fix

On Halloween, Vince and I found a rad chair in nearly mint condition on the side of the road! Alas, less than two hours after bringing it home... Tori was diggin her heels into it, making  two holes in the seat! Quick fix with a large sticker that matches the walls and the chair is good as new as well as brings the room together :)

 

pear-pom

I got a juicer for christmas so I was looking up recipes with ground clove to help Camden's teeth and I came across this tasty juice...
Very versatile as it can be served hot or cold!

PEAR|POM

1/2 a pomegranate

1 pear (I used Chinese Apple-Pears)

1 orange

pinch of ground clove