analog me

How to Make a Terrarium

Today I have a guest blogger, my son Marco of the eponymous Marco's Terrariums-- a thriving local business. I wrote about his terrariums earlier and today he made a tutorial.

 

Terrarium DIY

    Today we are going to make a terrarium, first assemble all your supplies.

1.Glass jar or container with a lid and thin walls or sides: The thin sides allow you to look in at your terrarium better. 

Find a container that’s large enough to allow ferns to grow and still leave a small amount of space at the top and sides. 

And find a container with a large mouth so you can stick your hand in it to build your terrarium—although I have also used smaller-mouth jars and chopsticks to make miniature terrariums.
2. Pebbles or grit: This will serve as your water drainage at the bottom of the terrarium. I typically put in about a 1/2 to 1 full inch of pebbles or traction grit.

3. Activated charcoal This cleans and purifies the water you add to the terrarium. You cannot use charcoal briquets like you use in a cooking grill. I put a thin layer over the gravel: about 1/4 cup.

4. Potting soil: You need to use seed starting soil, which is semi-sterile. Do not use soil from your garden or backyard, because it has microscopic bugs and molds that can ruin your terrarium. I like to put the soil in my terrarium in small hills to make it look like a real forest floor. I put in soil about 1 to 3 inches deep.

5.Moss: This is the figurehead of your terrarium operation. You can use pretty much any type of moss you can find, but do not use mosses that self-compost, such as sphagnum mosses: the easy way to spot these is to look on the bottom of the moss for any dead leaves or other dead things that are composting instead of roots. I look for moss in my backyard, under pine trees, and on wet spaces in the ground. Don't collect from the wild. Sometimes we buy moss from Moss Acres.

5.Ferns: All of the other plants I put in my terrariums are ferns or spleenworts. I look for small ferns that are slow growers and that won’t grow out of the top of my terrarium.

Steps to making your terrarium

                                        1.Put in gravel (1/2 to 1 full inch). 

 

                                    2.Add charcoal (about 1/4 cup)

3.drop in dirt (1 to 3 inches deep), and make a hill-like shape out of it inside your terrarium.

4.add the moss and ferns (other non-roting objects like clay or special rocks.)

5.Water the roots of the plants and add lid.

6. Find a good place for your terrarium.

Terrarium Placement and Care:

Place your terrarium in indirect or filtered sunlight. If it’s in a full sunlight, it will grow too fast and/or bake. Think about the real forest and the light there: This will help you in finding a good place for your terrarium to grow. They do need some light.

Cycles of condensation and evaporation are normal inside your terrarium as it warms up during the day and cools during the night. If there’s too much condensation, though, I take the lid off for an hour or a little less, but you have to make certain to put it back on or the terrarium will quickly dry out and die.

I water my terrariums about once every three months with an eyedropper, that’s all the water it needs! Don’t put much water in—just a little bit. You will know if it needs water if the terrarium looks or smells dry.

Enjoy your terrarium(s)!

Fresh Snow and a Vintage Find

We just got another foot of snow. Headlines read "UNCLE !", and ALL small talk disses the white fluffy stuff. 

The City of Minneapolis has a 7 million dollar annual budget for snow removal, yet many of the streets are down to one lane of rutted traffic, the school bus was 1/2 hour late yesterday, and my husband's bike paths are unplowed. Driving the kids to school (2 separate schedules ) is like participating in a Rally of Minneapolis. I skid around turns and plow through drifts ripping parts off the front of my car. If I stop I'm stuck, but the drifts at intersections are sometimes too high to see over--so driving is a game of chance. Car parts litter the tops of the snow piles, evidence of many losers in this game.

I admit, I love it.

Seriously, if this is the alternative,

Let's see, dirty, crusty heaps of melting slushy snow, or millions of glittering, sequins of hexagonal ice perfection--each one absolutely unique from all other snow flakes ever formed in the history of the earth? Pile on the fresh snow.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that when I stopped for some thrifting therapy after a trip to the dentist, I found an amazing vintage winter coat . 

 

One with a circular fur collar that seems to illuminate my face from below and can be turned up to block the wind. The cut  has amazing princess seams and an asymetrical closure (it's occurring to me that I have a thing for asymmetry) with fabric loops around little, spherical button balls. Oh yes, I love the color of the wool boucle.

Any guesses about the vintage? Late 1950s or 1960s?

It fits more perfectly than anything I have ever worn before. I want to wear this coat every day; Winter MUST NOT be over yet! 

 

 

 

Simple Mitts

I'm still stuck in the mittens rut. I keep picking up other projects and then go cast on another simple pair of mittens. I haven't always been this way. I used to do all sorts of elaborate two-color projects, but I seem to have reverted to novice status knitting. Part of my problem is that I am becoming more fixated on the yarn itself, and then I just want to make something so simple that it's all about the fiber--not the pattern. 

My hands have been cold and I had a precious skein of yarn, so I made a pair of fingerless mitts to wear inside. (Surprise: last year's pair turned into a singleton. (Is that not the leitmotif of this blog? )) This yarn is not very soft; it has some chaff in it; and it's a bit slubby. But it might be the most beautiful yarn I have ever knitted. Two plies, hand spun, single source Minnesota Shetland wool with a luminosity I haven't ever seen before. This yarn is bouncy and it GLOWS. See? It is a warm cream with a auburn halo.

Single source ? Yes, at the Tinshack Co. yarn store in Isle (south side of Mille Lacs) they have special bins of yarn, and each bin comes from a single sheep You can even check out at his or her portrait. My ball came from Jake. If wanted, I could even arrange to meet him. 

Thanks Jake, you're keeping my wrist warm while I type this. 

I source most of my clothes from the thrift store. The fibers have passed through countless hands and a couple owners before I wear them. When I stop to think about that. . . well, I like the idea of Jake in his field, and me. 

PROGRESS !

A is for ACRONYMS

I feel a bit humbled by the amazing response to the B.W.GROEAT-WAC acronym madness. There I was going on about laundry and cured meat, while readers were essentializing their higher aspirations into pithy acronym-worthy mission-statements. 

Interestingly there was definitely a theme that unites us: PROGRESS! (People Really Over Grabbing Rubbish, Excel at Simplification, Success!) (Okay, I admit that was a blatant Contrived Acronym-- a nasty form of Backronym favored by the U.S. government. Not only am I inspired by you all, I can even pronounce and easily remember many of the PROGR-themed words. When tempted to buy more fabric, I will murmur "UUWIAH" (Using UP What I Already Have). In fact, this acronym has the potential to become "uwiah" evolving from an acronym into a bona-fide word. At the thrift store I will look at an item and ask "DURNI ?" (Do U really need it ?) If this is not strong enough I will memorize  DBAMSEISH - TINOMM (Don't buy any more stuff even if second hand, there is no more money). It could even be embedded into an inspirational haiku.

Woman in thrift store asks
D.BAMSEISH - TINO 2M ?
A tree drops dead leaves.

The second theme (ESS!, Excel at Simplification, Success!) is represented by L.A.T.D. (Look At The Details)-- which might evolve to L.D., a sort of linguistic buddy to detail-oriented L.B. (Laundry Boy). Year Of Making A Body Of Work is an excellent and attainable goal -- and I think that chanting YOMABOW, could help one keep focus. Even myself?

SSDFTB (Streamline, Simplify, and Do Fewer Things Better) embraces both PROGR and ESS!. Could we change that to "Streamline, Less Accomplished Better"? I really think I need to keep this idea in the forefront of my consciousness and I could remember SLAB more easily. 

Did you know the internet has acronym generators for people too uninspired to waste hours doing it themselves? I plugged our top words into one and this is what it came up with: IHU (It Have Use.) WTF? Isn't that just sad ?

Or is it brilliant ? Could it be changed to "I Have. Use." and pronounced IHOO.

Some acronyms are just silly. The SNEE, for example and Jack's backronym. The silliest ever: COTLFAC (Casually on the lookout for a cow.) That's what happens when one reader acronyms another's comments. Brilliant new use of the internet, BTW. The funny part of this is that I am always in a state of COTLFAC, because my dear friend the Snee is a cow figurine collector. When I first read that Joy was coincidentally "on the lookout for a cow," I so surprised that one of my readers might be another cow collector to contend with in thrift stores and estate sales--then I remembered the freezer full of meat. BCE ! (Best comment ever!) 

Okay, winners ! I have already mailed Jack his swim suit, and the Snee is flying out for her pot roast. I will contact the rest of you via e-mail!

I'm sure you're dying to know how GRO is going. I sold about 70.00 worth of sewing patterns on EBay! I can now fit my patterns into one drawer. Unfortunately, I also bid on a sewing machine. . . It was a winning bid. DURNI? No, uuwiah. D.BAMSEISH - TINO 2M !!! IHU, SLAB. Still COTLFAC.

A Look Back, Some Random Acronyms and a Suprise Ending.

Sometimes when I'm feeling like a victim of Seasonal In-Effective Disorder (SIED), I like to motivate myself by looking back at my accomplishments just to assure myself that I do get things done now and again. These last few months haven't been very productive, so I thought I would look back to see what I was doing this time last year.

Another motivational idea comes from my ingenious husband. He feels that if household projects have Soviet-style 5-year Plans like: "The 5 year Plan for the Beautification and Re-Electrification of the Front Porch" or fitting acronyms it's much easier to get behind them. Today I am combining these methods to double the effect and giving a reward !

Apparently, January and February are my stasis months. This time last year I was researching pancetta recipes and making my own bacon. Not because I suddenly was excited about curing meat, but because my husband had just introduced the idea of saving money by buying meat in bulk. He purchased an entire pig and a cow from a friend of his and our freezer overflowed onto the front porch. Thus began Meat, Yes, We're Having It For Dinner Again or MYWHIFDA. In terms of progress we made great strides with WYWHIFDA: our household has consumed the entire porker and most of the beef. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

Last week I started thinking about how good that pancetta had been and I actually ordered a half a side of a pork belly and started a new batch using this recipe. If you like cured meat to spice up your winter cooking give it or this a try. Now, I'm thinking about corned beef. Women (and Men) For Midwinter Meat Curing or the unpronounceable W(M)FMWMC (mwoofmock?) is gaining traction, wanna join me?

You Too can make cured meats in the privacy of your own home!

What else was I doing? Oh, yes the laundry. I was a bit obsessed there for awhile, what with researching archaic forms of measurements to measure my GHLPO (Gross Household Laundry Processing Output or "Gulpo ) and ranting about it. Incredibly, I am still doing a lot of laundry, but there was a bit of a breakthrough on that front. My eldest son worked at a YMCA camp this summer and was only home from Saturday noon to Sunday morning. Knowing he couldn't trust me to get the job done that fast, he started doing it himself. AND--get this-- he discovered that (are you ready?): He "loves" doing laundry.

(I'll pause a minute while that sinks in.)

Not only that, but he has apparently visited some rather sketchy internet sites, because he has learned that socks should not be tumbled dry. That's right, those bushels of socks we go through each week, cannot go in the dryer, or at least his can't as he now is the founding (and only ?) member of Teens Opposed to Drying Socks in the Dryer or TODSID . As I can't even bother to sort the socks after they have been cleaned and dryed, I will never do it before said process and thus will not be joining the growing ranks of Moms Opposed to Sock Tumbling (MOST). So, you can guess who is now doing his own laundry. And since he loves laundry he can sometimes be found folding it while he watches YouTube. Double points for the internet!

What else am I thinking about now? The slightly longer days and brighter light on these bitter, cold days? Yes I was thinking about that last year too. That change of light usually leads me to feel that I should get to the bottom of my messy bedroom/sewing space. That means I tear it apart, make a gigantic mess, and then try to get rid of enough stuff so that I can fit everything back. Which means I am in the midst of another perennial household project "Get Rid Of" (GRO) --affectionately known as Grow. Has a nice ring to it, huh?

I think it might be time to celebrate all this progress and the cleaning of my room with a Blog give-away. Yes, I am joining the ranks of BWGROEAT-WAC that's Bloggers Who Get Rid Of Excess and Axe Tedium-While Attracting Comments.

Write a comment with your inspiring acronym or 5 year plan and tell me what you want. These are your choices: A grass-fed beef chuck roast (local pick-up only), a Japanese pattern book for women, a Japanese pattern book for girls and women,  a book of essays about knitting, or a vintage or (re-production) pattern. If you want a pattern tell me the decade you desire (1950s-1970s) and the desired chest size up to 38-40 inches inches. 

I'll keep the comments open for a week so you have time to think about it before I choose the winners ! If you don't win this time, I'm thinking of having a special skirt pattern BWGROAT later this month so stay tuned.