Etsy Mini

Thursday, March 12, 2009

My Maui Plants


Today was a good day, but not a very productive day. I had planned to take pictures for my Etsy shop, but after a long overseas skype call with my best friend I was a little behind. By the time 2 pm rolled around I was still in my pjs watching Rick Steves travel around southern France. All the while I was eating half a bag of chips and excitedly explaining to the cat that I had been to that city before and "oh oh...I ate at that cafe." The cat finally got sick of me and went to take a nap in the other room.

Fast forward a few hours and I'm getting ready to meet my sister and a friend for happy hour, I reached for the lotion I bought last year in Maui when I went to visit my cousin for spring break. It is some cheap plumeria lotion from the ABC stores that are so prolific on Hawaii. I love the way it smells. Everyone else who smells it, thinks it is overbearing and too flowery. Too flowery, is there such a thing? It's plumeria, what's not to love? I know you are wondering how I am going to tie this into plants, don't worry I'm almost there.

Maui was exactly what I needed last year. It allowed me to get through my last quarter of school without having a mental breakdown. I'll spare you the walk down memory lane except to say I also scored some awesome plants while I was there. At another ABC store I bought one of those plumeria sticks in the bag and amazingly after some TLC and some sunshine it bloomed (see picture above). My other Maui pride and joy is one of those plants that's fused to a lava rock. I should know what its called, but I don't. I love it though and somehow it is actually pretty happy living in Oregon. It lives in salsa dish my mom gave me for hosting parties. It seems to like it and I don't plan on hosting any salsa parties in the near future so it's a win win.
I'm all out of lotion now. Unless the plumeria stick starts producing flowers, I'm going to have go buy a new bottle. This would be a lot easier if we had a local ABC store in downtown Portland.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Sweet Potato and Ginger Houseplants

A few weeks ago I was getting really ancy for spring, but it was still too early to start anything. So I went online and searched for indoor projects. That's how I stumbled apon sweet potato plants. I had no idea you could grow a sweet potato indoors. It just so happened I had a sweet potato, so I stuck some toothpicks in it and suspeneded it in a big glass of water. It took a while, but roots started forming and then a little tiny purple bud started. Supposedly, it was going to produce long purple vines.

While I was waititng for the sweet potato I also discovered you could grow ginger inside. I love ginger root, so I went to the store and bought a few roots. The first root I suspended in water just like the sweet potato. The second one I planted in a little pot and put it in a south facing window. The third one I skinned, diced up and put in the freezer. You never know when you are going to need a little ginger for a recipe or tea for an upset tummy. I wanted to see which one of the first two were going to sprout first. The competition between the two gingers was on, but niether one seemed all that competitive and they have been taking their sweet time.

Well, over the last week or so the sweet potato has taken off. The root system is incredible and it has little purple and green leaves (see picture below). It probably wants to be planted, but I haven't decided exactly what I want to do with it yet. I can put it in a pot and keep it as a houseplant or I plant it outside in the garden and cross my fingers it will make more delicious sweet potatoes. I LOVE sweet potatoes, but I also LOVE houseplants especially ones I grew myself. To help with this decision I went out and bought a whole bunch more sweet potatoes. Actually, I don't think it's helping at all. Now I just have more options and feel even more confused. I think I am going to give myself another week to decide and see what it does.
The ginger competition is pretty uneventful. Both gingers got little nobs on them, but other than that nothing. As the sole judge and only person who really cares. I am going to say the one in the jar is winning. It's nobs are starting to turn green. That must be a sign of something.
If you want to try this at home or just find out more you can search these topics on ehow.com , it's where I got all my top secret plant information.


Monday, March 9, 2009

Preparing for Spring

Yesterday we sprang forward into spring. I smiled the whole time I reset all the clocks in the apartment. Spring is really coming. The weather here is still trying to convince us otherwise though. This morning we woke to snow. It didn't really stick, but still, snow in march...what is mother nature thinking? Probably, something along the lines of, "if you don't care about me, why should I care about you?"

Anyway, I am ready for spring and I will continue to prepare even if the weather refuses to cooperate. Nate and I went and bought seeds yesterday for the garden. We went a little crazy. I just can't control myself in garden stores. Luckily, Nate knew the manager and we got a pretty good deal. We bought arugula, lettuce, carrots, corn, onions, cilantro, more tomatoes, green beans, and a few things I forgot. Of course we had to get some cat grass and cat nip for the little gray beast. I am hoping she will be satisfied with those and leave the rest of the house plants and starts alone. It's a long shot.

This afternoon there was a little mix up with the community garden plots and we almost had to give ours up, but it all worked out in the end. We are going to view it and sign the contract tomorrow. I'm very excited! I feel like I live the whole year for spring. There is just something really life affirming about watching seeds wake up from their winter sleep and become plants. Watching a garden take shape is one of my favorite things in the whole world. Now that I bought my seeds and will soon have my garden plot, I feel like spring is only a breathe away.

That makes bundling up to go outside a little easier. Honestly, though I could do without all the snow and hail.

PS I will try to take some pictures of the plot tomorrow, so you can see what exactly it is I have to work with.

Friday, March 6, 2009

A Blog is Born

Well, it seems that part of entering adulthood is getting a your very own personal blog. So I thought now might be a good time to become a women and get rid of my myspace page and get a blog instead. I'm still working on getting rid of the myspace. It's harder than it seems. Also, I just opened a shop on Etsy.com under the name WillowLily (hint hint go check it out). It's brand new hardly has anything in it yet, but I am hoping that changes in the very near future. I was having photo cropping problems, but thanks to Antoine my best friend's French husband (her American husband isn't as helpful, stupid americans) that is under control. So now it is just a question of making the time to get everything listed. I'm a terrible procratinator. I swear it is getting worse with age. Anyway, back to why I am starting a blog. I thought it might be a good place to put all the information I hoard about gardening, crafting, cooking (ok not so much this), and all my other passions and projects I manically fall in love with on a daily basis. Plus, it is one more thing to force my friends and family to read and act excited about.