Normally in the winter months, the rainy season in SoCal, I have the gray water diverer on the washer machine in the off position so it will empty to the sewer, not the garden. Southern California usually gets plenty of rain to take care of the landscape until late March or April. This year is the earliest we have had to switch back to using grey water, since first using it back in 2007. We have had next to nothing…
With the house being closed up so much in the winter months, it can smell stale or sometimes even worse, like our big dog has been in the house all day. However, I refuse to use chemical aerosol air fresheners. I know too many people that are sensitive to fragrance chemicals, and it may aggravate asthma or migraines. Twenty years ago, my husband showed me a really easy way to freshen the indoor air in the winter and fall. The…
Once a jar of homemade jelly or jam is opened, reusing the same metal lid and ring that was used to can it can be difficult and messy. When my neighbor first starting teaching me to can a couple of summers ago, she asked if I had any storage caps or lids, and when I told her “no” she mentioned where I could buy the reusable lids at the best price locally, along with some of the other canning stuff…
This past growing season, despite the fact we only had a half dozen male flowers on the Kiwi vines, we still had a bountiful crop of Vincent Kiwis, way more than the previous year when we only had two male flowers for cross pollination. Since we are limited on our cold storage space here at Hanbury House, rather than completely harvest all the fruit at once this year, I decided to let the fruit continue to hang on the vines,…
We have a really pretty lemonade jar; the only problem is, it leaks. I have tried a few different things to deal with the leak, but eventually, it ended up stored hidden away in the cupboard and unused. Rather than discard it, I decided this afternoon to make it into a homemade terrarium. Here are the photos of making it… Read more of my craft ideas here.
Every year the ladies on my block get together for large Christmas/ Hanukkah dinner party. I was signed up to bring fruit to the party, and I decided to make something different than just run of the mill fruit salad. In the past, I have always brought a giant floral table center piece to the same party, but I didn’t bother to volunteer to make one this year, mainly because dinner was going to be buffet style this time around….
Happy Thanksgiving from Hanbury House! One of my favorite things about having a garden and growing my own organic flowers is sharing them in floral arrangements with the folks I love and care about. This year, my daughter, B wanted to help make our arrangement to take to Nana’s house, so I decided something more kid friendly was called for. We still had a left over unused pumpkin from Halloween out on the front porch that I figured would make…
Short answer: Just use an electric citrus juicer. My overly detailed, way too long response to the same dilemma: Although we have a young “Sweet” Pomegranate tree, sadly it is still too small to produce much fruit. However, my husband has a friend at work with an established “Wonderful” pomegranate tree that had a giant bumper crop this year. We often share our organic bantam eggs and homemade jelly with his friend, and recently he has been giving us lots…
For more than a decade I had wanted a retro style 1950s dining table and chairs set in perfect condition that would fit into our mid century home. Eventually I settled on reupholstering an old set from the 1940s.
When I am not being a home maker/ gardener/ etc., on the side I am a decorative painter. Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to do a simple word mural for an 8th grade girl. Although I particularly like painting for younger kids because of all the creative possibilities, it was still a pleasure creating this one. Brianna choose her favorite phrase in a font that she likes to go over the window in her purple bedroom: “Live, Love,…