mother earth sister fox

 Start as you mean to go on… And in my case, just start!  It’s now 2024, and my last post is from 2020.  I wish I had documented little things over these years. It would be amazing to look back on now.  This spring I have been working on removing invasive plants from around my house.  Recently I have been tackling a big thicket of multiflora  rose- which my housemate, Elyse, called “evil rose” with much feeling. Multiflora rose is invasive, spreading prolifically and unhelpfully crowding out native plants. It is also really thorny and annoying. When the long canes touch the ground they root and send out new shoots. It's a mess.  Multiflora rose is native to Korea, Japan, and China.  Unfortunately I don’t have before and after photos- just a half-way-through photo.  Although the picture above is in my backyard my bigger concern is the woods. There are branbles growing everywhere in the woods. Mostly multiflora rose and wine berries. This year ...

 Last week I checked The Cozy Minimalist Home  by Myquillyn Smith out of the library. I wanted to see if it was the kind of book I could buy my good friend, Danielle, for Christmas. In the process of deciding, I read it cover to cover.  I was at Danielle's house a few weeks ago, she has stacks of books. Some from the library, but mostly her own. I found a library book,  Remodelista by Julie Carlson, on the top of a pile. I was intrigued, so of course I checked a copy out of my library, too.  Let's contrast for a minute - Remodelista is very clearly a plastic avoiding book. There is a sustainability edge to it that I really appreciate. In the Cozy Minimalist Home , Myquillyn doesn't really mention suitability or green living at all. Myquillyn does suggest spending more on pieces that you will keep for a long time - which I think is a step in the right direction. However, she did spent much of the book lamenting her old ways of thrifting and finding good deals (...

Recently, my good friend, Danielle, gave me a book called Simple Cake by Odette Williams . It was published earlier this year by Ten Speed Press. It is a lovely compilation of recipes and photographs. I have read the book, although I have not actually made anything yet, I have my eye on OW's Lovely Lemon Yogurt Cake for a birthday coming up. One of the inspirational things about this book is that although it only has ten cake recipes and recipes for fifteen toppings, the book has a lot of suggested variations and ideas embedded in the pages. Then there are thirty examples of how to combine the cakes and toppings for all occasions. The book encourages simplicity and creativity. Two things I love. I already feel inspired to make some of my next cakes in unusual pans. OW calls for 6 inch spring-form pans (which look really cute), loaf pans, and bundt pans. A little out of my 2 nine inch cake pan comfort zone, but I'll give it a try! I was excited earlier while looking at the...