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The holiday season is upon us and to get in the mood, I love looking at cool alternative, attractive and simple decorations, made using natural or repurposed materials…Enjoy
N A T U R A L C O T T O N W R E A T H
S T I C K S S T A R S C A N D L E S
I T ‘ S C H R I S T M A S
D R I E D O R A N G E P E E LS AND C A N D L E S
Caitlin Wylde doesn’t only make the most gorgeous flags and tepees but she is a scavenger like I am of nature’s treasures: feathers, stones, twine, wood, seaweed, pods…I have collected loads of these over the years, and at my house, I keep all my treasures in large glass vases, wooden bowls, trays, shelves, etc. The artist Caitlin Wylde, based in Los Angeles California, who’s work is featured below, uses her finds in montages, where all the bits and pieces are carefully arranged in a certain order and nothing feels wasted.
Recently, I read a few tips about growing Pomegranates you may or may not know already:
*add rock salt to the soil every once in a while to sweeten the fruit
*to keep the birds and squirrels from eating all the pomegranates off the tree, secure brown paper bags around each fruit
*the fruit is ready to pick when it splits open
and
*this is how I collect the seeds and it works really well: put the fruit in a large bowl of water, slice it in half while it’s submerged, and remove the seeds from the rind. When you are done, just pour the seeds through a strainer. I love to eat the seeds as is, or add them to a green salad. Either way, they are delicious 
How to have a small garden that cost you very little to get started: by saving the seeds, fruit stones and pits/pips from the fruit you eat and germinating them on your windowsill or terrace.
Seeds: Apple, Pear, Grape, Lemon and Tangerine will germinate quickly. You can do this either by placing the seeds on a piece of moist cotton wool on a plate, making sure that you keep it damp. When they have sprouted, plant ½” deep in a pot with soil. The other way is to plant the seeds straight in the soil in a pot. When any of these seedlings are 3″ high, fertilize them with organic fertilizer.
Fruit Stones: Mango, Cherry, Plum, Peach and Nectarine take longer to germinate. Plant these in moist sand about 3″ deep. When leaves appear, repot the seedling in a deeper pot full of soil. Each stone gives up one seedling, and when they are 5″ high, remove the first bud that appears, which will make the seedling branch out.
Other: A Chestnut can be planted straight in a pot full of soil. The germination is slow, and the seedling grows very slowly as well but your patience will pay off as the result is excellent.
Leaves: Chose a Pineapple with healthy green leaves. Cut off the top of the pineapple, leaving 1″ of the fruit. Plant it directly in a pot full of soil, with the leaves on top of the soil and they will start to grow.
Avocado: To sprout the seed: insert several toothpicks into the sides of the seed. They should be placed about halfway up the pit. Then suspend the seed in a glass of water. The bottom one fourth of the seed should rest in water.
The seed should sprout within a few weeks. During this time, periodically add water to maintain the initial water level. If it doesn’t sprout within 2 to 3 months, discard the original avocado and begin another. The roots are usually the first to emerge from the seed. The stem appears later. Pot the seedling when the root system has become well developed; the roots should be at least 2 to 3 inches long.
Remove the toothpicks and plant into a 6 to 8 inch pot of soil. Position the seed in the center of the pot. The top of the seed should be level with the soil surface. After potting, water thoroughly, then place the plant in a brightly lit location. Water the plant regularly. Keep the soil moist, but not wet. Fertilize once or twice a month during the spring and summer with a houseplant fertilizer. Avocado plants grow rapidly!
U.K. based Katherine Hamnett is one of my heroes. When I used to spend more time in England back in the 1980′s, Katherine Hamnett’s social activism was in the news all the time. She wasn’t afraid to speak up about issues that were important to her, using her line of hip t-shirts as a way to spread her message. Her slogan t-shirts became part of a movement to affect change. She was a humanitarian and pacifist before I knew you I was one too.
I love that she manufactures her own line of clothing just so she can be as ethical & and environmentally responsible as possible, which also includes a line of ethically & environmentally mined gold and diamond jewellery.
Her humanitarian works extends into Africa, where she has championed farmers to trade their way out of poverty by encouraging them to grow cotton organically which has in turn made these farmers so much healthier as well.
Katherine Hamnett is a true inspiration to us all and may her messages of peace and love spread across the world.
BUY ORGANIC COTTON
LOVE IS ALL THAT MATTERS
YOUR VOTE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD FOR THE BETTER
The amazing and gorgeous Katherine Hamnett
It was overcast and cool this morning, which was perfect for walking through the Fleamarket, a surprisingly great place to be Eco. Recycling, repurposing and reusing is what a Fleamarket is all about I saw many fabulous things that either I don’t need or have room for but I didn’t go home empty handed…Here are some of things I liked and may or may not have bought:
C O R A L F A N
C U R I O U S W O V E N F I S H T R A P
W I L D a n d C O L O R F U L F L A T M E T A L L E T T E R S
S O V E R Y A T T R A C T I V E O L I V E P I C K I N G B U C K E T S
A N T L E R S F O U N D I N T H E W O O D S…these make great natural bones for dogs to chew on but have them cut to size first
V I N T A G E G L A S S B O T T L E S …I have used these same ones as candlesticks or vase for a single beautiful peony
and I bought the Fish Trap and I love it in my garden
“At the moment we see something beautiful, we undergo a radical decentering. We willingly cede our ground to the thing that stands before us.” -Elaine Scarry, On Beauty and Being Just
The perfect quote for the beginning of Don Freeman’s book of photographs of Ted Muehling’s world. I love these images!
Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved collecting flower seeds. I used to spend hours in the summer trolling through my grandmother Pauline Woolworth’s rock gardens and English garden at our place in Maine, collecting dried seed pods. When I became a mother, and my daughters were a few years old, I took them foraging for lupines, columbines and forget-me-not’s which the girls sprinkled everywhere they walked.
Today, my garden is peaking with cosmos, sunflowers, marigolds, zinnias and poppies. The flowers are fading, leaving behind beautiful seed pods ready to be harvested. I have to dry them for a few days on some newspaper, out of the sun, before I store them away until next year.
C O S M O S S E E D S
M A R I G O L D S E E D S
Z I N N I A S E E D S
My artist friend Rebecca who lives in France gave me some brilliant advice this week on a great way to save water. It’s so easy, I can’t believe I didn’t think of it myself: put a watering can in your shower. It will fill up in no time with water that no longer is wasted down the drain, which you can then reuse in your garden. This is especially good for me because my shower takes 30 seconds at least to warm up and all that water has been pouring down the drain, gone gone gone forever…
I use all natural organic soap in my shower which will not harm the plants if some of it gets into the watering can.
This morning, I used the watering can again and also a bucket and I collected so much water
This water saving trick works best in a large shower. I wouldn’t do it in a shower + bathtub combination because there isn’t enough room. Safety first.
I have been asked many times what are my favorite books. Here is the short list. I’m sure I left a few out and I’ll remember them in the middle of the night. I also included a few that I loved when I lived in France when I was younger. Marcel Pagnol is a particular favorite of mine.
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Just kids by Patti Smith
Interpreter of the Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Family Life by Elisabeth Luard
The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald
Infidel by Ayaan Hirso Ali
Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck
The Liars Club by Mary Karr
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
The Good Earth by Pearl S.Buck
Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl
The Painted Veil by W.Somerset Maugham
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Mountains beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
Essays of E.B. White by E.B. White
The Rose of Tibet by Lionel Davidson
The Best Stories of Guy de Maupassant
And for some books in french…
Le Chateau de Ma Mere by Marcel Pagnol
La Gloire de Mon Pere by Marcel Pagnol
Le Temps des Secrets by Marcel Pagnol
Le Schpountz by Marcel Pagnol
Lettres de Mon Moulin by Alphonse Daudet
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