Art photos

Talia, and Pepe have asked to see pictures of my drawings which I so very much enjoy doing.
 Here they are:

What is wrong with this drawing?

How did I get the depth in this drawing?

Culinary herbs in our garden

Scot asked what herbs I dry, and this got me to write this post

Basil grows in the summer and is delicious fresh with tomatoes. I also make pesto and freeze some jars for the winter. On some years it will re-seed itself. By 2014 we grow four varieties: Holy, Genovese, Purple and Thai or Lime.
Cilantro, dill and parsley re-seed themselves and are available fall, winter and spring. Parsley will make it through summer under the shade of another plant, but eventually the butterflies find it to lay their eggs and the precious Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars eat the leaves. I collect and spread cilantro, dill and parsley seeds all over the garden, this spring we have a beautiful cilantro patch in the west area under the deck.

cilantro in full bloom, too bad you don't get the smell just watching the photo! Japanese persimmon in back 

Celery - I started seeds in Wallace 3 years ago, and it re-seeds itself, I always find bunches here and there in the garden. It doesn't grow thick like the ones at the store (too warm in Alabama), it behaves like a parsley plant.
Fennel - I got a plant from Charlene at Wallace in 2011, the leaves look like dill and taste like licorice. It seems to thrive year round.
Lemon Balm and Mint also grow year round with only morning sun and by keeping them moist in the summer. They thrive in spring and fall.
Oregano grows year round but Alden and I prefer it dry.
Stevia goes dormant after the first frost and comes back early in spring;  I use it fresh in spring, summer and fall and dry leaves in the winter mainly to sweeten teas. I grow it with a cage to let the stalks grow 4 feet long, it is easier to dry this way.

Horseradish - Scot gave us a plant on 5/10/13 we shall see what it does! planted too late, after the first frost I pulled out the roots and they were few and small, so I replanted them. In 2014 it is thriving!
Hibiscus although not strictly an herb I grew it in 2012 to use the flower petals that we dry to make Jamaica tea year round. I loved growing it and it was beautiful, the flowers were loved by hummingbirds and it was easy to dry and save seeds. Continue to start from seed in the spring, 2013, 2014.
Turmeric Sara just gave some roots in May 2013, it made quite a few by the first frost, I filled a pint jar to lacto-ferment.
Ginger also a root, during the winter and spring I grow it in a ceramic pot indoors; in summer I plant some outdoors and harvest by the first frost.

In summary we only dry oregano and stevia; the rest of the herbs are available when their taste is at its best!
This year 2013 I may try drying turmeric to make powder... we shall see! I didn't instead I lacto-fermented the turmeric.

Pond

On February 20, 2013 Gregg Jones came to dig the pond.
It is located north of the house and  future barn.
Alden estimates the pond holds about 40,000 gallons of water. It measures approximately 35 feet long by 25 feet wide plus the discharge tail.

Gregg Jones is inside the cabin

Pipeline from green tanks to pond

Helping compress the soil

Alden compressing soil around pipe

Pipe to the green tanks, took a picture before it gets covered by water

By late April the frogs found the pond, we hear the neatest croaking in the evenings; I'd like to see what they look like.

Sunday April 28 it rained 3 inches and the pond filled up. The following weekend after 2" of rain it began to overflow.

Full pond by May 4 after 2" rain

Overflow

By the end of June we have had frequent rain  and the pond has stayed pretty full. Alden walked in the pond mid June, we estimate it is 4 1/2 feet deep at the lowest point; he noticed it is filled with tadpoles. At night we hear many frogs croak, its is beautiful.

House: deep cleaning in Spring and Fall

It deserves a post!
Twice a year we blow our house. Its the house Vipassana, the opportunity to remove deep pockets of dust from under the furniture, the washing machine, behind book cases or books... where spiders like to knit their webs to catch insects; we also blow away, from high window sills, hundreds of lady bug corpses and other occasional bugs that fly inside during the winter - lady bugs seemed to multiply, I tried to catch as many as possible in a bag and free them in the garden as soon as the weather warms up.
Today 4/21/13 on a sunny day, at 75 F, with lots of solar power, and after the pine pollen has mellowed down,  we went for it... Alden, usually in charge of the blower from the vacuum cleaner, was really moving. I went ahead or behind moving furniture, sweeping, dusting the furniture and shelves and mopping at the end. I must confess we only mop all the wood floors a few times a year, after spring and fall deep cleanings and when Talia or Daniel come to visit. From now on also when Cassandra comes to visit since she is living in Phoenix; with Ryan and Melissa its different I vacuum after they leave because both their cats really leave fur behind.

After an hour and a half the house feels light, spacious, silent and clean!

Alden blowing, notice dust spots!

Picture from above the closet, the mattress is leaning on closet door

Maricarmen... mopping away

Cleaning the house in this manner is fun and unusual. In Guadalajara a lady used to come to clean and mop our house once a week. I must say Alden designed and built an easy to clean house. We do dust and sweep on a weekly basis,  our house is always spotless. Its easy to keep up! This compensates for the time we spend on maintenance and garden.