Tattoos and plant-pot makers

   It has been a good weekend so far.  I did this yesterday:

Today it looks awful--scabby and red.  But it will settle down and be wonderful.  The quote is from Mary Oliver's poem "The Summer Day," which you can read here: http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/133.html

The art is a joint effort between me and my tattoo artist.  I wanted a bouquet of rosemary (for remembrance) and sage (for wisdom) but the kind of fine detail necessary would have been a real challenge for the spot on my arm that I wanted the tattoo.  We opted instead for a hybrid of the two--grafted them together, if you will--and I love how his drawing came out kind of folk-arty.  My husband has taken to calling it a Rage plant. One of the many reasons I love my husband: his sense of humor.

This morning, I did this:

 

 

 I planted onions and scallions again, along with a first planting of red cabbage, Chinese cabbage, three kinds of kale, parsley, and cilantro. 

Seed-starting is definitely an act of hope these days.  The weather remains atrocious, with single, taunting lovely days, and then strings of gray and cold ones.  We're forecast more snow this coming week.  I may just crawl under the grow lights on my seed-starting stand.  I could use some consistently sunny and warm(ish) days.

I also played with a new toy today.

 

It's a plant-pot maker!  It makes very tiny seed-starting pots out of newspaper strips.  I've made these a little taller, in the hopes that the extra inch at the top will act like a collar when I plant the pots in the ground.  The collar can then deter cutworms from taking out my poor seedlings at ground level.  I think I'll use these for a few tomato seedlings, and maybe some carrots.  They seem ideal for carrots, because carrots resent transplanting.  This way, I don't have to disturb them at all--just stick the pot in the ground, and the newspaper will degrade.  I might tear some holes in the bottom of the pots, so the carrots can push on through.  Not sure yet, as this will be my first year growing them.  I might just follow directions, and seed the carrots straight into the ground.

While I wait for this year's growing season to get going, I'm using up the goodies from last year.  This week, I used some of my green tomato salsa to make a layered Mexican-style lasagna.  Tortillas instead of lasagna noodles, a layer of smooshed black beans and cheese, and a layer of ground beef and spinach, spiced up with chili powder and cumin.  Just the kind of gooey-ness the doctor ordered for cloudy skies.

 

Here's a link for the salsa: http://www.farmgirlfare.com/2005/09/saving-harvest-green-tomato-relish.html