Did I Mention I Grew Sweet Potatoes....

Last year!?


We ate the two largest sweet potatoes, but the little finger sized ones got put in a box in the basement...why? Who knows, but they're still there.....

And reaching for the sky. Wonder if I let them go if I could make slips from them next year or if this is all just craziness. Thomas, see, this is why you wouldn't want all of those extra potatoes hanging around. ;)

The high school's first school newspaper came out today, which is always a big occasion. It was doubly exciting for me since they ran an article about the keychain project: Dare I say this is my 15 minutes of fame? How wonderful would it be if the parents and community get a hold of it and help support our Relay for Life team. I'm also hopeful to set up some booths at local elementary school fall festivals. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

The morning comes early. Sweet basement potato growing dreams.

Aiming to Please

****This is an update to today's earlier post****

Erin asked the difference in sizes of a wristlet an key fob. This below is my wristlet on 1 inch nylon webbing that I use daily. I thought the white would get so much dirtier than it has, but it's been great and even that little green smudge on there was fuzz from the couch. The wristlets are 10 inches in length before they're folded over.
Key fobs are half that size at 5 inches before folding over.
Here's a picture of a key fob in action! Nothing like an action shot to really bring life into the picture...okay, so keys are rather boring for photography, but this is the key fob the man uses for his daily keys.

Hopefully that helped!

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What started off as just a cancer awareness keychain operation has morphed into celebrating a myriad of causes near and dear to our hearts. I couldn't be happier. The suggestions we've had to this point have been invaluable, but the two from the last two days are extraordinary.

Erin, who is braving Earl at this moment, asked for ribbon to recognize our troops. I'm happy to say we now have the red white and blue ribbon that stands for the all inclusive "Support Our Troops."

I also found a better yellow than my original reflector tape yellow and double layered satin on grosgrain. The yellow ribbon signifies our anticipation of our soldier's homecoming with the phrase "Until they Come Home" which tears me up in pride and anxiousness.

I did some more shopping for Barbie from yesterdays Infant Loss Awareness ribbon and found this pink and blue ribbon to be bolder than the pale pink and blue of yesterday. I'll keep the original on the website regardless, but this key chain would be made to show blue on one half and pink on the other side and sewn with pink on the blue and blue on the pink.

It's not sewn down in the picture so it may look a bit strange here. I'll plan on having these three ribbons up by the end of the evening.

Keep the suggestions coming. There are tons of awareness ribbon colors and so few products for the supporters that I feel through these simple keychains we could provide some serious hope and comfort to others and raise money for a spectacular cause at the same time.

The morning comes early. Sweet dreams, everyone.

A Budding Picaso

There are certain rights of passage all children must go through. You must fall off of the bed. You have to slam your hand in the car door, and you will invariably get a hold of a pen when your mother isn't looking.
At least she confined it to her legs and belly.

Barbie from Barb's Blurbs commented on yesterday's post that I should look into ribbon for miscarriages, still birth, SIDS and general infant loss awareness. I took her up on her advice and did some research to find that their ribbon is a pale pink and blue mix. I couldn't find pre-made ribbon, so I made this one myself. You can't see it so well here, but it's satin ribbon, although I'll be looking for grosgrain soon, and stitched in alternating colors. The blue is stitched with pink and the pink is stitched with blue.

It's going on the Keychains for a Cause page tonight. They'll only be available on the 1.25 cotton webbing, but in both wristlet and key fob sizes. I hope they're able to provide someone, somewhere, with comfort.

Do you have any other suggestions of awareness ribbons/patterns you'd like to see offered?

The morning comes early. Sweet dreams.

We're Growing Again

Or at least the jalapeno peppers are! They're small by Erin's standards, but they only get about 4 hours of sun, so small jalapenos it is.

I've mentioned it before, but now that the weather has cooled considerably during the evenings, the jalapenos are blooming like crazy which makes me happy. The cucumbers look to have some leaf disease, so I'm not sure if I'll keep those in the ground or not. The peas and beans are climbing and the sweet potatoes grow vines faster than kudzu, I'm convinced. The broccoli is protesting coming up, but the cabbage is starting to get their first true leaves. Hopefully the fall garden will be productive and next summer's June will be more manageable.

I was, however, wondering when these suckers would show their ugly heads around here:
This small tomato horn worm was on my jalapeno plant. He promptly met his end in a cup of soapy water. I found another while I was picking the jalapenos above, but he was infected with the parasitic wasp eggs, so he got picked off the plant and escorted into the woods where he could die his nasty death just as happily as I pleased.

Want a gift for yourself or to give to someone else? I finished updating the Keychains for a Cause page today to include the wider, 1.25 inch cotton webbing available for the larger ribbons. I also added three **new ribbons** that haven't been introduced on the blog first and one fancy pants way of making an older ribbon stand out a bit more. Go check out the site. The first two people who leave a comment here, each stating a different ribbon that they think is a **new** one, will receive a free key fob of their choice. If you really want a wristlet instead and do a 'pretty please' happy dance I could do that instead.

The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.

Holy Mushrooms, Batman!

A routine trip to the garden yesterday turned into anything but routine. From one day to the next two monstrous mushrooms popped up out of nowhere. Take a look at this beast!
It's twin was close by, but it had obviously been descended upon by something looking for a snack, however since it seems like only one bite, I'm not so sure of its flavor rating.
It's hard to tell exactly how large these suckers are without something in there for perspective, so I placed my foot by the one that had been sampled.
That sucker could feed a small country, or at least the state of Rhode Island for a good two weeks. However, they quickly met their demise by the blades of the lawn mower shortly after the pictures were taken. As the man was mowing, he hit the jackpot and found a yellow jacket's nest and got stung three times. The welt on his arm is looking pretty bad and the entire back of his arm from his shoulder to elbow is involved. He did happen to move some old grass clippings out of the way and found some fat worms that he transplanted to the garden which was crazy-awesome.

On a Keychains for a Cause note, I just can't help myself! The suggestions keep rolling in and they're wonderful. One customer asked if the 7/8 inch ribbon could go on 1.25 inch webbing instead of the 1 inch in order to see the color of the webbing a bit more so....You've got it! The 1.25 webbing is cotton and all of the 7/8 ribbon can now either come on the 1 inch nylon or the 1.25 inch cotton. Here's one of the breast cancer ribbons on the new 1.25 inch webbing.

I also had a special order for monkeys and a few other ribbons and still have ribbon left, so I'll post those up there as available until they're gone. Below is the awesome monkey ribbon on the 1.25 cotton. I also have two monkeys sewed on pink webbing that I made as extras! Monkeys are awesome in any form, aren't they? The 1.25 inch webbing will be up on the website by tomorrow evening. Don't forget to stop by the Keychains for a Cause website and "like" and follow us on Facebook!

The morning comes early. Sweet mushroom madness dreams.

Taking One For The Team

I mentioned a few days ago about the squirrel or something of the like taking bites out of my eggplants. Honestly, I can't believe the eggplants are still producing as they stopped earlier this summer, but now that the nights are out of the 80's, they're flowering again. How they're getting energy, I have no idea. Every leaf is just as flee bitten as this one is:
Yet they keep producing and producing and it's the only plant that the beetles are attacking, so I'm leaving it and them be. The jalapenos right smack dab next to them, even touching them, are bug free and producing again as well now that the evenings have cooled.

They only get about 4 hours of sun and don't grow large and beautiful like others I've seen, but they're doing well enough for us and our needs which are minimal.

The second summer garden and the fall garden are coming along nicely. Pictures of those coming tomorrow!

The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.

Summer 2.0 and Fall Garden Progressing

Granted, most of this fall's garden is a summer garden repeated one more time, but what is there for fall is doing well.

The peas don't seem to be minding the heat too much, but some of the squares haven't sprouted and I think we may see some stress if they start flowering before the heat goes away.
Below are the new cucumbers, but oddly, although planted in all of the back half squares, hardly any sprouted.

I've been eyeing an empty bed for about a week now and when I went to plant something there yesterday saw this below and a few sprouts that look oddly like carrots....looks like I may have planted some beans and carrots there while I was eyeballing the empty space last week and forgot to write it down. My memory really needs some help.

The beans I KNOW I planted behind the flea-bitten eggplant and nice jalapenos are starting to climb the trellis. Actually, a few are trying to climb the eggplants, so we'll have to fix that soon.

The cabbage and only a few broccoli have put up their starter leaves, but it's progress none the less. It's good to see green out there again and I can't wait to start that thing called harvesting once more. I don't think I'm going to do radishes this fall as they didn't do well last year, but I'm going to plant out some lettuce next weekend in the half shaded beds of the far yard. Those poor beds....I really don't know what to do with them as they only get good sun in June and July. the peppers, carrots and squash did not like it out there at all this year. The YPear tomatoes did okay, but not great. June and July sun is not really enough to do much of anything, but I've got 50 sqft out there that will go to waste if I can't think of anything....maybe I'll try bush beans next year or something.

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The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.