I wasn’t that into this living wall trend until I saw this post on Jetson Green pointing to an edible living wall. From the site:

GreenScaped Buildings installed the green wall with 100% recycled polypropylene plastic modules, a Uni-Strut frame, and Netafim in-line drip irrigation. The result is a lush and massive wall — now about 120 square feet on the east facing wall — that protrudes roughly 15 inches from the surface. It grows lettuce, peppermint, celery, parsley, sage, and other edible plants.

While I assume this particular wall is outside–it looks like it from the picture–a small home-sized version of an edible wall would be handy to have in a kitchen. Whenever you want a salad, just pick it off the wall.

The logistics of that would be pretty complicated, of course. Just getting the proper light to grow all these plants seems difficult. Still, an edible living wall would be a great thing to have on a patio or in a small yard.

It is that time of year again–zucchini season! This is probably my favorite squash, but I admit, it can be a little overwhelming as I pull in zucchini after zucchini from the garden. How will I ever use them all?

But luckily, zucchini is versatile. You can grind it up and freeze it. You can pickle it. You can put it in almost any veggie side dish or spaghetti sauce or soup. You can even bake with it.

So in that spirit, here are five dishes that use a lot of zucchini:

Zucchini Muffins–Of course, the classic zucchini treat, which uses 2-3 zucchinis.

Zucchini on Zucchini Ravioli–I made up this recipe last year. It is a very yummy, plus it uses up 5 zucchinis.

Zucchini Garlic Soup–I recently tried this dish from The Kitchn, and I can attest that it is delicious. It uses 4 zucchinis.

Greek Style Zucchini Fritters–I haven’t made this particular recipe, but this is a classic zucchini dish and this recipe makes sense to me. Probably uses about 3 zucchinis.

Zucchini Rolls–This is a tasty-looking appetizer: grilled slices of zucchini stuffed with cheese. How can you go wrong? Uses 3 small zucchinis.

That should make a dent in your harvest.

Awhile back, the artist Keri Smith put a post on her blog about how she debranded her bathroom. She took all her products–toothpaste, lotion, shampoos, etc.–and made “skins” to cover them up. Which is to say, she drew pictures of the Leroux family, who she said were French, and put them over the bottles.

For some reason, she has taken the post down, but at least she left up a shorter post about the project, as well as a picture of the Leroux family:

The post made me look at how many brands I have in my house and made me think about how much they intrude into my life. I started removing the labels off things I use every day, like my deodorant and mouthwash, and I found that I liked them better when I didn’t have to look at the brand name. In some subtle, visual way, the brand was intruding on my everyday activities and I didn’t even realize it.

When I am finished remodeling my bathroom, I may go even further and do what Cumbersome has done, which is to buy some bottles from a place like Ikea, label them, and pour the products in, like so:

In researching this idea, I discovered that a lot of people seem to dislike the idea of debranding/unbranding a section of your home. In this post on Apartment Therapy shilling stickers to use for debranding, (no longer available) some people even downright angry about the idea.

But actually, I think there are some good reasons to debrand. For example:

1. Most branded bottles are ugly, garish, and intrusive, and it’s relaxing not to look at them.

2. Debranding with an overall design, like the above bottles or the Leroux family, creates a uniformity in the bathroom, which is nicer on the eye.

3. It’s more interesting and fun to make your own designs for products than to use ones made for you.

4. It keeps guests from judging you what brands of shampoo or mouthwash you buy. (You know it happens.)

5. As Keri Smith says in her post, “my concept of unbranding involves pulling my personal space out of the corporate grasp and shaping it to conform to my own mindset/aesthetic (nature for example).”

I realize not everyone agrees with the last point, but it is an interesting concept to consider, nevertheless. How much do these brands intrude into our lives? What is the psychological cost of looking at a branded object every day?

But really, maybe it’s not that much deeper than this: I would rather look at a pretty bottle than a one with neon print yelling its name at me every day.

I thought this Chalk-it-to-me Piggy Bank was pretty cute. It is made from a pigmented ceramic that you can use as a chalkboard. That way, you can draw on the piggy or write a reminder of what you’re saving for. $60 from Ladies and Gentleman. (Via The Sub-studio Design Blog)

ETA: If $60 seems a lot for this particular bank, you can always get a piggybank from the thrift store and spray it with chalkboard paint.

I am almost done with the blackberries I picked, so this is the last recipe I will be making with them for awhile. But you know I couldn’t let blackberry season pass without making a cocktail.

So I got together with Drink of the Week and made a Blackberry Smash. (The name makes me think of the Hulk. “Hulk smash!”) We crushed the blackberries with a little simple syrup, lemon juice, and mint, then mixed it with bourbon. Kind of like a mint julep, only with berries. Plus it’s pretty.

Recipe:

Blackberry Smash
(Makes 1 cocktail)

Ingredients:

3 oz whole, fresh blackberries
1 1/2 oz bourbon
1 oz simple syrup
8 small mint leaves
1 dash fresh lemon juice

Directions:

In a cocktail shaker, muddle all the ingredients so that the blackberries and mint are crushed. Fill a highball glass with crushed ice. Pour the drink over the ice. Enjoy!

Awhile back, I posted a pattern for making your own Roman Shades, and then it turned out that while the site that I linked to acted like it was free, it actually charged you money for the pattern for the shade. I linked to another site that talked about making Roman shades, but I wasn’t as happy with their instructions.

Well now, ever-trusty Martha Stewart has come to the rescue with a handy how-to on making Roman shades. She points out three styles:

Classic

Formal

Casual

I like the classic style.

Making window treatments yourself is a huge money saver, so click here to see how to make your own Roman shades.

Scones are one of those things that can either be wonderful or awful. They are either dry and gum up your mouth or they are lovely and soft. My mom’s recipe is the latter kind. Her scones are a soft biscuit with lots of fruit and a sugary crust on top. Really, they have ruined me to most coffee-shop scones.

I made these scones with blackberries that I picked a couple of weeks ago, but you can make them with any fruit, fresh or frozen. The recipe:

Blackberry Scones
(Makes 6-8 scones)

Ingredients:

For the scones:

1 - 1 1/2 c blackberries
2 c flour
1 Tbs baking powder
4 Tbs sugar
4 Tbs butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 c milk
1/4 c sour cream

For the crust:

1 egg white
1/4 c sugar

Directions:

If you are using fresh berries, wash them and then stick them in the freezer for at least a half hour. This will help the berries maintain their structural integrity when you work them into the dough.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the flour, baking flour, and the 4 Tbs of sugar in a bowl. Cut the butter into chunks and work it into the dough until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Stir in the milk, eggs, and sour cream and form a soft dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Fold the berries into the dough. Be careful not to overwork or smash the fruit.

Pat the dough into an 8 inch circle. Now it’s time to make the sugary crust. Beat the egg white until it is frothy and then spread over the top of the dough. This will seem soupy and strange, but go with it. Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar over the egg whites so that the top is covered and the sugar is absorbed by the egg whites.

With a floured knife, cut the dough into wedges. The scones will expand a bit in the oven, so keep this in mind when you cut them. Carefully transfer the scones onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake 18-20 minutes until they are lightly browned. Wait until cooled and then enjoy.

In reading this article about how frugality makes you happier, I was struck by the opening anecdote about Tammy Strobel, who embraced living simply to the point that she decided to winnow her personal possessions down to 100 items.

Inspired by books and blog entries about living simply, Ms. Strobel and her husband, Logan Smith, both 31, began donating some of their belongings to charity. As the months passed, out went stacks of sweaters, shoes, books, pots and pans, even the television after a trial separation during which it was relegated to a closet. Eventually, they got rid of their cars, too. Emboldened by a Web site that challenges consumers to live with just 100 personal items, Ms. Strobel winnowed down her wardrobe and toiletries to precisely that number.

Today, three years after Ms. Strobel and Mr. Smith began downsizing, they live in Portland, Ore., in a spare, 400-square-foot studio with a nice-sized kitchen. Mr. Smith is completing a doctorate in physiology; Ms. Strobel happily works from home as a Web designer and freelance writer. She owns four plates, three pairs of shoes and two pots. With Mr. Smith in his final weeks of school, Ms. Strobel’s income of about $24,000 a year covers their bills. They are still car-free but have bikes. One other thing they no longer have: $30,000 of debt.

I am trying to imagine what it would be like to have 100 possessions. I am pretty sure I have well over 100 books–actually I probably have way more than 100 books–and that’s just one type of possession. I can’t decide if it would be a relief to have so few things or if it would be somewhat annoying. If you just have two pots, for example, and you cook as much I do, you’re going to end up washing those pots a lot.

On the other hand, the simpler things are, the more peaceful life is. And it certainly seems to be making Strobel happy:

Now the couple have money to travel and to contribute to the education funds of nieces and nephews. And because their debt is paid off, Ms. Strobel works fewer hours, giving her time to be outdoors, and to volunteer, which she does about four hours a week for a nonprofit outreach program called Living Yoga.

“The idea that you need to go bigger to be happy is false,” she says. “I really believe that the acquisition of material goods doesn’t bring about happiness.”

The number 100 is completely arbitrary. Still, I have been counting things lately. Because I am remodeling my bathroom, I have been thinking of the perfect number of towels, the perfect number of sets of sheets, etc. What do you really need in life?

Anyway, I’m not cutting back to 100 possessions any time soon, but the article did encourage me to start another bag of things to give to my local thrift store.

Here’s a good idea from ohdeedoh–a car travel game using recycled bubble wrap. Each time the kid sees a corresponding object to the one drawn on the game, s/he pops a bubble. Simple and cute. (Via Craft)

(Via Urban Homestead)

I am interested in reducing water usage in my garden, so I have been reading up on various methods to do that. One of them is using a clay pot to irrigate, which I was reminded of by this post on Urban Homestead. They use ollas, pronounced OH-ya, to water their plants. This is an unglazed, terracotta pot that you bury in the ground next to your plant and fill with water. The water seeps out of the clay and is seized by the roots of the plant. According to Urban Homestead, “Plants love them, when removing them this past winter, they were hugged by roots of vegetables that had grown with them that past summer.”

(An olla buried in the ground.)

Currently, I use drip irrigation. We have connected a hose to a timer and every morning, water is sent through the hose and distributed to the roots of the plants. It works well, but I still wonder if there is a better way.

Urban Homestead says that by using ollas throughout the yard “over the last three years have cut our water usage in 1/2.” I wonder how that compares to drip irrigation. Because the olla is buried underground, there would be less evaporation in the air, so it may use less water. Also, the plant could take exactly the amount of water it needs whenever it wants it. With drip irrigation, you sort of guess how much water the plants need, which can lead to over- or under-watering. Because of this, clay-pot irrigation would probably be less stressful to the plant.

On the other hand, sounds like ollas are more work, at least for me. Since I have automated my watering, I don’t have to water my plants. With an olla, I would have to fill it frequently, plus watch it and make sure it isn’t empty. (However, if you don’t use drip irrigation, an olla would cut down your workload, since you would fill it less frequently than you would have to water the plant with a hose.)

Darn it, now I am obsessed with making an experiment. Here is what it would look like: I would have two plants, the same kind, planted side-by-side, under the same conditions. One would be watered with an olla, the other with drip irrigation. Throughout the season I would measure the water going into each plant as well as the yield of the plant. At the end of the season, I would compare and see:

a. whether one plant used less water than the other.
b. which plant yielded more food overall.

Tempting…

You can buy ollas here and here.