Making beautiful use of a tin can (no special tools required)

Split pea

One of my favorite things to make is soup & you can probably intuit most of the ingredients here, probably: ham, split peas, onions, carrots, water, & a bay leaf.

What makes it "Pop"

I felt compelled to master the art of cooking popcorn. Though I have smelly memories of burning popcorn, scorching pans, and then in an effort to control the smell, scorching a plastic lawn chair in an Illinois winter (nice!).

Making popcorn
Popcorn is so delightful &easy to make but of course like a lot of things, there's a trick to it. Whether or not you burn the popcorn, in any case the pan is very Hot since

• Put a pot on the stove & jam it up to high
• Wait a minute or two and when you put your hand in the center of the pan (not on any surface) & it's hot, pour enough oil to cover at least half the bottom surface and add 1 popcorn kernel and move the pan around
• Once that pops, it's time to add the rest of the kernels and cover your pan
• Keep your pan moving & if you'd like once the popcorn is going, add sugar for kettle corn
• You'll know it's finished the same way you can tell if microwave popcorn is done...the popping climax is over and you hear only occasional pops.

Why does popcorn pop?

The reason popcorn pops is because there is water stored in the kernels which boils witch then

strawberry love

My strawberries reddened in May and are now flowering so I might have two waves! This is my first go with the fruit. The University of Illinois has a wonderful site dedicated to Strawberries where I learned:

• The strawberry was a symbol for Venus, the Goddess of Love, because of its heart shapes and red color.
• On average, there are 200 seeds in a strawberry.
• Native forms of strawberries adapt to various climates and are indigenous to every major continent except Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Honestly, the strawberries in my garden take up a lot of room & most of the time aren't doing much. But since they are one of my favorite fruits they are a worth it in pain in the ass.

Sorry Slugs, I HATE you

Unlike us, birds and insects are not bound by fences or yards.

I've found snails to be prevalent in my garden and while I know any attempt to control them is ultimately futile I can discourage them from our garden through persistent deterrents.

• Know you have snails.
• Locate exactly where they hang out when they aren't eating your pretty plants.
• React in whatever way makes the most sense.

Know

Here's how I know I have snails: dried up trails of mucas like this. Ew.

Locate

• You know where they've been, now where did those slugs go? Follow those long skinny slimy paths to the nearby rocks, planters, and any other cool wet place.
• If you'd rather catch them in the act and you've got night lighting in your garden, you can collect them on plants and the soils surface
• I haven't yet figured out what their babies look like, nor have I dug slugs up, but I imagine this is what I'll be learning as I read more.

React

This is where trial and error and personal preference comes into play. Here are my notes:

Eggshells - slugs find the sharp edges uncool so I'm surrounding my precious rose plant with them (fingers crossed).
SlugSlaughter - I killed a few snails through smushing...oddly they eat their dead so this succeeded in attracting slugs to a carcass buffet (gross)
Eat em!- No joke there are sites with instructions on how you can prepare & eat slugs. How French.
Poison - Haven't tried this yet, but I'm intrigued!
Beer - legend has it that if you put bowls of beer, slugs will drown themselves. I didn't have this kind of luck but maybe they don't like Sam Adams.

Oranges

Another great fruit tree I've fallen in love with is the citrus family. Their sturdy leaves and jackpot yeilds never cease to amaze me.

Creature Feature

On our way to a friends house in San Francisco we saw a cutie-patootie moth hanging out on the door frame.

We also saw this beautiful yard...well, spied on it is more like it. The lamp post, fountain, and furniture make it seem so cozy!