Growing up, my family had not ONE garden… no… more like FOUR! We always practiced organic gardening, too… composting animal manure, kitchen scraps, leaves, and grass clippings.. and always picking all of those pesky weeds by hand! That was a big chore when I was a kid. Now I look forward to it because it’s a great excuse to be outside in the sunshine with my shoes off doing something productive! However, I don’t live where I grew up.. my brother and his family does! So I don’t have 4 gardens to tend to… I have to resort to some container gardening:

Which I really enjoy!
I’m also teaching my boyfriend a lot about gardening. We both tend the plants and I can’t wait for him to eat some of the first ripe tomatoes he’s ever really had a hand in growing himself right off of the plants in the back yard. Gardening is so satisfying! Even if you don’t really know what you’re doing I suggest trying anyways.

Check out this bush tomato plant already bearing fruit!

Flowers on another tomato plant:

I LOVE the smell of tomato plants. Whenever I am out watering them I rub against them, stick my nose right up against the plants and sniff.. and sniff my hands as a I walk away. Ha! It’s such a unique, fresh scent that comforts me.

This pepper is almost big enough to eat too! Oh my gosh, it’s only mid-May!

I’m totally in love with succulent plants too.. here is one of my baby jade plants! I also have a hobbit jade and at least 6 other kinds of succulent plants to share with you in a future post! I used to have jade “trees” and think they make the coolest bonsai trees when they’re really trimmed right and get super old.

Cheers to spring and a glorious summer!

This is the poster for the June 2012 boutique opening!

I’m very busy getting ready for this! It’s exciting.

Rawr! A fierce wolf? Awesome.

This shop feels so cohesive. Her style rocks! So many awesome things… this one looks so fun for around the 4th of July.

Kaylim never ceases to amaze me.. this looks so hip, unique and comfortable. I’ve been following Kaylim for at least a year now. It’s really fun to see designers grow and become even better than they were not long ago!

Funky! It makes me want to put on mud boots (like the model) and feed chickens in it. I think I will try my hand at making a ‘scrap dress’ soon. Inspired!

I don’t find myself in shorts often at all, I much prefer skirts, but wow! These are worth a look. “Galaxy” stuff is really popular right now because I’ve seen it all over on boots and dresses too.

My style is it’s own animal I think.
In some posts-to-come I will open up my own closet..

Kaylah has been sewing really cute zipper pouches over the years and selling them on Etsy. However, she says she recently opened up a new vintage shop that she wants to focus on so she will be shutting down her handmade store. I’ve been wanting a pouch for a long time and this pushed me to the edge — I had to do it now or never! So I browsed her selection, “fell in love with” this wildly bright pink and yellow themed pouch with a snap on the side, and ordered!

I love it. It’s well made and so colorful!

While I was taking photos, Turk the Turtle got curious…

and climbed in! ^_^

Thanks Kaylah ~ Keep blogging!

An old, worn black cowboy boot that I picked up at an antique store in southern Missouri earlier this year… With a baby sensitive plant / Mimosa Pudica planted inside!

Gifted with a Happy Birthday announcement flag made with decorative paper and a bamboo skewer pushed down into the dirt, a matching envelope to the flag with a hand written letter, and a needle felted bee that I made and suspended at the top of a small wire which is barely visible so it looks like the bee is flying above the plant!

EEee cute!!! Right?
I planted another sensitive plant in the other boot for myself

I just love this guy, Bosworth!

It was exciting to have it open on all sides because it allowed it to fruit from anywhere on the cake! It sprouted up spots on almost every side! I hung it with some string for a couple days but it simply dried out too much so I moved it to a large bowl, sometimes allowing it to soak in some water. It dries out way too much when its out of the plastic bag. I think having it in a big plastic tub with a good amount of humidity would be the way to go. I have had a lot of fun experimenting though!

I’m going to soak it again and try for more mushrooms after this fruiting is complete. Hopefully she keeps on producing! Do you think I’ll get more?

~~~ Update: After this fruiting, the cake really felt like it was starting to decompose and I was actually a bit tired of misting the thing so many times a day, ever day, for weeks, to get what mushrooms I did. It was an amazing experience and I recommend it to anybody who is interested!

It was a success! Shortly after these photos I cut the mushrooms up and added them to stir fry. I saved a few and used them the next day on a homemade pizza. I ate a few raw, too, and.. wow! They pack a lot of flavor!

This was such an awesome project. Many thanks goes out to my friends who gifted me this kit! I love you guys! <3