linky dinkies #2

my front garden june 2009

The Price of Soil
It's the time of year in our area where a lot of people buy soil to amend their gardens. You can get cubic yards delivered in large bags. It's convenient, but is it cost effective? I did the math a few years ago. Bottom line, if you compare the cost of buying smaller bags and hauling them home versus having the same volume delivered in the jumbo bag, you are paying about $50 for the delivery. Not worth it to me, but a lot of people do it.... I recently checked the math again based on current prices and it still comes out the same. Here's the original calculations:
http://empressofdirt.blogspot.com/2006/06/scoop-on-buying-soil.html
Lucky are those who have pick up trucks and can go pick up a yard for 30 bucks.

Tomatoes
The perennial popularity of tomatoes seems to generate several new growing methods every year. Right side up, upside down, soil, no soil, hydroponics, indoor, outdoor, bags, containers, beds, and now this one:
http://earthtainer.tomatofest.com/
Each year I plant about 8-10 plants and get more tomatoes than I can handle. I think I'll leave well enough alone for now.

The Evolution of Growing Food
I recently watched a BBC series called Mud, Sweat and Tractors: The Story of Agriculture. The four parts are: milk, fruit and veg, wheat, and beef. If you have a chance to see it, I highly recommend it. It is incredible to see the changes that farmers have had to make in the past 40 years. No surprise that some things have gone full circle: first the farmer's were king, then the distributors, then the supermarkets, which priced the farmers right (down and) out of business. To recover, some farmers now turn to free-range animal care and organic methods to capture the high-demand niche market.

Besides urban farming /growing your own food being a hot topic this year, consideration for the origin and quality of one's food is also coming up in a few new documentaries:

http://www.freshthemovie.com/
Food, Inc.

As an avid label-reader and whole, fresh food enthusiast, I look forward to seeing both these movies. For me they will be preaching to the converted, but sometimes you just gotta recharge your convictions and cheer for your own team.

Create, and then create some more
On the art side of life, these two sites may lead you to some fun and inspiration. I was actually looking at artlinksgalore when I noticed one of my quilts amongst the images!
http://artlinksgalore.com/
http://kaleidopost.com/

At the end of each school year my girl and I work on a little animated film to present to her class as a year end gift. First we start brainstorming some ideas and inevitably end up watching a few short animations on YouTube to get some technical ideas. Like live theatre sets and props, it's very cool to see what people come up with to create their effects.

WATCH THIS ONE!
This one involves post-it notes:
DEADLINE post-it stop motion

This shows some behind the scenes of how they did it:
DEADLINE the making of

This one is chalk on blackboards. I particularly love the first minute:
Firekites AUTUMN STORY - chalk animation
Sweet!

Now go create something!

PS: or sew something: adorable monsters