A Window in the Weeds

Last month I took a long overdue trip to see an old friend in New York.  The plan was to eat, drink, and be merry together again, and it was a success.  Besides the company and conversation, my favorite part of the trip was the salvaged window pane that I scoffed up for just $20.  I knew just where it belonged:

This photo was taken about 3 weeks ago, and the surrounding unruly greenery has taken over the space and framed the pane nicely.  I hung some planters and started some seeds.  I had considered buying planters in bloom, but I'm trying to be as patient and thrifty as possible with the garden this year.  As soon as the painters are done with the house, I'll be able to string the clothes line and sit back to watch the laundry dry in a quiet place tucked behind the house, where maybe no one will find me!

The Breakfast Jar

Remember when you were too busy to eat right?  It was 2007, and although you knew that breakfast was the most important meal of the day, you blazed through it with a pre-wrapped, pre-formed tasteless rectangle in hand for rapid consumption at the next red light.  So what's happened since then to break the breakfast bar trend?  It's called a recession, causing more people to reduce, reuse and recycle!  We used to have "3 R's", but we really have had "4" for some time! 

If nothing good has come from the recession, at least we have all found ways to be more resourceful in life.  So many people are putting convenience aside and saying yes to better eating, better health, and less waste in the products we choose.

www.specialtyfood.com 

We can always do more while doing less when it comes to breakfast.  If you check the facts on marketing trends and see what the breakfast bar has fallen to, the list includes yogurt and trail mix.  I am currently so hooked on why that is, and therefore I have found it a worthy topic to photograph and discuss in detail...

The Breakfast Jar

Bar Keepers Friend, my BFF

At the risk of getting sentimental and poetic, I will now gush about the perfect product that polishes everything from plastic to porcelain.  Bar Keepers Friend (BKF, if you're really cool enough to abbreviate your 

cleaning products) is the supreme ruler in my cleaning cabinet. 

www.barkeepersfriend.com 

This product is All American, founded in 1882 in Indianapolis where it is still made today.  Using an active ingredient formulated from rhubarb by an old time chemist, BKF has been shining up rails since tavern's taps flowed without a passing thought of prohibition. 

Any product that manages to stay on grocers shelves for that long deserves merit.  With the competition claiming to outshine, BKF sits quietly on the lowest shelves for over 130 years, quietly awaiting new arrivals on the market to out-advertise and take place at eye level.  All the while, millions of people have come to know that nothing else can compare to the supreme power of the non-chlorine powder that is reliable enough to be called "friend".  I know, I get emotional sometimes;)

Trellis Tra la la la la Triangle

I've gotten myself into a bit of a love triangle with the CSA membership and the early start to the garden.  Like any affair, it's still in it's earliest exciting stage.  I can see benefits of keeping them both going for awhile. The CSA is more of a vested commitment, a little unpredictable, but less work, no mess, and guaranteed to be gone with the boys of summer (cue Don Henley, or for something completely different)...

 

Patsy Cline- Tra la la la la Triangle (click and sing along for added entertainment)

The vegetable garden has me weary still, as some early shoots have really taken off (cucumbers are versatile, right?), and others are duds for sure.  But there is always fun in trying, and we did so enjoy the starting of the seeds...