My Back Porch Garden

I thought I would post a little update on our back porch garden progress. We're growing beefstake tomatoes in large pots and cherry tomatoes in hanging pots. The zucchini looks a little yellowish, but we've already had a few in jambalaya :) Our little cucumber plants, also being grown in hanging pots, are really taking off and beginning to vine their way along the trellis attached to the top of our ramada. Last but not least, our second planting of spinach is nearly ready to pick, although the heat seems to have slowed it's growth.

A Friday Feature!

Be the Mermaid on Athenas Amoury Blog

I had a lovely surprise waiting for me this morning when I logged into my Etsy.com account! Janine, of AthenasArmoury, had written to say she had featured my "Be the Mermaid" pendant shown above in her blog! AthenasAmoury's Etsy shop has a wonderful variety of chainmaille jewelry, so be sure and take a look!

Celtic and Fleur-de-lis Ceramic Adjustable Rings

I finally photographed some of my newest rings and got them uploaded to my Good Dirt Jewelry Etsy shop :) These were all made from molds that I created from some of my antique and vintage buttons. A peach colored fleur-de-lis and two new Celtic knotwork rings can be found in the "Ceramic Adjustable Rings" section of my shop. The prices range from $12 to $15 and include free shipping.

"One Pine" Ceramic Pendant Featured on the BeadedTail Blog!

One Pine Ceramic Pendant

Don't you just love nice surprises? Sharla, of the BeadedTail Blog, has featured Etsy artists from Oregon and included my "One Pine" ceramic pendant shown above.  Be sure and visit her blog to see some beautiful work from Oregon :)

Sagebrush Mariposa Tulip

Photo by Jo Stanbrough
Sagebrush Mariposa Tulip (Calochortus macrocarpus)
Lily Family (Liliaceae)

Who says the high desert of Central Oregon is mostly brown? This time of year, a miraculous thing happens. A single long, green stalk begins to push upward very unassumingly, only to burst open with the most beautiful shades of purple and yellow. These gorgeous wild tulips only remain for a day or so before they begin to droop and fade.

Tibetan Amulet Bolo Style Necklace

This is a new style of necklace for my Good Dirt Jewelry shop. A while back, I blogged about a really neat antique Tibetan amulet I had purchased. While I never found anyone who could tell me who the deity is, I still found it captivating and thought it would make a unique pendant. I've always been fond of the bolo style of necklace and I thought this amulet lent itself nicely to be displayed in this manner. I finished off the tips with wooden beads and copper wire.

These new pieces will be making their debut at the 4th of July festival in Bend, Oregon. If you happen to be in Bend this Saturday, be sure and stop by to say "Hello!" :)

The Potato Experiment

I'm no stranger to gardening or growing potatoes. Our little farm in Oklahoma had a quarter of an acre garden plot that provided our family with fresh veggies, including potatoes. Gardening in the high desert of Oregon is a whole new ballgame! LOL Not only do you have to contend with below freezing temps that can last well into June, but you also have to deal with the problem of having no topsoil. Our home sits at the edge of an ancient caldera (extinct volcano), so our ground consists of rocks and smaller rocks :)

Since we just finished our back deck, we decided to try our hand at gardening in pots, and so far so good! The photo above, is our first attempt at growing red potatoes in a half wine barrel and they are looking great! We'll have to wait a while to see if there are actually any potatoes though :) If this experiment is successful, I'll write a follow-up post with details on what we used inside the barrel.

Update!

Well, our great potato experiment wasn't very successful. The plants bloomed and began to die, as was expected, but when we dug them up, we only had about 6 normal size red potatoes and about 15 tiny ones. I cooked them with a corned beef and they were quite tasty, as they should be considering how much we invested to grow them! :) Nothing ventured, nothing gained!