Teasel Teddy Bear Ornament!

I know I haven't updated that project from last year.  I'll get to it eventually!  I promise!  It's on my list.  This is a very cute project and hopefully, you have some teasels in a field near you.  Here is a bear in pieces.

This photo is kind of dark, but hopefully you get the idea.

Teasel Teddy Bear

Here is the material list:

6 teasels:  3" long for body; 1-1/2" long for head; 1-1/2" long for arms; 2" long for legs; 2 tiny teasels (or briers) for ears; 3 peppercorns for eyes and nose, ribbon, wire for hanging and dried material for bouquet and glue gun.  You will need protective gloves!  These things hurt!

Directions:

1.  Lightly trim off top spikes of all teasels except ears.  Cut off all stems of teasels.  Blunt end of teasel body in seat of bear.

2.  Trim 1" indentation on side of each leg and arm teasel at blunt end to fit to appropriately trimmed 1" indentation on body.

3.  Glue on legs and arms and hold to set glue.  Trim indentation on head for neck and ears.  Glue head to body, ears to head.  Add the eyes and the nose.

4.  After dried, loop wire around head and body and make loop to hang on tree.

5.  Make bow and glue to front of bear and make a bouquet of dried flowers or a bowl from an acorn top and dried flowers and glue to arm or arms of bear.

Hope you have some extra time to make one of these charming characters!

Cinnamon Spice Ornaments!

I got these two cute cinnamon spice ornaments the other night at the master gardener holiday gala!  Cindy who blogs at Texas Tufa and A Daily Life asked for the recipe earlier.  So here it is:

Cinnamon Spice Ornaments

Prep time: 30 minutes
Bake time: 40 minutes or 1-2 days air drying
Recipe makes 12-15 ornaments

3/4 cup applesauce
1-4.12 oz. bottle ground cinnamon
(You can substitute a portion of the cinnamon with ground ginger,
allspice, ground cloves, etc.)
1-2 Tbs. white glue to start

cookie cutters
cookie sheet (use an old one that you won't use for food again)
drinking straw
ribbon or string
plastic wrap
rolling pin
parchment paper to line cookie sheets
disposable gloves

1.  Mix applesauce and white glue with spices to form a stiff dough.  (Don't add all of the glue at once.  Drizzle a little glue at a time until dough reaches right consistency, not too wet, or crumbly.)

2.  Place the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap.  With rolling pin flatten dough to 1/4" thickness.  Remove top sheet of plastic wrap and cut dough with cookie cutters.  Move ornament to cookie sheet with a spatula.  Cut holes for ribbon with the drinking straw.  Bake at 200 degrees until ornaments slightly darken, about 40 minutes; place on rack to cool.  You can also air dry for 1-2 days; turn ornaments occasionally to prevent warping!  NOT EDIBLE!

We had a cookie table the other night for dessert and someone thought extra unwrapped ornaments were cookies!  Not good!  They may look good enough to eat, but don't do it!  Hope you can make some for the holidays!

The Great Seed Experiment--Part II

Putting the soil into the Propagator.

Planting the garlic chive seeds.

Putting on the green and red plastic on the lid.

The Great Seed Experiment is ready to begin!  The question is what does red, green and white light have on the growth of seeds?  Hopefully, my friend will have her answer soon!  We will let you know.

The Great Seed Experiment Begins!

We are getting ready for my best friend's daughter to come and start her science project.  We have a great helper called the "Propagator."  She is going to plant Allium tuberosum or garlic chive seeds.  Hopefully, they will germinate faster because of the Propagator!

Fortunately I cut these garlic chive flowerheads down and put them in a bag to save them.  They will self-sow rampantly if you let them.  I have some that I haven't cut so I will be digging out the seedlings in the coming year!  I couldn't download my photos from this afternoon.  I'll update this post tomorrow hopefully!

OMG! It's the MGHG! (UPDATED)

I guess you may have known a translation for the first part of my title.  The second part is the Master Gardener Holiday Gala is tonight!  Here is my cookie selection.  I have so much fresh lemon verbena at the moment that I made lemon basil cookies, what else lemon verbena cookies!  Here is the original recipe from Foods & Flavors from the Fairfield Herb Society Vol. II:

Lemon Basil Cookies

1/4 c. butter
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese (I used light)
1 egg yolk
1 t. lemon juice
1/2 t. grated lemon peel
1 box lemon cake mix
1 1/4 c. raisins or currants (I would reduce the amount to 1/2 c. or 3/4 c.)
1/4 c. shredded coconut
1/4 c. chopped walnuts
1 T. dried basil or 3 T. fresh, chopped fine (I used 3 T. fresh lemon verbena.  I would not use dried lemon verbena.  It gives it a different taste.)

Cream butter, cheese, egg yolk, and lemon juice until well blended and very fluffy.  Blend in cake mix, 1/3 at a time, mixing last portion by hand.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Drop by level tablespoons onto greased baking sheet.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until lightly browned. (15 minutes was more than enough in my oven.)  Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

I liked the way these cookies taste (It's lemon verbena come on, who doesn't like lemon verbena.), but I'm interested to make them with dried or fresh basil and less raisins.  I'll let you know how they turn out.  The Herbal Husband is happy with the leftover cookies.  Remember to order a herb cookbook from a local herb group or herb unit of The Herb Society.  It would make a great Christmas gift!

 I got the little fox ornament as my gift this year made of brushes.  It is very sweet.  The other two Christmas items are cinnamon ornaments.  I will share the recipe with you this week some time.  We had a good crowd and it is always fun to catch up with my gardening friends.

Gardening Pickup Sticks!

I'm not getting the time I need to blog.  So you will just have to wait for my update on last year's project!  When we moved the kids around yesterday, we had to sort out the gardening sticks.  I know, I know.  I just remember playing pickup sticks for hours when I was young!  If you store items correctly now, you don't have to worry in the spring when you are trying to get plants staked and can't find the right size stake.  OK, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!  Stay tuned for my update!  Hope you are staying warm or cool wherever you may be!

I Got Sidetracked! Are The Plants All Going to Fit?

Well, you are just going to have to wait for my update from last year.  We had to move the kids around inside the basement and garage so The Herbal Husband's car could fit in the garage!  This is the night blooming jasmine and it should have lost its leaves by now!  It would have been great if it were blooming!  Doesn't have enough light.  All the plants did fit!  It is amazing to me that they always do and we always seem to have more to put inside!  Probably not so good!  The scented geraniums, lavender and rosemary are all in the garage.  A very good thing!  I finally got through!  Whoo hoo!  So the Several Days of Christmas may be continue tomorrow!  Stay tuned!

Several Days of Christmas!

Not doing the 12 days nor 24, but just a few to maybe get you and me enthused about Christmas or whatever holiday you may celebrate.  We used to go all out, tree, party and decorating.  When I lived in an apartment, the tree had to be cut down to fit!   So hopefully in the next several days, I will inspire both you and I (or is it me?) to decorate and enjoy this season to be with loved ones and friends and family.  This first item is a scrapbook that was put together over 20 years by a favorite herbal author of mine and one you all should know by now, Bertha Reppert.  The Rosemary House has been in business over 40 years and, you can still buy this scrapbook if you are interested.  It is jammed packed with herbal recipes, herbal decorating and herbal tips to get in the holiday mood.  It would make a great Christmas gift for that special friend or family member.  Ho! Ho! Ho!  There is an update on a Christmas project from last year you don't want to miss tomorrow!

Winners in the Garden!

We go from winners of herbal books to beets and one lone carrot!  The Herbal Husband was out in the garden harvesting before we get snow later this week!  I think we had a pretty good harvest this year.   They are already cooked and ready to go for salad.  Now we don't have our own tomatoes or lettuce!!  Always works that way!  We will savor every bite of these lovely vegetables!  Hope you are still enjoying harvests of your vegetables wherever you may be!