Turn the TV Off

It’s not that I really need to know when stimulus checks will be deposited, it’s just that it’s all over the news! That has been my biggest take-away from this lockdown. It is time to turn the TV off. We are glued to the news, and that is not a healthy thing. 24 hour cable news has to find something to fill its airwaves with. We get bombarded with a lot of opinions because there are not enough actual news stories to fill a 24 hour period.

Plant a Garden

That brings me to my garden. Since I won’t be watching much TV, I will actually have time to plant and take care of my garden! I’m excited about that. I had a great time browsing an online seed catalog last week. My go-to seed source has been the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, but it seems everyone else must have had the same idea I did. They are so swamped with orders, they aren’t accepting any new ones until they get caught up, but that’s a good thing! It means there will be lots of gardens this year using sustainable heritage seeds. It also means Southern Exposure is thriving during the lockdown. For me, it meant I got to meet another cool sustainable seed company called Truelove Seeds. My seeds arrived on Saturday with a handwritten note from Owen. “Thank you Margie! Seeds and Solidarity, Owen.”

If you have never bought seeds from a seed exchange, you should! One of the seeds I bought are for Pippin’s Golden Honey Pepper. Why Pippin’s? “Horace Pippin, the now-famed painter, shared this variety (and many others) with H. Ralph Weaver in the early 1940s in exchange for bee-sting therapy. Weaver’s grandson (William Woys Weaver) found the seeds in a baby food jar in his grandmother’s deep freezer a couple decades later, many years after his grandfather’s death, and was able to reintroduce via Seed Savers Exchange.” With a backstory like that, I can’t wait to plant them and be part of this history. Yup! I’m in love with Truelove!

Write a Novel

I recently watched a TED Talk about trying something new for 30 days–The 30 Day Challenge. It was inspiring! The author, Matt Cutts, “went from desk-dwelling computer nerd to the kind of guy who bikes to work…for fun!” When I was a little girl, I dreamed of becoming a novelist who lived in Australia on a big ranch with lots of animals. I got the animal part! Cutts mentions that one of his 30 day challenges was to write a novel. I’ve never written a novel, but the extra free time that this lockdown is providing is the perfect time to become the novelist I’ve always wanted to be. Who cares if it’s a good novel or even a published novel? I can accomplish one of my dreams.

Save the World…or at least a pangolin

A good college friend of mine, Maria Diekmann, started an animal sanctuary in Namibia many years ago called Rare and Endangered Species Trust (REST). Someone brought her a mama and baby pangolin that were rescued from poachers. Mama was too traumatized from the abuse of traffickers and fled, but she had protected her baby so well that Honey Bun survived and thrived under Maria’s care. That was when I first learned about pangolins, how highly trafficked they are, and thus how endangered they are. They are often described as the most trafficked animal you’ve never heard of. That has all changed thanks to the coronavirus. Pangolins and bats have been linked to this coronavirus’ origin.

Many are hoping this will lead to crackdowns on the sale of pangolins at wet markets and hopefully bring them back from the edge of extinction. When will stimulus checks be deposited? I’m not sure. If you are looking for something to do with it though, there are lots of organizations like Maria’s that would grateful for the help!

What’s Next?

I know I’m not the only one that has been forced to reassess life and priorities. We all want to get to the other side of this as soon as possible. In the meantime, we have learned to slow down. Spend time with our children. Zoom and Facetime with our parents and grandparents. We have time to plant gardens and go for walks and write novels. My hope is that we take the lessons we are learning with us to that other side.

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Game Day Basket

Even though it’s not football season, you can’t go wrong with chili and cornbread! This gift basket comes with onions, red bell pepper, carrots, celery, and garlic. Chop and saute the fresh ingredients to make a yummy version of sofrito. Add the included canned tomatoes and beans as well as water (or your own broth if you prefer) and simmer for 30 minutes. While the chili is simmering, mix up the included box of cornbread and pop it in the oven. We love to top our chili with onions and avocado so we’ve included both for you. You can also add your own shredded cheese or tortilla chips. Dinner will be on the table in no time, and you didn’t even have to put your shoes on!

(The printed recipe for this vegetarian chili from Cookie + Kate is included)

Bollywood Basket

We love Indian food in our family so of course we had to include this vegetarian version of Tikka Masala with Basmati rice. Start by making a pot of the included Basmati rice. The gift basket comes with onions, tomatoes, garlic, and fresh ginger root as well as a jar of garam masala to create that unique masala flavor. You’ll also get a head of cauliflower to chop and roast with your own oil and the garam masala. Add the included chickpeas, canned tomatoes, and coconut milk, and let it simmer.

(The printed recipe for this vegetarian Tikka Masala from The Wanderlust Kitchen is included. The recipe can easily be made vegan by substituting your own coconut oil.)

Family Game Night Nachos Basket

When my boys were growing up, they loved to play Monopoly. Our Monopoly games lasted for hours, sometimes days, so snacks were a must! This gift basket comes with all the ingredients you need for a delicious spread of vegetarian nachos. You’ll get fresh tomatoes, onions, jalapeno, and lime, to make a pico de gallo. Layer with the included tortilla chips, black beans, corn, sliced black olives, avocado, and queso cheese dip, and you’re ready to become a real estate tycoon!

(The printed recipe for the pico de gallo and serving suggestions is included)

Netflix Popcorn Basket

What is better than movies while you’re stuck at home? Movie and popcorn! We have just what you need in this fun gift basket. You’ll get pre-packaged microwave popcorn and the ingredients for 4 kinds of popcorn: taco, ranch, everything bagel, and pumpkin pie for something sweet. Just add your own butter and grab your remote!

(The printed recipes for each flavored popcorn are included)

Leave the shopping to us! Order a gift basket delivery for yourself or a loved one. We offer no contact delivery as well as curbside pickup. #InThisTogether

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Dried Flower Projects

Drying the Flowers

There are three ways you can dry your flowers, depending on how you want to use them. The easiest way is to hang them upside-down in a well ventilated area. You can hang a single stem or several stems held together by twine or rubber bands.

A second way to dry flowers is to press them between absorbent paper using old books or an actual flower press. There are lots of instructional videos online showing how to do this, including this one from the University of Illinois. The best flowers for this kind of drying method are ones that don’t have a lot of bulk to them and will flatten easily. Daisies, snap dragons, black-eyed Susans, gladiolas, will all press nicely. Flowers like roses or carnations that have a bulky base do not press well.

A third way to dry flowers is using silica gel. This is a great method if you want the dried flowers to essentially look the same as the fresh flower version. You can get silica gel at any local craft store or through Amazon. Again, there are a lot of instructional videos online, including this one from MonkeySee.

Projects Using Dried Flowers

Epoxy Resin

A.K. Art & Creations

One of my good friends is a jewelry maker and just started experimenting with resin. Epoxy resin can be purchased at any local craft store or through Amazon. She has come up with gorgeous pieces from pendants to earrings. She has also created some beautiful serving trays and bowls. The resin allows her to embed different objects such as metallics, shells, and flowers.

A.K. Art & Creations

What to do when stuck at home with your children? Take a walk around the neighborhood and collect wildflowers. There are a lot of apps you can download to your phone that will identify the flower for you. Wildflowers are intrinsic to our pollinators so it’s a great opportunity to help children understand the roll pollinators play. Some wildflowers are a source of energy for hummingbirds, some food for caterpillars, and some, like milkweed, are the sole provider of shelter and a place to lay eggs for the monarch butterfly. It’s amazing what flowers you will see once you start looking for them to collect.

Preserving Bride’s Bouquets and Corsages

A lot of brides want to preserve their wedding bouquets. The two best methods for this are the hang and dry method for a vintage look or the silica gel method if you want the bouquet to look similar to the way it did on your wedding day. The stems of a bouquet are wrapped very tightly. While air and silica gel will be able to circulate between the greens and flowers on the outer-most edges of the bouquet. Air and silica gel will not be able to get between the wrapped stems. Over time, moisture at the base of the bouquet and between the stems will cause mold and deterioration.

With both methods, you will need to take the bouquet apart, dry the individual stems, and reconstruct the bouquet. While there are several local companies that preserve bouquets, it’s a fun project to do, especially when stuck at home. Just make sure to take a photo of the bouquet before you take it apart and at various points during deconstruction. These photos will help you put the bouquet back together again once the stems have dried.

You can do the same thing with your corsages from Prom or Homecoming or Daddy-Daughter Dances. If you have purchased your corsage from us, the stems are already individually wrapped with floral tape and should dry well without deconstruction. I still have my corsage from my high school Prom. I hung it upside down from my mirror the night I got home. It’s a bit brittle now so I have it in the original clam shell, but I love the vintage pink color…and of course the memories!

Memories

Another project you do with your children is more long-term. I have several copies of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I loved exploring nature and “adventuring” as a little girl so this was a well-loved book. One of my copies is a big heavy large print book that became my flower press when I was a little girl. I chose it because it was the heaviest book I had that wasn’t a Bible. Now the choice seems so poetic–wildflowers from my adventuring pressed into a book about adventuring. I included little notes with the flowers indicating where and when I collected them. Now I can flip through the pages of Huck Finn and relive my own adventures.

One of the first arrangements I made at Fantasy Floral included peonies. I wanted to save the peonies as a memory and because they were so full and gorgeous. I just wrapped kitchen twine around the end of the stems and hung them from the curtain rod at our sliding glass door. As the peonies dried, they did lose some color, but that’s what I like about them–the vintage color look. It gives the room a cottage feeling.

Once you have dried your flowers, the projects are endless! You are only limited by your imagination in what to do when stuck at home!

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DIY Bouquets

Price

If you are local, Fantasy Floral sells DIY bouquets starting at $20. These bouquets are being offered at wholesale prices much like you’d get at a grocery store but of higher quality and longevity. Let us know if there are certain colors or flowers you’d like included. We’ll put together a wrap of flowers in a wonderful array of colors, textures, and height, along with greens. Vases are an additional $5 if you need one.

What You’ll Learn

If you have children and are wondering what to do when stuck at home, get a different bouquet for each of them! It’s a great way to learn about flowers. You can look up where they come from and how they are grown. Many flowers are significant in indigenous cultures for herbal remedies and spiritual properties. You get art, agriculture, history, geography, and anthropology lessons all in one!

Tips and Tricks

Believe it or not, making a gorgeous arrangement that will last isn’t quite as easy as just throwing stems in a vase. You’ll have a blast learning though… and a greater appreciation for the talent of floral designers! We are working on a video that will walk you through the basic steps of flower arranging. Here are some tips in the meantime.

Greening

Start with “greening” your vase. We usually use bakers fern, also known as leather leaf fern, and then add the fancier greenery such as eucalyptus or salal at the end for texture. The foundation of greens is not intended to be a focal point. It provides the framework that hold the flowers in place. This is accomplished by placing the bakers fern in the vase at all different angles. The planes of the face of the leaves provide the grids that hold the flower stems.

Cutting

As you insert each flower stem, you’ll want to cut the end of the stem. Cut the bottom of the stem at a sharp angle. This does two things. It provides more surface area for the stem to absorb water It also keeps the stem from sitting flat on the bottom of the vase which prevents it from absorbing water. As you are beginning, we recommend cutting the stem a bit longer than you think you’ll need. It’s easier to make the stem shorter, but you can’t make it longer!

Arranging

Start with focal flowers, then filler flowers, then specialty greens. Use long thin flowers such as snapdragons to create height and visual interest. Many designers like to work in groups of odd numbers. Perhaps do a triangle of three tall flowers towards the top of the arrangement and a pentagon of five flowers towards the base of the arrangement.

Making the Flowers Last

Bacteria growing in the vase water is a flower’s greatest enemy so make sure to start with fresh cold water. Once you’ve finished your arrangement, there will probably be debris in the water so you’ll want to replace the water. There are two ways to do this. Grab the arrangement tightly in one hand to keep the design intact, empty the vase, refill it with fresh water, and replace the arrangement back in the vase. Or you can place the arrangement under a faucet and let water run into it until the old water is replaced with the fresh water. Do this at least every other day, and your flowers will last much longer!

Have fun!

Stayed tuned for tomorrow’s What to Do When Stuck at Home (part 2)!

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