Tags
A Breath of Spring, Basket Weaving Progress, container gardening, creativity, lettuce, Market Baskets, micro greens, onions, Ribbed Basketry
The days are so nice now, cool mornings and warmish days, it is so nice to go out on the deck and look at what is coming up in the pots. Watching the violas blooming and growing more each day.
Last week I planted sever Nasturtium seeds, though I did not soak them over night first and want to see how long it will take them to germinate, this week I will soak several and plant them and see which emerges first.
My pots of onion sets, with lettuce and micro greens planted on the top has been a real surprise not in that the greens have sprouted already as much as the onion sets which were planted 6-8” below the surface of the greens and lettuce are already pushing through the ground.
I planted these mainly to see things growing, more than any bumper crop you can achieve from two 12 inch pots. The onions are what will be nice in June after the lettuce and micro greens have succumbed to the heat, and I have cleaned them out. I am interested to see what the pot grown onions will do there are six sets to a pot and I will plant two more pots this week, then all will be planted. My main goal with these are to have fresh creamed onions & tops over toast!
A large part of the enjoyment is trying new things and seeing just what will happen, some successes and some failures, however just the act of having a reason to get out each day and tend to, water, plant and dig in the dirt gives you something to look forward to.
BASKET WEAVING PROGRESS
After tending to the container gardens each day, I look forward to coming in and starting to work on weaving baskets. Today you will not be able to see what I have started doing as I have not taken any pictures yet, though I am getting ready to start weaving a medium sized Williamsburg basket, and ta tall narrow basket, why these two ? Because I already had those handles sanded stained, finished and ready to go.
As always when measuring the stakes on my baskets the dimensions are calculated according to Phi 3.14 or the Golden Ratio 1.618 to come up with the closest approximate depth and length of the baskets, most of the time the width is pretty much governed by the handle.
I have made great progress this week with my large ribbed basket and hope to finish it this weekend. as well as a 10” ribbed basket I have been working on. I am excited as my reed is coming to do the set of 3 New England ladder back chairs that came to me this past weekend from Leesburg. They will have splint bottoms woven into them. Also the size of reed these chairs take will also enable me to start weaving Shaker Cat Head baskets.
All in all I have something to look forward to now each and everyday of the week. Something which has been missing for a good while. I fee when you are creative you tend to be a happier person with a better out look in life, you tend to have many more positive thoughts and a much better out look in life. This being said we must remember creativity in life takes so many forms for home DIY projects, gardening, yard work, sewing, cooking and the list goes on and on. For me it is art and weaving, and photography getting out of doors and walking, which helps you to come up new ideas and inspirations.
