Miss Modish- Mojo Maker

Happy Weekend!

Today is officially the last day of our renter history! One more load of random things + a little mopping, and we're outta the rental house for good! It feels awesome. Because our new house already feels so much like home. Even with projects undone and boxes unpacked, it feels like ours. It feels different. It feels really wonderful. 

And I promised myself fresh flowers, remember? So I went an plucked some out from the backyard this morning. The prior owner didn't seem to be much into planting stuff, as these little bluebells are volunteers from the neighbors yard, and that's about all the springtime flowers we have (there are some peonies & roses that'll bloom later tho!) I did find some rosemary, so I added that in too- it smells so good! By this time next year I hope to have a yard full of different kinds of flowers and herbs. I can't wait to get started playing in the dirt! 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! What are your plans? PDXers, will I see you at Crafty Wonderland?

<3 jena

A Before and Not-Yet-After-Snapshot

Last February I took an intensive course in permaculture design, but didn't get around to completing my certification project because I was working on a totally different kind of master plan. 

Prior to the course, I'd never really planned my garden, but through it I realized my ultimate goal is to have a yard of "useful" plant; plants that function ecologically, while nourishing me and enhancing my enjoyment of the space. With such a specific goal in mind, understanding the bigger picture became necessary. 

Enter google maps. For my master plan I needed to focus, and to find my focus I started with a map. I went to the satellite view on google maps, typed in my address, and captured a bird's eye view of my property, then I pasted that view into Photoshop. This showed where the house is in relation to the rest of property, other buildings, landmarks and big trees. Even better? It's all aligned north and south. That's a whole lot of information right at your fingertips.

In Photoshop I created a new layer and roughly drew in the topography. That's totally not necessary for most people, but we have some erosion and I'd like to figure out the best way to keep the rain from washing away even more topsoil. Doing something similar with construction paper would also work.

Once the bigger picture was in place I was ready to whittle. I put a pond in the back yard 2 years ago and looking at my map I realized that was the perfect focal point. Start there, fill in, and let the garden begin to creep outward like a small, flowing creek. Suddenly everything looked more manageable. It was also a huge comfort to think of it in future tense; I can envision growth rather than expecting immediate results.

When I started planting, once again I started with the bigger picture, this time with it was big plants: 2 flying dragon orange trees (free from a friend), cardoons started from seed, and apple trees we bought from the local hardware store. Everything was connected with small mounds of fast growing, native perennial ground covers like green and gold and a few low growing sedges. I mulched heavily with fallen leaves {a free resource I couldn't garden without!} and let it all go crazy over the summer, watering sparsely from the pond if things looked desperate for a drink. Now it's spring again, I'm back, consulting and adding to the same plan. I can see what doubled {tripled! quadrupled!} in size and see what didn't make it. As the weather warms even more, the plants that emerge from hot summer soil will unveil brilliant red and golden flowers, attracting hummingbirds and butterflies while plants that have already blossomed will form seeds encapsulated in fruit, fated for summer cobblers. It's then the master plan really unfolds.  

Renee Garner has a passion to make things grow, although her brownish thumb wants her to believe otherwise. When mud pies aren't on the menu, you can find her doodling the days away at Wolfie and the Sneak.

Romping Around in the Grass

One of my loftiest goals for this summer is to attend an outdoor concert on a grassy knoll somewhere, preferably of some Afro-beat or other worldy music that I can shake my rump to. And I'll wear a cute little romper or summer dress, and maybe even a vintage sun hat. Any of these options from Spool 72 would suit me just fine. 

Other lofty summer goals include ridding the lawn of dandelions, one by one. Bouncing on the trampoline. And sitting under the cherry tree with a book in one hand and a lemonade in the other (ok, maybe a vodka and lemonade.)

Oh and speaking of Spool 72, I'll be hosting an awesome giveaway from them next Wednesday!! Stay tuned! 

New shop alert! Apathy Sucks Eggs

Apathy Sucks Eggs is a brand new shop that has stolen my heart in oh, let me count the ways. 

1: most awesome shop name ever.
2: the creations are stunningly unique, inspired by Victorian signage that has been given a modern and inspiring twist. 
3: the shop owner, Thimali, is equal parts brilliant, humble, philosophical and funny. I wish she was my real life friend.

Oh Apathy Sucks Eggs...in case you haven't noticed, I'm in love with you. 

outfitted

outfitted: week 16, originally uploaded by jena:rator.

just another grey and rainy day...thinking about how much cuter Heidi was before all the plastic surgery...

necklaces: vintage, thrifted
sweater: vintage, thrifted
belt: vintage, thrifted
dress: la made (twas a gift)
tights: american apparel
shoes: some cheapo buffalo exchange brand

Maria Grossmann

I've made a little resolution with myself to have fresh flowers in our new home as often as the budget and/or schmoozing with neighbors will allow. And these photos by Maria Grossmann are totally sealing the deal. Unusual flowers in unusual places. Oh yeah, I want some of that. {via all the mountains}

Eco-Friendly Find: LaLaMonde

If there's one thing I've learned blogging here at Modish, it's that you guys love your shoes! I never get so many comments as on the days I post eco-friendly goodies for your feet. So, with that in mind, I present to you LaLaMonde:

These pretties are house shoes... indoor only and exactly what I need right now as I settle in for a day of blogging. Not only are they absolutely adorable, and super-comfy-looking, but they are vegan—crafted with obviously thoughtful care from high-quality linen. And if you've fallen in love with the colors and pairings of these, just wait until you see her line of wool shoes for little ones!

Liz Grotyohann is a co-founder of cosa verde, a marketplace for handmade, environmentally-conscious goods.

Bright Star

We were super productive this weekend! Unpacking and working and home-ownering. In a rare moment of relaxation we watched the most beautiful, original movie I've seen in a long time- Bright Star. I got lost inside this movie. I haven't felt like that in a long long time. 

It's about the poet John Keats and his love, his muse, Fanny. It revolves around their romance and the letters they wrote to one another. And my god, that Keats sure did know how to express himself. I had tears just streaming, streaming down my cheeks for pretty much the entire last hour of the movie. Not from sadness, but from how incredibly beautiful and passionate all his words were. Note to self: must get book of Keats poetry, pronto.

Some of the scenes just took my breath away with their beauty. And don't even get me started on the costume design! The hats? The striped red and cream dress? The collars? Those crocheted shawls!? I kept gasping and "ohmygodlookatthat!"-ing. Between the tears of course. And the countryside they were in was like another character. Fields of unending flowers, trees bending into archways, walking bridges through a forest of reeds... Ok, I need to re-watch it. Right now.

Have you seen it? What did you think of it? Did you cry? (Some of my tears were hormone induced, me thinks. But it was beautiful all the same!)

And thanks to Abby for introducing it to me in the first place!

Happy Weekend!

Alison over at the Storque has officially done me in. She regularly finds the best of the best to share in her news from the blogosphere each week, but Gatopoder? I might never get leave my computer again. 

Hope you have a cat-acular weekend! See you back here Monday, friends. <3 jena

Red Wigglers are Good-for-the-Earth-Worms

It's not so bad to revisit old ideas is it? A year and a half ago we made a worm bin for Chez Sneak and I'm proud to say it's still in action. Yes, it went through long periods of neglect and I've learned that if it's in a visible place I take better care of it. I'm here to say: I have a worm farm in my kitchen and I'm OK with that.

The pictures above are from Green Wellies' newest foray into worm keeping, then, coincidentally last night in Master Composting class we did a vermiculture segment. This time the bin-making was with Brian Rosa the Organic Recycling specialist for the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources. With a different teacher comes a different approach to building a bin, and if the first version wasn't easy enough, this one takes the cake. 

The How-To: Take a big storage tote (snug fitting lid and all) and 1/4 inch drill holes in the side. We have 7 on each long side of our bin--some people prefer more. A few holes on the rounded bottom corners of the tote will allow good drainage if things get too wet. Fill up the tote with shredded newspapers, then give the paper a good shower of water. Add a pound of red wigglers.  Leave the lid off the top overnight to get the worms to burrow down and get used to their new digs. It might take a few days for them to get established, but then they'll be ready for your veggie scraps and spent coffee grounds. Just don't give them onions, it'll burn their skin, which is no good.

{These worms are a special type of worm, Eisneia fetida, they're much smaller than the earth worms you see in your yard, and they like a much moister environment. They eat a lot more, too. Each worm can eat half its weight in food scraps a day. Even if you forget about them for a while they'll take to munching on the moist newspaper bedding you've provided for them.}

The Why: Why would you want worms over regular composting? This type of composting is great for the gardener that doesn't have the outdoor space for a compost bin. It's also great for someone that can't turn a big compost pile because the worms are essentially doing the turning for you. {Maybe your gardening grandma needs a pile of worms?}

Food waste is the third largest waste stream after paper and yard waste, which means we pay for the food to go bad, then pay for it again to be taken to the landfill. . . then it pollutes the ever-livin' worm poop outta this here earth. 

So you take this seemingly innocuous waste and turn it into black gold, spray it as a tea, or mix it with your soil and you gain nutrients, which makes for happy happy plants, a higher quality soil structure with all sorts of excited microbes, promotes cleaner air, and saves you money because you won't have to go out and buy soil additives. How can you resist??

Want more wormy goodness? Check out these plans for a super fancy, straight from the hardware store worm tower.

All the questions you could ever dream of are answered on this page.

Renee Garner has a passion to make things grow, although her brownish thumb wants her to believe otherwise. When mud pies aren't on the menu, you can find her doodling the days away at Wolfie and the Sneak.

My Little Eye

Trying to get some work done, but I find myself seriously distracted by these amazing rings! I can't imagine how distracted I'd be if I were actually wearing one. I'd just be sitting in front of the window, twisting and turning my hand, watching all the amazing ways it catches the light. "Oooh, sparkly!"

Color me Happy in Teal

Oh teal, you've stolen my heart. And my wall. I love you the most in your deepest, darkest moments...even then, you still seem to glow. 

blue velvet hairpiece by ban.do

canvas tote by Kinies

raindrop cannonballs print by Slide Sideways

hand dyed bamboo wrap by Riordan Roache

tiger lily moccasins by darlingtonia

feather earrings by Still Tree

frosted glass necklace by Rock Fern Designs

Pretty Little Things

I'm still on the hunt for happy making things today, and I think I just hit the motherload:

The Pretty Little Things shop. It's just too much cute and colorful!  Via abbeychristine on twitter.

A trip down random road

I woke up to tons of spam comments left by one person that were actually kind of relevant sounding, but they were left by "low carb pita bread" and "couture prom dresses" and linked to all these random, awful sites (you don't want to see the prom dress one, ick). It makes me feel weird, such outright deceit. I take it personally, spammer! I don't know why I'm telling you this except that I just spent 40 minutes deleting all those and writing said spammer a snarky email instead of doing what I should have been doing- working on a post. 

So now I feel a little bummed out. And I really need some coffee. With cocoa in it. 

I also didn't tell you that to cheer myself up, I started dilly-dallying around some of my favorite blogs for another uh, 40 or so minutes, give or take (whoops.) But at least my time spent was fruitful- look at all the cheer-uppy stuff I found! 

Kate is trying not to buy these, and now, so am I. Curse you, shoe temptress! {via for me, for you}

I could definitely spend some time under that umbrella. Or maybe I'll just put a patio umbrella in my new yellow room and pretend it's sunny outside. {by Irene Suchocki, via you are my fave}

I can grow a lawn with wildflowers in it? You hear that mister, we can grow a lawn with wildflowers in it! Eh? {via frolic, photo by Chelsea}

I'm sure you've already seen this, but it's brides like this that give me hope for my own future non-bridey bridedom someday. {via a cup of jo}

When I was 8 I had my barbies living out of  a killer pink winnebago, and I didn't think anything could be more awesome than that. But these modernist dollhouses so are! {via design is mine, originally from NY Times}

Ahh...I feel a better now...  

A Kind gift

The very lovely Erin from Kind, an eco-friendly boutique, saw that we bought our first house and asked if she could send me a little housewarming gift. I said, "sure!" expecting a card or something, but to my surprise she sent me two gooorgeous tea towels! 

They're both by Linea Carta and are made from linen and feature adorable graphics that were screen-printed by hand with water based inks. That means they're as good to the earth as they look. And they're totally at home in my new kitchen! Now she's got me scoping out all the other eco-friendly goodness that Kind holds- I'm thinking I might have to get this nail polish to match my new wall.

Thank you so much Erin for the lovely gift! 

Eco-Friendly Find: Pansy Maiden

I have been a fan of Pansy Maiden's bags for quite a long time, what with the fact that they are both beautiful and sustainable, so I was pretty excited when Laura sent me some photos of her new line...

Like all Pansy Maiden's bags, these pretties are vegan, organic and built to last. The lovely new Lady Day bag (love this one!) is constructed from a hemp/tencel blend or bamboo denim, while the new messenger design is organic twill. Laura says her mission is "to create simple, durable, ecofriendly, animal-free bags that are urban, pretty, and practical. And fun. Really, really fun." I'd say she has succeeded, how about you?

Liz Grotyohann is a co-founder of cosa verde, a marketplace for handmade, environmentally-conscious goods.

Inspiration A-Z: H is for Home

Today is the day for "H" in the Inspiration A-Z series, and since we just spent the last 4 days moving, all I can think of is that H should be for Home. I was going to find some pretty homes to inspire you with, but sometimes when I look at homes around designblogland they feel unrealistically out of reach to me- too perfect and too expensive for someone who's on a blogger budget, sheesh!

And I don't think that creating your home should be about perfection or trends or spending a lot of money. Home is about comfort, your own personal style and surrounding yourself with things that make you happy. We're not even unpacked here yet but it already feels very homey... so I thought I'd just share some moments from the first weekend here in our new home.

Cats in windows, flowers from a new neighbor, a dog tired from playing in the sun, shady spots in a sunny yard, drinking wine out of cute mugs, watching the weather change out the window...these are the kind of things that make me feel like I'm at home here already.

What about you? What are the little things that make you feel like you're at home?

Happy Weekend!

As you read this, we're busy moving into our new home! Hooray! And Portland has granted us a dry and sunny weekend to do it. Thank you Portland! Next time I write here it will probably be from this table (we found a formica one just like I wanted, yay!) in our new little kitchen, watching our doggie run around out in the sunny yard. Sounds pretty idyllic if you ask me. I can't believe it's soon to be my everyday! 

I leave you with a few links to check out over the weekend:

Have you seen this beautiful idea? It really is. (via Amy)

Apparently our new teal living room wall is totally on trend. See mom?

This spring walk is so gorgeous. I love Portland even more this time of year.

Oh my gosh, forget our new house- I want to live in this instead! (via Kate)

Have you entered our big earth day giveway yet? You have tons of chances to win!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to seeing you back here on Monday!

<3 jena

Call me the Gardening Magpie

Should I need some last minute frost protection, I'm dreaming of rows and rows of fancy cloches to act as mini-greenhouses. Cloches are fairly easy to come by and certainly an easy way to add a bit of pretty (oooo, shiny!) to your garden, but they can be prohibitively expensive. Plus, who has the safely-tucked-away storage space for so much glass when there are dogs, cats, chickens and a curious and crawling baby around?

The reality is that I don't have hundreds of dollars or the space, but if I did (daydream with me here, folks) I'd pick up a few Roost domes (a), Victorian replica cloches like they use in Colonial Williamsburg (as captured by Duo de Hale) (b), or some of Fabrica's and Secondme's collaborative updated takes (c), though I'm not sure I could actually put them outside.

I've only got 30 or so seeds to protect, what's a small fortune in glass when my food is at risk?  Oh yeah, I just sent my small fortune to the tax man. Hmf.

Another option is terra cotta, which, by simply being opaque, can be used to trick rhubarb into an extra sweet early entrance to spring. Jo-h captured one in situ (d); Martha's favorite, Guy Wolff, makes one that would naturally fit into any garden with its beautiful patinad finish (e);and GRDN in Brooklyn has a classic, simple option (f).

Inch By Inch and Fun in the Making both took an eye-pleasing approach (g) while on recycling duty, while another more affordable option is to go old-school and find some vintage versions on etsy (these are from Little Byrd Vintage) or antique ones at the flea market (h).  

Bursting my own glass cloche-encased bubble, I know I need too many to realistically cover my plants with the shiny (oooo) new versions, but after seeing Camille Soulayrol's vignette (thank you Decor8!) of all things glass flipped upside down, I'm thinking that's a pretty good option. I, too, can take it from the magpie and have some loverly brilliance in my garden while keeping my seeds out of frosty's mean mittens.

Renee Garner has a passion to make things grow, although her brownish thumb wants her to believe otherwise. When mud pies aren't on the menu, you can find her doodling the days away at Wolfie and the Sneak.

Handmade Spaces: Mick Marineau & Barb Jensen

I'm plotting and planning how I want to set up my new little greenhouse studio space. I think it's going to feel nice to have a workspace that I actually have to step outside the door of my house to get to (even if I don't have to go very far :) I've been perusing the handmade spaces pool for ideas and found this awesome studio space of two ceramic artists- Mick & Barb- they also get to step just outside the door of their house to get to it, although they get to walk down this awesome little foresty path along the way!

Looks like a pretty nice way to whittle the afternoon hours away, hmm? See more interesting and inspiring workspaces in the Modish Handmade Spaces pool. And feel free to add photos of your own! You could see them featured right here!