Memories - grace grits and gardening

Dear July,

July 10, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

My friend Sarah Shotts, who blogs at A Love Letter to Adventure, inspired me to write this post Dear July. During the month of July, Sarah is video journaling in a series called Letters to July. I encourage you to check out her blog today. She is doing innovative, creative work not only with her July letters, but also in Project Stir (her global recipe project). Since I haven’t yet mastered the nuances of videoing (aren’t you glad? ha!), I decided to write a letter to July the old-fashioned way with pen to paper (then reproduced here, of course).

So, corny or not, here we go…

Dear July,

It seems as though I saw you only two or three months ago, yet here you are again. Somehow another entire year has passed. I have a confession. Did you know I love and hate you all at the same time? It’s true. I’ve thought about it for a long, long time.

July, you’ve always shown up bringing a bundle of my favorite things…family vacations, juicy watermelon, and a blue sky filled with lofty clouds. Even with all these wonderful gifts, the truth is that sometimes, most times, you are steamy and unbearable and I want you to disappear into a cool autumn breeze. But not this year, not so far, at least. This year I wouldn’t recognize you at all if not for the flicker of lightning bugs outside my kitchen window.

In case you’ve forgotten, today is my birthday. Today I turn fifty-three years old. That’s another reason I’m quite fond of you. Doesn’t everyone love their birthday month?

I’m not sure how I blinked and became fifty-three, but I did. And I’m not complaining. It’s a privilege, really, this aging thing. For whatever reason, many folks don’t get the luxury. Anyway, I thought you should know, I’m grateful for the memories so far—I hold them close and revisit them often like an old favorite book.

If you think about it, we have quite a history—fifty-three trips around the sun together is an impressive distance for someone who doesn’t like to travel all that much. Happy birthday to you and me and cheers to our next journey around the globe. Let’s try to enjoy more of the moments and remember they aren’t infinite. You order up the yellow sunshine (not too terribly hot, please), and I’ll bring the sunscreen.

And wine. There should be wine.

Your friend,

Me.

My 9th birthday. 9 candles with 1 to grow on!

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Dear July, Happy Birthday to us! You bring the sun, I’ll bring the wine. @sarahshotts #LetterstoJuly[/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

Todd Rundgren, Hello It’s Me

Vintage Coffee Tin Succulents. My new fav!

July 3, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

There’s a saying in the South that if it isn’t nailed down, we southerners will monogram it. I have my own saying. If it isn’t nailed down, I’m gonna plant something in it. My newest obsession is planting succulents in vintage coffee tins. And if you think about it, the tins are already monogrammed with the company’s label/artwork. Love, love, love.

Here’s one of my favorites—Summer Girl Coffee. How perfect is this? Technically I’m a “summer girl” born almost on the 4th of July. And I’m guzzling coffee while you read this.

Look at the history on this can. “Roasted and Packed by the H. D. Lee Mercantile Company”. H. D. Lee Mercantile was founded in 1889 in Salina, Kansas. This was the first company to manufacture overalls and the zipper fly jean. Today the company makes Lee Rider but no coffee to my knowledge.

Here’s my other favorite.

I chose this one mainly for the colors and the little old Aunt Bea looking lady on the front.

I found these two tins at Long Ago Antiques on Huntsville Road in Fayetteville (one of my favorite places to shop for antiques and vintage items). Similar tins are available on Ebay, often in a group of four or five. Prices vary so look around. Tip: look for ones without lids to save a few dollars.

To preserve the value of vintage tins, I prefer not to drill drainage holes in the bottom, so I added a layer of charcoal in the bottom instead. (Buy the charcoal at your local nursery—it’s not lump charcoal used to grill.) Some of the old tins come with holes rusted in the bottom which solves the drainage issue. Succulents don’t need that much water, so I find they survive quite well with charcoal.

Top with pebbles or moss for aesthetic purposes. I think the rock highlights the plant better.

Voila! Perfect on the porch. I’m taking orders. Not really, but maybe.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]These #vintage coffee tin #succulents will rock your world. #gardenchat #growsomething @WestwoodGardens[/tweetthis]

[tweetthis]If it isn’t nailed down, plant something in it. #Vintage Coffee Tin #Succulents! @allsucculents @iPlantPerfect[/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

Queen, We Will Rock You

20 ways to rediscover the LOST ART of SUMMER

June 22, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

Three cheers for summer! This year, I say we take time to rediscover the lost art of summer. Slow down. Stop trying to orchestrate the picture perfect summer and instead enjoy some hot fun in the summertime “old school style”. Waaaaay back when I was a kid, summer meant hours of bicycle riding and exploring ditch banks and guzzling cherry Kool-aid in the shade of a mimosa tree. Now mimosas are drinks, the tree variety is considered trash by many, and summer is pre-planned to stave off kids’ idle brain drain. Makes me tired just thinking about it.

Work a few of these simple simon activities into each week from now until Labor Day, and you’ll have a more relaxing summer. Promise.

1. Play in the water hose. Drink from it too.

2. Go on a picnic. Grill hot dogs. Who cares about calories or the gritty sand that somehow made its way onto the bun?

3. Lay on a quilt and watch the clouds float by. A quilt hand-stitched by your grandmother.

4. Lose yourself in a trashy summer read. It’s allowed in summer.

5. Eat ice cream in the sun. Nothing fancy. Neapolitan scooped into a plain cone. Or, support your neighborhood ice cream truck. Or, both.

6. Go for lots of walks and always carry change. You never know when you’ll find a neighborhood lemonade stand. If you have little ones at home, man your own lemonade stand in the front yard and donate the proceeds to a good cause.

7. Catch lightning bugs in a mason jar or at least sit outside and watch them light up the yard. They are extra amazing this year! (Release them before bedtime, though.)

8. Swim in a swimming hole.

9. Eat watermelon. Plant the seeds even though they probably won’t come up.