7 Uses for Marigolds

by Tomato Lady on November 20, 2009

IMG_4627

I mentioned a while back that I was determined to get the most out of my marigolds–a huge mound of them occupying space I coveted for cold weather goodies like cabbage and broccoli.

I wasn’t kidding and have been giving that plant a workout. Here’s the current list of marigold uses:

1.  Marigold Insect Spray for leaf-cutters–I heard from my best friend in Pennsylvania that she has used a commercial version as a fly spray for horses, too.

IMG_4587

2. Marigold Pound Cake–I stirred the petals and a few chopped leaves into cake batter. More of a novelty than a flavoring, but sort of fun.

IMG_4631

3.  Salad–I add several sprigs of the leaves and the flower petals from a couple of blooms to liven up mixed green salads. Delicious.

IMG_4642

4. Marigold Tea–Ivory covered this one way back when. I’m drying some of the flowers to save for the dark days of winter. Sunshine in a cup!

5. Deep-Fried Marigolds–Oh yeah I DID! I made a loose batter of flour, water, salt and pepper, dipped and fried those puppies up! Yum!

6. Baked in a Pie–I’m tossing petals into savory pies (spinach, zucchini). A dainty dish to set before anybody.

7.  Chicken Snack–I read that feeding a moderate amount of flowers and leaves of marigold to your hens makes their egg yolks an even brighter, deeper orange. And they love it.

IMG_4685

How do you marigold?

{ 7 comments }

How to Needle Felt

by Ivory Soap on November 19, 2009

DSCF0021

Ever since I saw these from Martha, I’ve wanted to try needle felting.  But, I thought it was complicated.  Turns out, it’s one of the most forgiving crafts, I’ve ever tried.

Last year, my in-laws got me a pile of craft stuff for Xmas.  One of which was the cute little needle felting kit you see above.

Turns out, you just tear off some roving and lay it on your material as seen in the first picture.  Then you place the material and roving over a block of spongy stuff and stab the dickens out of it.  That’s IT.

Here’s the front after a bit of  felting:

DSCF0026

Here’s the back:

DSCF0025

If you put on too much, you just cut it off with scissors.  If you put on too little, stab more on top of it.  And if you don’t like it, you can pull it all out!

The one trick, is to do the outside of the lines first.  Other than that, it’s one of the simplest crafts I’ve ever tried with really fun results!

{ 2 comments }

Bulb Time!

November 18, 2009 Gardening

If you haven’t planted them….DO IT!!!!  Invest in your joyous Spring.  Plant bulbs now, when everything else is crapping out on us.
Public Service Announcement brought to you by Ivory and a lil bit o’ Macaroni Grill Chianti.

Read the full article →

Chicken-Proof Garden

November 17, 2009 Gardening

Chickens should be corralled in some way, but I have one Houdini chicken that cannot be contained unless locked in the coop.  And I’m not going to do that to her.  So, I have chicken-damage.
Hens do three very damaging things to my garden.  Scratch, dust bathe, and peck. They scratch the dirt looking for [...]

Read the full article →

Purpose-Challenged Plants

November 16, 2009 Gardening

Calling them “weeds” seems dismissive. After all, they have their own identities and uses. I just have no idea what they are.
This seems like a waste so I’m on a mission to give a name to these flora in my yard. I have a feeling I’m going to be surprised at the diversity [...]

Read the full article →

Manuscript Format

November 14, 2009 Writing

I know this is random, but the truth is, I have all these posts from another blog that I shut down exclusively about writing…and I HATE waste, so Saturdays for the next thirteen or so weeks will be devoted to writing.  If it’s weird, just ignore me, K?
Most writers really put a lot of WORRY [...]

Read the full article →

Backyard Chickens: 5 Things I Didn’t Know

November 13, 2009 Goats-n-Chickens

Is that not one of the grossest things you’ve ever seen?  GOSH, molting is nasty looking.  And, all of them are molting at once, which means every morning it looks like a chicken exploded in my back yard.  The first time I thought one got eaten!

Anyway, at over a 18 months of chicken ownership, I [...]

Read the full article →

5 Fastest Ways to Reduce Your Footprint

November 12, 2009 Going Green

photo by ezioman
I stumbled upon the COOLEST website this weekend.  Low Impact Living has an impact calculator that is the best I’ve ever seen.  After your score is calculated, it gives you ‘project suggestions’ to lower your impact even more.  An average household LILI number is 100.  “Low” impact ratings start around 70.  So, what [...]

Read the full article →

Garlic Paper

November 9, 2009 Crafts & Projects

This image requires some explanation. It’s what’s left of the garlic braids now that we’ve eaten all the garlic.
I can’t resist making paper out of these stems. They are so clean and dried and . . . papery. And it doesn’t smell like garlic anymore. True garlic devotees may see this as a con, but, [...]

Read the full article →

Keeping Warm

November 6, 2009 Misc

If it snows anything like it has been raining in my neck of the woods this year, we are in for a lot of power outages.
Ice is all twinkly and everything and goodness knows there’s nothing like a good snowball fight, but there’s very little fun associated with being stuck in an all-electric house during [...]

Read the full article →