July 2010

Practically Green: Paper towel veto makes smugglers of the menfolk

Green Up

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of columns in Home & Garden about all aspects — the serious and not so serious — of living a greener life. In 12 years of marriage, I’ve put my foot down twice. No handguns in the house. No buying paper towels. Now, I’m from the [...]

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How (Not) to Make a Goat Fence

Barnyard

Ivory’s Totally Secure Goat Fence 1.  Put up worthless chicken fence. 2.  Get sick of it and tear it down, vowing to put up a new one so the monsters won’t kill your garden and fruit trees. 3.  Fail. 4.  Borrow MIL’s boss’s brother’s manual transmission, diesel, 16-ft flatbed with a lift and drive 20 [...]

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Window Fail

FLOPS

Good news!  I got my window fixed.  See that bottom right pane?  It was busted out with a plastic mini-rocket.  Good thing I called my handyman to replace it, huh?  It would have looked SO TACKY otherwise. Unfortunately, less than a month after it was repaired, my youngest killed another pane with a marble and [...]

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White Eggplant

Garden

There it was, at the feed store.  A small eggplant seedling in a black plastic pot. The first rule in edible gardening, in my opinion, is only grow what you like to eat. Having had more than my share of bad eggplant experiences, I’m a little put off by the curious flavor and texture of [...]

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Homemade Hideous Garden

FLOPS

Isn’t that beautiful?  Corn, beans, tomatoes, watermelon…  It’s my neighbors’.  Which makes this even more shameful: Hideous Garden 101 Step 1:  Buy goats and chickens. Step 2:  Have only one fence dividing your backyard. Step 3:  Have husband who hates poo (communist) and likes grilling with friends. Step 4:  Move animals to far side of [...]

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