LEMONS!

I’m sad that the last our lemons were picked and juiced this weekend because it was such a nice view out of our living room window, but I’m looking forward to nurturing our garden in the backyard. I pressed some of the lemon tree leaves this month and made prints of them; you can find them on my latest potholders, dishtowels, and coasters at http://www.teawithiris.com

If you have citrus trees- Take time out to pick and share your citrus with friends and neighbors. You can also donate fruit to those in need through local charities. The city of Palm Desert has a program called Hidden Harvest; drop off citrus at the City’s Visitor Center daily from 9am-5pm (760-398-8183) or at City Hall.

COMPOST!

Today, my daughter and I emptied one of the compost bins to fill the rest of our planter boxes. It’s so exciting to see nature at it’s finest! All those microbes did their job and there was no need to make a soil run at Home Depot.

I would like to thank the Bowie's horses for speeding up the process with their manure.

Here's a few things that you can add to your pile that actually break down:

1. dryer lint

2. hair

3. tea bags

So remember me the next time you get your haircut- bag it and leave it at my gate; I'll turn it into soil!

RAIN!

Rain, rain, beautiful rain!!!

PUDDLE JUMPING!

Elle finally got to really try out her new rain boots in Santa Cruz. We spent the whole afternoon jumping in every puddle.

Happy 2010!

My new year's resolution is done! I've decided to ditch my planner this year. As a left hander, it was always a chore to write in so I'm going very low-tech this year with a yellow pad of paper and my city of pd calendar. I plan to only fill one sheet a day...shorten my to-do lists so I can spend more time reading in my hammock, hiking, creating and gardening while waiting for Iris to come out of hibernation...we miss her!