Too Many Tomatoes?

Its that glorious time of year when the tomatoes are red and juicy...and getting all crushed... and making your counter gross. Well - no fear - egg cartons are here! Use them to keep the tomatoes off of each other so they can stay fresh and ready for a salsa or sauce.
This is also great when the weather starts to turn colder - pick the green tomatoes and keep them inside to ripen.

iPhone Amplification - Guest Appearance

Need I say more? Courtesy of Winnie Nie and Harry Paddock on a short break at work - goes to show you a break here and there leads to good stuff!

FOR the garden FROM the garden

Summer is finally here! GOSH... that took foooorrrreeeeverrrr. But, now the garden must be planted. Why give all your money to Lowes when you can use stuff you already have?

We have a pear tree in our backyard that we prune every year. The pruned branches are these perfectly straight and strong sticks. They have been so useful as supports for everything from dahlias to tomatoes.

Pear branches supporting peas:The branches also make great plant markers. Take a knife and slice off part of the branch - wa-la!
Then take a permanent marker and write the name of your veggie - you are done! Plus, since the materials were already in your yard, they fit in with the decor.


Super easy... free... and reused. Um, does it get any better than that?

Next blog post will be about reusing items you already have for friendly (to everyone but the pests) pest control.

Excuse the photo quality - better lens coming soon.)

Guest Appearance - Wire and its many uses.

Wire could be considered one of the most boring thing in the world. But, alas! (That's right, I said it) there are so many possibilities. Wire fixes, wire repairs, wire holds, wire attaches, wire hangs... did you know wire can also decorate? My good friend Bobbi is a genius and made this recycled lovely:



She wanted to be sure to remember what to do when she is in the kitchen. Who knew wire also had the power to remind us what to do. So many options!

Natural (AND easier) Silver Polish

About 30 minutes after using smelling, sticky silver polish to clean some necklaces when I found this article by Martha (that's Martha Stewart, we are on a first name basis) for a natural silver polish. I am sure this recipe has been around forever - because it works better than the polish. Here is the deal:
Fill an aluminum pan (or alumnim lined pan) with hot water, salt and baking soda. Stir. THAT IS IT!

Put your silver items in and waaaaa laaaaa - beautiful. Thank you science.
Here is a pre and post picture. The photo quality isn't great, but let me promise you that there is a big difference and it couldn't have been easier.

You may be wondering, dude, where is the re-use part of this blog? Well just think of what you are saving not buying that yucky silver polish (which you probably loose somewhere in your house and then buy another bottle if you clean your silver as much as I do.) This is better than reusing - we are reducing here!

Second hand for $2500

Check out Michelle Obama wearing something second hand! Super beautiful, also super expensive: http://goodwillnynj.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/a-new-years-resolution/

Beautiful!

Red Wine Vinegar - SO easy!

Hold on folks. This could quite possibly be the easiest re-usable idea ever!

Don't know about you, but we cook with red wine vinegar a lot, in salad dressings, when cooking spinach and other greens, in soups. My fellow happy-cooking-friend and I got to thinking... how do they make vinegar? We googled "DIY vinegar" and BAM! Our minds were blown.

To make red wine vinegar: leave out your left over red wine. Wait a couple of months. Done.

This guy explains it a bit better: http://www.chow.com/food-news/54317/how-to-make-homemade-vinegar/

Here is my version, I put it in a pretty bottle I found at, you guessed it, Goodwill.

I will let you know how it goes. Next, what to do with wine bottles...