MYSTERY AUTHOR JANE GORMAN ON COCKTAIL GARDENS AND CAPE MAY MURDER

The Author's Cocktail Garden

Jane Gorman is the author of the Cape May Cozy Mysteries with a Twist series and the Adam Kaminski Mystery Series. Formerly an anthropologist, then a diplomat, then a park ranger, she has settled down and now calls New Jersey home. Learn more about Jane and her books at her website. 

Growing a Cocktail Garden

Have you ever put your hand to something that seemed like it should be right up your alley, only to find that it was a lot harder than it looked? I have.

 

I spent a few years sweating over a vegetable garden. My tomatoes do great (I live in New Jersey, so that’s a given!), but everything else I grew seemed unhappy. It could have been the soil. Or the sunlight. Or the drainage. But it also could have been insufficient effort on my part. Gardening isn’t easy, is it? 

 

Then two years ago, I came across a book that seemed like it was written just for me. Have you ever encountered a book like that? I know it sounds like it should be a philosophy tome or something just as serious. But no, for me it was a book about cocktail gardens. 

 

Yep, cocktail gardens! Did you know there was a such a thing? I didn’t, though it seems kind of obvious now. 

 

A cocktail garden makes a lot of sense for me, because I write the Cape May Cozy Mysteries with a Twist series. That means that when I sit down to write about Cape May, I’m also writing about cocktails. Each of my books involves a classic cocktail – including the recipe and a bit of the drink’s history. So far, I’ve written about the Scofflaw, the Bee’s Knees, and the Kir Royale. This means I spend a lot of time reading about cocktails, learning about liquors, and, obviously, tasting them. 

 

Last year, for the first time, I planted only herbs, and only those that I regularly use in cocktails or that I wanted to use but could never get my hands on. I got to try new recipes made with each of the herbs I grew. I made lavender bitters and lavender simple syrup. I muddled scented geranium into gin and made mojitos with fresh mint. 

 

Not all my plants grew. There are two I still have hopes for next year since they’re perennials. Others I’m going to replace with new herbs, to create new recipes. I’m using my time this fall to make plans for next year: getting ready to plant seeds indoors when appropriate, making sure the bed is cleared out and the soil refreshed, and going through my cocktail recipe books to figure out what I want to try new next year. 

 

I haven’t told anyone else this yet, but next on my list is the Hot Toddy! It’s a perfect drink for a cold fall or winter’s day, made with whiskey, honey, lemon and a variety of spices. I’ve been trying out a few variations while working on my next book: Heroes and Hot Toddies. 

 

Thanks for allowing me a few minutes of your time as a guest on this blog. I love sharing my thoughts about my writing and my interests, and if I’ve given you any ideas, even better! With winter coming, I’m looking ahead to a few short, dark, cold months in my part of the world, but thanks to the Jersey shore and my cocktail garden, I have so many fun plans to make! 

 

Scones and Scofflaws

A Cape May Cozy Mystery with a Twist, Book 1

 

Her scones might be killer, but someone else was responsible for this murder. Now Anna must rely on the town’s gossip mill and her anthropology background to catch the real killer.

 

It all seemed so simple: fix up the Cape May Victorian mansion she’d inherited from Great Aunt Louise and re-open it as the exceptional B&B it used to be. Everything’s going great, until her very first guest turns up dead at the breakfast table, crumbs from Anna’s blueberry scones scattered on the lace tablecloth. As the town’s gossips go into overdrive, Anna leaps into the fray to save her reputation, her business and Great Aunt Louise’s legacy.

 

With help from a handsome handyman eager to solve all of Anna’s problems and a young police officer new to murder investigations, Anna does her best to find the real killer and convince the town – and her future guests – that staying at her B&B doesn’t have to be deadly.

 

Buy Links

paperback 

ebook 

DEBUT MYSTERY AUTHOR MICHELLE CORBIER ON THE CATHARTIC NATURE OF WRITING AND GARDENING

Michelle Corbier is a medical consultant publishing her first novel in May 2022. She recently returned to North Carolina, the setting for her murder mystery. Learn more about her and her book at her website. 

Many writers would disagree, but I find writing cathartic. A book idea is like pressure inside my brain seeking release. Once my fingers touch the keyboard, words pour through my fingers. Does this happen all the time? Of course not. But when I’m seized with the desire to write, my creative power feels electric. I can’t type fast enough to capture the ideas swirling through my mind. 

 

Gardening allows my hands to create differently. Soil teeming with wriggling worms. Grasshoppers skipping along blades of grass. Earth crumbling through my fingers, getting under my nails. I relax, decompress.

 

When I began work on Murder Is Revealing, I knew my protagonist would also be a gardener. Dr. Myaisha Douglas is a widowed, empty nester who writes to cope with her loneliness. A member of her writing group is murdered, causing a cascade of problems for the group—and its members. 

 

Though plants are not a pivotal topic in my novel, it thrilled me when my book cover designer, Karen Phillips, incorporated a gardenia on the cover. The sentiment not only touched me but also alluded to the book’s protagonist.

 

I started work on Murder Is Revealing around the same time I planted this Meyer lemon tree. Each white bulb is a potential fruit. Not every story I write will come to fruition and become a marketable novel, but I enjoy helping them mature. Hopefully, readers will likewise find my novel satisfying. 

 

Murder is Revealing

Physician and amateur writer, Dr. Myaisha Douglas must discover who murdered her college friend before police convict a member of her writing group for the crime. It is the height of the 2007 housing market crash and, with a murdered realtor, the potential suspects are many. Myaisha erroneously accuses the wrong person of the homicide and is almost killed for her mistake. 

 

Buy Link 

ROMANCE AUTHOR KATHY L. WHEELER PROVES SHE DOES HAVE A GREEN THUMB

Kathy L. Wheeler writes contemporary and historical romance. She loves the NFL, NBA, musical theater, travel, reading, and … karaoke! She moved from tornado alley to the Pacific Northwest and is enthralled with the weather there. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

My husband and I were at my cousin's house the other day for an impromptu cookout. It was so much fun. However, in the course of the kitchen conversation, he blurted out, "Kathy has a black thumb."

I looked at him a little dumbfounded and said, “What? What the hell is a black thumb?”

“It means you can’t grow anything.”

Now, I take umbrage with that statement. For years, before our move to the northwest, he was always trying to get me to garden. Garden! I admit, I was clueless when it came to gardening. My mother said that when I was little, I would come in the house crying because I had dirt on my hands. I hated it. I still kind of hate it, truth be known.

Still. Really? A black thumb?

When we decided on our move to western Washington and bought our house, our dog Angel, our cat Carly, and I drove up a month before my husband was able to join us. My aunt and my late dad’s wife came over one afternoon for “high” tea (I was really creative, if I say so myself! Cucumber and egg salad sandwiches, notwithstanding) brought me a housewarming gift—a rose bush. I looked at them and said, “Um. I don’t know how to do this.”

“Just put it on the back porch and let it acclimate to the weather. Then plant it in the ground,” they said (almost simultaneously).

Yeah, right.

I put it on the back porch for several days. Then my husband called to say he would arrive in a couple of days. I grabbed the bush, drove to Tacoma, and found an Ace Hardware. I took in my bush and showed it to the employee and said, “I don’t know what to do.”

I ended up buying a small shovel, rose plant food, Miracle Grow, etc. etc.

I wanted that damn bush in the ground before he got there. Otherwise, it would be things like: Do you know what you are doing? Why are you planting it there? You need more dirt…Blah blah blah.

In any event, I planted my little rose bush.

See the photo above? I ask you: Who has a black thumb?

Mail Order Bride: The Counterfeit

The Mail Order Bride Series, Book 1

After a disastrous first marriage, Will Jeffers hasn’t the stomach for another emotionally entailed union. All he needs is a wife to cook, nurse his mother, and look after the homestead. But good women are few and far between in Colorado mining country. A mail order bride is the perfect solution.

Amelia Johannasen is running for her life. Her mother, the town saloon madam, has decided it’s time her daughter joined the family business, shattering Amy’s dreams of marrying for love. Imagine her surprise when she is mistaken for Will Jeffers mail order bride.

She has a head for numbers and a talent for spinning tall-tales but no notion of how to cook or nurse a manipulative old woman. Can she reach the heart of a man once burned so badly, he’s sworn off love?

Buy Link 

CONFESSIONS OF A CITY GIRL WITH A BLACK THUMB--THE ONCE AND FUTURE ZUCCHINI

I’m a city girl exiled to the suburbs. I’m much more comfortable in a concrete environment with mass transit than the land of malls and minivans. Maybe that’s the reason I have two black thumbs. With few exceptions, plants see me coming and commit suicide rather than suffer a prolonged death at my hands.

Heaven knows, I’ve tried to develop a green thumb, but I swear there’s a conspiracy in the Garden State. Whatever I don’t kill, the squirrels devour. Along the squirrel grapevine the word is out; my address is passed from varmint to varmint. They hold conventions in my driveway and feast on whatever I dare to plant, leaving my neighbors’ gardens full of flowers and produce but mine bare.

One morning I looked out my kitchen window to find a squirrel perched on my gas grill, a green tomato between his thieving paws. I went outside to shoo the little bugger away and check my two tomato plants that the day before had been loaded with green tomatoes. Every single tomato had been yanked from the vine, chomped a few times, then discarded in the dirt.

But every year hope sprang eternal, and I headed to the garden center for the makings of a vegetable garden. Finally, after years of gardening frustration I discovered the one plant that both defied my black thumbs and the squirrels—zucchini. The first time I planted zucchini, I made the mistake of planting three, figuring that if the garden gods were smiling down on me, one plant might survive. All three not only survived but thrived. And that’s a heck of a lot of zucchini.

The strange thing about zucchini is its rate of growth. In the morning it’s the size of your pinkie finger, and by evening it’s big enough to feed your teenager’s football team. There are only so many ways you can disguise a zucchini and fool your family into believing they’re eating something other than those green things taking over the backyard. So that first year I wound up giving away a lot of zucchini.

The garden gods continued to smile down on me until a few years ago when all of a sudden they turned their backs on me. I was used to picking zucchini out of my backyard, not the produce aisle of the supermarket. A fluke, I decided. Wouldn’t happen next year. But it did. And the year after that. For the past three summers I’ve harvested next to nothing--one or two zucchini at most. Which makes for very expensive zucchini when you add up everything I spend at the garden center to grow those plants. I decided to give up.

Then this past fall the one remaining tree on my property that hadn’t succumbed to old age, blight, or Super Storm Sandy, departed for that great arboretum in the sky. While at the garden center, searching for an inexpensive replacement, the horticulturist asked, “How’s your zucchini this year?”

He nearly brought me to tears. I missed my zucchini—the one plant that used to thrive in spite of me. He told me to cheer up. The bees were back.

Bees? Well, it turns out the reason I hadn’t grown any zucchini the last three years was that the honeybees had flown the coop. My zucchini wasn’t being pollinated. The horticulturist said the honeybees were coming back, and I should definitely plant some zucchini this spring and dust off all my zucchini recipes.

So if spring ever arrives in New Jersey this year, I’ll give zucchini one more try, but I’m hedging my bets. Along with sending up prayers to the garden gods, I’m offering some to the honeybee gods as well. We’ll see if come harvest time, my prayers are answered.

FAVORITES, FAILURES & FRUSTRATIONS--ANASTASIA SOUNDS OFF

The Weeds That Devoured Westfield

Anastasia here, and I’m frustrated.

We used to have next-door neighbors who took great pride in their backyard garden. From my kitchen window I could gaze out at a cornucopia of beautiful flowerbeds as I scrubbed pots and pans. Unfortunately, a few years ago these neighbors sold their house and moved away. More unfortunately still, the people who bought that house have left the lovely yard go to pot. (No, they’re not growing pot; that would be illegal in New Jersey. I’m talking about the other type of pot, the kind that grows out of neglect.)

My driveway butts up against the edge of their backyard. There’s no fence or wall blocking what has become a jungle of weeds. Some of these weeds are seven and eight feet tall. By the end of the summer they’ll probably grow another five feet or so. After all, weeds grow, well, like weeds, right?

I could understand if these neighbors were elderly and couldn’t keep up with the demands of yard work. If that were the case, I’d do the neighborly thing and pull the weeds myself, even though circumstances don’t allow for me having much in the way of free time (thanks to Dead Louse of a Spouse leaving me up the wazoo in debt and two steps away from living out of cardboard box if I don’t spend every available minute moonlighting to make ends meet.) But these people are not elderly; they’re at least a decade younger than I am.

They could hire someone to do the work for them. Finances are not an issue for them. They have money to spend on fancy cars and expensive furniture. Neither is time an issue. Not only is the husband a stay-at-home dad, the wife’s mother lives with them. Both are able-bodied and quite capable of pulling up weeds. So could their kids with next to no instruction because there’s nothing but weeds in the yard at this point. All the flowers are long dead.

I’ve tried talking to my neighbors. The neighbors who live behind them have also tried because the weeds are spreading into their yard. The weeds are also pushing up through the asphalt, destroying my driveway, a driveway I can’t afford to repave (again thanks to Dead Louse of a Spouse.) The weed seeds also blow throughout the neighborhood, creating more yard work for all the other neighbors.

I have to wonder why people who refuse to take care of their property buy homes in the first place. Why don’t they buy a condo or move to an HOA community where their fees would pay for landscaping upkeep?

Have you ever had to deal with neighbors like this? Anyone have any suggestions?

For those of you unfamiliar with the Dead Louse of a Spouse reference, you can learn all about my circumstances in Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series by Lois Winston. The book is currently featured in SleuthingWomen: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries boxed ebook set, for the phenomenally low price of just .99 cents.

As a working mom I'm clueless about my husband’s gambling addiction until he permanently cashes in his chips, and my comfortable middle-class life craps out. He leaves me with staggering debt, our two kids, his communist mother, and a loan shark demanding $50,000. And that’s all before I'm accused of murder!

Buy Links

Kindle

Nook

Kobo

iTunes

FAVORITES, FAILURES & FRUSTRATIONS--#ZUCCHINI FAIL

Lois Winston, Anastasia’s creator, stepping in today to talk about one of my failures. I’ve never been a great gardener. Instead of having green thumbs, mine are red. I say red because if you look at a color wheel, you’ll see that red is the opposite of green.

In my defense, I’m was born and bred a city girl and have never quite adapted to suburban life, no matter how much I’ve tried. And believe me, when it comes to gardening, I’ve tried…and tried…and tried. And usually failed.

However, one thing I have had success growing in the past is zucchini. Even I couldn’t kill that stalwart squash and have spent many summers with bumper crops from a single plant—until the last several years when even the zucchini decided to rebel against my efforts.

This year I decided to plant in a different sunny spot in my backyard, thinking maybe location was the problem, even though I'd rotate crops within my small gardening plot. The zucchini gods must have thought that was funny because after two months in the ground my poor zucchini plant has yet to produce a single new leaf, let alone any flowers. It’s exactly the same size it was when I bought it. If I didn’t know better, I’d think it was a plastic plant!

I am bowing to the inevitable. We can't all succeed at everything we try, no matter how much we'd like to. So my fresh zucchini this year is coming courtesy of the local farmer’s market that sets up at the train station every Saturday morning. 

DECORATING WITH JEANIE--GUEST AUTHOR DARLENE DELUCA SUGGEST SUNFLOWERS FOR YOUR GARDEN

Darlene Deluca writes women’s fiction and contemporary romance, and likes to explore relationships—what brings people together or keeps them apart. Her characters seem like real people with real issues that readers can relate to. Her debut novel, Unexpected Legacy, advanced to the quarter-finals in Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award. Learn more about Darlene at her website. 

Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but flowers come in a close second. Flowers are the language of love—and what can cheer a girl up faster than a bright and colorful bouquet of fresh flowers? Okay, chocolate and a massage might be up there as well, but today, we’re talking about flowers!

As a gardener and florist, Megan Monroe, the heroine in my sweet contemporary romance, Meetings of Chance, is surrounded by flowers. But since her mother’s death, cheer is hard to come by. Not only was her mother the force behind the beautiful Monroe gardens, she was Megan’s business partner in Fresh Flowers, the floral business they operate from their charming turn-of-the-century farmhouse.

Without her mother, doubts creep in. Can Megan and her grieving father keep up the gardens? Can she run the business alone? Does she even want to? Confused and saddened, she wrestles with those questions—until a bride-to-be and her mother arrive to interview Megan for a wedding job. That’s when she learns there’s a rumor going around town that Megan’s mother was the real talent behind the business. With pride and reputation at stake, Megan sets out to prove them wrong. The answer? Flowers, of course! And not just any flower – sunflowers, one of the cheeriest flowers of all.

“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It’s what sunflowers do.” —Helen Keller

While her mother was partial to the myriad shades of roses growing in their gardens, Megan has an affinity for the whimsical, less formal blooms. The bride’s swatches of eggplant-colored fabric for her bridesmaid dresses ignite Megan’s imagination. Sunflowers against that deep purple hue equal instant impact!

On the day of the wedding, Megan rises before dawn to clip stems of sunflowers, snapdragons and zinnias. Starting with sunflowers as the central focal point, she crafts dramatic and eye-popping centerpieces and bouquets.

The result, in spite of the bride’s anxiety, a cut finger and a lost spool of ribbon? A gorgeous wedding, renewed confidence, and a much-needed spray of cheer!

A Few Facts About Sunflowers . . .

~The scientific name of the sunflower is Helianthus, Helia for sun and Anthus for flower.

~Sunflowers are a great choice for planting to attract birds to your yard.

~A well-known sunflower characteristic is that the flowering heads track the sun's movement, a phenomenon known as heliotropism.

~Sunflower plants can stand from 3 to 18 feet tall, and can grow easily in many types of soil as long as they have direct sunlight and a constant source of water.

~There are two kinds of sunflower seeds -- black and striped. Oil is made from black seeds; snacks are made from striped seeds.

~There is only one flower on each sunflower stem, and each head can contain as many as 2,000 seeds.

~Sunflowers originated in North America. Today, there are more than sixty different kinds of sunflowers growing in the United States, Europe, Japan and Russia. Some aren’t even yellow!

Additionally, sunflowers are the state flower of Kansas, my home state. Many times while driving from Kansas to Colorado I’ve had the pleasure of seeing fields of crop sunflowers—rows and rows of big yellow blooms that stretch as far as the eyes can see. It really is a spectacular site. And a sure way to put a smile on your face!

Meeting of Chance

She wants her old life back . . . He wants to leave his behind.

After her mother’s death, Megan Monroe is convinced her life has been tossed into a high-speed blender. Normal is long gone. While dealing with a grieving father, single-handedly running the family’s floral business and trying to re-shape her own career, she’s suddenly confronted with a troublesome new neighbor and an explosive secret from her mother’s past.

She can’t tell her father, and her sister refuses to believe, so Megan presses on alone, forced to carry a secret she didn’t even want to know. Determined to uncover the truth, she finds herself turning to a man she’s not sure she can trust.

Tom Blake has fled his city life to escape the publicity of a high-profile divorce. Planning to lie low, he has no intention of being drawn into someone else’s family angst. But he runs into more than he bargained for when he meets his new neighbors. In an unexpected turn of events, he finds himself thrust into the role of confidante and on the last path he wanted to travel – a path that threatens his plans for the future.

Buy Links

ebook 

paperback 

GARDEN CRAFTING WITH GUEST AUTHOR GLORIA ALDEN

Gloria Alden is the author of a gardening mystery series—The Catherine Jewell Mystery Series. She’s also published numerous short stories. Learn more about Gloria and her books at her website and blog.

Not So Crafty Anymore

When I offered to be a guest blogger, I mentioned I’m into gardening rather than crafts, and Lois assured me we could consider it outdoor decorating.

However, I got to thinking that although I don’t do what is considered crafting anymore, I have done so for years. In my twenties I learned to crochet. I made doilies–remember those? And I made afghans and gave most of them away as gifts. There was a time I did cross stitch, but not very long at that.

Then in my early thirties I got an oil painting art kit with my S&H Green Stamps. It came in a wooden box complete with oil paints, several canvases and brushes. It took me a year before I had the courage to actually put something on that stark white canvas, and no, it was not paint by numbers. My first picture was of our cat. I imagine that picture is somewhere up in the barn now. But once I started painting, I was totally hooked and often worked until 2:00 a.m., working on a painting in the laundry room where I’d set up my easel and paints.

Soon I started taking art lessons and then to art shows and started selling my paintings.  Also, a friend and I opened a small craft shop before the big ones became popular. We sold things we’d made plus craft supplies. It was in an out of the way place with not enough customers to cover the rent, so it didn’t last long.

A neighbor and I discussed starting a craft business that did parties in the home like a Tupperware party, but with crafts we made. Before we could proceed with that idea, my oldest son was diagnosed with cancer in the early spring of his senior year in high school. He was eighteen. While I was with him through his treatments at the Cleveland Clinic or doctor appointments, I worked on needlework of one kind or another. Between his chemo bouts when he was feeling well enough to go places with his friends, I worked on making other crafts—stuffed animals, wreathes, and many other things, as well as my paintings.

John died in early October at home in my arms. I spent much of my time either outside walking or caring for my critters, or in my basement sewing or painting or working on other crafts. My neighbor and I started our first in-the-home craft show about a month after John’s death. Whether it was pity, or not, I sold a lot of items, and we booked more parties. Eventually, my neighbor dropped out because she didn’t have as many things to sell as I did, and hers weren’t selling well. Over the next five years I booked 85 home parties. I filled up the back of a pickup truck with boxes of the things I made. Much of what I earned helped pay my way through college. I soon stopped the craft shows after I graduated and got a teaching job. From that time on, most of my creativity was spent on teaching third grade instead of crafts and painting.

Now my creative side comes through in my writings—books, short stories and poetry, as well as in my gardening—two passions of mine. I wrote a lot of poetry in college, and about five years before I retired from teaching. I started writing my first mystery, The Blue Rose, which has a gardening theme, of course. It’s gone through numerous revisions and editing. I have written two more in that series, plus a middle-grade mystery, The Sherlock Holmes Detective Club, based on a year’s long writing activity I did with my students. I still write poetry, and I’ve written more than twenty short stories.

As for my gardening, remember that blank canvas that so intimidated me? When my ex had a mid-life crises after thirty-one years of marriage, and on a beginning teacher’s salary, I couldn’t afford to buy him out, I bought an old house in horrible shape with twenty acres and a barn because I needed a place of my own for my two horses, my youngest daughter, and me.

Only my mother found something positive to say about it. Others tried to find encouraging words and couldn’t for a house with a leaking roof, two basement walls collapsing, and an inside that I can’t begin to describe.

My twenty-six year old son and I gutted the house with the help of family and friends so he could rewire with up-to-date wiring. I hired someone to replace the roof, and this awesome son of mine put in new drywalls and helped me turn it into a comfortable place.

But I was the one in charge of the non-existent gardens except for some old lilac bushes, one old rose, a few peonies and an incredible amount of weeds. So here I was with a blank canvas, so to speak, and no one, absolutely no one, to say I couldn’t put in as many gardens as I wanted or plant as many trees, shrubs or rose bushes or daylilies as I wanted to plant. I’ve been a gardener more or less most of my life, but nothing on this scale.

Because visiting gardens on camping vacations is something I’ve always done over the years, especially with my sisters, I had many, many, many ideas. There is only one major problem with visiting gardens like Monticello—Jefferson had slaves, and I have only myself with the occasional someone hired for heavy work or a long-suffering sometimes but not always patient son, and a few grandsons before they grew up.

I have one sixteen-year-old grandson right now, who is good for the occasional odd job, but other than that, I dig, plant, weed, mow and sort of maintain, more or less, about an acre or so of lawn and gardens. The rest is a large pond, woods or mowed by my son or daughter-in-law who live next door beyond my barn and pasture.

I love my place. I love my morning walks in the woods with Maggie, my collie, my outside critters—two ponies, six hens and an old guinea fowl—my gardens as weedy as they are that still have many blooms in all seasons except for winter, and my home filled with books and plants.

The Blue Rose

In The Blue Rose, Catherine Jewell, part-time botanist for Elmwood Gardens and owner of a small garden center, Roses and Thyme, discovers the body of Augustus Chatterton, at the reception he’s hosting for his introduction of the first true blue rose. Not many people like him, and many wonder how this man who doesn’t seem to do any gardening could have propagated the rose. Catherine finds herself trying to find out who his murderer is since John MacDougal, the local police chief, has never dealt with murder before and is focusing on her co-workers and friends. There are plenty of suspects and interesting characters, and another murder, but working together as well as having some close calls with death, Catherine and John solve the murders with a slight love interest developing.

Buy Links

paperback 

ebook 

MONEY MATTERS WITH SHEILA--WEED KILLER

photo by Dahola

We generally don’t focus on gardening here, but we are all about doing things in an environmentally conscious way whenever possible. You know those weeds that crop up through your driveway and pavement cracks? Sometimes no matter how much you dig and yank, you can’t get them out down to the root, right? And if you don’t get the root, they’ll just grow back. So you have to resort to using some expensive and toxic chemical to kill them. Or do you? I just read about a fabulous weed-killer that’s safe for you, your kids, your pets, and the environment. It’s that old stand-by, vinegar. Fill a spray bottle with the stuff and squirt away. Bye-bye weeds! 

COOKING WITH CLORIS - CHERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP ZUCCHINI BREAD

I’ve mentioned previously how disappointing the zucchini crop was this year, but Cloris recently found a huge zucchini hiding under a tomato plant when she went to pull the dead plants in her garden. She scooped out the seeds, grated the zucchini, and froze it in two cup portions in plastic freezer bags to use for baking and in soups and spaghetti sauce over the winter. Here’s one of her yummy zucchini bread recipes. -- AP

Cherry Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

makes 2 loves

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 eggs

2 cups grated zucchini (seeded, skin on)

3/4 cups vegetable oil

3 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup dried cherries

1 cup chocolate chips

Soak cherries in water while preparing batter.

Mix eggs, oil, vanilla, and zucchini together.

Reserve 2 tablespoons flour. Mix remaining dry ingredients together. Sift together with wire whisk.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mixing well.

Place remaining flour in a plastic Ziploc bag. Add drained cherries and chocolate chips. Seal bag and shake to coat cherries and chips. Fold cherries, chips, and any remaining flour into batter.

Pour evenly divided into two greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees 50-60 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA - GUEST CRAFTER PATRICK DEL ROSARIO

Anastasia is taking the day off and has invited Patrick Del Rosario to guest blog today about turning art into cash. Patrick is part of the team behind Open Colleges, one of Australia’s pioneer and leading providers of human resources courses. When not working, Patrick enjoys blogging about career and business. Patrick is also a photography enthusiast and is currently running a photography studio in the Philippines. Learn more about Patrick at  Google+. 

Turn Art into Cash: 6 In-demand Products That Only Need a Touch of Creativity to Sell

If you have hobbies or skills that you enjoy practicing in your spare time, there’s a very good chance that you could be making money by doing what you love. Whether you enjoy photography or arts and crafts, there is always a way to turn your art into cash, you just need a bit of creativity and a plan of action.

Here are six creative products you could sell, either online or at craft shows, fairs and markets:

1. Gardening

These days there is a huge demand for locally grown fruits and vegetables, and if you can grow them organically there will be even more demand for them.

Gardening is an extremely relaxing way to pass the time and can actually be therapeutic and is known to reduce stress and improve both mental and physical health. If you have a plot of land behind your house that isn’t being used for anything, you can start your own little vegetable plot, growing things like fresh herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach and lettuce.

Not only will this save you money (you won’t have to buy vegetables anymore), but you could even make a bit of money on the side by selling your extra produce to neighbors and friends or at local farmers markets.

2. Baking

If you already love baking, why not turn it into something that brings you a little profit, either on the side or fulltime? I personally know a number of people who love baking and made their hobby into a business, creating wedding and birthday cakes as well as party snacks for different events.

You can start out small, with a few people you know, and eventually it can grow into something much bigger, if you want it to that is. It is easy enough to set up your own website or blog, where you can post pictures of some of your creations and allow people to order cakes or other delicacies for their birthday parties, anniversaries or whatever event they are hosting.

3. Photography

Despite the fact that most people these days have fairly high quality cameras on their phones, there is still a high demand for professional photographers. Do you love taking nature shots or doing candid street photography? These types of photos could be sold online from your own website.

You could also choose to hire yourself out as a photographer for events like weddings or family get-togethers. Family portraits are also very popular, and if you have a good camera and a bit of experience, you’ll be able to make quite a bit of money from your hobby.

Before offering your services, make sure you build up a portfolio of high quality photos. There are plenty of freelance photographers out there today, so you’ll need to distinguish yourself by showing potential clients that you know what you’re doing.

4. Handmade jewelry

Everyone loves handmade jewelry, and if it’s well done you can actually sell it for quite a good price, although of course you have to factor in the costs of buying the materials, but if you shop wisely you’ll come out on top. Some good websites to check include The Beadin Path, EEBeads and Charm Factory. Of course, these are just a few suggestions. There are many more out there. It just takes a bit of time to find the ones that offer what you are looking for.

You could sell your handmade earrings, bracelets and necklaces on your own website or visit markets and fairs where you can showcase your work. When just starting out, you could approach your friends, who could then do a little word-of-mouth advertising for you.

5. Arts and crafts

“Arts and crafts” is a rather broad category, and can mean anything from metal and woodwork to knitting or patchwork and even calligraphy.

If you have a skill along these lines you should try to develop it according to consumer demands. Have a look on website selling things similar to what you are making. Maybe you’ll find that carved figurines are popular, or perhaps there is a high demand for knitted scarves and hats.

Even if your skill isn’t very mainstream, there are always niche markets where you can promote your work and build up a steady client base. Websites like Etsy.com allow you to set up your own small business in a well-established community, selling just about anything, from handmade quilts to household knick-knacks.

6. Customized clothing

One of the main frustrations that many people have with affordable fashion is that it is produced in bulk, and it can be hard to differentiate your style when on a limited budget.

The best solution to this problem is to customize your own clothing. You can buy simple and plain t-shirts, jeans, shoes or bags, and give them your own unique twist.

If you get pretty good at transforming dull white t-shirts or tired old sweaters into hip-looking fashion items, you can be sure that there will be a demand for your services.