Here Is the link to our YouTube Cooking video OTH Breakfast 4 Dinner.

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Type at ya later...
​Bear

Surprise, Theresa here...

Fall has come suddenly to southwest Wisconsin, and although it’s a beautiful time of year, ever since I’ve had to start closing my windows, I’ve been missing the fresh air and feeling sad that I’ll have to spend the next 5 or so months mostly inside. I am a big fan of the joys of Winter (like our wood stove, going to bed early, and not needing to take care of the garden), but it’s been made very clear to me this Summer that being outside is a large part of what makes me happy, and it's a lot harder to spend a lot of time outside during the cold months. I listened to a podcast about Seasonal Affective Disorder, and although I don’t have the severe symptoms that were described, I definitely notice a difference in myself when I’ve had to live inside a heated box (aka my house) for months.
 
I was talking to a friend about ways to combat this and she suggested having some indoor plants, but normally I am so tired of taking care of the garden by this time of year that I want a break. And I do already have some houseplants, and I bring inside some potted herbs to take care of all Winter. Like me, they don’t do well inside. I watch them suffer from not getting enough Sun (even though I put them under plant lights) until I can put them back outside in Spring, when they perk right up again.
 
I remembered a couple times when I was younger and had terrariums. Terrariums are self-contained systems, so when they work right, they don’t need any maintenance, not even watering. One in particular that I recalled sat on my desktop. It was its own little world of dark, warm soil and moistness. I remembered periodically opening a little section of the terrarium's geodesic dome and inhaling the wonderful smell of Summer. Breathing the crisp, cold air of Winter is its own treat, but it’s not the same as the warm breathe of Summer. What is the first thing I do when I step outside during the Summer? I unconsciously take a deep, deep breath. Scientists have been studying chemicals that trees and other plants give off, that help keep us happy and healthy (see the book The Healing Code of Nature by Clemens G. Arvay). Unfortunately, deciduous trees rest during the Winter, and don't give off these chemicals, so taking a deep breath of the Winter air is not the same.
 
Suddenly I was on fire to make a terrarium, so I could smell Summer all Winter long, but I lacked the container. I looked up terrariums on Etsy to see how much it would cost to buy one, and I saw someone selling a terrarium kit made with storage containers that I thought I had stored away in my cupboard. I used to keep my homemade soap in them, and now I'm glad I didn't get rid of them.
 
The next thing I would need was plants. Since it was so cold, I didn’t think anyone could safely ship them to me this time of year if I bought anything online, and the nursery in town that I knew sold terrariums had gone out of business. It so happened that we were having our first freeze warning that night. It occurred to me that if I made the terrarium immediately, maybe I could use plants from the yard. The biggest problem with a small terrarium is that plants grow, and most will outgrow the small space. So I wondered around the yard looking for anything that stayed small. I have a lot of moss, which would look beautiful in the terrarium. I also dug up a couple other small plants, and joyously began to assemble my terrarium.

1. Here are the supplies I used:

• A large glass container with a lid. The jars I had were one gallon, and the lid was not air tight (like this one). You can also find some other really beautiful terrarium containers, which maybe I will get one day. Whatever you decide to use, make sure you clean it well. It will be really difficult or impossible to clean the glass once you’ve assembled the terrarium, and you want the view inside to be unimpeded.
• Small rocks or aquarium pebbles to line the bottom of the terrarium (water can sit in the rocks where it won't make the soil soggy). I had some in the house from other projects. You might also be able to get them from outside. You can buy them in many shapes and colors.

2. Moisten the potting soil with some warm water until it is wet through, but not dripping.

3. Add a layer of stones and then a layer of moist soil to the bottom of the terrarium. Include as much soil as you can, since the plants will need it to survive.

4. Add plants, but don’t fill all the space from the start. It will look great if you do, but then the plants won’t have room to grow and you’ll need to be removing some of them really soon. We are going for easy maintenance, so don’t crowd your plants.

Here are the plants I dug up out of the yard, including some sweet woodruff (middle right), a bit of a primrose (top left), and a lot of moss. I ended up making a second terrarium because I dug up too many plants.

5. Decorate! This is the fun part. You've created a miniature world. If you played with doll houses, or wanted to play with them, here’s an adult opportunity to create your ideal small world. Consider it sacred space. What do you want to have in it that will inspire you, or relax you, every time you look at it? I wondered around my house, which is full of small objects arranged on various altars, and chose what spoke to me. Remember to include only those things that won't eventually be destroyed by water, such as metal, glass, or plastic objects. I once put a small terracotta Willendorf Goddess in a terrarium, which was lovely, but Her feet did eventually disintegrate into the soil. Rocks and crystals are some of my favorite things to add:

6. Put the terrarium somewhere where it will get light. Sweet woodruff and moss are shade plants, so won’t need much light, but primroses like sun, so I need to consider that when deciding where to keep these terrariums. I would like to put mine in my retreat room, which has two windows that don’t face the Sun, so I might have to add plant lights. I’ve bought these before for growing plants from seed, and they can get really expensive. The cheapest way I’ve found is to buy a grow light bulb, which you can put in any light fixture, such as these utility lights I got cheaply from garage sales and the resale shop. You can also buy these that come with the light bulbs.

Also, for easy maintenance, I put all of my plant lights on a timer so that I don’t have to manually turn them on and off each day. You can buy timers that plug into a wall outlet. Now they even sell power strips that have built in timers. Click to see a snazy set up I came across with clamp-on plant lights with a built-in timer. Currently I am just using sunlight, and have my terrariums in our bay window where they will get plenty of light:

7. Set the terrarium on a “coaster.” If you’re putting the terrarium on a wooden shelf or table, put something under it that absorbs water, at least in the beginning, to see if it’s likely to leave a water ring on the wood finish. I'm using this braided cloth:

8. Watch it for a while to make sure it steams up.  Since it’s in a closed jar, the water should stay in the system. It will steam up the sides of the jar, then drop back down into the soil, and you mostly don’t need to water it if all goes well. Since I plan to open mine regularly and take a deep breath, this may mean I’ll have to add water. If it’s too wet, sometimes the jar will be so covered with condensation that you can’t see inside. If this happens, leave it open for a few hours to let some of the moisture escape, then reevaluate if it has enough water.

Here is how my terrariums ended up being decorated. I found a metal Sun tucked away in a drawer and thought it would be a good theme for one of the jars, since I'll be missing the Sun. I added some standing stones, because we have visited a lot of stone circles in the British Isles, many of which were likely used to mark the changing of the seasons, particularly the Winter Solstice in December, which promises the return of Spring with the lengthening days.

I also found a stain glass Moon, which seemed an appropriate balance to the Sun, and reminds me that I am more likely to notice the Moon in the Winter, since it gets darker earlier. In this jar I added a line of quartz crystal standing stones, leading the way to the Moon. They will be easy to remove when the sweet woodruff starts to spread. I put in some marbles, because I love colored glass.

• A box of soil to wriggle my toes in: This may sound weird, but I read this suggestion somewhere and tried it last Winter. I went outside after we’d had a lot of frost but it hadn’t snowed yet, and scraped off some soil just from the top of the ground, so I was less likely to get worms or other soil creatures. I put it in a plastic box and took it to my retreat room, where I left the top cracked so the soil could breathe. I periodically meditated with my feet in the tub. I've left it inside all Summer, and I see that now I need to add some water to revive it.
• Snow shoeing: This is another thing I remember doing a couple times when I was a kid and loved. Maybe this will be the Winter I try it again. I know where I can rent some snowshoes. I will also keep taking walks outside as long as I can, without snow shoes, until it becomes too difficult to navigate the icy sidewalks.
• Listening to guided meditations about being outside in Nature.  I heard this suggestion recently. Can't hurt to try it. I'm sure the Insight Timer app I use has lots of appropriate meditations.
  
• Go to a human-sized terrarium: If you live near Madison, WI, Olbrich Botanical Gardens has a wonderful indoor tropical garden, Boltz Conservancy, which I think of as a human-sized terrarium. I try to go there every Winter when the cold and snow seem like thye'll go on forever, so I can enjoy the indoor warmth, the birds in the trees, and the sound of the waterfall.
  

If you have other ideas, please share them in the comments below!

I think science is finally starting to notice the healing power of Nature. Other countries seem to be ahead of the USA in this, such as Japan, where they have governmental policies that encourage forest bathing as part of their health care system. I've recently read suggestions to go outside at dawn and watch the sunrise, to help reset your biological clock if you're having trouble with insomnia. I've also read about grounding (making sure your bare feet are touching the bare earth) to help reduce inflammation and pain. And trees breathe chemicals into the air that help us prevent cancer. But I don't need science to confirm what I know: I feel better and happier whenever I'm outside and indoors I wilt.

Bear and I have a short-hand term for all of this. We remind each other we need to get our "outdoorphins." We didn't make up this term, but it's all we have to say to each other to, for instance, remind ourselves why we should take the time to go hiking in a nearby state park.

Wherever you are and whatever season it is there, I hope you're able to get your outdoorphins and benefit from the blessings of Nature.

The patio put a dent in the gravel pile but didn't take out enough gravel so we could park our cars. That would take a few more projects and this post is about the patio. below is the hole is filled and leveled and ready for the next step.

Have I mentioned we like Celtic and Scottish landscape? What would be more Celtic than a standing stone circle, done to back yard proportions of course. We didn't have stone but we had a sidewalk we broke up and could set the pieces on their sides so they look like standing stones. You can see below what we had to work with. Notice there are four "stones" that are taller than the rest? Those are our compass stones, they are set in the four directions and represent the four elements. ( North = earth; South = fire; East = air: and West = water. To add bling to the patio we decorated the tall stones with the element symbols. Later I would put my grill closest to the south as I could get, seemed right.) 

Next step was to fill the gaps in the gravel with fines then tamp flat then spray the fines and tamp them flat again so we had a solid level base for the weed blocking fabric. I learned my lesson with the gravel and only ordered two yards of the fines.  Wait, when did this turn into a how to blog? I'm on a roll, might as well keep going.

You will notice we also put weed fabric around the outside of the stone circle part to keep the weeds down. 

Time jump to 2013. I don't remember when we put the trellace up but Theresa wanted a place for runner beans and more privacy while we were outside. the trellece works great. We found out some weeds were able to grow in the sediment that sits between the weed fabric and the rock. They are easy to weed, just pull and they come right out. Other weeds have been able to get through the fabric over the years they are a little more difficult to pull and some we don't worry about pulling.

You could say we let it get away from us sometimes, like this shot (below) from 2016. Theresa could get this cleared out in about 40 minutes. I would take a couple hours because I'm not that focused and there is usually some bugs I can take pictures of. (Oooo... Distraction Side note: see the tall thistle plant in the lower left? Bumble bees love those. When the flowers are mostly dead cut them off before the seeds can spread and you don't have to worry about unwanted thistles. You can also eat thistles, I know it's in a book we own somewhere. If I try it, I'll blog about it.)

In recent years we weed where we want to walk and let nature landscape our patio for us. Why Do I consider a patio part of the yarden? Because food grows there. If we wanted to we could eat the dandelions, we have had wild salsify grow there and we can grill that if I get to it on time, around the patio is areas of suncholks and wild ginger we can harvest. You think the patch on the left is weeds? think again...

Surprise! We have a wild strawberry patch!  Theresa planted two or three wild strawberry plants near the front of the house. In 2016 found our first wild strawberries an have been harvesting them ever since.

That's it for the patio. I'm kinda glad it didn't stay so neat and tidy. Where's the adventure of that?

Type at ya later,
​Bear

1. Kids come first or, should I say Kits...

The first article is from the U.K. and has many inspirational examples of the types of catios you can build. We are one of twenty four catio owners in the article. Here is the link. It includes information from our Catio page. 

You know we like our cats. So, just for fun, here are a few pics of our cats enjoying their catio all year long:

2. The next article we were included in was about backyard ponds. Theresa was interviewed about their pros and cons, because of her book, How to Build a Backyard Wildlife Pond. Here is the link to that article.

​Of course one of the biggest pros is wildlife in your yard, so here are a few pics of our pond wildlife:

The pond makes a fine bird bath, don't it?

As I've said before, we are grateful for people being interested in what we do. And who knows? Maybe someone will write an article about our other book, Eat Your Wild Yard: Spring.

Type at ya later,
​Bear

I did a little research and there are four big rules to what I was about to do...

1. Armor up in case you screw up. Wear several layers and netting over your face. Dress like a bee keeper, no gaps in your clothing.
2. Do it at night when they are mostly asleep.
3. Use minimal light to see what you are doing. I read they can't see red light, adjust accordingly.
4. Have an escape plan in case things go FUBAR (bad). I had the back door partially open for quick escape and if any came in they were fair game to get smashed, just sayen... 

The sheet worked for Theresa for a while until she got stung, after which she starting just using our front door. I used the back door to go in- I usually made sure it was unlocked and easy to get through. No stings for me!

The wasps were only aggressive for two or three weeks, then for some unknown reason, they abandoned the nest. I think putting the sheet up reduced the possible size of the nest- maybe that's why they left? We decided not to take chances, though, and left the sheet up after it was too cold for the wasps. Supposedly wasps don't build nests next to abandoned nests, so we've left the nest there. It is really cool looking.

Everything went right. I clipped a sheet to the awning the best I could and used duct tape to secure the sheet above the door, so we could still go in and out. The wasps could fly above the sheet to get to their nest, but couldn't get a direct shot at us. Here are a couple close ups of the wasps doing their thing. In case you are wondering, yes, I used zoom on the camera, I'm not that trusting of these gals...

Some wasps are solo hunters, others that live in colonies and make group nests are considered "social wasps" In case we didn't have enough wasp pictures in this blog, here are the "social" areal yellow jackets enjoying a grape jelly social at our bird feeder (my guess is the birds were not amused)...

Type at ya later,
​Bear

Did you notice the first relaxing thing? I didn't for the first few years, then Theresa let me know how to get rid of a weekly chore. If you leave the pine needles where they fall on the ground, you don't have to mow, ever. Just sweep the pine needles off the sidewalks and back under the tree, easy. Exceptionally great news for me. I'm 6' 4" and the pine doesn't have 6 feet of clearance under its branches, so mowing sucked.

The next cool thing is: we decided to do front yard artwork in 2005 or 2006. You can see three stumps and some rocks behind the bench. That is StumpHenge. Here is a close up pic below, where you can see the stumps and how the rocks and crystals (which we got at a geologist's garage sale) were placed around them...

For a couple years (2015 - 2018) the pine tree provided good storage for our shitaki mushroom logs. It created plenty of year round shade to protect our $80 investment. The logs were from a commercial grower who was going out of business. It was a great investment. We got at least 5 to 10 lbs of shrooms each year for 5 years. 

The next big project was in 2010. We decided to try a rock garden under the pine tree. It's a tricky space because it's dry and shady under the pine, but Theresa figured it was sunny enough along the edge to try plants that like partial sun. We are almost done with creating and planting it in the pic below.

Here (below) is the rock garden two years later and we noticed a few things about the pine tree area:

• The pine needles still makes a nice ground carpet.
  
• The bench we put around the pine tree needed to go soon so the tree could keep growing.
• The garden didn't maintain its initial neat appearance, but still had its cool (at least in our opinions)....
  

Here is a better picture of 4 bumbles and a drinking buddy on the sedum plant:

The last project in this area was in 2018. We finally got a free little library in the front yard, where people could take our books or leave theirs. We even had a place to sit if you wanted to rest and read a while. The library is gone now- it wasn't used as much as we thought it would be. We put a bench there instead of the chairs for when we want to watch sunsets. See the standing rock to the left of the chairs? It is formed from stones from different geological eras. It also weighs over 500 lbs. It's staying there, no matter what projects we decide to pursue in the future. Just sayen. 

I'm guessing if you got this far you liked the historical tour, so thanks. Next up... who knows? Oh crud, that's my job ain't it?

Type at ya later, 
​Bear

We were wrong. By the time I wanted to burn the pile Theresa noticed it was full of birds. It was Fall, so no burning- we left it so the birds could have habitat over the Winter. It became our bird condo and it has been growing ever since. We both like it, so we don't try to burn it. It is good bird shelter for all seasons. Below are some pictures, see if you can count how many birds are there.

One day we noticed a young hawk waiting by the condo (below). He sat there and four birds took off from the condo and he went after them. While he was gone we saw at least three flights of birds leave the condo, each flight had at least 20 birds. When the hawk came back, everyone was gone. Who said birds weren't smart? ( Name story: We tend to name some of the wild critters we see in our yarden. Why do I call all hawks in our yarden, MaGee? I called that first hawk MaGoo after a cartoon character that couldn't see well. Theresa informed me the hawks had to be good hunters to survive the winter so I changed the name to the computer expert character (who a master at hunting information) from NCIS. Thus... Magee.)

Above is a better hawk shot at our bird feeders. We think it's cool, I am guessing the smaller birds and squirrels don't. Good thing they have a bird condo to hide in until he leaves. Some people think brush piles are ugly, we think they are cool because they bring wildlife into our yard and we get to watch it. If you'd like to see a hawk up close in your yarden, you might want to start a brush pile too.

Type at ya later
​Bear

Like I said, we work, they sleep...

The plan we came up with has a few parts...

1. We hope to get everything done in 2 or 3 hrs, but sometimes it ends up taking all day. Usually it's only half the day. We also (try) to go into the day with a good attitude. Theresa is better at this than me. Music helps. When we're done, we get a treat meal (did someone say steak?) and the rest of the day to goof off. 
   
2. Next thing is we got a 2do list to keep track of what needs to be done once a month or a couple times a year, as well as the basic things we do every month. What would your basics be? Our minimum work includes: dust shelves and lights, sweep all rooms and move furniture to get into the corners, deep clean the kitchen and bathroom, have all dishes done, etc... The list can be as long or as short as you want. As a bonus, you get to cross things off the list, doesn't that feel good?
3. Like I said, every room gets swept and dusted, but we also choose one or two rooms a month to get extra treatment. Whatever untidiness happens to be bothering us (mostly Theresa) the most, such as cleaning closets, moving nicknacks to dust behind them better, washing the covers of the couch cushions, etc....
   
4. What are the (big?) projects we usually forget? It's usually a home maintenance list. Add these to your 2do "sometimes" list and keep track when you do them so you wont forget. Like cleaning the lint out of various machines like the dryer, refrigerator, or computer? Deep cleaning the refrigerator or freezer? Clearing out the cobwebs in the unfinished basement you don't go into often? Washing the curtains that are collecting dust?  We run hot water down our sinks then pour a pan of boiling water down to clear them of old grease (it's cheaper than calling a plumber). Look around, you will find stuff you usually miss, then don't forget to add those to the 2do list.

That's about it. Remember to take some small brakes if you are going to have a long list. As you can see below some breaks are more  intense than others...

Type at ya later,
​Bear

Below is our starter picture of the same front yard space in 2005. The first year we were doing a lot of indoor work, so we just put down some railroad ties to separate the yard from the driveway.

The next two pictures are from 2006. Theresa wanted to have a garden to attract bees and butterflies. We also wanted it be good looking so hopefully the neighbors would forgive some of the things we knew they wouldn't like as much that we'd be doing in the backyard.

Don't that next pic from 2008 look nice? The stone path is a decorative spiral that let us walk in amongst the plants for watering. 

Eventually the plants filled in, and buried the spiral path, but the garden still looked cool. Every year some plants would be the same and others would change. See the blue plant (Theresa says it's a delphinium), that was there in 2013?

Fast forward to 2016. We didn't plant anything different, but the delphinium bloomed in two shades of blue and some of the flowers are white. These were my favorite flowers for a while because they seemed to attract several bumble bees that I would watch from my car when I got home from work. Around 2019 they died off and I kinda miss them... Theresa has tried replanting others (she says it was amazing that I actually noticed that a plant was gone) but nothing new has survived.

But we still have lots of other things that are good bee attractors (and I don't mean me in the shorts).  The pink flowers feed the bees in the early spring and summer (Theresa says those are purple coneflower/echinacea)...

... see , told ya... bee food...

The asters feed the bees in the fall. They also tend to go past the fence, but that's ok, because I have counted over 10 bumble bees at a time on them.

Can you see the bumble? (Below) This shot goes to show you our fence also needs a little maintenance. Over the years Theresa has touched it up and repainted it a few times. She told me many times, but who's counting since she did the work?

For the last three years the big summer attractor has been the New Jersey Tea bush. (White flowers pictured below.) I've photographed bumbles, other bees, and cool black wasps feeding on it, but those pics are for a Small World Life post.

Hope you liked the history of this garden area. It's amazing for us to revisit the early pictures when the garden looked bare. Keep in mind that Theresa pretty much only planted one of each type of plant, but if you're patient, over the years they spread, and you too could end up with a garden bursting with flowers.

When I figure out what's next I'll type at ya.

Later,
​Bear