A lot has changed in the 2 years since this blog was launched, and I thought, it might be time to update my introduction.
In 2023, my plan was to finding a new landing place for me to explore writing again, after Muirin Project, my blog from 2016-2019. I wanted to showcase my novel, catalog my knitting and sewing journey, journal my bible study, and share my love for creative expression in many artistic mediums.
Now I have added some new things to the mix – Japanese learning, Kpop, garment workers/conscious consumption, and most excitingly: gardening! Which welcomed my husband to the site to share his experiences with gardening and bring awareness to why natural ecosystems, seed saving, and eating local matter. He is also preparing to share his other favorite hobby – woodworking.
Now, for something I question – should I change the site name? I am uncertain for SEO purposes and the likelihood of broken links. I don’t think it is wise. But this site is so much more than just my work, it is the harmonizing voices of myself and Kyle which is how I think the world becomes a better place – working together. Let’s keep the honmoon sealed. ❤
Being completely transparent, I started this post with the intention of writing about my struggles with seed starting and how I’ve been questioning my abilities to do so. Part of that was because I was initially having issues with starting seeds this year. I actually wrote about these problems in a post titled When Is It Time to Restart Seeds? In it, I described the struggles I was having with our pepper seeds. Germination rates were low, which led me to question my ability to start seeds and figure out what went wrong. In that post, I mentioned that I was going to take a patient approach with them and not restart seeds too quickly. I followed that up with a post about how happy I was that I took a patient approach. I let my first set of seeds go for an extra week or so, and the majority of the cells germinated. It was because of this result that the direction of this post has changed.
Success Has Been More Than Patience
Although being patient with our seeds has played a large role in the success we’ve had this year, I think the success is the result of more than simply being patient. That thought stems from a conversation Magz and I recently had. A couple of days ago, I was showing her how successful our starts have been, and she commented that she thinks it has something to do with how calm I’ve been when it comes to this year’s garden.
In the past, I’ve approached pretty much everything with a degree of excitement or agitation. I wasn’t necessarily overly excited or agitated, but I struggled to control my emotions, which resulted in not being chill. When it came to gardening, it led to rushing through things, making mistakes, and working hastily. I’ve tried to have a different approach this year, both because of how poorly certain aspects of last year’s garden went and learning how to manage my emotions better.
Our pepper and tomato starts
This change started by delaying the seed-starting process a few weeks. Last year, I started them when the packets said to, which resulted in leggy plants by the time the weather cooperated enough to transplant outside. This year, I nearly started them too late and forgot to buy some of the supplies we needed. But despite those hiccups, the result has been overwhelmingly positive.
What Does Calmness Look Like When Gardening?
This question will likely have a different answer for everyone, but for me, calmness means a few things. The first is approaching every task with the right mindset. That doesn’t mean having to be in a perfect mood all the time, but it does mean that I need to be focused and not sidetracked. I need to be aware of what needs to be done. This allows me to see things clearly, notice when plants are growing or struggling, and address things accordingly. If I’m unfocused when I go downstairs to look at our starts, I may overlook something or do something wrong.
Things are going to go wrong with a garden. It’s a fact. Seeds won’t germinate, transplanting starts will fail, the temperature will be too warm or cold, and you’ll get too much or too little rain. Those are all things that will inevitably happen on a yearly basis. It’s like baseball: a batter can get on base 4 out of 10 plate appearances and be an All-Star or Hall-of-Famer. Failure is part of the game. But when you fail when gardening, you can’t be too hard on yourself or let yourself get too low. Every failure is a learning opportunity to succeed next time. That mindset helps you stay calm, which carries over to the last point.
Pepper, cucumber, tomato, molokhia, and leek starts.
I think it’s important to be gentle. I think it’s important to have gentleness in all areas of life, even though it’s something I struggle with, and considering mainstream society doesn’t promote gentleness, it’s rare to see it in public. But when we act with gentleness or out of love, the reactions are positive. With humans, it can be disarming and lead to real conversations. When gardening, it can result in healthy and productive plants that reach their full potential and provide great yields. To me, being gentle when gardening means having soft hands and being delicate. When I’m starting seeds, I need to be gentle with the seeds, taking care to plant them at the appropriate depth and to not overwater. When transplanting starts, gentleness means supporting the root system so that the plant has the best opportunity to thrive in its new home. When the plant is growing or it’s time to harvest, it means picking when it’s the right time, not letting plants crowd each other, and ensuring that branches aren’t weighed down, causing unnecessary stress.
It may seem crazy, but I think there is something to having a calm demeanor when gardening. I doubt that there’s scientific evidence to back it up, but I’m convinced plants can sense our stress levels when handling them and respond accordingly. It’s similar to animals: they can tell when we aren’t calm. Perhaps we’re rushing through interactions with them or being short. That behavior affects the interaction and relationship. And I don’t think that this mindset needs to stop with animals or plants. If we all took a second to step back, take a deep breath, and treat others with gentleness, we’d be a much happier society.
The more popular and well-covered the Met Gala is online, the more controversial it becomes. This once New York Society event has transformed into an international spectacle that feels more like the Oscars or the Olympics than a fundraiser for a museum’s costume archive. That is the origin of the Met Gala, a dinner to raise money for the Costume Institute, to pay for the day-to-day operations and expansion of the collection displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The spectacle and theme, red carpet coverage, constant intertwining with rich, questionable people, and the baked-in elitism of making Anna Wintour’s guest list have become the bigger story of this so-called “fundraiser.”
Now, I am being a bit dramatic in questioning its fundraising; it is successful at its core function. For a deeper dive, I suggest checking out Abby Cox’s video about the history of the Met Gala. I believe they have raised enough to create an entire wing for the museum. The hefty price tag per plate or per table is usually not the attendees’ responsibility to cover, as the attendees are usually there to represent a brand or company. What I have seen as the biggest defense for the Met Gala is this system of big brands, donating money to the arts, that they would otherwise pocket or invest in questionable things, such as political donations to Trump or AI technology. But is that enough to make this event palatable? The Met Gala was sponsored by Lauren and Jeff Bezos, which alone made this year’s gala controversial. The justification once again is that his money is better spent on the arts than on something else, like another Melania movie. Such as comparing this sponsorship to the investments by Carnegie, Frick, and Morgan in the arts during the Gilded Age to improve their public opinion.
I have mixed thoughts on this, as a believer in the preservation of the arts, but also a kid who grew up in the Pittsburgh area and was surrounded by Carnegie libraries, museums, etc. Are these nice to have? Yes. Does it make up for the pollution, labor practices, and wealth hoarding by these industrialists that were so greedy they did not care if they were evil, but instead chose to buy their way into good public standing? No. My Grandma died of COPD, from the level of pollution she was exposed to as a kid in the 1940s. The Atlantic Monthly, in 1868, called the city of Pittsburgh, “hell with the lid taken off.” Soot from the Steel factories coated everything. The number of heart conditions in my family, and later autoimmune conditions, has been shocking, until you consider the effect of pollution. Similarly, the number of people from my home region with Cancer has been downright terrifying. You still can’t eat the fish from the rivers or ponds.
But forget that, right? Let’s have a ball, and display our wealth to all the people around the world who will never experience this kind of luxury. We have to preserve the arts and fashion history! Yeah…honestly, when you consider how much human suffering is essential to this kind of wealth, that these systems depend on most people going without human rights and dignity so that they can wear their custom haute couture to donate millions to a single museum, it’s disgusting to me. And I love fashion.
History is great, sometimes, but more often than not, it is a tragic collection of stories of inequality, suffering, war, destruction, and a few that benefit greatly from the oppression of others. You don’t have to dig far into the history of my country to see how true this is. I mean, each day this Iran War drags on, add another footnote to the list of wrongs. I would rather preserve cultures than general historical collections that focus on white, Eurocentric clothing on white Eurocentric mannequins. The bulk of the vast Costume Institute’s collection, the biggest in the world, is mostly Western clothing with a few token exceptions, displayed on mostly small, white mannequins. The Met has enough resources and clout to do better. The fashion industry is not interested in doing better, though. They are one of the biggest polluting industries in the world, and have knit together their brand empires with sweatshops in the global south. I guess my point is, I think we all know enough about Western fashion and luxury fashion. More than I think we need to know. Who is preserving the fashion history of the places and people who make the clothes, and whose lives are being wasted away sewing day in and day out to feed their family a meager portion, while these brands spend hundreds of thousands of dollars at the Met Gala? If they have enough to blow money on this event, it is despicable that they choose to not pay their workers properly, and give them vacation time, health care, maternity/paternity leave, etc.
The most difficult part of this conversation, for most of us, is the Amazon of it all. I shop on Amazon, most of us do. Sometimes it literally is the only option, and I know it is not a good company, and I am not proud of supporting it. It makes me feel like a big hypocrite. Because with Amazon, you don’t have to leave the US to see how bad they treat their employees. It’s out in the open, and hyper-consumerism and lack of other options make the bad behavior of Amazon seem beyond reproach due to how entrenched the company is in our world. I do think the Met Gala is an offensive flaunting of wealth that we, normal people, should stop worshipping because it’s pretty and is “art.” I do think the “Eat the Rich” protests are valid, and I think a lot of us feel stuck because we feel like hypocrites. After all, the system seems rigged right now for billionaire domination, and sometimes the only or cheaper option is supporting these businesses, like Amazon.
I like fashion history, but I don’t like the Met Gala. I don’t like Bezos or how he does business, and I do have an Amazon package arriving today. Just as much of life is complex, this subject is so layered, and I hope I made sense in this post.
The most underrated and useful gardening tool isn’t a watering can or a trowel. Nor is it a weeder, a hoe, or a fence. In my opinion, the most underrated tool for your garden is a rain boot. I know this to be the case because I didn’t have a pair of rain boots last year, and having them this year has made quite the difference. Here’s why a good pair of rain boots is important and why you should get yourself a pair of them if you don’t already.
Before this spring, I was never a big fan of rain boots and didn’t see a reason to own a pair. When I was a kid, I always had another pair of shoes that served the purpose of rain boots. They were either old shoes that were fine to be destroyed outside, winter boots that could get wet before it warmed up, or water shoes that I wore fishing. It remained that way until this year when Magz suggested that we each get a pair before we started working in the garden.
Our rain boots
At first, I had a difficult time remembering what shoes I wore last year to break ground on the garden and get the soil tilled. But I’m pretty certain it was a pair of Skechers hiking sneakers that I had had for nearly 4 years prior to last summer. I bought them to wear while woodworking, but they got me through so much more, including our move during the summer of 2024. By the time last spring rolled around, they were on their last legs and beginning to fall apart, with their once-aggressive tread worn down to a smooth finish. And while they were designed to be waterproof, they don’t go above my ankles, so deep water puddles and mud are a no-go. Those sneakers got me through all of the work that went into last year’s garden, and I still slip them on to take the garbage out, but I knew that they weren’t going to work for another year of gardening. So, when Magz asked about getting rain boots, I was on board.
Why Are Rain Boots Good Shoes for Gardening?
Rain boots have a lot going on for them. They’re relatively light compared to work boots, are waterproof to a depth equal to the height of the boot, and are easy to clean. They are also affordable relative to other types of work shoes. I’ll break down each of those points here.
Although rain boots are heavier than a pair of sneakers or sandals, two types of shoes I’ve been known to wear in the garden, they’re much lighter than a pair of work boots. I used to have a pair of Red Wing boots with the composite toe in them, which were lighter than a steel toe but still much heavier than rain boots. When you’re working on your feet and getting your shoes caked in mud, you want a pair that starts out light so that they’re still manageable when weighed down by mud.
Having a waterproof shoe that can handle mud or water to a greater depth than you’ll encounter in your garden is important. I’m unlikely to step into mud or a puddle that’s more than 12 inches deep, but I could in my rain boots, which nearly go up to my knee. There’s security in seeing a section of your garden that’s muddy after a period of rain or the part of your yard that gets swampy and not fearing your socks getting wet.
If you’re going to get your shoes dirty, they should also be easy to clean. Rain boots meet that requirement. When you’re done with your project, you can walk over to the hose and spray them off. You can also let the mud dry to be smacked off later. Even the aggressive treads on my boots are easy to clean.
Our rain boots were remarkably affordable. They were purchased on Amazon. Mine were $23.99, and Magz’s were $29.99. Now, I know that not all rain boots are this affordable. Muck Boots cost around $100, and Hunter’s can run around $200. But you don’t have to spend that much to get useful rain boots that serve your needs. And if you were to buy another type of work shoe to use in the garden, you’ll likely have to spend at least three times what we paid for our rain boots, and they’re unlikely to perform as well. I purchased a pair of Skechers shoes to replace the old ones, and they are $115 now. And as much as I love wearing them when I’m woodworking or walking in nature, they wouldn’t survive regular wear in the garden.
These four points all support the idea that rain boots are the best shoe for gardening. They’re affordable, durable, lightweight, and easy to clean. Mine aren’t necessarily the most comfortable shoes for long-term wear, but I am confident that if I bought a pair of Dr. Scholl’s inserts, they would be perfect.
The Most Underrated Gardening Tool?
Hopefully, I’ve convinced you that rain boots are potentially the best type of shoe to wear in the garden, but you still may be skeptical that they’re the most underrated or useful gardening tool. Hear me out. Hand tools, like shovels, trowels, weeders, and watering items, are vital to success in the garden and have an impact that is immediately noticeable. Obviously, rain boots don’t have that same level of obvious impact; however, you can wear rain boots when doing any of the jobs in the garden. They can be worn when tilling soil, planting seeds, transplanting starts, weeding, and watering. The right shoe can improve any job, and rain boots have already vastly improved the tilling I’ve done in our garden. I’ve worn them for roughly 10 hours split across five or so days, and I love them.
My feet have remained dry despite working in muddy soil and wet grass. My legs and feet haven’t gotten too warm, which was a concern of mine, yet they provide solid insulation when it’s cold outside. I also love that they can be worn with pants or shorts. I originally bought my rain boots with the plan of only wearing them in the garden. Having had them for a couple of months now, I foresee myself wearing them regularly, even when I’m not in the garden. Obviously, I’ll also wear them when it’s raining, but I can also see myself wearing them in winter. They’ll do well in snow, and their treads will provide traction even when it’s slick. They’re simply a perfect shoe, and the most underrated gardening tool.
Nmixx is a relatively new K-pop band, debuting in 2022 under the label JYP Entertainment. Comprised of six members – Lily, Haewon, Bae, Sullyoon, Jiwoo, and Kyujin, they are young but immensely talented. Nmixx had a rocky start, similar to Stray Kids, who share the same label, being panned as noisy and chaotic. As time passed, Nmixx developed its sound to a polished mix-pop with killer vocals. In 2026, they are finally getting the respect they deserve, and I am thrilled to see it!
They first came on my radar in 2023, thanks to their song ‘Love Me Like This’, but I didn’t become a fan, or NSWER as their fandom is called, until 2024 with their Fe304 album series.
Fe304: BREAK released in January 2024, with songs such as Dash, Run for Roses, and Soñar to help me get through the chaos of moving. Fe304: STICK OUT, released in August 2024, was the soundtrack of our trip up to Erie. Fe304: FORWARD hit just as we broke ground on the garden in 2025, and this album, some days, carried me through running that tiller in the mud and stubborn grass shag. From High Horse to Slingshot, this album changed something in me, lifting Nmixx to my favorite girl group (sorry, Aespa). Nmixx scratches a creative chaos in my mind that fills me with joy.
Bring a fan, I thought it would be cool to get some merch, which became quite difficult in 2025. With Nmixx being in their third year, there was a lack of offerings in the US, and those pesky tariffs from the head idiot in charge. So, I decided to get creative like I did with my Cosmic Tank.
Nmixx’s lore is based on water imagery; there is a whale on their lightstick, sea creatures, boats, and a water drop font. The font was my jumping off point. I went to Michael’s and picked up water-inspired colors – a cool purple, deep blue, and a variegated blue and white to mimic light dancing on the ocean. Three songs from the album Fe304:Forward caught my attention – Ocean, High Horse, and Know About Me, which features the girls going on an under-the-sea journey on this boat spaceship. The color palette of the album is similar to the colors I chose to knit with. I knew that for the color work, I wanted to evoke waves, incorporate ocean imagery, and feature the water drop font.
I chose to freehand a chart for the font using graph paper and an image I pulled from the internet from Nmixx promotional posts. The waves were more, see what I felt as I knit, the seahorse came from pure Pinterest roulette. The original chart was a cross-stitch seahorse that I adapted to knitting, on graph paper, later adding a stamp border to help the floats stay anchored. No pun intended. This was my first project using three colors at a time, and wow, it was brutal. On the front, I wanted the blues to create highlights and shadows, like a water drop would have. This led to some crazy tension issues and wild floats on the back.
Another issue I ran into was scale, particularly with the font. To achieve the bubbly curves, I made my scale rather large, stretching across two pieces of graph paper, and maybe this is just inexperience, or possibly I made my chart too complex, but I noticed myself ad-libbing stitches instead of following the chart due to all the mistakes I made. It turned out just fine, but it was not executed exactly how I wanted it to be. I’m pleased with the waves on the bottom and how they wrap around the tank. The back, I am lukewarm towards. I like the placement of the seahorse, for “High Horse” and the stamp for the journey they embark on, but the racer back is a little messy, since I was freehanding this pattern. But hey, the only way to get better is to practice.
Compared to my Red Velvet project, I felt confident that I could execute something to bring me joy and capture the spirit of the Fe304: Forward album. I love how this piece is one of a kind. No one else has this t-shirt or artwork, it’s a nerdy piece of knitwear for my special interest – kpop. ☺️
With this being my third merch project, I’m excited to see what speaks to me next. I’ve considered a Stray Kids Karma project and an Aespa Armageddon logo etched into a sweater. That one is going to be a big project, the logo is so intricate that when I attempted to sketch the chart last year, it was spread across four sheets pf graph paper. Maybe an Ateez project? Who knows. I do know that making your own art, and combining it with something you are passionate about, is a fantastic experience. Your passion becomes this physical object you can show off, and hopefully, bring a little sunshine to the world around you.
In 2021, we bought a pair of Ikea Poang chairs. They’re pretty iconic and are what many people envision when they think about Ikea chairs. We used to sit in them every time we would shop at Ikea and dream of buying them when it made sense. That time came in 2021, and at first, we loved them. However, over time, they lost their luster. They were really low to the ground, making them hard to get out of, and they were narrow, so it was difficult to work on a computer or do anything with your hands, like cross-stitch or knit.
Ikea Poang chair
After moving in 2024, we decided that these would become outdoor chairs on our porch. Although the chairs weren’t designed to be outdoors, the wood can be treated to resist the weather, and the cushions were brought inside at night. They worked decently well on the porch; however, the same design flaws persisted: too narrow and low. When we built our table and stools, we no longer had a need for the Ikea chairs since the stools are primarily where we sit. And when we want something more “loungey” or have people visiting, we have folding chairs that recline flat. When not in use, they can be folded and stored away, taking up less space than the Ikea chairs. That left us with a decision to be made about the Ikea chairs.
We aren’t people to throw things away unnecessarily, and we didn’t want to donate these chairs because they sat outside for nearly a year. Throughout the entire process, Magz had the idea of trying to use these chairs in our garden. We talked about simply setting a planter where the seat would be and letting nature take over them, as well as cutting out the seat support and growing a plant up from the ground through the chair. Eventually, I had the idea of using the back of the chair as a trellis system. You can’t see it in the above picture, but behind the cushion are two vertical pieces with several horizontal pieces between them, creating a ladder system. That’s essentially what a trellis is anyway. So, with that in mind, I set out to make it all happen.
Disassembly, Design, and Construction
If you’ve ever put together a piece of Ikea furniture, you know that they are all pretty similar. All of the individual wooden (or wood-adjacent) pieces are connected with screws, bolts, or barrel nuts (I had to look up what they’re called). Although assembly can be overly complicated, once you’ve put one piece of Ikea furniture together, you have an idea of how everything goes together. And while durability and longevity aren’t Ikea’s strong points, thankfully, it was a bonus in this case, because as easily as the chairs went together, they came apart.
With the pieces separated, we were left with two cross pieces, the back section that will be used for the trellis, two seat support pieces, and the two large side pieces that comprise the arms and bottoms for each chair. There was a seat section for each chair that was incredibly difficult to pull the staples from. We ended up getting rid of that piece. The back of each chair was the original inspiration for this project, but as I took the chairs apart, I could see ways to use the remaining pieces. The sides can either be cut down for individual lengths of wood or can be transformed into a planter stand. Meanwhile, the cross pieces will be used to build additional planters or in another woodworking project in the future. I typically don’t throw anything away if there’s a possibility that it can be used again.
The first upcycle Ikea Poang chair into a garden planter.
Designing the planters for the back pieces was straightforward. I measured the width of them, added two inches, and that was the interior width of the planters. I had a bunch of leftover pressure-treated 1x6s from last year’s porch project. I kept them their full width and cut pieces to length to make the four sides of the planters. Initially, I thought I would need to have two rows of these boards so that each planter was roughly 11 inches tall. However, after attaching the sides for each planter and feeling confident that one row would provide enough dirt and be sturdy enough to not tip over, I kept the planters separate. This was great, because it meant I had two planters mostly finished when I thought I only had one planter halfway done.
With that decision made, I had to figure out the bottom. I did this by using scrap pieces and ripping full-width pieces on the table saw to cover the opening. I also added support pieces for extra attachment points. Also, a note on the connectors I used. For the most part, I used coated exterior 1 1/4-inch screws that went into pre-drilled holes to reduce the likelihood of the wood splitting. This mostly worked; however, there were times when I used exterior brad nails for efficiency and simplicity. I also used outdoor-rated wood glue to hold everything together. I’m confident that these planters are built well and should stay together for the foreseeable future.
Next up was the most complicated part: attaching the back piece to the planter. On the chair, this piece connected to a cross member with a short bolt that screwed into an enclosed nut that was pressed into the back side of the piece. There was no way to reuse this setup with the planter since the bolt was too short. Instead, I determined that a 3/8-inch bolt would go through the existing hole. I managed to clamp the back piece to the planter in order to drill a small pilot hole through the plant. I then drilled that hole out with a bigger bit and ran a zinc-coated bolt through everything and tightened it down with a nut. With both sides connected, I added a screw through both pieces on each side to make sure everything is secure. And with that, it was all done.
Both upcycled Ikea Poang chair trellis planters.
In total, I think each planter took about two hours, and it was pretty easy to bring this idea to fruition. I’m also very proud of our ability to reuse and upcycle something that a lot of people would have thrown away. I’m really excited to plant in these this year and see how beans or cucumbers will climb the trellis system. I’ll definitely follow up with other posts about how we reuse the other pieces (if they’re used in a garden-related project) as well as how successful these planters are. If you’re interested in doing something like this, don’t be afraid to take a chance and upcycle something into a planter for your garden. It’s a lot of fun and gives your garden extra character.
Remember last year when I said I was going to create art consistently, starting with a study of Van Gogh? Oh good, me either. 😅 But in all seriousness, I am committed to making art this year. I miss it. These are three pet portraits I did of Midnight, Sully, and Mia, a few weeks ago in oil pastel.
I was inspired by Rachel Maksy to do this and spark a bit more joy in my life – and it did more than that! It helped me process grief too. I lost Midnight, over 15 years ago and Sully, just last August. Picturing them, hanging with my villager character, on this imaginary ACNH island, is a comforting little story.
For Midnight, I was inspired by Mira, for her spunky personality and fearlessness. I decided to change Midnight’s outfit to a clover dress from game, since loved clover the most of any treats!
Although Sully was Yorkie-Bichon mix, the dog and wolf characters are draw quite differently than what he looked like. Gonzo the koala in a perfectly Sully-looking sweater was just the ticket to capture Sully’s teddy bear essence.
Finally Mia was easy to pinpoint, Dottie looks like a Dutch rabbit which is similar to Mia’s harlequin color pattern. Since Mia loves baseball, dressing her in a baseball jersey seemed right.
I hope this brings you a little joy today. Wherever you are I hope you know you are special and deserving of love.
If your town is like ours, you’ll see a lot of manicured lawns with the grass cut even and low with few dandelions and “unwanted” weeds. In spring when there is ample rainfall, these lawns typically look nice and green; however, in the dog days of summer, the lawns will turn brown and crispy because even though the rainfall has lessened, the mowing must continue. And that doesn’t include the people who pay for lawn care companies to spray harmful chemicals on their yard. When we sit on our back porch and look toward the backyard or I look out the side window when working in my office, I see a lot of yards that don’t fit that manicured vibe, thankfully. I see lawns that are lush, thick, and vibrant green; however, there are multiple varieties of grass and the presence of dandelions to confirm that these lawns are natural. Seeing the difference between manicured and natural lawns is quite a shock, and it makes me question why people hate natural beauty, and namely dandelions, so much.
When I was growing up, I remember people complaining about dandelions in their yards, but they usually didn’t do anything to address them. Now, there are millions (probably billions) of dollars being spent on researching, developing, and advertising products designed to attack “weeds” like dandelions. My question is “Why?”
The Invasive Species Argument
One reason people hate dandelions is that they’re considered weeds, and the most in-tune haters will even describe them as invasive species, but that isn’t the whole truth. While dandelions are not native to North America, that does not mean they’re invasive. Invasive species are plants, insects, animals, etc. that aren’t native and have the ability to take over an ecosystem, wiping out the native species. These species also don’t provide the same benefits that native plants, insects, and animals need.
Dandelions in our yard
Currently, there are only two states in the USA—Alaska and Oregon—that consider dandelions to be invasive. For every other state, they’re simply non-native. This means they were introduced to the area but don’t cause the damage that invasive species do. In some cases, these plants can still be detrimental because they may have higher moisture requirements than native plants, causing an imbalance in the ecosystem. But even that isn’t the case with dandelions, but more on that in a bit. So, we can debunk the invasive species argument.
The History of Dandelions
Before looking at some other aspects of the dandelion, I want to first touch on where it originated. Dandelions have been around for thousands of years, originating in Eurasia before coming to North America, most likely in the 17th century on the Mayflower. But don’t think that this was by accident. The Europeans who arrived in America during this time period brought dandelions with them intentionally. That’s because the plant served a key medicinal purpose for them, which is one of its many benefits.
Benefits of Dandelions
Many may think of dandelions as nuisances, but the reality is that there are many benefits to them.
Medicinal
I mentioned earlier that Europeans intentionally brought dandelions with them for their medicinal benefits. And like most natural remedies, their positive effects are often minimized by the medical community. However, the Cleveland Clinic published a blog post in 2021 on the benefits of eating dandelions. In it, they mention that dandelions can be used as a good source of vitamins A, C, and K as well as folate, calcium, and potassium. Research and testing have also shown dandelions to help provide antioxidants, reduce inflammation, manage blood pressure, control blood sugar, and lower cholesterol. And while it hasn’t been confirmed, a research paper written by a biochemistry professor in Poland found that dandelions can help fight cardiovascular disease.
Dandelions can be consumed in a number of ways. The greens are delicious when eaten in a salad or sauteed. The flower petals and roots can be steeped into tea. You can also make wine and jelly from the flowers. In general, you can eat them the same way you do other greens grown in the garden.
Soil Improvements
Even if you don’t like the look of dandelions in your yard, one thing that can’t be denied is how it can improve your soil. Because they have deep, tough taproots, they’re able to break up the soil, allowing plants you want to grow to establish strong root systems. As a result, it could even make sense to intentionally plant dandelions in your garden beds to help your crops grow.
In yards, the deep taproots improve drainage and reduce runoff that often comes with lawns. Grasses, especially non-native varieties, tend to have shallow root systems that don’t absorb rainwater as efficiently as other plants. This leads to runoff, soil degradation, and potential flooding. And if you use herbicides or fertilizers on your lawn, the excess chemicals that aren’t absorbed can run off into streams and harm the drinking water supply.
Pollination
This one is pretty obvious, but dandelions are an important food source for pollinators. This is especially true early in spring when they’re one of the few available food sources until other flowers bloom. With pollinators already struggling to find food due to urbanization and the destruction of our ecosystems, it’s important to provide as much food as possible. I’ve already written about my love of the pollinators here, so it shouldn’t be surprising that I’ll keep dandelions around to help them.
Still Not Convinced?
Even if you don’t like dandelions and would prefer a lawn free of them, please be careful with how you address them. Instead of using herbicides that are harmful to the environment, including wild animals, pets, insects, and our water supply, physically remove them. Mowing them down and deadheading them will prevent the seeds from blowing and spreading once the flower dies. Plus, the pollinators will still have the opportunity to use them as a food source before. But at the end of the day, there isn’t a logical reason to kill them. The benefits greatly outweigh the negatives. Plus, they’re beautiful.
Last week, I wrote a post that posed the question, “When is it time to restart seeds?” The reason for that question was that our pepper seeds were taking forever to germinate and were already past their expected range. In the end, I argued for a patient approach to seed starting and not being too quick to pull the plug before restarting them. But I did write that if our Takii’s New Ace sweet peppers didn’t germinate by this past Sunday, (April 12) I was going to restart them. Thankfully, I was rewarded for this decision, and we saw our first seeds sprout late last week. Additionally, we saw more of our jalapeno, habanero, and Gochugarju peppers sprout. I don’t want to exaggerate the success, though.
Our pepper seed tray. The left two trays are habaneros, the middle one is jalapenos, the top right is Takii’s New Ace, and the bottom right is Gochugarju.
We are far from a 100 percent germination rate, as only 2 of the 10 Takii’s New Ace, 3 of the 10 Gochugarju, and 8 of the 10 habanero cells succeeded. We did have one jalapeno cell germinate, but it died off pretty quickly. I’m unsure what caused the seeds to fail, but a couple of factors I’ve considered are the use of an old seed-starting mix and inadequate moisture levels. Either way, I addressed both of them with the second batch of seeds I started.
Speaking of starting more seeds, on Monday evening, I started a second batch of pepper seeds, using the rest of the Takii’s New Ace seeds and the majority of the remaining pepper seeds. I believe I started 6 Takii’s New Ace, 8 Gochugarju, and 8 jalapeno cells. I switched to a new bag of seed-starting mix, which I think will yield better results. It’s lighter with more drainage amendments and less debris (twigs, clumped soil, etc.). I also ensured that the seeds and soil were thoroughly moistened and have been keeping the soil damp until the seeds germinate. Finally, I moved the seeds that did succeed off the heat mat to keep the roots from getting too warm.
Lessons Learned
An attitude I want to have with everything I do, gardening included, is learning something and having takeaways. I think it’s an important mindset to have to feel like you haven’t wasted time, which can lead to disappointment. In this case, I learned that having patience with your seeds is the right call. If you have the time, there’s virtually no harm in giving your seeds an extra day or two to germinate before starting over. Giving yourself and your seeds extra time to succeed can have a big payoff down the road. I also learned that it may be best to start with new seed-starting mix each spring. I wanted to use some leftover mix from last year to not be wasteful, but I think it’s best to use new, unopened mix. The old mix can be composted, so it still won’t be wasted.
Finally, I learned that I’m never going to start more than 2 seeds per cell moving forward. I’ve always been a gardener who puts 3 or 4 seeds in each cell to maximize the likelihood that each cell produces a start. However, after having a lot of our pepper seeds fail to germinate this spring, I feel like I wasted a lot of seeds that could have been spread out among more cells. My new approach is going to be using as many cells as I need but using the seeds more efficiently. Please note that this approach will only apply to starting seeds indoors. When direct sowing, I’ll still use 3 or 4 seeds per hole to not waste space in the bed.
When you start seeds, how many seeds do you use per cell? Also, are there any vegetables that you struggle to get started? For me, it’s always peppers.
Okay, as a millennial, I can’t hear the word pivot without thinking of this scene from Friends. But, silliness aside, Ross was correct; you have to pivot and pivot well. The longer I sew, the more agitated I get when I make foolish cutting or measuring mistakes in my garments. Like my shortalls from last year, I tried them on over the weekend because it is feeling warm and springlike here, and I was shocked by how poorly I fit the shorts. The top portion of the shorts fits excellently, but not the shorts. No one wants weird bunching when it comes to shorts, and that was exactly the problem!
At first, I went through the stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance that no matter how delusional I chose to be, these shortalls are uncomfortable. I would not wear them. This made me feel so many regrets. The pink overalls I drafted completely from scratch, using a special fabric featuring corgis and bread from a Japanese fabric brand called Kokka Fabric, sourced from my local fabric shop, Firecracker Fabrics. The second pair was cobbled together as a challenge of fabric and repurposing. The fabric was 1 yard of 59″ cotton twill from Mood Fabrics, and the pockets were sourced from a pair of shorts in my closet. I refused to scrap these. But what could I do to fix these? With all the patterns at play, adding in a new fabric sounded scary. Cutting these into bags or future quilting projects was throwing in the towel too soon for me.
My solution came to me one night, as I was washing my face; I didn’t have to make a drastic change. I had to address the problem – the way I cut the curve of the pants. I could remove the section that divided the fabric into legs, and transform the shortalls into pinafore dresses with a few cuts and stitches! It was a success! The shorts are now a skirt, by cutting away the curved line and sewing a straight seam on the back and front of the skirt. I also made a quick swap to the back bib of the brown floral pair, adjusting the square bib to the triangle shape of the pink ones. This adjusted the fit of the dress in an excellent way. The purpose of the triangle, I believe, from the fit change on my garment is to eliminate gapping between your shirt and the back bib, so the fit follows the line of your body.
Now, sewing is not the only place to pivot, obviously. Problem-solving is a fundamental part of the creative process. Projects rarely work out the way you want, from knitting to cooking to building a piece of furniture. In this fast fashion, consume and donate, culture poisoning my country’s culture, we are losing the art of problem-solving. This has been exacerbated by the rise of AI and ChatGPT. Why think at all? Why imagine, ponder, or research? Why try if you aren’t going to get “expert” results? That is what the rise of optimization culture is creating: the fear of trying. But you have to try to become an expert. AI is not an expert; it is a thief, stealing the knowledge of humans who have spent years and decades striving to know, unafraid to try and fail. It’s literally the scientific method. So if you are an impressionable person, who is growing up in this current era, don’t give up your creative ability for AI to do it for you. You will lose crucial thinking and creative skills if you don’t exercise your mind and problem-solve on your own. Just do it.
One Rabbit Riot 