Make a Mandala Breakfast

I’m a breakfast lover. Oh! You are too? Then, you’re in the right place. Are you tired of the same old cold cereal? Maybe you’d like a faster breakfast option to prepare than pancakes or French toast. Or maybe you want to keep kids busy for a while as you sip your coffee. The cure-all …

How to Make a Flower Chain

Ice cream is the best! You know what else is the best? Lazing around on a nice summer day and doing whatever you want to do. Loafing, lazing and putzing can bring great joy to the inner child in all of us. Don’t forget to laze. A proper putzing is done without a smart phone …

Plant a Wee Garden with a Theme

When I was a kid I loved reading Choose Your Own Adventure books. I wedged my fingers between multiple pages so I could go back and see if I could have made it out alive or with a bag of treasure, if only I made a better choice earlier. Planting itty bitty plants in a …

Turn Aluminum Foil into a Polished Cube

I’ll bet you never did anything as a kid that was a complete waste of time, but was satisfying and fun. Let’s face it! One of the perks of being a kid is putting hours and hours into a focused activity that may have no practical purpose. Maybe you and your friends dug a hole …

Dyeing Eggs with Natural Plant-based Dyes

Ever since I dyed wool yarn with purple carrots from my garden last fall, I thought it’d be fun to dye other things with plants. Think of anything that stained your clothes in the past; it might be a good candidate to dye eggs. I held a vote on my Facebook page – Tamawi, and …

Green is for Zinnia, Peas and Dill

The color green isn’t just for fans of the Hulk or the Wicked Witch of the West. It’s also a key component of any rainbow garden. Green is good! Zinnia If you’ve followed along so far, then you’ll recognize a theme developing in my rainbow garden. Zinnias! I can’t say enough good things about their …

Yellow is for Zinnia and Bush Beans

In a contest of cheerfully colored flowers, is there anything that conveys happiness more than yellow? Add a pinch of yellow to a garden and you’re guaranteed to maintain a certain level of sunny cheer. Here’s what I chose for my slice of sunshine: Zinnia My yellow zinnias are part of the Hot Crayon Colors …

Orange is for Zinnia, Nasturtium and Calendula

I hold a special place in my heart for orange, because it’s one of the school colors of the University of Illinois. I challenge anyone who is regularly exposed to brilliant construction-orange over several years to not develop a special appreciation for this often overlooked color in gardens. Here are my orange plant picks that …

Red is for Amaranth and Peppers

R is the first letter in my pal Roy G. Biv’s name, so I’m going to start at the beginning and reveal which pretty and edible plants I’ll grow to highlight one of my favorite colors, red. Amaranth is an ancient grain crop from the New World that can be red, orange or green. A …

How to Reveal a Plant’s Vascular System

Are you looking for a WOW-factor experiment? Then this is the one! For maximum impact, I suggest the next-level option with the highlighter and black light. Plants are more complicated than they appear on the surface. But did you know you can reveal the framework of plant’s physiology in a simple experiment at home? What …