Saturday, June 20, 2009

Class Hike. Quick Update

The weather looks like it will be beautiful tomorrow, and there were tentative plans to take on Barr Trail. We will be meeting at the Mate Factor (966 Manitou Ave.) at 10 AM tomorrow morning, and hiking wherever you guys are up for! If no one is feeling particularly sprightly, well, we can just hang out at the coffee shop, lol.

Hope to see you there :D

-Carmin

Friday, June 12, 2009

The Practical Herbalist: Natural Pest Control

Last year, I planted white sage outside my front door; it seemed to be growing quite well, until one morning I step outside with a cup of coffee and one of the plants is missing. No roots, no broken leaves, and no signs of disturbed earth. Just gone. This continued every night until all but one remained, and I was utterly paranoid, peeking out of the windows, up all hours of the night to see what the heck was going on.
Towards the end of summer, I had visions of a Beetle Juice type worm-monster living in the planter, and somehow sucking the sage through the ground. Arrgh. Winter hit, and the mystery had to wait for another season.

This year, I tried calendula in the same planter, first investigating the dirt thoroughly for cutworms, excess pine needles (bends the soil ph atrociously). Satisfied, I transplanted the flowers and waited. Woke up to petals scattered across the gate, all over the ivy, and the flowers all had broken stems.

It was squirrels. Freakin' squirrels.

Solution?

Make a strong tea with African Bird Peppers, allow it to cool, and thoroughly coat the plants with it, sprinkling the leftovers on the surrounding ground.

The hairy little freeloaders weren't too happy about the added condiments, but it is an excellent pesticide-free deterrent!

Other tried and true favorites are vinegar for black spot (happens on a lot of the tomatoes here) but requires frequent reapplication, and Murphy's Oil soap to get the Japanese beetles from devouring your roses. Companion planting, the lady bugs and the snakes take care of just about everything else :)

Have any faves' to share? I'd love to hear them!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Tarot Bags-Full Moon and New Moon



Knit from a wonderful bamboo and silk blend yarn, with little vintage copper buttons. I made this (accidentally?) on corresponding Moon cycles, finishing the white bag on the second night of the Full Moon, and the black bag on the New Moon. Didn't even realize it until weaving in the ends ... had a big "huh" moment. Don't you love synchronicity?
They are pretty big, roomy enough to hold two decks each, or a deck and all the lovely ritual gear to go with it. Not sure when I'll be making another, so for now they will just be available in our Etsy shop, and not on the main site.

Even with our current class schedule, I was hoping to start a Stitch n' Bitch (Witch n' Bitch?) circle in the area. It would be a great way for the local magical community to get to know each other outside of a ritual setting, especially for those of us that don't really like the environment of most Open Sabbats, and those bloody awful New Age love donation classes, lol. Let me know if you guys are interested!

-Carmin

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Class Update

Class will be meeting tomorrow at Red Rock Canyon Open Space Park, 1O am. It should be pretty warm tomorrow, so be sure to bring your water bottle.
Hope to see you there! :D

-Carmin