I love lavender. I love the look of it, the smell of it, even the taste of it (yup, that’s right – just read on before you make a judgment!).

So, I jumped at the chance to visit Hood River Lavender Farm on my recent trip to Portland, Oregon with my mom.

This farm is nestled in the Hood River Valley, amongst a slew of tasty wineries (yes, we made a few stops there, as well!) about an hour and a half drive east of Portland.

The farm was a beautiful site to see (and smell!), and for only $5, I was able to cut a huge bundle of lavender – they had over 70 varieties to choose from, so this was no easy task! After spending almost in an hour in purple-fragranced heaven, we enjoyed some delish lavender shortbread cookies made by the farm’s owner. You know you want to make some! Check Hood River’s slew of recipes here.

Traveling home with it wasn’t as tricky as I thought – I wrapped the bunch in newspaper and laid it flat in my suitcase for the flight back to Austin. It arrived perfectly, and I immediately hung it upside down to dry. I placed the dried bouquet in a spaghetti jar near my reading chair – looks cute and I get some sweet whiffs while chilling in my chair. It’s been a month since I’ve been back from Oregon, and my lavender bunch STILL smells amazing! It’s like having a candle burning 24-7 in my room.

Not only does lavender smell wonderful and look great dried, it also has antiseptic properties, calms the nerves, helps with insomnia and can aid in digestion! Read here for more specifics.

Not in the Portland area to grab a bundle of fresh lavender? Not a problem, there’s bound to be one in your neck of the woods! If you’re in Texas, here are a few places to check out:

Central Texas – Hill Country Lavender, Chappell Hill Lavender, or Wimberley Lavender Farm.

North Texas – Lavender Ridge Farms.

So, the moral of the story: lavender is pretty much the best herb ever. Find a farm near you and bring a bunch home!

Interestingly, the most frequent visitor was (and still is) my cat, Heidi.

But wait, I digress. Back to the blue birdbath. It’s color made me want MORE dark marine blue in my yard. So I painted a neat old wrought iron table I found in an antique garden shop that was painted a bland white and showing it’s years. I love the way it provides a contrast to my brown patio chairs.

Then I painted a piece of garden art – a hoop with a bird perched on it, only painting the bird. I have a lot of pink and white flowers so the blue accents compliment the flowers (and weeds) quite nicely.

Maybe your accent color will be purple or yellow or orange! Paint a flower pot or a watering can. Once my husband even painted a long-handled lug wrench and stuck it in the ground.

(Note from Amy: I’m pretty sure you can’t go overboard with this one, Mom. Need more cobalt! And Dad’s lug wrench is pretty cute… particularly because only a man could turn a car tool into yard art. I’m pretty sure it’s his version of a yard art flower.)

Several years ago a friend gave me a recipe for Organic Plant Insecticide that really works. The ingredients are common household items, and are nontoxic to people and pets, besides being environmentally safe.

For this photo I decided my recycled Glass Plus bottle (with label permanently afixed) was not acceptable for HNWN so I invested $1 in a new spray bottle at Dollar General. Whether you use an empty bottle or get a new one, just be sure it holds about 32 ounces. I used a decorative label to write the recipe in permanent marker and stuck it on the bottle.

Organic Plant Insecticide

1 32 oz. spray bottle

1 c. brewed tea

1/4 c. distilled vinegar

1/8 c. dish detergent (not the degreaser kind)

2 c. water

Pour all into bottle. Screw on sprayer top and shake to mix.

Spray on plant and soil. After a few minutes spray plant foliage with water.

Great on rose bushes and safe on vegetables.

(I don’t think this concoction will work on fire ants. Those beasts need the really toxic stuff like Ambro.)

{Note from Amy: Mom, can you also share a recipe for some magic spray that keeps plants alive through drought and neglect? Mine would love you for it.}

My hand shot straight up, and everyone turned around and stared at me. I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks as I realized it was a rhetorical question.

Once the speaker continued on and my cheeks cooled off, my embarrassment turned to pride. I decided it’s pretty cool my automatic reaction to a question like that is, “Me! Me!” I have pretty swell parents. They’ve always shown me how much they love me, and how proud they are of me.

Now I’m pushing 30 (geez louise) and my mom still spoils and loves on me from 400 miles away. It seems like about once a month there’s an envelope in my mailbox with her handwriting on it. This one came last week (on stationary I stamped as a Christmas gift), complete with stickers! Unexpected mail is such a happy occurrence.

And Mom says all I have to do is sprinkle the seeds! That’s my kind of gardening. Grow, little zinnias, grow!

Another thing I occasionally recycle is banana peels, but they aren’t too appealing to photograph [snickering to myself at the play on words]. Roses LOVE banana peels. Just chop the peels into 1″ pieces and bury them a couple of inches in the soil.

Note from Amy: Two things I love about this: that my mom wrote “Egg Shells” in big green letters on the side of the frosting container, and that she actually takes the time to do this with all her egg shells. Mine come to their final resting place in le garbage. But then, you should see Mom’s garden.

I have a can of spray paint and I know how to use it! Sounds like a weapon…and it is when you can update faded exterior light fixtures for under $5! After shopping for new fixtures I decided to try this economical update.

I’m not proficient with electricity so rather than risk getting fried to a crisp I opted to leave the sconce right where it was for painting. I just covered the brick and glass with paper and tape.

After finishing the fixtures I was inspired to spray our metal glider. Now I’m even eyeing a large old faux clay planter.

What have you spray painted lately?

A few years ago a friend told me she coats her pumpkins with Brite liquid floor cleaner, and it preserves them for the whole season. Lo and behold, it works!

In one step you clean, shine and preserve the favorite of October and November decor. I’ve even used it on other goards and acorn squash. They won’t get infested with insects or get mushy, then I discard them in mint condition the week after Thanksgiving.

Just apply a coat of Brite (or any liquid floor cleaner) with a damp cloth (I use an old washcloth). A bottle of cleaner has lasted me for years, so I just store it in the back of my cleaning supply cabinet.

(Disclaimer: does not preserve pierced or carved pumpkins, i.e., jack-o-lantern.)

We have a perfectly-sized patio that I don’t spend enough time on. So aside from enjoying one of our little-used spaces more often, here are the reasons I like taking the time to line-dry (and some drawbacks, to be fair).

PROs

• Time to myself. I’m guilty of always being in a hurry, even when I’m not. Hanging laundry gives me time to slow down and think. Plus, I find it to be a bit nostalgic, you know? The way things used to be.
• Fresh smell. Line-dried sheets are one of life’s little pleasures. My mom says they smell like sunshine. I had to try to it figure out what she meant. And it’s lovely.
• Energy savings. My first job was at a video store, and my co-workers used to make fun of me for making scrap paper out of the out-dated video sleeves. Though line-drying probably only saves me $25-50/year, it just makes me feel responsible. And my old co-workers can… well, keep using their dryers.

CONs

• Wrinkles. I do own an iron, but I try use it as little as possible. So I will toss shirts and linens in the dryer just to tumble out the wrinkles.
• Stiffness. Jeans and towels are less than Downy-soft from line-drying, so I also toss them in the dryer when they’re still a bit damp.
• Fading. The sun can do a number on jeans pretty quick, so I turn anything I don’t want to fade inside-out, and try not to leave things outside too long.

As for the technicalities, I just used hooks and a rope I dug out of our camping supplies. Then my mom gave me a retractable clothes line, which I love because it doesn’t get dirty in the elements, and there’s no threat of decapitation from not seeing it as you walk across the patio. If you don’t have a lot of outdoor space, use a collapsable rack and maybe one of these hilarious little numbers. “What about when it rains?” you ask. Just dry inside. Your house will smell like clean laundry!