happy winter solstice

make a winter window box

Summer has passed but it doesn't mean that your window boxes need to be empty. You can use a window box or plant container to make a winter arrangement. Use evergreens and dried flowers that are left over from the garden. If you have evergreens in your yard wait to prune until the late fall or winter and use the cuttings in your arrangement. If you don't have access to evergreens, you can buy evergreens at a garden center. I was able to buy discarded evergreen branches from Christmas trees for sale from the local garden center for under two dollars. A commonly used item in winter arrangements is spruce tops, which are expensive and sometimes hard to find. I've seen spruce tops priced at $2.99 each for a bundle for $20 to $30. If you are on a budget this can be expensive. You could easily spend a lot of money using spruce tops.

For my winter arrangements I purchased four spruce tops for about $12. I also picked up discarded evergreens at the local garden center for two dollars, purchased a beautiful winter green bundle, and used materials from the yard or garden. I pruned dogwood from my parents backyard. If you buy dogwood it's about $10 for a small bundle. If you don't have access to dogwood try any hardwood branch clippings. Or use dried flowers or other materials you find interesting. This is your design. It doesn't have to look like something from a magazine.



This is a "functional" arrangement. I used dried flowers from the garden and oak branches discarded from my neighbor. Last year I made an arrangement like this. I used flower heads from purple cone flowers, heath aster, false sunflower, back eyed susan, and hyssop. The dried plants self seeded and in the spring the flowers spread. Throughout the winter birds feed from the seed heads. It may not be the most beautiful arrangement but it works to spread flowers in the garden.

The container on the left has a spruce top, white cedar, white pine, spruce, and oak branches. The container on the left has dogwood, white cedar, white pine, oak branches, and eucalyptus. To make this, put the dogwood in the center in a bundle. The placed in white pine and draped it over the edge. Then I used white cedar to break up the white pine. Then I added a sprig of eucalyptus and filled it in with oak branches for some added color.

Materials used: blue spruce, white cedar, dogwood, spruce tops, and white pine

Possible materials:
* Spruce tops, blue spruce branches, white cedar branches, white pine, and evergreen branches
* Evergreen branches
* Dogwood branches or small tree branches (lengths of 5' and under)
* Dried flowers
* Window box or container. Use containers from summer plants. Next spring add the soil to a compost or garden soil.
* Anything you find interesting, pine cones, wheel spokes, found objects, etc.

Instructions
* Use a container that already has soil in it. You can use containers from a garden. It's better if you can do this before the soil in the container is frozen. If it's frozen, bring the container indoors or to a warm place to soften the soil.
* Put dogwood, twigs, or tall items in the center. Dig a small hole in the soil to place twigs or dogwood. Use can use wire to bind the twigs together and place in the hole.
* Put evergreen branches in to the edges of the container.
* Fill in the rest of the container with evergreens and other materials.

An evergreen bundle from Mother Earth Garden (left)
White pine and dogwood (right)

Benny inspecting the materials

Two finished winter arrangements

Some how to resources and ideas:

Inside Out: A winter window box, Star Tribune

Winter window boxes, Cottage Living

Winter Window Box Ideas, ezine articles

i spy a pine siskin

There have been reports of a Pine Siskin irruption in the Twin Cities. Pine Siskins are small finches. "Adults are brown on the upperparts and pale on the underparts, with heavy streaking throughout. They have a short forked tail. They have yellow patches in their wings and tail, not always visible; otherwise, it appears to be a very small streaked sparrow." Their breeding grounds are in Canada, Alaska, and the northern parts of the U.S. They migrate southward in winter.

Pine Siskins have recently been reported in Minnesota. A little over a week ago, I saw a flock a of 15 to 20 feeding on white cedar cones in our yard. I've waited years to see these "winter" finches. Every winter in Minnesota there have been reports of siskins and red polls and this is a first time sighting for me.

A Pine Siskin feeding at the top of the tree.

A Pine Siskin, in the center of the photo, feeding.

It's difficult to see in the photo but there are four Pine Siskins in the tree.

a bitter sweet election

On the sweet side we can say "President-elect Obama." On the other "bitter pill" side, California passed Proposition 8, social conservatives Michele Bachmann and Erik Paulsen were elected to congress in Minnesota, and the Franken Coleman race for a senate is still undecided. The election recount for that race started yesterday.

Obama supporters were elated that Obama won the election. People danced and partied in the streets of Minneapolis and all over the country. After election night, reality slapped us in the face. Proposition eight passed in California. Of all the states, I never thought California would pass a constitutional amendment that declared that marriage can only be between a man an a woman. It happened. And now people are rightly protesting the vote. Conservatives have deemed this as "anarchy." Where have we heard this before?

As for Minnesota politics, how did this happen? How did Bachmann get re-elected after her anti-american diatribe on MSNCB? Did the DFL choose the wrong candidates? Is the DFL primary process dysfunctional? I am baffled at how Bachmann and Paulsen got elected. Other than their district's are in "conservativeville" outside the Twin Cities proper. In Bachmann's pre-election appearance on MSNBC's show "Hardball," she accused Obama and several liberal, leftists, as "anti-American." She said the news media should investigate this, "Are they pro-America or anti-America?" After seeing this I was waiting for that knock on my door, to be taken away for questioning about my "anti-American" views. Obama will be president, but Minnesota is still stuck with Michele Bachmann for two years. At least it's not six years.

Links:
Sign the petition against Prop 8

Doug Grow over at Minn Post wrote an excellent article on how the Minnesota DFL screwed up some key elections in Minnesota. Read it, click here.

Vote NO on Prop 8

After Obama Victory, Dancing in the Streets (Minneapolis)

MnIndy Video: Obama win prompts nighttime dance-party in the streets of Minneapolis

vote obama

Treehouse party has endorsed Barack Obama for president. If you are concerned about your taxes, check out the Obama-Biden Tax Calculator and see how you will do financially under each administration.


If you are a resident of the Twin Cities (Minnesota) then check out the Twin Cities voter cheat sheet.

the "let them eat cake" makeover

While most of us were trying to balance our budget and live with less, "the Republican National Committee (RNC) spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family," according to POLITICO news. What happened to "hockey mom, Joe six-pack, Joe the plumber?" Would "they" spend 150K on clothing? Sure, they could spend that, in a lifetime. But in less than two months?

In these troubling economic times, it troubles me that the RNC would spend that amount of money on designer clothes. People are losing their homes. People are going hungry. People are dying because they don't have health care. Then the RNC spent $150K to clothe their unqualified candidate. As to dress her up, to objectify her. As if a makeover would give her style, make her smarter, more qualified.

What baffles me is that the RNC allowed the funds to be spent for a makeover. What was wrong with the way she looked as the governor of Alaska? Why is it important how stylish a candidate is? Does it depend on gender? Does it depend on party affiliation? Female politicians are constantly judged on what they wear. The media will talk about Hillary's pantsuits, or her many changing hair styles. Men are judged too, but on a different scale. How often does the media talk about what men wear? Amanda Woerner articulated this in her article Washington’s fashion double-standard, "For women in positions of power, news about their appearance usually trump news about their accomplishments." Furthermore, "Imagine a caption reading, 'Dick Cheney, in an Armani suit, at yesterday’s news conference.' It would be both bizarre and irrelevant."

The McCain Palin ticket continually talks about Obama's socialist ideas of "sharing the wealth." Isn't using money from the RNC (from donors) to fund her makeover sharing the wealth? It also hits a sour note on ethical standards. San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer Joe Garofoli said the $150K "might have violated the spirit if not the letter of a campaign finance law co-authored by her running mate, Sen. John McCain." The McCain Palin campaign said, "It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign." Sure, I'll believe that when it happens.

train bound for the mall of america met by riot police, aug 31, 2008

There were police raids on independent media and the RNC Welcoming Committee Convergence Space before the RNC even started. At the same time the riot police showed up on a Metro Transit light rail train to the Mall of America.

From indybay, Riot Cops Detain IWW Starbucks Workers Union Supporters in Train at Mall of America. "As an act of solidarity, several dozen local IWW members and supporters, along with National Lawyer's Guild observers, intended to peacefully escort the reinstated Erik Forman to the Mall of America. In line with recent police aggression in the Twin Cities related to the 2008 RNC in St. Paul (see http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/08/30/18531223.php), police massed at the IWW rally point at the light rail station at Lake & Hiawatha. Initially, police refused to allow the IWW access to the light rail station so that they might escort Erik back to the Mall of America. Later, the IWW was allowed to proceed. Two stations from the mall, police again seemed to be ready to prevent the group's access to the mall yet then allowed the train to proceed. Finally, at the mall itself, a line of riot cops from Plymouth, MN in full riot gear refused to allow the IWW to disembark from the train. Other unrelated passengers, including one diabetic in need of insulin, were also not allowed to leave the train as it was held with the doors closed. Eventually, the train was just sent in the other direction, away from the mall, with no one allowed off. At the first stop in the other direction, Erik Forman got off and walked to his job at the mall."

This is another excessive show of force by the police. What are they afraid of? See the video at indybay.