May is the Best Month

Roses are in bloom! Eugene is awash in roses right now, including the sunset rose and wild fuschia roses that grow in our alley. I took some time this weekend to make more rose essence water like last year (even though I never once used what I made last year). You see here I laid out a few trays of petals on my dehydrator. After they were dried, I attempted to crush them into powder with my mortar and pestle. Easier said than done! When I achieve a powder, I will try it as a toothpaste.

I also put a bunch of petals in some apple cider vinegar to infuse it for use in homemade salad dressings. It looks pretty good.


































Also, I have a very handy and generous neighbor who built me some window boxes this weekend! I bought the cedar fencepost from the garden store, and he made them in return for the promise of a berry pie. They are sitting in the recessed window wells of our level-with-the-ground windows.

He slanted the bottoms and then put mesh over a gap so that they will drain into the gravel in the window well. 

 I am really excited to put flowers and herbs in our window boxes! (And hoping the landlord doesn't mind that he screwed them to the window frames...)

Lastly, a friend tipped me off to the idea of using milk jugs as miniature greenhouses. I filled egg shells with potting soil and tried tomato seeds. It actually worked, although I didn't start early enough in the season, so they will probably not bear fruit.