Start with fresh home grown heirloom tomatoes and cut up into bite size pieces. Add basil and olive oil some salt and pepper to taste mix and serve. Make sure you make enough for seconds! This great as a side dish or as a summer snack.

Heirloom tomatoes come in many different colors. Use a number of different colors for flavor, texture and color. If you don't have home grown tomatoes go to your local farmers market and try this recipe with local heirloom tomatoes.

One of my “side hobbies” is furniture refinishing. Salvaging old furniture is a creative way to recycle and reuse things. I am by no means restoring the furniture, but I am giving old stuff new life. Not only is fun for me, but I know that by recycling things, I’m doing a little something to help protect the environment.

The key to refinishing furniture for me is using Shellac. It is by and far, one of my favorite products. It is all natural and is made from the secretions of insects, mixed with ethanol and a renewable resource. Its’ use has been known for millennia. Examples have been found in Pharo’s Tombs in ancient Egypt. Shellac comes in a clear or amber tint in a gloss or a high gloss. Shellac is also non toxic and the eco-friendly product to use if you are trying to eliminate the use of toxic household and construction materials.

In the video and photos, you can see the process for bringing back some pieces of furniture for use in my indoor garden. The table is probably thirty to forty years old and had a laminate stuck to it for decades. I am using the table as the base for my shelves in the indoor garden. By raising the levels of the shelves, more of the actual shelf space is exposed to natural sun light. I also have a couple of solid wood school house kids chairs, which have a dual purpose as seating and step stools for easy access to the top shelves.

I peeled away the laminate and sanded it down. Sanding first with a coarse sand paper and then, medium, and lastly with fine sand paper. It is important to always sand with the grain of the wood. After sanding it down, I wipe the surface with a wet paper towel and let it dry. Then it’s on to the shellac. With a paint brush, I coat the surfaces as thickly and evenly as possible allow it to dry and then lightly sand it with fine grit sand paper. Shellac dries incredibly quickly, becoming hard and water tight in under an hour. Remember to use shellac in a well ventilated area as the ethanol evaporates, and breathe some new life into furniture for your self.

Hand spinning has become a passion of mine. It’s so much fun and rewarding making my one of a kind, knitted garments. I love sharing them with others too. As the months go by I’ll be adding more instructional videos that will help you become a hand spinner too. It’s not easy to learn how to spin fiber into yarn, but once you learn it’s like riding a bike.

The best fiber to use when you are learning is a medium to coarse wool. The more exotic fibers like angora or cashmere are slippery and can be expensive, but great to use once you’ve got the hang of hand spinning. A great way to get started before buying a wheel is taking a class. There are also spinning groups you can go to and connect with women who have been doing it for a long time.