juderose.com

I had an amazing day the other day finding SIX caterpillars of different ages in my yard. That’s a lot for me, especially this year. The wasps hover around my milkweed something fierce and eat them so fast. I also have never been able to keep a caterpillar alive who is less than say, a 5 days old because when they are that tiny they just can’t seem to get what they need from my milkweed set-up.

Here’s what I’ve tried. If you have some tips, please leave them in the comments!

I have a screened cage that’s about 2 ft x 1 ft x 16″ high. The caterpillars always make their ‘J’ on the wood strips along the top.
In the past I’ve put the milkweed in jars of water and the cats drowned.
So then I poked stem sized holes into lids over the water. That works so-so. I quickly use up all my top stems though and really need to be able to just use single leaves too. But when I put them in the hole, they shred a little and then wilt quickly after that.
This year I thought I had the answer. I received a bunch of florist foam and put that into two large bowls. Filled them with water to the top and the leaves were o.k. for awhile, but they really don;t seem to last even 24 hours.

Help? Anyone?

A’ight. This is for Cass and Dave. And this is why Brad and I will never do a blog foodie site, even though I have been known once or twice to love food. Because apparently I cook only when everything is on the edge of molding.

For dinner tonight we have an italian bruschetta:

It was made because
a) the homemade bread was stale, thanks to being devoid of franken soy oil from evil Monsanto
b) the amazing, grown-in-USA tomatoes that were supposed to last me a week all over ripened at once. And are probably Monsanto.
c) I had to check my shredded mozz in the fridge…..Phew. No mold. Otherwise it would have been spaghetti night.
d) pesto from my garden in the freezer. Basil is a pissy plant until it gets growing. I suggest all gardeners eat pesto this time of year to fortify their resolve for dealing with the little PITA.

Copy recipe from here using way less sun-dried tomatoes because they cost a fortune:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Double-Tomato-Bruschetta/Detail.aspx

And voila! I get to have an excuse to open the red wine before the beelers go to sleep.
Tonight’s wine:
Fetzer Merlot-the *best* cheap wine money can buy

I realize y’all don’t have my pesto in your freezer and that’s really a shame because one of the hallmarks of the meal is the signature fragrant pesto burps that last for several hours after.
Cheers!
Jude

Glitch fixed. At least the big one. Ain’t she purty?
Next on the list is fixing the contact page, and of course then I have to fix the junk on the right hand side of all the pages.
Contact me easily at juderose at juderose dot com.

The new site has some glitches, but hopefully I can get them ironed out very quickly. I *almost* launched it last night, darnit.
Well, it’s coming.
If you need to contact me, the e-mail is juderose at juderose dot com

I’m super happy to report that my website is getting a complete and total overhaul. You literally will not recognize it. I intend to have it launched by the end of February, which is only a week away.
There’ll be much more content, including articles I wrote and loads of pics. It’s actually the pics that are slowing me down, because I had to make up a bunch of beads. Too fun.

Well, they ain’t pretty, but they’re here by popular demand. Emphasis on demand.
People crack me up. It was only five years ago when I put my first site up that I was a bit ahead of the curve. Now, everyone is so web savvy.
We need to develop a buy button that hands you a cup of coffee while you wait for the checkout pages to load.

I’ll make the checkout prettier when Christmas is behind us all!

I am. I love this time of year when I get really busy and have to squeeze every minute out of the day. I get super efficient. Of course, then I’m really glad when it all calms down about 1 1/2 weeks before Christmas. So I guess I’m a pretty happy person more times than not.

Turn-around is about 1 1/2 weeks. Feel free to order.

Hi all. All is well here in my middle of nowhere world. It has been an intense harvest season. Not so much because my garden was great, but because my CSA organic food pickup every week has been loaded with food to deal with. So on top of twin toddlers, gardens, chrysalis and chickens in the yard and glass chrysalis in the studio, I have added canning canning and more canning.

I know I have promised a new and improved site, but when ya got a box of pears threatening to rot, you deal with that kind of thing first. Besides, I like to dream big, and have a special piece I’m making for my new upcoming frontpage splash. It’s a sculpture-very cool stuff. It will all happen in due time.

As always, if you need to contact me, just zip me an e-mail for the fastest response. juderose at juderose dot com. Turnover is still around two weeks and I am trying to get ready for the Christmas push. And the January push too. That’s probably my favorite time of year. It’s when all the people who asked for a chrysalis from loved ones who didn’t get the very heavy hints end up taking matters into their own hands and buy one for themselves. It’s awesome and happens every year. Hope you’re not one of them! Hint louder!

Cheers,
Jude

Thank God I got a big order to keep me busy this summer because my site is a mess. I’m so sorry.