This is what I do with those pesky dandelion weeds in our yard. They make a wonderful salad with salt, sunflower seeds and ranch. I've also found a few other recipes that are really good. So, if life gives you dandelions. . .then make a salad!

Besides being able to view all the dandelions that have taken over my yard; I am showing you that my blog is truly about living simple. These are 2 of my friends. The crow closest to the tree is the one (I think) that sits up in the oak tree when he/she sees me in our yard and 'caws' until I throw food out for him/her. The crow is always sitting on the same branch when I'm being called. I read an NPR article about crows doing this sort of thing to other people. They have their favorite people and can, not only, recognize you away from your house but will also recognize your car. But don't make them mad or they (and their family) will follow you everywhere and caw at you for months. You'll know if this happens. . .trust me!

Only my indoor plants and the front planter are actually benefiting from the gray water at this point.

This is a sink full of potential. I am collecting any gray water that is used to rinse plates, boil pasta, etc for watering plants. I eventually will be collecting downspout water to get more large scale plant watering in the backyard; but for now I am doing what I can with the sink water.

Behold! I have wheat grass from those berries. If time allows, tomorrow I will make a dough from the harvested grass and try to make crackers.

If you've read any of my earlier posts, then you know that I am playing with wheat berries. First I tried grinding them into flour with a coffee maker; and I got what resembled flour and tasted pretty good in the whole grain loaf of bread that I made in my bread maker. So now I decided to try baking our favorite Spritzer cookie using this same whole grain flour that I ground in our handy dandy coffee grinder. These, however, did not come out quite as successful as the bread flour did. I am now realizing that a grain grinder is actually necessary for proper grinding. The cookies have cracked wheat that isn't really cracked enough . . . and if I am to eat these cookies, then I have to have a great deal of patience to let my own teeth do the rest of the grinding. They taste fine otherwise, so the lesson that I have learned here is that a properly ground whole grain flour makes a perfectly tasty Spritzer cookie.

Mom and Dad scored pretty high on the fun-ometer today. Smores and a backyard campfire. . .That's living!

Make-shift Redneck backyard firepit! This was actually a lot of fun.

Here is a better picture which shows how Max placed the bush to hide the composting bins. I think he did a great job, we just have the rubble pile left to deal with.

This is the small amount that we've composted thus far. In the "Let It Rot!" book that I have been reading, we still need a larger amount to be added before we layer with leaves and manure. The dogs seem to think we are stashing treats for them. Yesterday, we found a rotted tomato on the floor that was confiscated by a dog and returned to us. The baby found it first though!

Here is a picture to show the progress that the composting pile is undergoing. We have 2 bins made from the stacked cinder blocks and back filled with dirt. Max planted Sedums and a bush nearby for hiding the pile. He also moved 4 flagstones for stepping out on to toss the veggies into the back bin.

This is the honey, nut, wheat loaf that it yielded. It actually tasted really good with freshly ground wheat berries.

These are wheat berries that I ground into flour. As you can see, I did this with a coffee grinder since I currently don't own the grinder that I've read about used by the pro's. It worked!