Monday, July 21, 2008

Little Produce Baskets and Etc.

For some reason I like photographing these little produce baskets. I don't know why; they're certainly not beautiful. But I have tons of them in my kitchen. We usually buy a three-pack of strawberries every Sunday at farmer's market, so there you go--tons of these. I've been thinking of ways to reuse them.
1. Have them on hand to collect produce scraps as you pare vegetables. Then you can neatly carry them to the trash or compost.

2. Rinse herbs. I actually rinse a lot of things in these because I hate getting out the big colander. So I rinse grapes, strawberries, tomatoes from the yard. Whatever you are washing in a small batch.

3. Take them out to the garden to gather vegetables. Gathering tomatoes in them is a no brainer. And you can give your produce as gifts this way too. And speaking of gifts, there is a little craft project here that uses them too. I'd like to try this with the boys when they are older.
I made these butterfly crowns (from Earthways) for the boys to wear on midsummer. It's unlikely that Rainer will wear his; Dieter likes crowns, but he didn't like the looks of this when I showed him. He said, "but it doesn't have pointy things all around." So we'll see. I like it. And I love the idea of festive headwear for the midsummer. I want to make a flower crown for myself, and Faith too if she wants one.
I can't stop photographing the nature table. I love the way it is ever changing. These green tomatoes are because Rainer likes to pick them green. The sunflower is from the garden of course. I've had that little frog for year, but just recently thought of it for the nature table.

For those of you asking about the trip, it was fun. Ikea rocks. There were issues though. The navigation system misbehaved (no voice prompts--what's with that?) and we found nothing at H&M or Bitten. But it was still fun spending mother-daughter time.

7 comments:

periwinkle said...

what a pity you didnt find anything at HM but at least you enjoyed your time together. Did you get my e-mail?
lisa x

melissa s. said...

i love those little produce baskets, too! although ours always come in the paper kind. i give them to the kids to play with in their kitchen but i'll keep your uses in mind!

Karen said...

How did you make that butterfly crown? I think my boys would love that.

Mary Beth said...

Hi Karen. Here's what I did: cut two butterfly shapes--one in cardstock and one in tracing paper. On the cardstock one, cut out the center with an exacto knife. On the tracing paper one, glue on (or have the child glue on) torn tissue. Then glue the cardstock butterfly over the tracing paper butterfly. Glue it to a cardstock strip to form the base of the crown and add yarn or ribbon to tie.

Chris said...

Have you tried zucchini in your (sweet) pancakes yet? I know it sounds strange, but we grate a zucchini into our mix (usually Trader Joe's multigrain pancake mix or homemade), add some grated orange peel and cinnamon, and serve the pancakes with plain yogurt, berries, and maple syrup. That way it is something sweet with the added goodness of zuchini. I enjoy reading your blog and love your ideas!

amanda said...

I love these photos!

Amber said...

We're taking all of our produce baskets and weaving them with ribbon (on clearance @ Michael's .25!) They will be used for hair accessory organization, and craft room baskets. And they look awesome!