busyYou can recycle old newspapers and other waste paper yourself. Make pots out of newspaper; they will be biodegradable, better for the environment and your plants than plastic or peat pots. Also you don't need the pricey wooden widget sold in stores for rolling pots: a glass or jar will do.
http://www.ehow.com/video_1745_create-seed-starting.html
Besides newspaper, you can also make pots from toilet paper tubes, egg cartons, and mini-yogurt cups.
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/can-you-dig-it/recycled-seed-starter-pots.php
Another option is to make your own paper from waste paper. If you add some flower seeds, the result is a beautifully textured handmade paper that can be used to make cards -- and then planted. Here are some instructions:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf71713276.tip.html
http://urbandebris.typepad.com/urban_debris_journal/2006/05/how_to_make_see.html
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/letter_and_paper_arts/55135
If you aren't crafty, you can buy seeded paper. As you can see in the following catalogs, seeded cards are ideal for use in weddings, baby showers, graduations, and other special occasions.
http://www.greenfieldpaper.com/
http://www.botanicalpaperworks.com/
Here's a cool video on how to incorporate seeded paper into your business plan for eco-friendly marketing. If your business caters to green-minded customers, this is especially effective -- but it's a good idea for anyone.
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/seeded-paper-making-your-marketing-eco-friendly-with-seeded-paper/483149564
Do you save seeds? If you garden, probably so. Do you really need all 1,614 marigold seeds that you pulled off the heads last summer? Probably not. To share them with friends, make your own seed envelopes:
http://flowergardens.suite101.com/blog.cfm/make_your_own_seed_envelope
Like seeded-paper cards, seed packets make charming party favors for a baby shower, wedding, or graduation.
http://www.bwedd.com/CEBride/CEBNewsletter_62.asp
Seed tape is a wonderful way of making very straight rows of evenly spaced flowers or vegetables; it can also be used to make designs or write messages. It's ridiculously expensive in most stores or catalogs, and often contains undesirable chemicals. Happily, you can make this yourself too. There are various recipes using different base papers and adhesives.
http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/ic_planting_seeding_maint/article/0,,DIY_13968_2270362,00.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_2054403_make-seed-tape.html
http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-5-19-643,00.html
http://www.arcamax.com/gardening/s-156616-790312
Does anyone else have favorite garden craft projects to share?
not really a craft, but it's cute!!
April 12 2008, 00:52:38 UTC 13 years ago
BTW, thanks for the newspaper pot link, I was planning on trying that this year, and had totally forgot!
Dove
Re: not really a craft, but it's cute!!
April 12 2008, 01:38:36 UTC 13 years ago
I collect ceramic yard art ... I have a gorgeous blue frog, and a set of "stones" that say "Beauty," "Peace," etc. My favorite is an Earth goddess bust that I put out in a round garden and surround with moss roses.
April 12 2008, 15:12:11 UTC 13 years ago
I have an extensive vocabulary - or at least, I did. But I've got a problem (two problems, actually, but I'll start with this one since I'm having trouble with the other which you'll hopefully understand in a minute) - I had a small stroke 5 years ago, and since then I've had trouble with aphasia. My problem lies in the words simply not coming out on the page.
For example, I wanted to start by saying that because I've not made use of my vocabulary over the last few years, it's...and I know the concept I want to put, but the word simply will not come. Stunted? Regressed? Neither of those are the right word. I can feel the word, taste it even, see the idea/thing/concept it describes, but I cannot make it come out. It refers to...ATROPHIED!! There's the word! It took me five minutes to pull that word out of my head. There was one week last year when I literally could not get any word beginning with re- to come out. I spent days trying to find a very simple word: revolution.
So. I have two problems - one is the aphasia, and the other is that my vocabulary has atrophied. I love words, I always have. My LJ has a Word of the Day. One of the reasons I started it was to try and knock things loose in my head again. It's had limited success. In a lot of ways, it's like trying to pull the right words out of a dark void. The words just seem to fall into that darkness and don't come to mind at the right moments during my writing.
This wouldn't perhaps be so terrible, were it not for the fact that I'm trying to write more these days, and indeed, working on my first novel.
That was a very long-winded way of asking you if you have any advice on how to both re-find the words already in my head, as well as continue to build my vocabulary and have them actually stick there? This never used to be a problem; words came and stayed and stepped up when I needed them. Now, it's a terrible struggle and there are times when I'm literally in tears about it. I thought you might have some ideas for exercises or other good ways to help.
Try this...
April 12 2008, 17:20:56 UTC 13 years ago
1) You're on the right track with word-a-day resources. Reading dictionaries is also good.
2) Brute force and sidestepping both work in treating aphasia. You can simply hammer away to cram words back into your vocabulary, or you can sidle around the aphasia damage to get concepts through an intact passageway.
3) Good sidestep methods use different input forms. For example, practice vocabulary by singing. You can sing a vocabulary list if it comes to that, but mnemonic songs are ideal for memorizing stuff like state or country names. Singing can sometimes get around the types of aphasia where people can't speak or understand spoken words. Another excellent method is pictures: get a picture dictionary that labels parts of things. Focus your eyes on the picture. Read the labels of the parts, or better yet, have someone else read them aloud to you.
4) Consider hypnotism. It's excellent for retrieving all manner of lost memories and for reconfiguring the mind/brain in general.
5) Flashcards are helpful, and used in some stroke-recovery programs. There are some flashcard services online; I've recently been collecting them for a workbook project for the Grey School. If you like I can post that resource list.
6) Make word lists. Make a list or two of words that you need frequently and post it by your computer. Make a separate list of words that you have "lost" -- whenever you can't think of a word, and then you do, add it to this list. Review the list frequently.
Are you losing definitions or just the index? It sounds like you know the definitions but can't find the words; if so, you can condense space by making a "nudge list." Just fill the whole page with words and don't bother with definitions. A common effect of aphasia is to know the letter or sound the word starts with, but not the word itself -- though you recognize it as soon as you see it. When that happens, check your nudge list in the appropriate letter range and see if a word will spark the connection. A pocket dictionary is also ideal for this.
7) Hang out with linguists. They know how language works in the brain, and may have more cool ideas for you.
8) Use metaphysical means of rerouting your brain to compensate for the damage. (Nerves are sluggish about repairing themselves without a good boot to the rear.) Visualization, magic, prayer -- use whatever term or method works for you. The idea is to convince your body to make new neural connections so that words will pop up when you need them. Think of this like re-inputting data after a hard drive crash, or re-weaving a net after a swordfish has ripped through it.
9) Practice writing daily. Even if you only get five minutes, that's better than nothing. I *highly* recommend prompt services; they'll give you daily topics in case your mind goes blank. A terrific exercise is to write on a given topic using vocabulary words especially connected with it: writing about a garden should involve names of plants, tools, verbs for the actions, etc.
10) You're going to hate me for this one, unless I happen to be talking to another form junkie. Write sestinas. They make you think of different ways to use the same words over and over. My favorite approach is to pick five easy flexible words and one exotic word: "star, read, hunger, fly, keep, extravagant" (from my poem "Astronomical Appetites," not yet published).
I hope this helps. The process of brain rerouting and refilling is usually tedious, but sometimes the shortcuts work.
Re: Try this...
April 12 2008, 17:52:28 UTC 13 years ago
1. I love my WotD, and I have one that comes to my inbox, and a friend just offered to sign me up for the OED one, which I'm going to say "Yes!" to, of course. I have been thinking about maybe just reading a few entries in the dictionary each day.
It actually took me a while to make the connection between my difficulties with language and the stroke - probably because it was so small. There's no visible lingering effects for most people, unless you know me very, very well. The word issue comes up in speech as well as in writing. I'm a fast thinker and talker, and so when suddenly a word doesn't come, my brain stumbles. I don't stutter - I completely stop talking because 1. the word I wanted didn't come and 2. I'm now trying to think of an alternative. This happened just yesterday. I'm standing in line at Hobby Lobby, waiting to pay, and a man comes up asking if they carry thimbles. Well, of course they do. so I say "Sure, you need to go over to the---" and the word was GONE. I knew exactly what word needed to go there, concept-wise. It just wouldn't come. I ended up saying "cloth" when of course the word I wanted (and which did come to me a few seconds later) was fabric.
I chatted with my mother, and she says some of this could also be genetic as she has some issues with it as well. (So maybe I actually have THREE problems). I don't think her troubles are anywhere near as bad as mine.
4. Hypnotism scares me (I have trust issues related to letting people poke about in my head), but you're right, it's a good idea.
5. I'd love to know about the flashcard services - heck, I have some 3x5 cards. I could have been writing my WotD on them and even just re-reading some each day would be good.
6. I like the idea of making word lists - especially of the words that I've lost (provided they come back to me at some point. So far, they generally do, thank goodness).
It's just the index - the word itself - that I lose. I knew exactly what atrophied meant, I just couldn't get it out. What usually happens is I see the concept in my head for the word I want; in the case of atrophied, what I saw was a shriveled limb. As in - something that becomes weaker from lack of use.
7. I do have a couple on my f-list; I re-posted this on my journal, and one of them has spoken up about being able to possibly help once she's finished her certification in neurolinguistic programming.
8. This hadn't even occurred to me, and it's a great idea.
9. This I am doing - it's just frustrating because my writing is so terribly bland, it's just horrible and boring. I keep plodding away, but there are times when it really bothers me.
10. I've never tried writing a sestina - I'll give it a shot!
Thanks for the excellent suggestions - I really appreciate you taking the time to post them.
Re: Try this...
April 12 2008, 22:57:19 UTC 13 years ago
1) I can sympathize. Occasionally my brain skips a track because the word I need is either a) unknown to me and not readily squeezed into English, or b) known to me, not English, and needful of much circumlocution to express in English. I can imagine how horrid it would be to have that happen more often with English proper.
4) I'm a monitor myself, not a trance subject. For the right kind of people, it's a way to accomplish several months of work in a few minutes. But it's not to everyone's taste or talent.
5) Posted separately for everyone's enjoyment.
6) You can use nudge-lists and dictionaries then. Most crucially: get a reverse-dictionary for your desk and play with online versions until you find a favorite.
http://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml
http://dictionary.reference.com/reverse/
http://www.wordtree.com/
Also concentrate your visualization on "refilling the index." Practice your vocabulary words saying "This word, {name}, is indexed to this meaning, {definition}."
9) Try my one of my favorite exotic thesauri, the Random House Word Menu. It gives lists of related words by topic. You may have seen some of my chromatic poems -- I write them by hauling out that book so I can play with all the variations of "green" or whatever. Say I'm using an extended metaphor in a field where I have shallower vocabulary; I can look up "music" and get names of instruments, performance commands, etc.