First Home Brew!

I'm sure some of you have noticed that I have only been writing about visiting gardens and my projects at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden for the past year and have wondered if I am still doing all of my crazy hobbies.  The answer is YES!  And recently I have added a new one to the list.  That's right folks, I combined my two loves of good beer and making things from scratch and have dove into the world of home brewing.  It makes me so happy to write this and to share my photos. I feel like a proud mama as my baby brew is fermenting away in the corner of my dining room.

Original Gravity Homebrewing and Wine Making store in Lakeside

As I have made very clear, I'm a total hop head, so of course I needed to try an IPA for my first brew.  I chose an ingredient kit to ease me into brewing.  I visited my local homebrew store, Original Gravity (which is conveniently right across the street from the Garden), and was directed by the knowledgeable staff to a kit called "HopNog 2012"; a kit by Brewers Best.

Brewer's Best HopNog 2012 Ingredient Kit

Opening the package was like Christmas.  There were so many shiny packets of grains and hops and malt and yeast, oh my!  I also bought a book on brewing (which I stashed in a corner and have not read, but plan to read cover to cover some day).  I got tips from fellow home brewers, sanitized all of my equipment, rounded up a few trusty assistants, and spent the day in the kitchen making my house smell like beer.  The brewing process took a few hours.  Lots of adding ingredients, boiling and waiting, then adding more ingredients, boiling and waiting, etc.  After a week, I siphoned the beer off into a glass carboy for a second fermentation.  Then in another week, I will bottle it, then wait another two weeks or so for it to carbonate. Then share it with my friends!  I hear bottling day is an adventure as well, so look for another blog post about that soon!

Malt Extract

Grains

AJ putting the grains into the grain bag

AJ and I waiting for the wort to boil between one of the 4 steps where we added hops

We ran a garden hose up to my 2nd floor apartment to chill the wort

My fancy wort chiller

Andy helping me strain the chilled wort as we pour it into the fermenting bucket

Testing the original gravity

Ready to ferment!

After a week, the beer was siphoned off into a glass carboy for a second fermentation

The siphoning leaves this gucky layer of dead yeast that looks like baby poo, but smells like delicious beer

Orchids Galore 2013: A Love of Living Color

Our annual orchid show, Orchids Galore, opened on February 14th at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. One of our Gardeners, Leah Purdy and I designed the displays with lots of help from the hort staff and volunteers.  To drive home this year's theme "A Love of Living Color," we filled the Conservatory with rainbows of colorful orchids.    My fabric plant pockets turned out better than I expected.  Luckily, I had some great volunteers help me to make the 72 multicolored pockets.  I never could have done it without them!

White Phalaenopsis

Mom and dad came to see my exhibit!

Our orchid crayon box

Fabric Plant Pockets

This year for our Orchids Galore exhibition at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, we are focusing on a rainbow of colors.  The exhibition opens on February 14th, so I won't give away all of the secrets just yet, but one of the features is a series of green walls.  I was inspired by Woolly Pockets which are fabric pocket planters that hang on the wall.  I thought this would work great for orchids and since felt is available in many bright colors, the containers could help to drive the rainbow theme.  I'm constructing a series of pockets that will hang on bamboo rods against a free standing plywood backboard.  Each board will have 18 pockets, so I have to make 72 of these pockets... I didn't think about that when I came up with this idea.  I'd better get started sewing!

Below are my instructions.  The original Woolly Pockets have grommets so they can hang on nails in the wall.  This pattern can easily be adapted to include those if a rod is inconvenient.  I lined the pockets with ground cloth to give it a little stability that would be waterproof.  I plan to cut a couple of slits in the bottom for drainage.  The nice thing about felt is that you don't have to finish the edges.

I think this is the first project that I have done that combines the "sewn" with the "grown" from my blog's name! 

Fabric Plant Pockets

Materials:

Felt (1 yd will yield 4 double pockets)

Ground Cloth (1 yd will yield 4 double pockets)

White Thread

Cut out the pieces:

From the Felt-

One rectangle 16 ½” x 12 ¼”

One rectangle 16 ½” x 18 ¼”

One strip 3” x 6”

From the Ground Cloth-

One rectangle 16 ½” x 12 ¼”

One rectangle 16 ½” x 18 ¼”

Cut a 2 ¼” square from each bottom corner of the felt and ground cloth rectangles (along the 16 ½” edge).

Layer the pieces in this order- 16 ½” x 18 ¼” ground cloth, 16 ½” x 18 ¼” felt, 16 ½” x 12 ¼” felt, 16 ½” x 12 ¼” ground cloth.

Fold the 16 ½” x 12 ¼” felt and ground cloth over so the final size from the notch to the fold is 5”, pin in place.

Flip the stack over and fold the 16 ½” x 18 ¼” felt and ground cloth over so the final size from the notch to the fold is 8”, pin in place.  

Sew along the bottom and up the sides- do not sew the 2 ¼” square notch.

To box bottom corners, match each side seam of the notch to each bottom seam, and stitch across the resulting straight edge.  Turn pocket right side out and push out corners.

 

The pocket now has one side that is longer than the other.  Along the long side, measure 2 ¼” in from each side seam and cut a slit 3” deep.  Fold resulting flap down and pin.

 

Fold the 3” x 6” felt strip in half length-wise.  Sew long edge to create a 1 ½” x 6” strip.  Pin the strip to the inside center of the front pocket.

Sew a top stitch ¼” along the lip of the front of the pocket, catching the strip in the stitching.

Pin the other end of the strip to the center of the inside face of the taller side of the pocket and sew.

The open edges that resulted from the slit being cut should be left open.  The bamboo hanging rod will be slid through the opening (the photos below are shown with a metal rod).

Christmas in Colonial Williamsburg

Last Friday, a group of staff from Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden traveled to Colonial Willamsburg to see the Christmas decorations.  At Colonial Williamsburg, they try to only decorate in the styles they would have used in the 18th-century.  On the historic Duke of Gloucester street, wreaths and swags, adorned with dried and fresh botanical material, decorated the homes and businesses.  A large team of staff members works to create these pieces, which number over 100. 

Many of the South facing buidings are decorated with dried materials.  Thiis one has wheat, orange slices, pomegranates, and straw flower.

Pine swag and wreath decorated with lotus pods, pine cones, okra pods, oranges, artichoke, straw flower

At this music shop, flutes, drum sticks, and folded fans made of sheet music accompany dried pomegranates and yarrow.

Wheat, lotus pods, artichoke, okra pods, and chinese lantern plant.

I was surprised to learn that some of the homes on this street were actually private residences, and that the homeowners get in on the fun to do their own decorations; all in the appropriate styles of course!  All of the decorations are judged and 12 blue ribbons are awarded- 6 for professionals, and 6 for amateurs. 

This homeowner depicted "The Cow Jumped Over the Moon" with cookies.

Pine cones, pomegranate, lotus pods, straw flowers, gomphrena, orange slices. 

This homeowner likes horses and has fresh apples hanging in stirrups.

Dried wheat, fresh apples, magnolia leaves, and boxwood in a horse's bridle.

At one of the taverns, clam shells and pint mugs decorated a wreath with hops and wheat.

The weaver's shop featured fabrics dyed with plant pigments.

Fresh oranges, money plant, yarrow, pine cones, and pomegranates.

The Horticulture staff got some wonderful ideas to use next year at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden and we had a great day enjoying the historic town with our colleagues.

Being plant geeks, we couldn't help but notice this impressive oak.  After much debate about its ID, a Colonial Williamsburg staff member, told us it was a cross between Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) and Overcup Oak (Quercus lyrata).

Vegetable Garden with bee skeps

Bell jars in the vegetable garden.

They are pretty harsh with their punishments when you misbehave in Colonial Williamsburg.  Luckily, Karen and I made it out alive!

Beth Monroe, Director of PR and Marketing, also wrote a blog post about this trip on the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Blog.