What the Best Dressed Bottles are Wearing

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Mark Zeiger

This fashion season my wine yeast extender sports an electric lime wet suit as it lounges by the woodstove and other heat sources,  building up a head of foam for the next batch of wine.

koozie

Snug, warm, and oh, so fashionable (Photo: Mark Zeiger).

I needed something to keep the temperature of the bottle stable. I decided I wanted one of those neoprene koozies I’d seen around, and I knew just where to get it: a garage sale. Sure enough, at the Hospice of Haines annual rummage sale in April, I found this cool little neoprene bottle jacket. On the other side, it says “Grand Canyon” over a dancing Kokopelli. When I bought it, it also sported an unsightly stain, but that washed right out. Continue reading →

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Now We Know That You Are a Shooting Star

Posted on June 3, 2012 by Mark Zeiger

With apologies to Bad Company . . . . (paid link.)

For years we’ve watched a plant in one of our flower gardens. Michelle has long had her suspicions of the plant’s identity, based on its foliage. Recently, after more than 5 years, it put out buds and bloomed for the first time. Michelle’s guess was correct: we have shooting stars.

shooting stars

Our shooting stars growing in one of the door yard gardens (Photo: Michelle Zeiger).

Shooting stars grow wild in Southeast Alaska. We’re thrilled to have some in our yard. As you can see in the photo, they’re blooming right alongside forget-me-nots, the Alaska state flower. These are two of our favorite wildflowers.

Our general rule is that we don’t cultivate plants we can’t eat. Most of the flowers we grow are edibles. Shooting stars and forget-me-nots are two notable exceptions.

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