Take a Walk: Octopus's Garden in Friendship

On Saturday I had an hour to kill before meeting up with a friend for some North Side adventures. So I took a walk. (As part of my effort to walk around my neighborhood more often.) My destination was something I had passed by and heard about in passing, the Octopus's Garden in Friendship on S. Aiken.  Earlier in the day I had been walking around running errands and buying hot beverages and donuts and had the feeling of "I'm in love with this place" hitting me pretty hard. Hidden gems in my neighborhood like the Octopus's Garden definitely add to the love. For where I am in my life now, I can't think of a better place to live than in Bloomfield and on the edge of Friendship, Garfield, and Lawrenceville. Here are some photos from the garden. If you ever find yourself with some time to kill after grabbing brunch at The Quiet Storm or coffee at Voluto, walk down S. Aiken and enjoy the garden for yourself. 

Baby Spider Plants: Take if You Promise to Love and Care for It

Happy Labor Day!

This morning I woke up on Canadian ground. (We were camping; I didn't just sleep in a city park in Toronto or something.) I'm not sure why I'm sharing that fact, but there you have it. 

Sign says: FREE Spider Plants / Please take me if you promise to love and care for it.

On my walk around the neighborhood last weekend, I came across some spider plants for the taking on Evaline. I've been trying to cultivate a green thumb of my own. My dad is like a plant whisperer or something. He can make all sorts of things grow. I've been getting better with plants. I failed with fruits and veggies again this summer. I don't think I'm going to try them again until I have the space for raised beds or a actual garden in the ground. So now my efforts will be focused on houseplants, which is why I was so excited to come across these spider plants. 

I'm going to do my best to be a loving and caring owner of these spider plants, but I've failed once before (which I blame on a combination of two factors: a) it was a spider plant from Ikea, and I haven't had much luck with any of the houseplants I've brought home from there, and b) one of my cats pretty much ate the entire thing one day).

Baby spider plants in teapots, toddler ficus trees from cuttings my dad gave me.

I cleaned up my balcony last weekend when I picked these up. I had let my tomatoes, herbs, and strawberries die out and dry out. Got rid of those and set up a little mini houseplant garden. Hoping that with the coolerish temps and lessening hours of sun per day these plants will get little growth spurts before coming inside until late spring

And for good measure, here's what I've got going on plant-wise inside.

Fingers crossed I don't totally kill these spider plants. I want to make my neighbors on Evaline proud!

30 Before 30: The Frick Art Museum (and Cars! and Plants!)

This is the first of two posts this week that brings me back to past. In one day I revisited two places that I first experienced on field trips - one in middle school and one in college. Though it may seem odd, I have not always been this PGH-obsessed. I am a born Pittsburgher, but I was quick to flee as soon as possible after getting a couple degrees from Pitt. In my youth (youthier youth; in my mind I'm forever in my youth), I did not appreciate Pittsburgh. Which is a shame, but I really missed out on some dynamic things. At least I'm appreciating them now.

Saturday afternoon Allie and I visited the grounds of Clayton, Henry Clay Frick's estate in Point Breeze. Though you have to pay to tour the house (which was part of my field trip in middle school), the art museum, the carriage house, and the gardens were free admission. So that's what we explored. No photos were permitted in the museum or carriage house. The art wasn't really my thing (I tend toward the modern and contemporary stuff), but the cars were awesome. Cars aren't my thing; we've covered this fact before. I could have easily seen myself behind the wheel of a couple of the smaller little roadsters. If you have a spare hour or so, it's worth a trip to Frick to see the cars and then wander around the gardens.

This is a playhouse. I wouldn't mind it as a real house.

The greenhouse and outdoor garden were abundant with growth. We figure that they use the produce at the Cafe. We didn't stop for anything at the Cafe while we were there, but I wouldn't mind trying out their tea service sometime in the not too distant future.

These are monster tomato plants. I don't think I've ever seen tomato plants this tall.

Tons of basil.

On the grounds of the Frick, a pet cemetery.

Eventually, I'll take the tour of the house again. But when looking for some free activities on a Saturday afternoon, the Frick provides three very different options.

Next Time Wear Pants: Volunteering with GrowPGH

In an effort to get myself closer to reaching 50 volunteer hours in 2012 (of which I had only notched two), I spent a Saturday morning and afternoon in Braddock at the GrowPGH farm. This urban farm sits in the shadow of the steel industry, and what they've got going on in these once-vacant lots is very impressive.

I would try and sum up what GrowPGH's Braddock farm is all about, but they do it best on their site. 

Our task for the day was to clear out a long patch along the outer border of one of the lots. Then we covered the whole section with wood chips. It felt good to do some manual labor, and it was rewarding to see a debris-covered section of the lot end up closer to being a productive section of the farm.

One day I will have a backyard, and in that backyard I will have some chicken friends.

View of the lot we were tasked with cleaning up .

This is the opposite of what my tomatos look like. I think I need to stick with houseplants.

The fruits of our labor: Soon this area will be as productive as the rest of the  urban farm.

Now, to explain the title of this post. On Sunday morning, my legs started to itch. I thought maybe I had just gotten some bug bites, but what I have actually got is a serious case of poison ivy legs (and arm). Apparently my sensitive skin and poison ivy DO NOT MIX. I should have paid more attention to what I was clearing away, especially when one of the guys who works for GrowPGH warned us there might be poison ivy. But I'm on some medication (steroids! time to rage!) and have been carrying around a bottle of calamine lotion on my person at all times. I hope to volunteer with GrowPGH again at the Braddock farm, but next time, I'm wearing pants.

But hey! Four more hours logged. Only 44 more to go.