I take a gallon can from food, punch some holes in the bottom with a nail, put the lid I removed to open the can over the holes, then fill a plastic bag with water and put it in the can. I have never found a plastic bag that would not leak, but if you do, poke a hole or 2 near the bottom of the bag with a pin so it will leak slowly. If your plants are in large pots like mine are (cut-off plastic barrels, usually), there is room to put one of these in the barrel. It will water your plants for almost a week if the pinholes really are pinholes.. If you want to decrease the amount of water your plants will need, such as during really hot weather, make some kind of simple shade over them before you put the self-waterers to work.

Awesome stuff - I have copied some of your patterns to try. I am an artist - oils, portraits, but I don't have nearly the creativity in this kind of thing that you do. From a pro - don't rag on your painting! I love that antiqued look that your stuff has. I hate putting that plastic stuff out even to recycle. I believe your inspiration can help keep a lot of stuff out of landfills. Martha Stewart needs to get a load of your stuff!

I also think the pesto idea is the best thing to do. It really preserves the fresh taste of the basil. I make several batches of pesto throughout the summer. I then pour it into ice cube trays, freeze, and them pop them out into zip lock bags. You can use the pesto as a last minute ingredient in hundreds of dishes. My favorite way is just in a bowl with olive oil and some good crusty bread to dunk! Here is the recipe: 2 cups (packed) fresh basil leaves 1/4 cup olive oil Whir in a food processor or blender until fairly smooth. That's it!! A true pesto recipe has parmesan, garlic, and pine nuts, but I leave those out when I'm just wanting to freeze it.

This is a great thread! I know my clutter keeps me from being able to fully enjoy my home. My garage becomes the dumping ground when company is coming over. Parts of my house and garage are overwhelming...... The work bench is covered with little bits that need a home; screws, washers, nails, etc. Reading this thread gives me the hope that I can decide to just junk it! 2 years ago when my son was first going off to college he told me he just couldn't bring himself to throw out all those school papers from years gone by. My advice to him was to make a stack of what he wanted to keep, scan it and throw out the paper copy. I told him that by the time he had done 10% of the stack, he would decide that about 90% of the remaining stack wasn't worth the effort to scan and would just pitch it into the recycle bin. Unfortunately, I'm not very good at following the same advice I gave him. I want to keep tabs on this thread and continue to be inspired.