Who's been munchin' in my garden?

I took this picture right outside my front door.

There are some 400 identified species of grasshopper. Of the many interesting grasshopper facts, most people are surprised to learn that only 24 species are known to create ecological damage to pastures and outdoor gardens.

Dietary Habits
What do grasshoppers eat? If the grasshopper is one of that critical 24 species group, it will eat just about anything that grows in your garden.

Grass is the generally assumed to be the primary food of grasshoppers but they will also consume large quantities of lettuce, carrots, and other green leafy plants and vegetables. For this reason they are seen as garden pests, but there are some plants they will ignore such as peas and tomatoes.

Grasshopper Facts
Although it is common to mistake grasshoppers and locusts, the two are only similar at a distance. A key difference is that locusts have the ability to change color.

Young grasshoppers do not have any wings at birth. Their wings develop in the later stages of their life cycle and look like small pads connected at the end of the thorax.

Generally, grasshoppers are herbivores. They feed on plants as well as grasses. They are abundant in the U.S., and their main enemies are birds, spiders, lizards, and rodents.

Grasshoppers are mostly seen during autumn, summer, and spring seasons. They occur mostly in large numbers and can cause extensive damages to garden plants.

facts courtesy of Zappests.com

The Artisan Within with Kreated By Karina

1. Where are you from?

Queens, New York

2. What do you create?

100% Vegetarian Soaps and Lip Balms

3. Tell us a little about yourself.

Soap That Makes Scents introduces handcrafted soaps to customers worldwide...no more commercial soaps with chemical fillers and preservatives---I help women and men discover that natural ingredients are better for your skin, just as long-lasting, and wonderfully addictive. Plus I keep people squeaky clean :)

4. What or Who got you started doing what you do?

I was REALLY frustrated with boring bars of soap that dried out my skin...lipbalms that tasted artifical and chalky, and surly customer service clerks who could care less about my business or answering my questions and concerns about what I was putting on my body. I decided that not only did *I* want products that enriched the natural moisture oils in my skin, I wanted other people to feel better about their purchases as well--thus, Soap That Makes Scents was born.

5. What is a little known fact, or something unique about your work that is interesting? Hopefully, one day being able to open my own Bath and Beauty store..I don't want your typical Body Shop kind of place...everything handmade by moi...with my personal touches to make my customers pleased and coming back for more. I really really think I'll get there someday.

6. If you could pick anyone famous that would purchase your work, who would they be? Sebastian Bach, a musician who's gone to do some great stuff--I would love to have him help promote my shop in any way, plus I've always admired his perseverance and non-stoppable attitude towards his work.

7. Do you prefer to create in silence, or a room filled with music?

Well, with a 2 year old in the background, there's always some level of noise..lol

8. When did you first discover you had a creative side?

I don't think it's something you neccessarily 'discover'...it's either in you or not, and it comes out at the correct time and place and in the correct attitude and all of a sudden you turn around and go 'hey, I made that/did that'

9. What’s one thing that would surprise us about yourself?

I'm a closet Rocker. Seriously...

10. What’s in your CD player?

Angel Down, by Sebastian Bach

11. What magazine would you love to be on the cover of?

ANY OF THEM!

12. Favorite vacation spot?

I'm originally from Canada, so I'd have to say going back to my stomping grounds of Toronto would always be cool

13. Can you throw any advice about anything our way?

Promotion in 2008 is all about branding. Don't underestimate the importance of word of mouth, and get your name out there.

14. Links where we can find out more about your work.

http://www.kbyk.blogspot.com/ where you can read up on where my soaps are headed, and join my VIP list.

And of course you can shop online at http://www.soapthatmakesscents.com/

My Etsy Store http://www.kreatedbykarina.etsy.com/

Ghost Town - Fayette, Michigan

Michigan's Upper Peninsula is littered with ghost towns, monuments to the lumber and mining industries that flared in the last century and then quickly burned themselves out. One of those towns, Fayette, a little iron mining town near Escanaba with a colorful but short history, has been restored and now mines tourists instead of iron ore.

Back in the days when the charcoal-smelted iron industry was flourishing, Fayette had a population of a thousand souls. A 1930 article in The Detroit News reported that "former residents say it was the closest that any community ever has come to measuring up to the standards of the mythical Utopia." Some doubt this depiction of the town's "idyllic life," pointing to records that show there was plenty of hardship.

Fayette was founded in 1867 and boomed for about 20 years. Like lumbering, the charcoal iron industry left a trail of towns fallen on hard times when it faded. The industry dwindled with the depletion of the hardwood timber from which charcoal was made. The charcoal furnaces could not compete with the soft coal smelters established in the Pittsburgh, Pa., and Gary, Ind., districts. It was more economical to ship ore to the lower lake mills than to transport coal to upper Michigan and then ship the pig iron back. Incidentally, the term "pig iron" came from the shape of the molds into which the molten iron was poured. They looked like piglets with a sow.

Fayette was named for Fayette Brown, one of the directors of the Jackson Iron Company, which constructed the town's first blast furnace. The first pig iron was cast on Christmas Day in 1867.

A brochure from the Fayette State Park tells us that Fayette was a "company" town. The Jackson Iron Co. built and owned the homes of the employees - the hotel and the boarding house for single men, as well as frame dwellings and log cabins for married employees. It also built the general store, butcher's shop and barber shop. The employee accounts were kept in the company office, and boarding costs, food and other purchases, as well as company doctor fees were deducted from paychecks. The store was an example of the benevolent paternalism practiced by the company.

Most of the workers were semi- or unskilled and worked long hours. They made $l-$l.50 a day, decent wages for the time. There were the inevitable periods of unemployment. Some stretched their food budgets with gardening and fishing or took in boarders. Ladies' coats were $6, skirts and corsets $l.25. Men's suits were $l7. Shirts 85 cents to $4.50; trousers $4 and suspenders 40 cents. Toys were 50 cents for a doll, a dish set went for 31 cents, marbles 65 cents, toy cart 80 cents.
The town changed hands several times before it was purchased in 1959 by the state. A Detroit News article by James Kerwin in October 1979, told of the restoration of Fayette:

"Only experts can tell that any restoration work has been accomplished; most tourists believe the dwellings are perfectly preserved.

Compiled from articles in Detroit News and other sources.

Hobart's Lakefront Fest 2008

This year's event took place Saturday Aug. 16th & Sunday August 17th, 2008 at Festival Park in downtown Hobart.

The fest included the famous dam duck race, bands, beer garden, BBQ, arts & craft booths, carnival & various activities for kids.

Moodwax Candle booth at the Lakefront Fest

Hobart's Dam Car Show

This past Sunday I participated in Hobart's Dam Car and Craft Show at the Lakefront.



Made me really wish I still had my 1974 Camero.

There were alot of really nice looking old cars. Trophies were given to the best.

Below are a couple pictures of our Moodwax Candle booth.

Make a Wish......

Dandelions hold a place in superstition and folklore.

If a dandelion blossom stayed open all night, it was believed to foretell of rain the following day. Sniff a dandelion, if your nose turns yellow, you are in love with a fellow, if your nose does not turn, no fellow is in love with you.

It was believed good luck to carry a few (just two or three) dandelions amongst your wedding bouquet, as it would bring prosperity to the marriage in money, children, and health. It was good luck for a young woman to wear a necklace of dandelions if she made them, but not lucky if someone gave them to her.

Bad luck to pick dandelions in a cemetery. Worse luck if they brought them home from a cemetery, and even worse if they gave them away after picking them in the cemetery, except to lay them on a loved one's grave.

Some would rub a dandelion between their hands and rub the yellow on any spot that ached or swelled.

Dandelions and the uses and myths around them are as plentiful as they are themselves.

Children have found many uses for dandelions throughout the years. Because of their plentiful supply, and supple stems, they have been braided into many a bracelet or necklace by little girls. Once they have turned to seed, children would blow them off into white swirls, for each blow it took to empty the puffball equaled one hour of the day that had passed. Long a favorite from the past and destined to continue as one.