Life: the ULTIMATE CRAFT!

After creating my plastic yarn, trying to melt plastic bottles into usable material and recycling the pages to my eco-friendly page a day calendar, i decided to get a breath of fresh air and brew up some mint iced tea. My little mint plant has been doing well since I moved her outside! in the tiny pot in the kitchen window, things weren't so good. But out in the brilliant august sun the little bugger has been thriving and sprouted up about 3 inches in the past week and a half!

...So, when are we getting to the crafting part?!?!

I have decided to follow Dr. Frankenstein's lead and see if i can create life myself - only without the galvanism or the penchant for Lamarkian science. There are a lot of great artciles out there, and I'll link you to the ones I looked at first!

The trick here is doing what gardeners call "cuttings." When cutting a plant, you take a small portion of a healthy plant (roughly 4 inches, for typical garden herbs) and slice the end off in a diagonal cut. 

Have a glass container of water at the ready! Getting that cutting into water before the plant starts to heal is important! if the plant has time to heal, it will essentially "scab over" and refuse to sprout roots. Some experts even say to make the cut underwater - but lacking the finesse for that I simply sterilized my scissors, snipped and dunked.

As an experiment, I added sugar to one of my two water jars. some think that by adding table sugar to the cutting, the plant will grow quicker and hardier.

So, to do this at home, here are the steps!

1) Have a healthy plant, sterilized blade/scissor, small glass container of water, sunny safe place for the plant to grow, and possibly sugar and a calendar to monitor your progress.

2) Take a section of the plant, cutting about half an inch lower from where you would like the final cut to be.

Optional) Add sugar to the water you intend to put the cutting in.

3) assure that all your materials are ready to go, as the next step is a quick one.

Optional) carry out the cut itself underwater - it's totally up to you!

4) Snip the stem at LEAST a quarter inch below the lowest place where leaves sprout from the stem. IMMEDIATELY plunge the snipped end into the water.

5) Secure your cutting in the glass in it's resting place, ideally near a sunny window. Check on it every day.

Pictures to follow!