Ready, Set, CULL! By Solange Kellermann, aka The Clutter Doc When it comes to organizing, many people get stuck when they consider what to keep and what to get rid of. Here are some hints to help move you through this process. POSITIVE CULLING: A helpful approach is to make positive decisions, rather than negative ones. Deciding what to keep is a positive decision. Taking everything off the shelves, out of the cabinet or closet and deciding what items
Photo Copyright ©2012 iStockphoto, by christie & cole studio inc., www.stevecole.com
Art Soul
MUNJOY HILL OBSERVER
April 2012
I love it, I love it not; I n e e d it, I n e e d it not; I want it, I want it not. . .
will go back in are positive decisions. This is easier psychologically than making decision after decision to throw something away. Removing everything lets you clean out all those nooks and crannies. Once you’ve culled outof-date and no longer used items you’ll find you have more room for the things you are keeping. Put your most frequently used items where they will be easiest to access. Less frequently used items can go in more remote spots; infrequently-used items can be stored elsewhere (in clearly labeled boxes). A Lazy Susan is one of my favorite gizmos for almost any room– kitchen, craft shelves, bathroom supply closet, or workroom. It lets you get to things that would otherwise be cumbersome to reach. LOVE IT! Ready to tackle your clothes closet? The secret to doing this is advice a friend gave me years ago when I cleaned out my clothes closet. Keep only what you really love. I did that. Many bags went to Goodwill. I never missed a single item. In reality, they were only taking up useful real estate and not helping me get dressed easily or look good.
READY? Take everything out of the closet. Try on everything. Keep what you really love. That means it fits properly; is stylish enough for you. and gets compliments whenever you wear it. Yes, you may have to decide that those pants are never going to fit again (and if they do you’ll want a more stylish pair); accept the fact that although you’ve paid a lot of money, or gotten the bargain of a lifetime for that sweater, it never did look good on you; realize that your favorite skirt is beyond outof-style and could only be worn to a retro party. You’ll end up with clothes you wear and feel good in.
how much more quickly you can find what you want to wear. Put the culled clothes in the donation bag and get it to your favorite donation center; someone will be going there soon and needs what’s in that bag!
Solange Kellerman is a resident of Munjoy Hill and is active in the Friends of the Eastern Promenade. She offers clutter-taming consultations as the Clutter Doc. She can be reached at Solange@ clutterdoc.com
Put clothes back in this order (trust me, it works): • rarely-worn items in the wayback; • gardening/messy work clothing in one place, possibly in another closet or drawer; • shirts and sweaters by sleeve length and within that by color, with prints together; • pants and skirts by weight and color. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it, or at least a bit compulsive. I’ve used it myself and with clients and you’ll be surprised
Compassion in the Garden By Nini McManamy After working my garden for a few years, my focus shifted from trying to fill the place with fascinating plants, or imitating the fabulous borders in the garden magazines (can’t be done without land to devote to each season), to learning to share the space more compatibly with things that I had previously tried to control. Bugs, for example. It finally occurred to me that bugs have a role to play in nature and even in my garden. They transport pollen, they eat other bugs, and they circulate in their particular orbit in the web of life, supporting the mammals and birds who eat them, and entertaining those of us who watch them. Never, when I first began my garden, would I have predicted that one day I would take a course in Integrated Pest Management (a term of art for managing pests by controlling their environment and tolerating enough of them to support those who eat them). And that I would fall in love with the fabulous designs, both mechanical and decorative, that the microscope revealed. This winter, I bought myself a wonderful new garden toy, the handheld Active Eye 100-power microscope. I’ve looked at snow fleas in the snow and white flies on my house plants, and am anxiously awaiting the permanent arrival of warm weather so I can watch the migrating waves of insects move through my yard, the annual spring jet stream of protoplasm. This awareness didn’t come easily, and I fought mightily for years to keep aphids off my roses (they now disappear on their own after 2 or 3 days, since I have learned that’s how long it takes aphid predators to ratchet up their reproductive rate to match the food supply). Sometimes stepping back isn’t enough: I’ve had to stop growing some non-native plants. By growing lilies, I was just drawing red lily leaf beetles to their deaths. They would play possum when I tried to pinch them and then drop into my killing jar of neem below. But they reproduced at an amazing rate, and always chewed up my lilies in the end. So I found other perennials for those spots. I’ve also allowed some plants to proliferate in my
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garden, notably members of the compositae family (anything that looks like a daisy is probably in that group) because they draw bees, pollinators and other predators, notably beneficial wasps. These are not my favorite plants, but they are necessary and do an important job. Mostly, I’ve learned to notice, and then wait, before taking action. This causes me to listen more intently to what is occurring in my garden and to pay attention to my role in it. I didn’t set out to be compassionate. But the more I learned about the ways in which we are confusing the natural systems on the planet by importing plants and pests from other continents, the more it humbled me. Like Alice of Wonderland fame, I could feel my human self shrinking after drinking the tonic of plant knowledge. I’m not perfect. I still swear at and pinch Japanese beetles though I let them have their way in the grape arbor in the hope of distracting them from the roses. I’ve heard that they prefer pole beans even to roses, and mean to try that strategy. And the squirrels. Squirrels are the most challenging pest I’ve been up against—mine have tasty peach-flavored flesh, I’m sure, from all the fruit they’ve enjoyed from my trees. I’ve tried poisoning them with D-Con (really cruel, I admit) and trapping them in Havaharts (they go to live in a nice town across a bridge, with good habitat and excellent school systems). Finally, last year, I bought a huge bird net and draped it over my peach tree. Difficult, but I got a peach crop. I now see my garden as a giant terrarium, with all kinds of interacting life and mineral matter. I would love to understand the energy flows, how sunlight and heat are translated into plant food and bug growth that eventually supports those baby birds my cat is after. I’ve read about entropy, and wonder if the loop is running downhill. But I think that will remain beyond me. The most important lesson I’ve learned from having compassion for pests is compassion for myself. I’m just a passing actor on this piece of territory but I’m resolved to pass it on to the next inhabitant in better shape than when it found me.
Now located right on Munjoy Hill!
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