Another try at succulents for grave decorations for Memorial Day

Last year was another difficult drought year in Oklahoma. So last year's succulents didn't survive the full year. 

This year, I bought a mat of young succulents and sedum varieties mixed together. It comes with a coconut fiber backing, and I only had to cut it to shape. I also bought some small gravel like you would use in an aquarium to cover the soil and help retail any moisture for a bit longer. 

Connie and I put them out on family graves and in the little flower urns. I happened to be in town and checked on them about 2 weeks later, and look how they're blooming! Of course, this has been an unbelievably rainy and cool couple of weeks, so it's not much of a test yet. 

Our eco friendly answer to Memorial Day Flowers: succulents

My sister Connie Foote and I decorated family graves together. We would not consider using fake flowers. We just couldn't see generating more trash.

Last year we planted some flowering plants from the local nursery, but we knew the grounds keepers would be mowing them down soon.

This year we are trying succulents, like stonecrop.

When my farm store brought out their plants at the first of the season, they had some stonecrop and sedum varieties that they labeled "thrives on neglect." That sounded perfect! So I bought nearly all the little ones they had.

We planted them in the flower urns or even in cracks in the ground alongside headstones.

We're hoping that they will be able to survive throughout the year without watering or any care.

We had a few of the tiny plants left over, and I divided them into new pots. I have enough to do all the graves next year even if none of the existing plants survive.

It's an experiment, and I will update you!

Read the 2023 update here

Two sunflowers

Giggling, the sunflower modestly covered her lips with a petal.

Sunrise meeting on a sunflower.

Promoting Small Town Rules, out standing in my field

After three years of work, Barry Moltz and I have finally come to the official release of Small Town Rules, our book on what all business can learn from small town business.

While Barry lives in Chicago (population about 2.7 million) and I live in Hopeton, Oklahoma, (population about 30), we do share some common characteristics.

We both are entrepreneurs. Barry has had three businesses of his own. I started my first business in junior high school, and have been creating businesses ever since.

We both talk openly about success and failure. We've both been fired and gone out of business. Barry has been kicked out of business by his own partners, and he sold his last business during the Internet bubble of 1999. I have run for public office and lost, started businesses that went no where, and succeeded in building stable businesses in times of intense economic turmoil.

To promote the book, we're spending all week talking about it everywhere we can. In fact, we'll be doing that for considerably longer than a week.

I just had to share one of my promotional videos with you, since it's me out standing in my (neighbor's) field.

Glenna Mae's Cinnamon Crispies

Since someone asked for the recipe, here it is.

Roll out a pie crust on a cookie sheet. Slather it with melted butter. Sprinkle on sugar, followed by cinnamon. Slice into strips before baking. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Makes a fine thing to throw in the oven along with a pie you're making. In fact, Mom used to make crispies from the dough scraps. I usually eat the dough scraps, so I have to unroll a separate one for the crispies.

The youngest daughter's rolling pin

My grandmother gave me this rolling pin. She said it should be handed down, youngest daughter to youngest daughter. From the other side of the family, from my mother's side, is a diamond that is passed to the oldest daughter. Oldest daughter = diamonds. Youngest daughter = rolling pin.

Mable was the youngest daughter, one of 13 children, born in 1919. When she was young, the cherry tree in their farm yard was struck by lightning. Her father was a carpenter, always making things with wood. He asked her to help him make this rolling pin from that cherry wood, and then he gave it to her. And she gave it to me.

I used it today to make biscuits.

And someday, I will pass the rolling pin on to another youngest daughter. It's not a diamond, but it's handier in the kitchen.

Happiness is people who think big

I've spent the last several weeks around lots of people who think big. Marci and I discussed big thinkers. If you are one, you can't imagine how other people can stand to not.

In Michigan, I had lunch with two guys who dwarfed me in intelligence. It's good to stretch!

Happiness is ... contributors

Looking over my list of posts scheduled for Small Biz Survival, I love it when some of the names aren't mine!

Happiness is ... tomatoes

The first of the summer, home grown, flavor packed tomatoes.

Happiness is... a great desk

I've been talking about getting a small desk, just for the laptop. Hunching over the keyboard in my lap has been a pain in the neck. Last week MeMa (my grandmother) reminded me that 10 years ago she promised this desk to me. Voila! Perfect!

The misery that memories are made of

A very smart woman used that phrase, and I think she inadvertently explained a lot of life and business and everything else. I've since used it to explain everything from struggling leaders in Girl Scouts, to traditional authorities fighting to create meaningful change in Namibia.

Marilyn Braly taught me about memories and misery back in 1997. She was telling about Girl Scout camping trip disasters, rain, cold temps, meals that went all wrong, but despite all of it, the girls were always eager to go again.

"It's the misery that memories are made of," she said.

Soon I realized that the same idea applied to all of scouting. That idea of the perfect troop with the perfect meetings and all the perfect activities never comes to reality. But somewhere in the misery of trying, we create memories and we learn and grow with the experience.

Now I've come to realize that it applies in almost everything we do. Nothing ever goes as smooth as you planned or wanted, but somehow we manage to grow through the experience. It's like accepting that failure can be a positive thing because that is how we learn and grow.

Happiness is ... packing?

Happiness is packing for a trip you are eagerly anticipating. And the prospect of seeing some good friends again or for the very first time.

Happiness is ... cool breeze in the morning

Sleeping with the window open and waking up with a cool breeze over me. Smell those apple blossoms? Feels like ... camping.

Then Twittering and writing blog posts in the morning air, without getting out of bed. :)
[TMI! TMI!]

Happiness is ... loving where you live

Living in a tiny town.

A house with windows, and views of trees, grass, and fields, instead of my old view of other houses, a parking lot and the highway. (OK, I can still see a highway from here, but much less traffic.)

Having pecan, apple, pear, redbud and more and more trees. Spring is a procession of flowering and budding.

Neighbors? What neighbors?

Walking all the way across town to the bank, catching up on local political opinion, and walking all the way back. In 10 minutes.

Modern plumbing and wiring. (ok, 40 years old is modern, compared to the 1920's farmhouse we moved out of.)

Air conditioning.

We've been living here a year now, and I could go on, and on. But just wanted to take time to celebrate with you. And borrowing Rick Mahn's idea of a Happiness is... series.