Our garden and our kids, better luck next year!

So my garden did horrible again this year! We just don't get enough sun at our new house to produce good, well, produce. Lol. I would love to have my kids more involved In The whole process but it seems that they have a different agenda whenever we get outside.

The oldest is at the stage where he doesn't want to do anything himself, he needs help with everything, hopefully going to school soon will help with that. And the little one just wants t eat the dirt or run away! Not at all helpful.

Well, fall is quickly approaching and there will be a lot of cleanup to do. My kids already have their own rakes and gloves so maybe we will put them to good use and they will get more involved? There is always the fun of jumping in the piles when they are all raked if that's the only way to get them excited right now ill take it!

We will try a garden again next year, and I think I will try to grow some herbs indoors this years for use in the kitchen. Hopefully, I can get them to help with the watering and eventually with the trimming and cooking too.

I will add for the green minded we are still eating almost all organic and our kids have both grown up that way. Before my first son started eating solid foods I decided to start to switch over our diet so the transition would be an easy one for him and for us. We are now going on year four and have found tons of organic products we love and use on a regular basis.

One of my favorites of course is the Annie's Mac n cheese, and I'm also a big fan of apple gate farms all natural organic meat products for the summer on the grill! ( I'm a hot dog addict )

The kids also only eat whole wheat, either in pasta, bread, or rice. They have grown up with it and don't know any different, I feel that it is just a much healthier choice than white products, and I am proud to say that they eat them all just fine.

peace & love to all

Preparing the Garden with the Kids in Mind;

Preparing the Garden with the Kids in Mind;

As a follow up to my previous post Getting the Kids to Dig Gardening, here are some more ideas to involve the children in the process of growing a garden.

After you've gotten them all excited to use their new gloves and watering can outside you'll have to put it on hold until warmer weather arrives. But for now it's time to start some seedlings inside, here's what you'll need.

1. Seeds, or cuttings can be used in some cases, like herbs. if you buy some basil in the supermarket save some of the lower stems and place them in a jar filled with enough water to cover the stalks. In a week or so they should start to shoot off some roots, you can then transplant these into the ground/pots after the danger of frost has passed. Place the containers somewhere the kids can see and check the progress of them daily. Make a point to show the kids and they will understand the process better when they get older.

2. Good garden soil, note* if you want organic vegetables you need to purchase organic soil otherwise your soil will have already been treated with fertilizer. There are organic fertilizers you can add to the soil separately to aid in the growth of quality plants. This is a great opportunity for the kids to get involved, set up a messy area where they can play with the dirt and fill all the containers you'll use.  


3. Egg cartons work well for starting seedlings so save the cardboard type from easter egg dying, or any small containers you have around the house, cups, tuna cans, baby food jars, just make sure you don't over water them. You can even cover seedlings with some plastic wrap to create a terrerium effect which is ideal for starting seeds.



seedlings at the garden center

4. It is a good idea to soak your seeds in water prior to planting them in soil to speed up the germination process, but this is not always neccessary. another great opportunity for the kids here, count out the seeds you want to plant and let them put them in the water.



5. Make sure you know which seed is which so when you go to transplant you don't put a climbing pea plant next to a cucumber (or you will end up with a tangled mess) There are a lot of plant marker ideas online, at pinterest.com for example, but just be creative and have fun and let the kids help to draw, paint, write out the names, or just put the seed packet on a stick, whatever you end up doing they can help just about any way you choose.

lettuce seedlings sowed directly outside
in september for fall harvest



Lastly, give the seeds a few good weeks, with some full sun and enough water, to start breaking through the surface. Make sure the seedlings are stong enough to support themselves in a strong wind before transplanting outside. After all this is done you then get to begin the fun part of getting dirty (I know it sounds scary to most of you moms, but it's part of the business and the kids will learn from every bit of it) Good luck and happy gardening.

peace & love to all

dinelle



Logical Gardening for Your Family

Logical Gardening for your family;

When I first began gardening I just grew anything I felt like growing and often ended up with a ton of extra and nothing that actually made sense when cooking, mint and a handful of cherry tomatoes?  Over the years I have come to realize, with a little bit of thought and planning, I could have a better run garden.

First, look at what you use most often in your cooking, not just what is easy to grow. For example, ZUCCHINNI! I love it in bread and muffins, but when I grow three plants that come in the pack it often overtakes my garden space and leaves me with so much I don't know what to do with it. Sure you can give it away, but it's not always easy to repeatedly give your neighbors veggies that they can't possibly use up either! So, I have found with items like this that produce a quantity, I have reduced my initial plants down to only one plant. Sometimes it's hard to find a single pack of certain vegetables, I understand, but I have even given away the other plants in the pack, or just tossed them out. Here in New Jersey garden space is limited and I just can't rationalize using it all up for a few plants that produce way to much for me and my family. So sit down for a few minutes and look at, in the summer months, what your family "really" eats.

On the same note when it comes to herbs don't be suckered into buying what the garden center has available when you go. Think about the veggies you'll be planting and plan to grow the herbs that will go along with them. For example, we love a good cucumber salad, and homemade pickles but I hate to have to go to the store to buy dill to put in it. So, even though it's sometimes a hunt to find a dill plant it's well worth it if it's something you are really going to utilize over and over. besides what do you really do with 5 different varietes of mint? (which I have been duped into growing one year??) The garden centers will get different herbs in stock at different times during the growing season so check back frequently if your looking to grow a well stocked herb garden.

Lastly, for now, think about what recipes you can make with your own fresh veggies that are too expensive to buy in the store. I like to eat organically (which is very costly) so I make sure that I grow the veggies I would otherwise have to buy all summer just to complete meals. A few corn seeds can go a long way, as well as green beans and peas and they can all be grown vertically to minimize space. I've also done some hunting for canning recipes in my family, for favorites from days gone, and made a point to grow all the plants needed in one season to produce a large batch of one (or two at the max) of them. i.e. my grams green tomato relish, it takes red and green tomatoes, red and green peppers and onions (which I forgot to plant so I had to buy). Overall I was able to grow 95% of the plants and make the relish, canned it, gave it away as gifts, and still have a few jars leftover in the pantry, and I made it in 2009.

Sometimes a garden can be overwhelming, but if you have a plan for where all those prized plants will go you can even reap the benefits for years to come. God luck and happy gardening.

peace & love to all,

dinelle.

 



Getting the Kids to Dig Gardening;

            It’s that time of the year where you can begin to plan to have a backyard garden. I’ve done a garden for several years now and always try to make my kids get involved.  A few things I can recommend to make it a little easier on you, and more fun for them;



these beauties were grown from scraps





1. I always take them to a garden center, not the big box type, but a real garden center this way they can be more hands on with the whole process. I love Richfield farms in Clifton they always have some great stuff and they have a few small shopping carts for the kids to push (which they love) let them be involved by making sure they can fill up their cart too!

2. Pick up some child size fabric garden gloves. Also, I find that these types of small garden centers are the only place I can find gloves small enough for the little hands, take note to get them NOW or they will be gone come planting time.

3. Another great idea for the kids is their own watering can, they love it, yes they will most often end up soaking wet, but it’s all part of the learning curve, and it keeps them occupied. Some mini garden tools won’t hurt either, stick to just a hand trowel as the shovel and rake are usually a little to much for them to handle at this stage (2-4) and a good pair of crocs are a gardening parents best friend!

my little guy helping out.

4. Next it’s time to choose what you will plant? Let them be involved here as well, there are a million seed packets with bright colors and pictures of all the fruits and vegetables on them. Let them look through and pick out whatever they want. They are cheap and if they don’t grow it won’t matter because they will probably forget by that time anyway.

5. Make sure you pick up good garden soil to mix in with your soil at home if you’re planting in the ground. And if your using pots pick those up now as well, you don’t need a lot of space to grow a few veggies and the kids may actually eat them if they are involved in the whole process. Cucumbers are a favorite of ours around here.

A few last notes on starting a garden, you WILL have to water plants EVERY day, no way around it, there are a few things that can make it easier as well: a soaker hose, and a timer. But if you don’t want to spend the money on those items just make sure you can reach your garden easily with your hose and do it every morning before the sun gets too hot, or in the evening after sundown. Good luck and happy gardening.

peace &

love to all,

dinelle.

I'm in the mood for blogging again so here it goes....

over the last year i've had a second baby and bought a house! the house has been a lot of work and is a constant project for me. we've completely renovated the entire upstairs and are still working at finishing up a few rooms there. we've also tackled the downstairs to some extent just to make it more comfortable for the kids. my next to do is to actually finish the bathroom. it is in need of sheetrock taping and spackling, paint and wainscotting! it's a lot especially since it's used so often! the wainscotting will wrap around the entire room (i think??) and then i'm still undecided about the rest. i was orginally thinking of going with a pattern on the wall, maybe a newsprint, or written words? however, i 've recently found some inspiration on pinterest that now has me leading in the direction of a pattern on the ceiling. thoughts???

i know this doesn't at all have to do with y basis of this blog (which is to post items that are actually down to earth!) but my tastes have changed so much over the last few months and i am now very interested in fashion and home decor once again?

on the note of keeping things down to earth i will tell you that my goal is to always incorporate the recycled/reused materials into my house wherever possible. we have built an entire play structure outside for my son using all reused materials (except the nuts and bolts of course) i will try to share some pictures on here next time i think about it.  also have done a number of small projects around the house using leftover supplies and found objects. my most recent projects was a small play kitchen for my sons for christmas. i gathered some ideas from pinterest once again and got to work.

i started with a base end table from ikea only because it was very inexpensive (rast $15.00) here's the final product! i chose to flip it upside down and add a piece of 12" wood on top and a 1x6" piece along the back. the sink was actually found at the supermarket (it's a dog dish lol) the faucet is actually a soft piece of flexible tubing i found at home depot for only $3.oo the burners were made out of two packs of coasters (again ikea 1.99 each) i had two leftover knobs from something in the basement for the hot and cold ( i think i will change this out eventually and add a few knobs for the stove/oven, i was a little rushed xmas eve to finish!) the rest was made from some scrap wood i had in the basement and some gathered items i.e, the crock and utensil holder, and basket for food. i hope you like it. my sons do!



peace & love to all

bum bums

a friend of mine posted this on facebook today, and i just think it's a great idea.


for bikram yoga- little shorts to keep you cool! and, the best part is the design of the fabric is done by my friend and she has used a vegetable dye! and they are made in the usa! so wonderful!


so if your in the market for something to keep your bum cool, when sweating it out, check these out and let me know what you think?


http://www.etsy.com/listing/65348977/the-bum-bum-shorts-in-focus?ref=v1_other_2

peace and love to all

blogging take two!

so....it's been a while since i started this blog and i have been busy.


i am a mother of a fifteen month old son! he's quite a handful and we are trying our best to raise him to be as eco consious as possible! this is still something sort of new to me as i wasn't raised with any sort of environmental concern at all. everything i know has been learned.  i am however very passionate about the subject and can only hope to influence my family to be the same in the future. 


it's a little after new years now, and i hadn't thought of a resolution until today! i think i will try to write more, and my goal is to spread the word of mother nature. i would like to influence others to respect the earth more than they do now. that's it that's my goal for the new year 2011.  i like to set realistic goals that can be attained so this one should be a no brainer for me.  i hope to keep up with the blog and include pictures of our adventures as an eco friendly family.


of course everyone should keep in mind that it is learned, not everyone can be 100% environmentally friendly all the time, it's the little steps that add up to something big! so if your trying to do more, congratulations you've taken the first small step, just keep trying and you will see a better life for yourself, and for others around you! good luck.


peace and love to all