What do we plant?

I have washed and saved the egg shells of our eggs for a month. They are needed to plant little seeds in. They make great organic containers for little seeds and are away to individually plant the plants without worrying about the netting in some other seed starters. I also just saw a wonderful tool that I think I will purchase. It is a wooden tool to make newspaper pots. They are great to start the plants and then transfer to the garden. I will test this out and see how they hold up to watering.

My family has picked out the seeds that we want to plant. The parsley in the window is growing very nicely. I picked some for an omelet already. The parsley has a nice strong flavor not like the kind from the grocery store. We are expecting a Nor’easter this weekend and planting the seeds will give my children something to do.

I have prepared @Greensoil’s tea and that is waiting to water the seeds. The blog below explains more about her wonderful tea. Check out the link on the right for more info on her tea.

We will plant tomatoes, basil, peas, carrots and peppers. We have no idea where pumpkins will grow this year, but they seem to come up all by themselves. I think Baron, our dog has something to do with this as he loves to run around with one in his mouth after Halloween and then we can’t find it. What are you planting?

Looking to Spring

Now that Valentine’s Day is over and the snow is on the ground, we start thinking of Spring. Yes, that time of year when the green of plants pushes up and out f the soil. When the sun once again warms us and the smell of flowers fills the air. But for there to be flowers, plants and vegetables, there needs to be good soil. Oh no! Now what can we do?
If you are like me, you did not get the compost going and are not good with crawly things. Maybe you are but the time just got away from you. You can still have a wonderful garden. And yes my secret even works for window plants and potted vegetable plants.
My secrete weapon came in the form of a Twitter friend, GreenSoil. We started tweeting (that is talking on the internet about growing plants.) I have a spot of garden in which I grow organic veggies and fruit for my family. I do not like to use commercial fertilizer as I don’t like all the chemicals that adds to my food source BUT I want beautiful plants and an easy way to take care of them.
That’s when Greensoil stepped into the picture. You see, GreenSoil is really Annie Haven of Authentic Haven Brand Natural Brew Soil conditioning tea. She graciously reached out and told me about how easy it was to make this tea for my garden and how I can try it out. I even received a sample packet of the tea and have tried it on my indoor plants. It is easy to put the bags in a 1-5 gallon containers, fill with water and leave them alone for up to 4 days. The tea comes in small gauze bags that are compostable. They have a soft sent of freshly plowed earth. I then use them to water my plants. Even a mom of two active little ones can doth is and the result is incredible.
How do I know that the animals that this manure tea comes from don’t eat and ingest chemicals and hormones? Ms. Haven harvests the manure right from her own animals that have been free of chemicals since 1924. Her farm was ahead of the game and wanted to produce good clean livestock. We know to compost but how many of us take the next step to make sure our compost is natural and contains nothing unnatural? When you find a source of good fertilizer for the plants it’s a good idea to keep it and continue to use it.
My plants are growing beautifully and my husband wants to know why I have not killed this lot of plants. Now you know my secret but please do not tell my husband.

Contact Annie Haven at annie@ahavenbrand.com

http://www.authentichavenbrand.com/

St. Valentines Day is on the Way

Winter is upon on and we long for a bit of warmth. So February brings in St. Valentines Day . In many cultures, the day is not only for love but also for friendship. It is a day when acts of kindness towards friends are often done.

So you have little ones and they want to do a craft. My all time favorite is to get plain pink cards with envelopes. Cardstock would work well but for little ones the pre-made cards are easier. Then I buy glitter pens in bright colors and a package of foam or paper hearts.

Clear the table and put down newspaper or brown paper. I get mine from the boxes of product that I order. Let the little ones go and watch as they decorate the cards each with a special person in mind. This can keep them busy for quite a bit of time depending on how many cards they want to make.

My daughter has a special teacher and she wanted to give her something as a keep-sake. She wanted to make the perfect gift. I had a little red clay left over from Christmas. With that she made a beautiful heart and made a design on top. This went into the oven to harden and now the teacher has a home- made paper weight for the classroom.