On My Mind::Summer is a Busy Time

I knew that my spring/summer would be busy.  On one hand it is the nature of things that as we emerge from the winter thaw, we shake off the cobwebs and accelerate out of hibernation.  On the other, I had/have big plans for this time of year: gardening, flooring, redoing the boys' rooms (posts on this soon!).

Even knowing that I don't think I was prepared for how busy I feel.  Then came the helicopter seeds.  I know there is a better name for these little buggers but right now they are just the bane of my gardening existence.  They are everywhere.  And it is time to sweep them up and pull them out of flower beds and pots again.

You see this pot here?  You see anything growing in it?  Me neither.  So also on my mind is replanting it with something.  It was pepper but I ran out of seeds and my starter plants are doing pretty well...so I am thinking kale.

What's on your mind this week?  It wouldn't happen to be coming over and sweeping my helicopter seeds would it?


Linking to: On My Mind at Down to Earth

Busy Bees

Like the bees that have temporarily taken over my red bud trees, we are busy around here.  The amount of rain we are receiving here in Michigan means detailed planning for spring projects.  The main focus has been getting the garden planted.  We tried gardening with minor success in the past and are trying very hard this year to do more and create gardening traditions.

The sketches in the garden journal are coming to life in the form of raised beds, squash and watermelon mounds, and container planting on the patio.  Hopefully come summer the time invested will reap its rewards.  For now I am just happy to have things in so that we might enjoy a little bit of vacation.  I will be back soon with home updates, reviews and giveaway, and more recipes.  Thanks for bearing with me while I make the most of spring.

What are you busy trying to get done this spring?

A Garden of Their Own

We may have to pare back on our gardening plans for this year, but I still wanted my boys to be part of the action with a garden of their own. I have grand visions of what this could be someday. Most of these are inspired by the adorable book, "Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children"

However, in effort to not forsake good for perfect (which the Happiness Project had a great post on this week), I am giving them the front of an already existing (and pitifully empty) flower bed. I wanted to include them in the planning process as well. For us, this isn't just about having veggies and pretty flowers, but also raising children who understand the process of gardening and its importance in our householding.

So I drew them out a rough picture of the garden bed (on the back of an old school paper). Once I had made my selection and had my order ready from my seed catalogs, I turned the flower pages over to them, along with some scissors and glue, and let them create their masterpiece.

This project was so good for us in so many ways. They got to be involved in our family gardening process, work with each other, and use their fine motor skills and attention spans. Tucker even told me what a good time he had.

How are you including your kids in the spring activities this year?

P.S. Sorry for the awful lighting. As my children wake up around 5 am, most of our activities are done in the dark.

Bookin' It

I was recently introduced to this beautiful little book called, A Householder's Guide to the Universe: A Calendar of Basics for the Home and Beyond. In it, Ms. Fasenfest brilliantly lays out an argument for why the art of Householding is important and the intelligence of building your own at home economy. Better yet, she does it in a month-by-month layout that is incredibly easy to follow. January is a time for rest (got that under control with my stack of books and recently discovered Glee addiction) and garden planning.

Every year we intend to start a garden and don't, but this year I am determined to be more on top of it. Which is why I went out and found the biggest gardening journal (in form of sketchbook) I could find and am currently using it to jot down the wisdom in my big book of Country Wisdom & Know-How. I also ordered this book.

Because we have a very high water table and the previous owner filled a lot of the land with rocks for his RV, we are facing all raised bed veggie gardening. So I will soon be off to the library for books on that topic (recommendations?). I have to admit, I am utterly overwhelmed and this is the most homework I have felt like I had since I finished school.

Someone please tell me it gets easier. And please share your tips, reference recommendations, country wisdom, etc...Golly could I use it!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Look at this beautiful, if small, bounty from my garden. Small is good since I seem to be the only one eating veggies around here these days. I love to dip these little guys in hummus for a mid-afternoon snack. Delicious!

I am clearly not the only one who has discovered the benefits of growing your own food to Earth and self. There has been a 19% increase in U.S. households growing their own fruits, vegetables, and herbs over last year. 54% of households grow their own food primarily to save money on groceries. And why not, just $70 spent on planting can yield $530 worth of produce per season!

Growing your own organic produce ensures that less pesticides and herbicides are used, the food has a shorter distance to travel to your plate, and you know exactly what you are putting in your body once it gets there.

What's growing in your gardens? How is your "harvest" going? What didn't you grow this year that you will definitely plant next year? Any organic gardening tips?

I made my raised beds

So I am happy to report that with my mom's help, and a few hours hard work, the raised veggie beds are in.  My mom found these wood frames at a garden co-op for $5 a piece but they are would be super easy to make with some lumber (re-used is even better!) and hinges.  Then we just added some organic soil, some of my beautiful compost with the most beautiful, fat worms I have ever seen, and our veggie seeds and organic tomato plants.  Now just to get it to grow.  Although with that compost it might be impossible not to.  We also have lettuce and swiss chard growing in pots in the small greenhouse we have.  It's not perfect, but it's a start.

Where are you at in your gardening?  Are you growing something this year?  Are you using compost? Any tips?

Have compost, will travel

I mentioned to y'all last week that I have started working at the golf course.  And the amount of waste that takes place there is absolutely astounding.  So I am trying to do my part to cut back.  One of the ways I have done that is to encourage my fellow staff members to recycle/compost via me.  So every night I take in this reused kitty litter container and we put everything recyclable/compostable in there.  Every morning after I work, I separate it at home and put everything in the correct place.

It takes a little extra work on my part, but it's totally worth it to know that every night I work, I save at least that much from going to the landfill and put it to good use.   Plus, my compost pile is growing and getting more diverse. 

Is this something you could implement somewhere?  Where you work?  Your kid's school?  Any other ideas?

Compost Creations

I hope you are having a beautiful Saturday!  Today my mom is visiting.  She brought some raised garden beds and we are going to do some veggie planting.  I will do a whole post on it soon, but I am telling you now because it is just one of the ways I will be using my compost.  

Compost is magical in a way because it takes any type of soil (dry, sandy, clay, etc...) and makes it better.  It's like the organic solution to almost every gardening woe.  And it's FREE!

In addition to the raised beds, I mixed compost in with just plain old soil (from my yard) that I put in the pots to grow veggies in my greenhouse.  I also put a small layer of compost between the sunflower seeds I just planted and the top soil I placed back over them.  Basically anything I plant that I want to succeed, gets a little compost help. 

So what do you do with your compost?  What do you want to do with it?  Any tips?

Not for Compost

I know given the post on everything you can put in compost, it's hard to believe 

there are things that can't go in it.  But alas, there are.  Here is a quick and dirty list of what not to put in your compost pile/container:

• Human waste (although if you wanted to get a composting toilet that would be awesome!)
  
• Pet waste (with the exception of the cage bedding mentioned Tuesday)
  
• Meats, bones, and fatty wastes
  
• Pernicious weeds (basically anything you are worried about re-growing, this is what Over Coffee mentioned)
  
• Diseased plants
  
• Chemically treated wood products

Got it, good!  Now I have to share with you that between the compost and my dog, we have zero food waste going into the trash.  It works out perfectly that she loves everything that can't be composted and doesn't really care for that which can.  I know avoiding trash isn't the best reason to get a dog, but it's a huge bonus and it will save you on dog food.  

Questions?  More compost concerns?  How we doing so far?  Tomorrow is the Green Grab Bag, but I will wrap up Compost Week on Saturday and Sunday with how to get the compost from your house to your pile/container and how to take your compost on the road.  

Compost Container Options

I am glad you are all so excited about composting!  And I am glad you are sharing your compost needs.  As I mentioned, I am well aware that a pile near the woods won't work for everyone.  So I have found several options depending on where you are at.  I am a visual learner, so I tried to find some videos in case y'all are as well.

If you are in the country and have the option, I would highly recommend just having a pile, or making a small enclosure such as this one.  It's cheap, easy, and uses very limited resources.  Plus the more open your pile is, the less you will have to worry about it getting enough drainage and sunlight, which is what prevents the pile from smelling.  Here is an example of how to make a simple, easy, and upcycled compost bin.  (Miss A-check this out, it is exactly what you were asking about:)

For those of you who need a more contained container, there are several options.  One of the simplest and least expensive is to make a compost bin out of a trash container, preferably one you already have lying about.  

Here is a fun take on making a worm composting bin.  Totally kid-friendly so you can make it a project for the whole family.

For those of you who prefer a more standard commercial compost bin, there are some great options out there.  These are also going to be the best kind for readers like Lizzie and MLDB who live in a subdivision and need something contained and discreet.  They are a bit pricey, but remember that you will using them for a very long time and saving yourself tons of money in soil from the gardening store.  I love this one because it's made from recycled plastic and at $70 it's one of the most affordable commercial versions I have seen.

Then there are the spinning versions which help you rotate your compost (much like I do weekly with a shovel in our lovely pile) right in the container to get even distribution and ideal soil composition.  Like the compost tumbler and tumbleweed composter.

Ok, so I think I included something for everyone there in terms of compost bins.  What am I missing?  Do we still have questions on the actual bins?  What other compost questions do you still have?

10 uses Tuesday: Compost Style!

The composting continues here on Green Gracious, for 10 uses Tuesday. Now, if you are a regular reader of 10 uses Tuesday you may quickly realize that today's is going to be a little different. Instead of 10 (or 11) uses for one thing, today I am going to fill you in on at least 10 different things you can put in your compost pile that you may not have realized. I know the first time I heard about some of the things that can be composted, I was shocked, and it has diminished the amount of trash I have every week since.

So let's get started. Everyday things you may never have known you can compost:

1. The stuff in your vacuum.  Permitted you haven't just vacuumed up plastic or glass or some such thing, most of the stuff in your vacuum bag or canister is good to go.

2. Paper towels.

3. Kleenex

4. Wool socks.

5.  Dryer lint

6. Nail clippings.  Eeew right?  But still cool.

7. Coffee grounds.

8. Weeds

9. Newspaper

10. Rodent (guinea pig, mouse, rat, etc) old bedding 

and my 11. Receipts.  I have taken to putting these in the compost because I can and it saves them from recycling, which means ultimately it saves energy.  

So there are 11.  And of course there are the usual suspects, old fruit (peels, stems, pits, seeds, etc...) old yogurt, soy milk, stale bread, old pasta, weeds, etc..

Go forth and build your compost and if you have a favorite compost fodder that we've missed, please fill us in!

Let it rot!

This is my lovely compost pile!  This little pile saves hundreds of pounds of "trash" from the landfill every year, helps to grow beautiful flowers (and hopefully veggies soon), and help feeds countless bugs, worms, and other woodland creatures.  Did you know that food scraps make up 20-30% of all garbage!

I am going to dedicate much of this week's blog posts to the joys of compost.  I am going to talk about things to put in your compost, what to use compost for, and because I know not everyone can just start a pile on the edge of their property, I am also going to discuss other composting options.  

So grab your food scraps, a bucket, and some willingness to do green good and join me for the ride.  And tell me because I am dying to know, what do you want to know about compost?  Have you been wanting to start and have questions I can try to answer?  Are you a compost expert with some expertise to lend us?  Come on folks, let's get down to the nitty gritty!

Johnny Apple Seeds

The weather around here has been beautiful lately and my oldest has been driving me bonkers asking to plant "fruits and veggies."  As we don't quite (read: not even close) have our garden area ready for planting, I compromised with the planting of apple seeds.  We gathered these over the past few weeks right from our organic apples as we ate them and put them aside for this special time.  

We live on a lot with an abundance of trees, so the only way I could convince my husband to allow us to plant more was if they were fruit trees along the driveway.  So out the boys and I went to dig holes and plant our organic Golden Delicious and Granny Smith seeds.

Who knows if this little project will work.  I do know that they really enjoyed doing it and learned a lot about seeds and plants, how things grow, and why it is important to plant and grow our own food.  

How are your gardens/planting projects coming along so far?

A literal family tree

My husband and I have been thinking a lot lately about how we want our yard to look and what kinds of plants we would like to grow.  We were really lucky to have landscaping with so many native plants that don't need watering in place when we moved here.  We have thoroughly enjoyed those for almost 3 years now and are now realizing that it's time to put in some work of our own.

One of the things my husband told me was, "We have enough trees.  No more trees."  Which I countered with, "But honey, we have no fruit trees, and we do eat a lot of fruit."  My husband, being a practical man, saw the wisdom in this and agreed that we could plant some fruit trees. Score!  He's on board.  But (and I think I have mentioned this before) my husband is not only practical, but frugal and is not a big fan of buying a bunch of fruit trees.  

Mom to the rescue!  My mother calls me up last week and says, "You know, Grandma and Grandpa have a great pear tree and you could just grow one right off of theirs.  I told them you would be by Easter weekend to get it started."  Great!  After getting a detailed description from my mom on how to do this, I headed over to my grandparents this weekend to start my own pear tree.  

The process goes something like this:

• Pick a small branch that sticks straight up in the air.
  
• Scratch the bottom of the branch down past the green to the inner wood in a couple places.  The length of scratches should be twice as long as the diameter of the branch. 
  
• Cut the top off a 2 liter soda bottle and punch two small holes right next to each other towards the top.
  
• Feed a rope through the two holes.
  
• Place the bottle small down over the branch.
  
• Secure the bottle to a near by (sturdy) branch with the rope. 
  
• Place small stones in the small side of the bottle (now the bottom).
  
• Place a couple scoops of dirt/compost over the rocks.  Be sure it covers up the scratched part of the branch.  
  
• Leave until Fall.

Now hopefully in the Fall I will go back and the parts of the branch I scratched will take root in the soil. I will then cut it off below the roots and plant it at home! I love the idea that I am taking a little piece of my grandparent's tree which they have taken care of and has taken care of them for so long. It is a literal, family tree

I am sorry I didn't take more pictures.  I was a wee bit frazzled with the whole process.  If you have any questions I will be happy to try to answer them and if you have a better way of explaining it, please, share!