The Truth of the Matter

A longtime – like 30 years longtime – girlfriend of mine noted that she hadn’t seen a recent post from me. I was so elated that she actually read my posts and more so that she looked for them. She began naming all the reasons why I hadn’t and was indeed spot on. I told her that she should submit a post here and she smiled…hmm we shall see.

It has been a week since that conversation. And not a single post was posted in that time. Why, you ask? Why indeed. There are plenty of topics on which I have an opinion and tons of goings on. I could have updated you about the ‘wee one’ getting bronchitis or how I have had bronchitis and am still coughing. Or that we had 6 more inches of snow this week and yesterday was the first day of spring. I could have given you my outlandish completely baseless theories regarding the missing flight 370 and how I really want the plane to have been plane-napped so that the people on board have a better chance at survival. I could have told you all about my little plants, or the wood purchases for a garden box or about the challenge that is my hair. About how my heart broke or how it heals.

But I realized something. That more than anything, I was afraid. Scared that no one would want to read what I have written. That you would careless about my ideas or opinions or random statements delved in my own idiosyncrasies. This outlet, this social connection, this information station could simply be a nothing. A non-starter. A failure. I am afraid to fail. WOW!!! I hadn’t realized it now.

I learned that I am afraid to die. I wasn’t always. Before my 27th year, I would have been pleased to meet my maker. I adore Him and had no regrets. Then a gave birth to a perfect being and fell so much in love that I became afraid. Scared to miss something, scared to not see him as a young man, frightened to not meet his children. I feared not being able to balance nurture with the nature, not being able to teach him all he should know and instill in him love of God, family and country. Oh there were so many fears associated with being forced away from that boy too soon. But mostly, a fear that I would fail him.

I feared failing you. Not entertaining you to the best of my ability. Not educating or learning or creating or inspiring you enough. Not being enough, for you, the reader.

I am getting over it. I am enough. I am alive. I am growing.

Ikea Hacks or not

I didn’t know there was such a thing not to mention, I didn’t know there was a cult-like following. Ikea Hacks. Wow. All the really cool things you can do with Ikea stuff. I love Ikea stuff. I don’t have much because everyone knows it is Ikea stuff and because their sofas are just too dang low to the ground to be of any real use to my family. Not that we are all tall, but my parents are tall. And I can’t bear the thought of them having to sit on the ground so low to the ground. Random, I know.

I want to be an Ikea Hacker. I can’t for the life of me think of what to hack or even a good reason to hack it. But I wanna be a hacker. I tried. I went to Ikea yesterday looking for something to change into something else. I found a little greenhouse. I need a little green house that is cute for my seedlings so that ‘The Marine’ won’t complain as they take over all kitchen space near the windows. I could use like four of these cute little guys. Did I mention that they are a cool $20 each and that I am cheap frugal?

That isn’t hacking, it is buying. Booo. I am not a hacker. Check out this awesomely cool hack and this one is my fave. Did you notice that they use the same shelving system. How freaking awesome is that? No really, how awesome is that? SUPER AWESOME! Oh, sorry, I got a bit excited.

I think I will have to stick to growing vegetables… at least until spring break. Muahahahaha. Then I am looking at a new foyer bench with cubbies!!! Ikea hacking away!

Til later lovelies.

#CoiledGlory #ikeahacks

UPDATE: I bought the last greenhouse that Ikea had in stock. It was the display and a little over-handled. As-Is = discount!!! 50% off made my inner frugalista very happy. No I only need three more.

Have you ever hacked and Ikea find? Or anything else for that matter?

We Love Sweets

I am a self purported urban farmer. Ok, yes. That would be delusions of grandeur. Is it grandeur to consider ones self a farmer? Does ‘ones’ in ones self require an apostrophe to be possessive? Does the English language require one to possess ones self? Rewind. I am a gardener and by that I mean that each year I plant seeds and plants into the ground, somewhat forget about them when it is mosquito season and then pray that they will actually produce fruits or vegetables before they freeze to death.

My garden has sprawled to almost the front yard. Mostly because I have a lot of shade and dappled sunlight in what is considered a more appropriate veggie area, the backyard. I am perfectly fine with the concept of gardening in the front yard but “The Marine” on the other hand. Well suffice it to say that he complains and scowls at the current growing arrangements because they are not neat, tidy, and similarly arranged. You know, like barracks or boots lined up against a wall. No, the mishegas that takes place in my garden beds cannot be contained by military regime nor will said regime allow such a disarray in the front yard. I digress.

I love spinach. But more than spinach, we as a family love sweet potatoes. I grow sweet potatoes. The free way, which entails getting a tuber making letting it sprout. Throwing the slips out into the dirt. Harvesting sweets hopefully before the first frost (if I can remember). I love growing sweet potatoes. They are by far the easiest and most interesting thing to grow and subsequently make into pie. I don’t have any fancy ‘sweet duds’ (you know, a fancy place to grow sweets). I use a deep, plastic, under-bed storage box. Got it from Big Lots for dirt cheap, drilled some holes in the bottom, added some Mel’s Mix and voila. Taters. It works really well.

Original sweet potato box. Broken at two years old.

Last years sweet potato box. Broken already.

I have long envisioned a larger place for tater growing. Basic ground dirt is just not gonna happen. To tough to dig. I need light weight soil for ease of harvest. I really want a fancy new raised garden but that is mostly a conversation non-starter. But I do have to get something as my trusty box didn’t survive this winter and well, winter isn’t even over yet. So here I am, scheming and conniving to get a new growing area. I think I will build it. I can build it. Don’t look at the screen that way, I really can. I have built other boxes and they have survived for years… about 5 in fact.  Just gotta convince “The Marine” that this is really needed and will be neat and tidy. HA!

Til later lovelies.

Is your green thumb-sense tingling?

The Need to Grow

Last year this time I was on bed rest. In fact, last February, I was on bed rest in the hospital. Eh. Outside of keeping my legs crossed to hold the babe in, I felt a powerful urge. No, not to push. To grow. Yes, I was growing wider with child. Yes, I was growing a little human being, which by the way is a lot of work. But an even greater urge took root within me, to grow something and then eat it. I even wrote about it.

I don’t like bugs. The Man and The Girl pick with me about my sheer disdain for creepy crawlies. I don’t like dirt. I don’t like to water things. I don’t talk to plants. I don’t even like eating most vegetables.

But I love, absolutely & positively love to grow vegetables. I love going out to the yard and bringing in my produce. I love knowing what is on it, what it was grown in and how it was grown. I love that my garden is completely PC, green, sustainable, helper bug friendly, child accessible, chemical free, (insert buzz word here ) and delicious. I really love that it positively impacts my pocketbook. I love bringing the sweet potatoes in and using them for dinner. The excitement from the kiddos about what our crop looks like. I love that my kids can go out an pick a salad or strawberries whenever they want rinse and eat it. I love that they get excited about eating vegetables!

I have learned what it means to have the faith of a mustard seed or any seed for that matter. That you must believe & trust God even when you don’t know when the rain will fall or if the sun will shine or if that plague of bugs will pass you by. I have learned that nature will always find a way.  Last year I didn’t plant a single tomato since the year before my heirlooms didn’t do so well. I also didn’t plant any Marigolds since they did exceptionally well. Last year, I gave away more than a hundred heirloom tomato plants and about 50 Marigolds. Nature comes in abundance. I grew one watermelon and on green pepper and both rotted on the vine. Life requires patience and vigilance. A bit of know how is always helpful too. If you don’t feed it, it won’t grow. That applies to beans and brains alike.

I am a gardener. My family members call me a farmer. I am very urban. I must grow. It humbles me. It brings me closer to God. It reassures my faith. It feeds me.

It is that time of year again. Time to plant something. I always promise not to go overboard but that never happens. So, I have assembled the list of veggies I want and am gathering indoor supplies. Yes, I know it is a bit early. I don’t care. I must grow.

 Til later Lovelies.

Are you growing something this year? When will you start?

2013 Vegetables

It is SPRING, Time for Growing Food!!

3/8/13

For the last three or four years, I have been trying to grow some of my own fruits and veggies. Last year, the urge to have something green growing in my garden was so strong that I started veggies indoors in February, which honestly was the earliest I could start. I am considering a winter seed starter that can be started even earlier for next year. I was absolutely compelled and obsessed. I mean, if there were a diagnosis for wanting to plant something this badly, it would be mild OCD.  This year, I am already growing a little human and am incredibly limited in movement. I however will not let a little thing like bed rest stop me :).

You may not know, but I am immensely frugal. My dollar has to go a long way so expensive things have to retain their value over the long haul. Last year, I bought the fancy schmancy self-watering grow kit (approx. $20), only to realize that one size does not fit all plants and flimsy is as flimsy does. Those containers are not meant to survive year to year and are a waste of my hard earned dollar. Hey….think of all the things you can do with $20. This year, the kids and I went DIY (do it yourself) to start our seedlings. I bought (had someone go buy for me) one of the large mixing tubs from the concrete section of Lowes (about $5 then), I splurged and bought an organic seed starting mixture for about $8 on sale and collected some free non-glossy newspaper.

The kids and I (mostly them following my directions) made organic seed starting pots from the free newspaper and filled each with seed starting mixture. Yeah… it is seed planting time! Prior to this foray, I had already planned out the garden leaving some empty spaces for the kids to figure out later. I use the Square Gardening method for most of my plantings as this gives you way more bang for your buck. Annually, I only need to add some good compost to re-energize the gardens.  All three of my veggie gardening spaces are 4’ x4’. So I read up and plotted what would grow where then actually drew the diagrams. I must also note that I only get full sun on one side of my house. The back yard has three very large shady trees and the other side of the house only gets evening sun. I have realized over the years that cool weather crops will produce longer if they are planted on the evening sun side and nothing at all wants to grow in the back yard other than mosquitos and grass.

This year’s crops will include:

Sweet Potatoes (grown in a plastic storage bin)	Spinach Mustard	Mustard Greens
Red Stem Malabar Spinach (also grown in a separate area due to height)	Dwarf White Sugar Snow Peas	Red Russian Kale
Lacinato Kale	Three types of Sweet Bell Peppers	Mini- Bell Peppers
Two types of sweet yellow onions	Marigolds	Broccoli
Two types of Carrots	Sugar Baby Watermelon	Minn. Midget Melon
Garlic	Mesclun Mix	Yellow Cucumbers
Green Burpless Cucumbers	Possibly some Corn in a separate area	Possibly strawberries in a pot

Anyhoo, using the Square Gardening system, I don’t tend to use more seeds than I actually need. So we planted the seeds after each homemade pot was in the large mixing tray, water each lightly, and covered the entire tray with cling wrap. Yep, cling wrap. Can you say insta-greenhouse!!! As you can see, in less than a week, we have lots of sprouts!! Using cling wrap allows us to only cover the plants that need it and to increase the height if necessary since one size really doesn’t fit all. The large mixing tray currently has 15 pots and could easily fit another 20 pots of the same size which is about the size of a soup can.

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I am still awaiting a few seed packets for new, specialty items but mostly, seeds came from the dollar store, Lowes/ Home Depot, or organic seed supply companies. The slips for the sweet potatoes are grown from a store bought tater.  Oh, I also collect seeds throughout the year from veggies I like.

When it is time to transplant, I will start with hardening off the seedlings. I neglected to do this last year and found that 50% of the seedlings died.  I am so excited to get these plants outside. Soon, we will prune and fertilized the two Rosemary bushes and lavender plant, and determine where the spearmint and basil will live. Growing my own veggies is so awesome. When I want salad, I go outside with the kitchen shears and cut it. Peppers and onions are there along with cukes… just waiting for us to enjoy them. Fresh strawberries all warm from the sun or melons hanging on the vine. The grocery store becomes a backup plan and can you imagine how much money we will save again this year!!!! KACHING!

Let me know if you want to learn how I handle sweet potatoes, making newspaper pots that actually stay together or square gardening? Did I mention that I personally built two of the 4’ x4’ above ground gardening boxes from scratch? The only tool I needed was a drill! The cost for each box was less than $20. Divide that by 4 years and that’s 5 bucks a year. So very frugal.