Planting, planting and more planting!

I have been busy planting every single night! I have planted apple melons, spaghetti squash, corn, beans, tomatoes and peppers. Plus luffas and sunflowers galore!

So many tomatoes that need planted!

The adorable garden stakes that are color coded! The red ones are all tomatoes and the blue ones are peppers. Tiny strawberries are coming on the strawberry plants that I didn’t remember planting!

And, I am in love with the view of our newly expanded garden with all of the trellises!

The spaghetti squash above will be trellised on our bamboo trellises, as well as apple melons, cucumbers and beans.

Above is the wonderful upcycled project that has already proven to be so helpful! The Mr. turned an old kitty litter container into a mailbox for me to keep my gloves, trowel, apron and twine in. I absolutely love it!

I hope that you all are getting your plants in the ground! My students only have 12 more days of school and we we all do ready for summer break! Keep blooming!

Wildlife area update

We have slowly been turning our yard in front of the garage into an area for our pollinators. It will give them more pollen, nectar, water and shelter choices. It will also get rid of all of the extra grass cutting in this area!

Here was our basic outline of what we had in mind:

And here is how it is coming! Keep in mind everything will not be blooming for quite a while! Even though it mainly looks like mulch still, there are black eyed Susan’s, brown eyed Susan’s, purple coneflowers, yarrow, milkweed and white coneflowers. There will be more planted! We are using these adorable homemade stick gnomes that we created, so that we remember what we planted where! And, we decided that the perfect spot for the bird and bee waterer is right over by the garage! The sunflowers that came up early are looking big and healthy already! (1st picture) And the second picture is an echinacea bloom popping up!

Above, my Mr., who is always amazing me, created a planter from an old window frame that the glass was falling out of! It looks beautiful hung and I can’t wait to plant something beautiful in it! And have sunflowers growing all around it too!

We have lots more to plant and I’m hoping to get this certified as a certified wildlife habitat by July! I just want to make sure that I have all of the requirements checked off!

Have a great week! Keep blooming!

Mother’s Day weekend And gardening

Every year on Mother’s Day I think of how lucky I am to still have my mom. She was diagnosed with stage 4 inoperable oral cancer 13 years ago. She has had a lot of complications, but I still have her. That’s my favorite part of Mother’s Day. Abd that’s a pretty great reason to celebrate!

This year at school we planted some marigold flowers and made some seed paper from reused office paper. And we reused juice cups!

I hope that their Mom’s loved them! 

My sweet husband picked me out a nice gift. (Yes, he spent money during our no spend year. But, it will all be used in the pollinator garden area!)

Gnome birdbath/bee waterer 

I love this sign!

We spent this afternoon cutting down bamboo at a friend’s house to use on the trellis system that we are going to be constructing along the fence.

This stuff is very invasive! I would not recommend growing it! 

We also got the other garden gate installed! I love the way that it looks! We just need to put fence around it the rest of the way.

Second garden fence! 

Oh, and I forgot to say that the Mr. managed to till the garden in between rain storms too!

We are continually working on building up our soil! 

And in the greenhouse we have some little seedlings making an appearance!

Apple melons, cucumbers and zucchini! 

The peppers and tomatoes made the big move into the greenhouse this weekend. They also got repotted to give them more space to grow.

It’s a tomato jungle in there!

This whole weekend was pretty great! We can’t put any plants out in the ground until the end of the month, so I’m hoping to give our plants a head start in the greenhouse! I hope that you all are gearing up for another growing season!

No Spend March

We are chugging along with our no spend year. I have spent money on gifts this month (I bought my baby niece some food and not candy for Easter and gifts much deserved to 2 work friends,but that’s it!)

Our big money saver is that we sold our panel truck! It was a hard choice to make, but we were not using it. We are glad to have more money in our savings and one less vehicle to tag and insure!

Bye bye to the blue beast!

I’m doing my best to keep gardening costs down by using what we have and starting everything from seed! I also save my own seeds and plant mostly heirloom varieties to help with the seeds saving.

Garlic that came up on it’s own (30 free garlic plants!) all replanted! 

Pepper plants started from seed

Saved Roma tomato seeds 

I have also been mending so much around here! We are up to 3 pairs of paints that are hole free and a certain pup decided to tear a hole in his bed, but all are fixed!

The screen door to the garden was ripped and broken and we almost bought a new one, but we used some old paint that we had to fix it up and put some reused wire fencing on it. Good as new!

We also try to do as much as we can around here, instead of paying others to do it for us. I am the dog groomer:

Our sweet Izzy after her spa day

And we have been doing all of the work on the camper ourselves!

New seat covers! 

And the pollinator garden is slowly being completed by us mainly using materials that we have!

Lots of labor, but we are doing it by ourselves 

Instead of buying eggs from the grocery store or an egg dying kit, we used food coloring that we already had and brown and white eggs.

I ❤️ How they turned out! 

And instead of going out to eat or paying to go do something, the boy and I took a nice walk locally! We hadn’t walked on this trail in a few years!

Always interested in the rock formations! 

Overall, I’m thinking we are doing well with our no spend year! I’m hoping to continue spending less and gettting this house paid off!

March Update 2018

It’s April!!! That means that we are getting so close to gardening season! March seemed like a blur, but I am always ready for it to pass by and warm weather to appear! So, he’s how the goals are going:

1. Expand the garden– it’s finally happening!! The garden has t posts around the perimeter and we fixed up the old screen door to make it rabbit proof!

View from the bottom up

View from the top 

2. Fix the camper– We have been fixing up our home away from home! The seats are recovered, shower storage door fixed, curtains all made and vent cover for the top!

3.Travel out west- That camper is pretty much ready for adventure! Before making  the big trip, we have to take it on a trial run! The trial run is going to happen this month!

4. Create a certified wildlife habitat- There’s a grass patch in front of the garage that is begging to be returned to nature. The pathways have been created. We made our own birdbath from a log and pan. We put up the hanging basket hooks and the insect hotel is finished!

5. Reduce garbage– Last year we made 7 bags of garbage and we want to make less than 6 bags this year. We have still only created one bag of garbage! But, I’m planning on doing a trash pickup everyday I can make it outside this month. So, that may increase our trash.

Still only 1 bag of trash! 

6. Volunteer/Donate/Do Good Every month- This month I spread some good! I try my best to stay positive and share t too! I bought my bff teacher an awesome “teacher of the year” shirt because she was just named that! And I picked up another teacher friend a gift to remind her of how strong she is! But, my biggest good deed was shoveling our school playground so that the kids could go out to play the next day! This is about 2 hours if work!

It was a lot of snow! 

7. Repurpose, remake, mend, repair- At school we are reusing some juice cups for growing some plants that they want to grow! The Mr. turned a railroad spike into a new shovel for me. The pollinator hotel is finished and it is 100% upcycled! And the Mr. is turning some spoons into garden markers for me!

8. Paw Paw trees– These native trees have grown near here for such a long time! The  seeds were planted last month! I put some seeds outside and marks where I put them and put the rest inside. So far, nothing to show yet.

All the seeds are planted! 

9. Build a pizza oven– this is the Mr.’s idea! He built his own Blacksmithing forge, so I’m sure he can do it! I’m definitely looking forward to having a delicious, out of the oven pizza! No real updates yet

10. Grow different produce–  
I will be starting a lot of different seeds this month! So far I have 5 varieties of sweet peppers. I also bought a hardy kiwi plant and I’m hoping to get that growing!

We’re growing red, green, orange, purple and brown peppers this year! 

11. Continue tracking the solar panels- this month we created almost an identical amount of power as last year!

1.18 mwh! 

12. Work on garden cart sales– We will be doing some upcoming craft shows this month! I’m hoping to have some extra seedlings to share, along with my lip balm and the Mr.’s blacksmithed items!

Last month rejuvenated my love of growing anything and everything!! Did you set any goals?! We are hoping to have checks next to them all at the end of the year! Keep blooming friends! 🌱💚

Snow days in March?!

Between Tuesday and Wednesday, Mother Nature decides to spice up life and throw around 7 inches of snow our way! Just look at the difference between the pollinator area from Sunday to Wednesday!

Top is Sunday, bottom is Wednesday! 

The chickens are not big fans of snowy days, so they decided to stayed tucked nicely in their house! But, their egg production is still increasing!

The chickens discussing their disgust with snow!

Nicely cleaned eggs! 

Every year around this time, I get tagged in the meme with the girl gardening in the snow! So, this year I recreated it! 😆

I think I was pretty close! 

My good deed for the month of March is marked off! I went down to school (the one I teach at) and shoveled off as much of the playground area as I could for the kiddos. They really appreciated it today!

Good deed for March! (It was a lot of shoveling!!) 

Im not going to lie and say that I was super productive on the days off from school/work because I wasn’t! I did manage to start making some curtains for the camper!

Curtain for around the ceiling

And below, the Mr. upcycled some spoons into curtain rod holders for the door curtain that I quickly sewed up!

The indoor plants under the grow lights are looking pretty awesome! The only veggies that I have planted are peppers, but I have also started lots of perennials for the pollinator area!

Pepper plants! 

And I will be doing a diy post on fermenting seeds to save them! I had leftover tomatoes in the freezer, so I fermented the seeds. That way I can plant the loads of tomatoes that I need to without spending so much money on plants!

Roma tomato seeds! 

Did it snow where you are? And what do you have growing right now? Keep blooming friends!

 

Working for the weekend!

The weather was above freezing this weekend! So, that means that we were working! We went out and got a truck load full of compost to start getting the pollinator area ready! (The orange line is where the walkway will be!)

Filling in flower areas

We will be putting down lots of cardboard and wood chips that will give the plants plenty of room to expand! And, the Mr. won’t be cutting all that grass! (That was a section of his part to cut, I cut around the house! Didn’t want you all to think I was lazy!)

I also have my gardens all planned out! I’m so excited to get these plants started! I’m going to have a ton of seedlings going in the months to come!

The garden is planned! 

We are finishing up the birdhouse gourds! Look at this beauty:

Birdhouse gourd! 

The Mr. helped me get an idea together. I had a lot extra spoons that I had bought for a different purpose, but we turned one into a plant marker. We are going to use these to mark the flowers in the pollinator garden! (Not sure why he put beans on this one! 😆)

Garden marker! 

And that sun helped us to make lots of power!! We made about 193 kWh in 3 days!!

Solar power! 

The Mr. also installed this vent cover on top of the camper to protect the bed area from rain and weather!

He’s amazingly handy! 

Up next will be this big project! We will be putting up new fencing around the garden and expanding it!

This area is going to be a lot of work! 

I love being able to get my hands dirty and do hard work! I hope that you enjoyed your weekend!! Did you all accomplish any projects?!

No Spend mid-February Update

Last month we were able to put extra money into our savings and are proud of another major achievement! We are now officially car payment free!! Yay!!!

The Mr.’s beast is paid off!

I also managed to not spend money on valentines for my students! I used thread and cardstock that I already had to make these:

Friendship bracelets for my students!

My hubby was so sweet and made me my Valentines gift!

Pollinator hotel

It was crafted from some old redwood fence posts that were given to us by my dad! The empty shelves will be filled with pieces of cut up bamboo  and will be home to a lot of pollinators to lay some eggs! The total spent was $0 and it is way better than expensive flowers or chocolates!

My boy is such a sweet soul, especially  for a teenager. He doesn’t ask for anything. So, when I saw this pattern for a crocheted poke ball, I made him one! I had all of the yarn already here!

My boy loved his poke ball!

We did spend a little money on our new lights set up! We like to grow different varieties, and starting from seeds allows us to have our pick of whatever heirlooms that we want!

Our seed starting rack! Sherman is playing “Where’s Waldo!”

We haven’t been spending money on anything, but when I was in the craft store, these were hard for me to not buy! I loved them!

I actually didn’t buy them!

So, for the first half of the month, we have been doing a pretty fantastic job! It’s kind of odd not going out to eat or just going shopping for the fun of it. I think when spring arrives, and there’s more to do, it will be easier to be consumed with outdoor living! Is anyone else having a great no spend month?

Weekend working!

This beautiful weather awoken our working spirits this weekend. We came out of our hibernation mode for a bit!

My cousin is having a baby boy very soon and I made her a homemade gift, along with the wrapping paper that I upcycled from a paper bag! I even made a little card and bow from that single bag!

Homemade hooded towel! 

I also was able to enjoy some crocheting and finished off projects that were almost completed!

Crocheted dishcloths

The boy and I whipped up a large batch of lip balm. We are going to use the profit that we make from selling them to buy food for the Union Rescue Mission. Good deeds are being done! ✅

Beeswax lip balm 

The boy and Mr. helped to measure off the area of the garden that we are going to expand and I’m going to start planning where I’m going to plant everything! And I also started putting some planning into our pollinator garden area!

Pollinator Area planning! 

The Mr. was busy in the garage working on the camper, and doing other projects.  I’m excited that he put together our bat house and that he even painted the Batman logo on it! I love it!

Bat House!! 

He also up cycled the mount from an old satellite dish into a holder for a flag. He’s been wanting to put a flag outside of his garage!

America! 

And now to brag on the boy! He made this  nice trivet in shop class last marking period! I think he did a great job!

Made by the boy! 

I’m going to enjoy this beautiful weather while it lasts! Are you all starting to plan out your garden?! 🌱💚

Not a winner, but still feeling great!

Yesterday I found out that my principal took it upon herself to nominate me for an environmental teaching award. Wow! I couldn’t believe it! Someone actually noticed what all I’m trying to do to spread environmental awareness to a younger generation! It’s my passion! I love teaching about all renewable energy, recycling, using less resources, composting, gardening and I especially love starting up new initiatives at school!

We got plastic recycling in town

Marker recycling

Cereal bowl recycling

Our new glue stick/bottle recycling

Our teacher’s lounge bin

We are actually up to 88 lbs of plastic film recycled

I clean out and recycle the teacher lounge k cups

Pollinator garden built by my students last year

So, now for the bad news… I didn’t win. I’m not going to lie, of course I was disappointed. But, after thinking about it for a bit I realized that it’s not going to change a thing about me. See, that’s the thing… have you ever met someone who is really passionate about something? I used to be annoyed with people like that because all that they wanted to talk about was what they love doing. Now I realize that those are the best kind of people! The ones that do things despite never being acknowledged. They don’t care that you find them weird or dorky.

That’s exactly where I’m at. So, I’m just going to continue on my green little journey and invite the followers and the ones that find me odd along for the ride. When you run into any student that I previously had, I’m sure they will describe me as the crazy beekeeping, gardening, compost-loving, recycling lady!

I truly hope that you all find your passion and you will understand what I mean! Keep blooming where you’re planted! 🌱💚