In the Backyard: My May 2013 Garden Report; or, Why I Haven't Posted Anything in a Couple Weeks

The weather is warm, the trees have leaves on them again, and gardening season is in full swing!  As a result, it's a lot harder to sit at the computer and work on a blog post. Don't get me wrong: I love blogging, but it just feels so good to get my fingernails dirty again. And even if I didn't want to go and work in the yard and I did want to sit here and type, my boys wouldn't let me. If they had their way, they'd both want to be outside all day.  Ahhh...it's nice to have the warm weather back.

Anyway, I thought I'd show you what's been going on and what I've been doing in my backyard.

I came. I saw. I mulched.

Confession: I've never mulched my garden before. I had a lot of straw left over from the winter (it's what I used in the chicken tractor this past winter. I bought way more than I needed to last fall.), so I thought I'd give mulching a try this year. Now that I have, I want to kick myself for not doing it in seasons past. Mulch makes gardening easier, period. I don't have have to water the garden nearly as much as I usually do. There are less weeds, too. It's awesome. If you're a newbie to mulching like myself, check out this helpful introduction to the why's and how's of mulching here and here.

Like last year, my milk jug mini-greenhouses are sort of stressing me out. I know for a fact that this method of seed starting works, but the seeds took longer to get sprouting this spring, due to some unseasonably cold temperatures this spring (it snowed here on May 1st!). Almost all of the milk jugs have growth in them (except the cherry tomatoes -- again), but they're still not as big as I would've liked them to be by now. I've got a variety of tomatoes (slicing and paste), broccoli, and herbs (parsley, oregano, and thyme) starting in the milk jugs this year. Keeping my fingers crossed that they'll start growing faster as the days get warmer and warmer.

On Wednesday, I opened our last jar of homemade jam. Since I've become a jam snob and can't bring myself to buy the jam at the store, I've been pretty excited to see the raspberry and blackberry bushes start coming to life. My raspberries even have the beginnings of little flowers on them. They can't come soon enough!

My first planting of greens didn't result in..well...anything. I don't quite know what happened there. But I planted again (lettuce, Swiss chard, spinach, kale, mesclun) and it's coming up this time around. Gardening can be kind of weird like that.

Speaking of greens, I'm trying to grow all my kale in a pallet. This one isn't leaning up against my shed like my other one; this one is flat on the ground. I just laid some newspaper down, filled it with grow-box mix, and planted. So far, so good.

I'm also experimenting in that pallet with growing stuff from the ends of vegetables. I've seen ideas for re-growing with the ends of vegetables on Pinterest and figured I'd give it a go with some romaine lettuce. It's not growing super-fast, but it's not dead, either (as you can see in the picture above, there is new growth). I also want to try this with other vegetables, like celery and cabbage. I'll let you know how it works out.

This season I've planted a few vegetables I've never tried growing before. Take beets, as pictured above, for example. I didn't even know I liked beets until last Halloween, when my mom put raw beets on a vegetable tray for our Halloween party. They were surprisingly delicious. I've since juiced them with some carrots and oranges and found that they're awesome! When I make green juice with my boys (they love green juice), I've been adding beet greens to it. How awesome is a vegetable when you can eat the entire thing, leaves and roots? Anyway, I'm hoping that my beet crop pans out.

Another new plant to my garden is cabbage. I bought some seeds to start but forgot to plant them in a milk jug (duh), so I picked up these cute little starts at a nearby nursery for 50 cents each. I have dreams of making coleslaw and sauerkraut (haven't tried that one yet but really really want to) with homegrown cabbage. I'm also giving cauliflower and broccoli a try in my garden for the first time, too.

One thing in my garden I'm feeling particularly excited about is my garlic. It's going nuts! A few years ago, I tried growing garlic but I didn't go about it the right way. I just planted some garlic cloves I had in the pantry and hoped they'd work. They did sprout leaves but when I dug them up, the bulbs were about the size of a walnut; the cloves of garlic were teeny-tiny. This past fall, I ordered bulbs from my favorite seed company, planted in late October and covered them with straw. In late February, I saw little leaves poking out from the straw. Since then, they just keep getting taller and taller. I've heard that homegrown garlic is stronger and more flavorful than the garlic at the store. I keep wanting to dig around them a little and peek to see how big the bulbs are, but I am trying to resist; I'm doing my best to wait another month or two before I do.

No backyard report would be complete without some mention of the ladies.  The three girls are doing fine and laying regularly. Even though I've been collecting eggs from them for almost a year, I'm still not over the happy novelty of getting eggs from the nesting box -- especially when there are three eggs at once in there. The girls seem glad to be able to peck in the green grass again, eat all the dandelion leaves my two-year-old can give them, and enjoy all the snails (grrr) I find in my flowerbeds. I just love having chickens in the backyard, even when they look like they're gossiping about me (as they seem to be doing in this picture).

My garden is looking pretty good and I feel really excited about it. It's a lot of fun.

That said, it's not perfect. And being all about honesty here, I thought I'd post pictures of some other projects and/or frustrations in the backyard.

This flower bed is making me crazy. I took this picture a couple weeks ago and it doesn't look much better since then. What do you do with grass in the flower bed? I'd spray it with weed killer (of the homemade and storebought varieties) but I don't want to kill all my perennials. I've tried digging, hoeing, even pulling the grass out by hand. What would you do?

Another flowerbed frustration: mint. I like mint, but there's no way I could use as much as I get in my yard. The people who lived here before planted mint in the flowerbed. As nice as the people seemed when we bought the house eight years ago, I can't help but curse them every spring when the mint starts coming back. It takes everything over -- the flowerbed, the plants, my grass, anything remotely near it. I can't tell you how often I'll be hunched over it in my yard, pulling at it, and wanting to shake my fist and yell toward the sky, "MIIIIIINT!!!!" (a la William Shatner in The Wrath of Khan). Please, reader, take this as a public service announcement and never plant mint anywhere except in a pot.

I've mentioned on here before that my lawn is a frequent source of frustration for me. Right now, an entire area is covered in dandelions. See how the grass in the top-left is clear? Yeah, that's kind of shows how my lawn looks, dandelion-free then -- BAM! -- dandelions. It's like a dandelion island. It's crazy. You know, every time I go to the store, I see in the produce section bunches of long, fat dandelion leaves and I can't help but think, "Who was the brilliant person who decided to go into dandelion farming?"  Judging from my dandelion patch, I think I'd be a fantastic dandelion farmer.

At least the ladies in the backyard love them. I wonder if they'd like mint...

Even with the weeds, the rampant mint, the dandelions galore, and the slow-starting seeds, May is one of my favorite months. I mean, how can you not be happy when there are lilacs blooming? {The lilacs always remind me of my parents and grandparents' yards and of this song.}

Even our kitty can't help but smile a little now that it's May.

Happy gardening, everyone! What's growing where you live?  

The Humble Ice Cube Tray -- Your Money-Saving Secret Weapon

I haven't used an ice cube tray for ice in years. My fridge makes all the ice we need so I don't bother. That said, if you took a peek into my freezer (watch out for falling frozen chicken -- sometimes my freezer is sort of like a booby trap), you'd most likely see at least one ice cube tray in there.

Ice cube trays are a great money-saving tool. I use them all the time for saving leftovers. Here are a few ways I use an ice cube tray to save money:

- Homemade baby food. When my second baby was new to solid foods, I made his baby food (nothing fancy, just steam and puree. Seriously. It's that easy.) and froze it in ice cube trays. I would just store the cubes of baby food in a plastic freezer bag.When he was ready to eat, I would just warm up the frozen cubes of baby food -- I did this by either by a quick zap in the microwave, by mixing it into hot oatmeal (that cooled it to the perfect temperature) or I would thaw it in a glass bowl over a boiling water. (If you'd like to try making baby food but feel a little wary about doing it yourself, this book helped me feel a lot more confident about the process.)

- Tomato paste. I hardly ever use the whole can (even if it is one of those tiny ones) of tomato paste, so I put the leftovers in an ice cube tray. Each square in the ice cube tray equals about 1-2 tablespoons. (Word to the wise: tomato paste in a tube is awesome, then you don't even need to bother with the ice cube trays.)

- Herbs. Herbs can be preserved in a number of different ways, but when you're dealing with moisture-dense herbs like mint, chives, tarragon, or basil, freezing is the best method. One way I've preserved basil with an ice cube tray is to pulse about a half-cup of basil leaves with a 1/4 cup of olive oil in a food processor; once it forms a paste, I pour it into the ice cube trays, freeze it, and then store the cubes in a plastic freezer bag. When you're ready to use them, simply pop the cubes into whatever soup, sauce, or dish you're making.  I've also seen this method of freezing cut-up herbs in olive oil, but I haven't tried it yet.

- Applesauce. I canned a bunch of applesauce this past fall. We don't really eat applesauce by the dish at our house, but I often use it in recipes as a sweetener (like in this waffle recipe - yum!). As a result, most of the time I'm only using a few tablespoons here and there. If I'm not careful, a jar of applesauce can sit in the fridge too long and get moldy. Totally depressing -- especially with all the work that went into picking the apples, cutting them up, cooking them, mashing them, and processing it in jars (whew!).  To remedy this, I put a tablespoon of applesauce into each square of the ice cube tray and freeze it. Once they're frozen, I pop them out and put them in a plastic freezer bag. Whenever I need applesauce for a recipe, I just get the amount of tablespoon-sized cubes I need, thaw them in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds, and they're good to go.

-Pumpkin puree. I've been experimenting with paleo pancake recipes and some of them call for just a couple tablespoons of pumpkin puree. I just freeze the rest in the ice cube tray and store it in a plastic freezer bag (see a pattern yet?).

- Chicken stock. I freeze my homemade stock in glass jars (totally safe -- just leave room for the liquid to expand when it freezes). When I've made a batch of stock and poured it all into jars, there's often a little bit left in the bottom of the pot. Instead of only partially filling a jar (and having it take up more space in my freezer), I pour the rest into an ice cube tray. This is great for quick batches of soup or for de-glazing pans.

- Chicken treats. Sometime during October, after we'd gutted a bunch of pumpkins, I made chicken treats. I put the mixture (pumpkin guts and seeds, oatmeal, some molasses) into a couple trays and froze them. I fed these treats to the ladies all winter and they got so excited whenever I tossed them into the coop.   I also love this idea of making mint ice cubes for keeping chickens cool in the summer.

- Leftover smoothies.  Sometimes I can go kind of nuts when making a smoothie (especially since I got a Vitamix blender recently). I'll just get carried away while acting like a gourmet chef, throwing all kinds of fruit in there, pouring in various milks and/or juices, adding pinches of spices, nuts, coconut, or flaxmeal to the mix. I'm not really that good at making smoothies yet (recipes are welcome) and I'm definitely not good at eyeing portions. So if I've made a huge smoothie and I've drank all I can possibly can, I just freeze the rest in an ice cube tray. Next time I make a smoothie, I just pop a few of those cubes into the mix.

- Disposal freshener. From time to time, when my sink is getting smelly, I'll freeze some vinegar in an ice cube tray. Once it's frozen, I toss a few cubes into the disposal and turn it on. Works like a charm.

There are so many other ways to use the ice cube tray to curb food waste. Out of curiosity, I did a quick search for ice cube tray uses and was surprised by the uses I hadn't tried (like freezing egg whites in an ice cube tray -- who knew? This link has a lot of great ideas).

I'm sure there are some of you out there who are thinking, "Why go to all that trouble to just save a few tablespoons here and there. Does it really make a difference?"  It makes me think of my other favorite money-saving kitchen tool: the rubber spatula. Sure, scraping the last bits of food from the jar with a rubber spatula or pouring the last bit of stock into a ice cube tray doesn't seem like a big deal, but it does make a difference. Doing these seemingly small actions cultivates a certain mindset, an attitude about how you use approach food and your resources. Frugality is about stretching things just a little further -- and the little things eventually add up.

{This post is linked up to Simple Lives Thursday, Little House Friday, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

'I Got Worms' : My Vermicomposting Venture

Add having a worm composting bin to the list of things I never imagined I would ever do. It's right up there with cloth diapering, raising chickens, and beekeeping. I can't even tell you how many times it makes me think of that part in Dumb and Dumber when Lloyd pitches his idea for a worm farm business. I remember how disgusting that sounded back when I watched it in high school. Who would have thought that someday I'd have a small sort of worm farm? Weird.

Anyway...

I'm not entirely sure where I first learned about vermicomposting (aka, worm composting; vermis is the latin word for worms). I've had a regular compost bin the entire time I've lived in my house (eight years this month!) and I'm always glad when I see worms in it. I've never, though, had a whole compost bin devoted to worms.

I started seeing pins on Pinterest about worm composting and I was intrigued. I read about people keeping bins in their small apartments or under the sink in their kitchens. I saw plans for tall worm compost bins that looked kind of like beehives. It seemed like a great idea to have worms eat food scraps and junk mail to help your garden, but it seemed a bit overwhelming, too.

That was until I saw this pin about making a vermicomposting bin out of storage containers. It seemed so easy and doable! I highly recommend checking out her post (especially the really cute video with author's four-year-old son explaining how it works) -- you can find the step-by-step instructions and a lot of good info.  In this post, I'm going to share the process of how I made mine and some insights to how it's working for us. Keep in mind, I'm new to this whole process and am by no means a worm expert (yes, they do exist). That said, it's been pretty simple thus far.

Making the Worm Composting Bin

While we were waiting for the worms to come in the mail (I say "we" because my six-year-old was super excited about the project), I went to the store and picked up a couple storage containers.

I struggled bit trying to find the right storage containers. The instructions I followed called for two 8-10 gallon storage containers. I found plenty of those at good ol' Walmart but all of them were clear. Same thing at Target. The worm bin has to be opaque since worms are sensitive to light, so none of the ones they had worked. I finally was able to find some black 12-gallon containers (so a little bigger than necessary) at IKEA for about $5 each, along with one lid for $2.

So all together the worm bin cost $12 (plus tax). Much cheaper than the pre-made bins that go for around $100 (and that price doesn't include the worms) .

To make the bin, you need to drill some holes in one of the containers. Seeing as I'm pretty inept when it comes to power tools, I just took the container up to my parents' house (we were going there anyway and my worms had just arrived in the mail). My dad took the containers to his garage and took care of things. I wasn't helpful at all; I mostly just stood there and told him all the reasons why I wanted the bin in the first place so he wouldn't think I was nuts (you can find some great reasons for vermicomposting here).

First, he made some small holes on the bottom for drainage; Dad used a 1/8-inch drill bit.

Then he drilled some holes into the sides (higher up above the compost line, for ventilation) with one of his biggest drill bits. The plastic container was a bit flimsy so a few holes were a little cracked but no big deal.

The second bin doesn't need any holes at all. The purpose of the bottom bin is to catch any drainage from the first bin. In the last month that I've been keeping a worm bin, I've found the second bin to not be that necessary. Just keep the worms damp and not soaking wet and catching drainage isn't much of an issue. Not knowing this in advance, I still use the second bin since I have it.

 

So that the ventilation holes in the first bin don't get covered up, you need to have a something to elevate the main compost bin inside the second. (Does that make sense? Look at the picture below and you'll see what I mean).  To do this, my dad simply cut some blocks of wood from his stash in the garage (did I mention my dad is a talented woodworker? I love that guy.) The blocks are just a few inches tall but they keep the ventilation holes right above the lip of the bottom bin.

That's it -- a homemade worm bin made in about 15-20 minutes, tops. Nothing fancy. That's fine. It's meant to hold worms and their castings (aka, worm poo); I'm keeping it in the garage. I'm fine with it being totally plain.

Filling the Worm Composter

First things first -- you need worms.

Worm composting requires a certain type of worm: red wiggler worms. You can't just go dig around in your yard or go to the fishing bait section and pick up a bunch of earthworms. From what I've read, these specific worms thrive on eating bacteria-laden and rotten food. Getting a pound or two of red wiggler worms is easy. There are lots of places online where you can order them -- even Amazon has listings for worms. I ordered mine from Wiser Worm Farm -- I got a pound of worms for $27, shipping included.

Once your bin has the holes drilled in it, it's ready to be filled.

First, add some shredded up newspaper. I've been using grocery ads that come in the mail, along with my son's book order forms he gets from school (that is, after I'm done spending too much money ordering from them...ahem).

Next, add some dirt. The worms need the grit to help them digest.  As you can see, Max's cousins got in on all the wormy action and they took turns adding the dirt to the bin. (A worm bin is a great educational tool, I think.)

Next, we added some food scraps I'd been collecting for the last couple days (more on what and what not to feed worms later).

Now you can introduce your worms to their new home. Once I dumped them in, the kids started naming them. In our worm bin, there's a little red wiggler named Charles and another named Sammy. It didn't take long for the kids to.realize that it's hard to come up with 500 names.

We poured a little water over the newspaper-scraps-dirt mixture and worms. To top it all off, we added a wet piece of cardboard (to keep the light out from the ventilation holes). Put the lid on and the worms are ready to get to work!

Maintaining Your Worm Bin

It's been about a month since we added our worms to the bin. So far, it's been incredibly easy. It's also so cool to see how it's working. They really do eat your garbage!

There are a few guidelines on feeding worms -- there are foods they can and can't eat. The way I keep it straight is to think of them as a bunch of wiggly little vegans because worms can't eat dairy or meat. Unlike vegans, though, they also don't eat oils or citrus.

What do worms eat? They like fruits and vegetables, breads and grains, eggshells (we've got plenty of those), tea bags, coffee grounds (including the filter. We don't drink coffee at our house, but I've heard that worms love coffee grounds), and shredded newspaper.

I've read that it's best to feed the worms food that's already starting to rot a little. This is where my compost pail comes in. Until just recently, I used this pail to hold kitchen scraps before taking them to the compost pile in the yard; now I use it exclusively for worm food. The amazing thing about this pail is that it can hold the stinkiest, most rotten stuff in it and you can't smell anything when the lid is closed. It's awesome. So, I let the food for the worms sit in there for a day or two and then dump it into the worm bin.

Other things to keep in mind when taking care of worms:

• Keep the bin's contents damp, but not soaking wet. I keep a spray bottle filled with water next to the bin and give it a few sprays when things are looking dry in the bin.
• I also have an old hand rake next to the bin to stir things around when I add new food for them. This also helps with ventilation so things don't get too compacted.
• Don't keep your worm bin somewhere that's too hot or cold. You don't want it to be somewhere where it gets colder than 35 degrees or hotter than around 80. Like I mentioned before, I keep mine in the garage (hence all the random stuff piled around the bin in the picture above).
• Like with a regular compost pile, the worm composter doesn't stink if you're doing it right. If it stinks, that's when some troubleshooting is needed (maybe it's too wet, there's too much food, etc.). When I open my worm bin, it has a sort of pleasant, earthy smell. I say this not to brag but instead to point out how not-hard keeping a worm bin is.

Just as I'm fascinated by my compost pile outside, I find myself looking at the worm bin the same way. It's incredible to see a little sort of eco-system at work. I have yet to get the castings out and add them to my garden. Once I've done it and made a batch of worm poop tea for my garden, I'll let you know. (Yep. Add "making worm poop tea" to that list of things I never thought I'd do, too.)

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Your Green Resource, Simple Lives Thursday, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

Adventures in Cloth Diapering: On-the-Go Cloth Diapering

I'm going to level with you: diapering away from home is one area where disposables have cloth diapers beaten. There I said it. No beating around the bush here. Clothing diapering in public bathrooms can be tricky.

That said, on-the-go cloth diapering is not impossible. I mean, I've been doing it with my little guy for the last couple years (he turned TWO a little over a week ago. How is that even possible?!  I swear I just had him a few months ago. Weird.).  In this post, I'm going to tell you how I cloth diaper away from home -- the gear that I use, how I do it, and the occasions when I wave the white flag of surrender.

First, what to pack in your diaper bag...

The three essentials: diapers, wipes, and a wet bag. Let me break it down a bit:

The Wet Bag: The main difference between cloth diapering and using disposable diapers on the go is that you have to take the wet/soiled diapers with you (obviously). That's where the wet bag comes into play. You can use any kind of bag as your wet bag (I've used plastic bags from the store in a pinch), but I prefer using a bag specifically made for cloth diapering. The exterior of the bag is cloth but the inside is made of a waterproof material. These kinds of bags are great for two reasons: one, the good ones don't leak; two, they keep the stink contained. Before I had my baby I did some research and read a bunch of reviews on wet bags and finally decided on one made by Planet Wise. This wet bag is a champ! I can fit multiple diapers in it, it has never leaked (they actually have a special way of sealing the seams of the bag, avoiding the tiny holes often left behind when waterproof fabric is sewn), and it keeps my diaper bag from smelling like..well...diapers. I've put some seriously stinky diapers into this bag and you can't even smell them once the zipper is closed.

Wipes:  I use cloth wipes at home but I don't when I'm away from home. I know there are others that use cloth wipes both at home and on the go, but I just don't bother. In the two years I've been cloth diapering my little guy, I think I've bought around five packages of wipes, at the most. They're convenient and easy to pack. When I'm dealing with a poopy diaper on those changing tables in a public restroom (more on that in a bit), I'm trying to get out of there as fast and discreetly as I can -- having wipes already damp and ready to go is nice. Once I've used the wipes on my baby, I usually put them into the trash or I'll stick them in the wet bag (I'll either throw them in the trash when I get home or they'll find their way into the wash and I throw them away as I'm getting the diapers into the dryer/onto the clothesline).

Diapers:  Pocket diapers are the best for on-the-go cloth diapering because everything you need is right there -- no need to fumble in your bag for a Snappi or a diaper cover. Plus, they're quick and easy to get on your baby. The diaper I like to pack the most: Bummis Easy Fit (the yellow one in the picture above). I like the Easy Fit diapers away from home because the diaper comes in one piece, insert and all -- I can grab them in a hurry when I'm leaving and know that I didn't forget the inserts (yeah, it's happened before). They're also the most compact of the cloth diapers my baby wears.

Optional items: changing pad (it's nice to have a buffer between your baby and the changing surface) and flushable diaper liners (put one in the diaper your baby is wearing before you go. Makes poopy diapers much easier to deal with. More on that in a bit.).

Now that your bag is all packed, you're ready to go. So what do you if your baby needs changing while you're out?

Wet diapers are simple. When you're done changing your baby, stick the wet diaper in your wet bag. Done. Soiled diapers are a bit trickier.

I remember when my little guy was around 6-8 months old, he went through this phase when, no matter what, he pooped whenever we went somewhere. Even with that practice and after a couple years of cloth diapering, I still dread changing poopy diapers when I'm not at home. It's just so much easier at home with the diaper sprayer...

Honestly, I don't have a one-size-fits-all method. You have to sort of improvise, depending on what you're dealing with. (I'm just going to say it now...I'm going to be talking about poo for a while. In depth.)  It all depends on the age of your baby and the consistency of the diaper's contents. (Hey, you were warned.)

If your baby is exclusively breastfed, poopy diapers are no problem; breastfed baby poop is water soluble and doesn't even need to be rinsed off. Just put the soiled diaper into the wet bag and call it good. Once you're home, you can dump the diaper straight into your diaper pail or washing machine.

If your baby is older and isn't exclusively breastfed, you'll need to take a few extra steps once the soiled diaper is off your baby. Once you've gotten the poopy diaper taken off and have a clean one on baby, try to get most of the dirty diaper's contents into the toilet. This is where flushable diaper liners are quite helpful. You just need to dump the liner into the toilet, flush and you're done. If you forgot to put a liner in your baby's diaper before you left home (this would be me lately), you can still try to dump the contents into a nearby toilet but it won't be always be as easy (unless baby's poop is solid and compact, which is always a relief in that situation).

If all else fails, you can put the diaper in the wet bag as is, poop and all, and deal with it at home. It's not the most pleasant of jobs, but I just tell myself that it takes less than five minutes to clean once I'm home. I can deal with five minutes of just about anything. Oh, the things we mothers do for our kids.

{It's worth mentioning that you should ALWAYS have your baby strapped when he or she is on a changing table, especially if you have to leave them for a moment to empty the diaper into the toilet. I remember having to change my little guy once in a public restroom and there was no belt on the fold-out table. I ended up just sticking everything into the wet bag. Just not worth the risk of baby rolling out and getting hurt.}

One last thing: I don't always cloth diaper my boy when I'm away from home. I don't even bother while on vacation (dealing with cloth diapers on 10-hour road trips or all day at Disneyland? Not for me.). I know it can be done. I've read about using cloth diaper services and I've heard of people washing their diapers while staying in a hotel. I just don't. I also skip the cloth diapers when we're camping. I don't quite know how to clean a poopy diaper when there's no plumbing. More power to you if you do cloth diapers on vacation or in the mountains, though. I think you've got to be flexible when it comes to cloth diapering -- do what works for you and your child; otherwise, you will get burned out and even want to give up completely.

In the last couple years of cloth diapering, I've noticed that the whole experience is full of little paradigm shifts. Using cloth diapers is definitely not mainstream; the idea takes a little getting used to. I still get funny/baffled looks from people when I tell them that my little boy wears cloth diapers. Changing cloth diapers away from home is just another one of those little shifts: it's not exactly the norm to pack a wet bag with you. It feels a little funny at first to leave a public restroom, knowing that you've got dirty diapers in your bag, and to then carry them around with you as you finish your errands (it will be our secret. No one will ever know!). But believe me, you get over it really quickly. It will become the norm for you. I've actually gotten to the point where it feels strange to throw a diaper away. I definitely didn't see that paradigm shift coming.

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop and Your Green Resource.}

Expecting Wonders: How to Test Your Seeds Before You Plant

I'm not the most organized of people. I'm sure there are gardeners out there who have their packets of seeds in special containers, organized into groups, stored at the perfect temperature, and everything is carefully labeled.

Honestly, I'm just glad that my seed packets are located one in place for a change.

The problem is that with this jumble of packets of seeds, it's easy to lose track of what I've got. There are folded up packets at the bottom, the leftovers from a few seasons ago. There are seeds in a zipper bag with only "Swiss chard" written on it. I have tomato seeds I saved from the yellow heirloom ones my mom grew -- seeing as it's my first time ever trying to save tomato seeds (I always just bought tomato transplants until last year when I grew tomatoes from seed), I've been a little worried that I messed up and they won't work. And even the seeds that are still in their packets from last year, I still wonder if they've been store correctly and if they're still viable (some seeds, like spinach, are called 'short-lived seeds' and are considered to only be good for one season).

Frugal gardener that I am, I just can't bring myself to throw out the seeds in question. There's so much potential in those little seeds. At the same time, I don't want to plant them and waste time with seeds that aren't going to grow. What's a frugal, sometimes disorganized gardener to do?

Test them. Testing for seed germination is so easy and takes only a couple days (a week at the very most) to do.

To test your seeds, you only need four things: seeds, paper towels, plastic zipper bags, and water.

Moisten the paper towel -- the towel should be wet (not too dry but not dripping, either). Put ten seeds on that paper towel, being sure to space them out.

Why ten seeds? It gives you a better idea how viable the whole package is. According to a post I read about seed germination, if 9-10 seeds sprout, plant your seeds as the packet instructions direct. If only 8 sprout, you've still got a pretty good chance they'll work out. If you get only 6-7 seeds to sprout, you may want to sow more seeds than directed as a back-up. If you get five or less seeds sprouting, buy new seeds.

Fold the paper towel over the seeds, then fold again. Put the folded paper towel into a zipper bag; seal it only partially. If you are testing out multiple seed varieties,  it's a good idea to label the bags.

Put the bags in a warm and sunny location (though not in direct sunlight) for a couple days. If the paper towel starts to dry out at any point, re-moisten it (I used a spray bottle).

After two days on my countertop, my peas looked like this:

Some were further along than others, but they were all starting to sprout. I'm planting my peas (including the ones I used in my test) this week!

If your seeds don't sprout in 2-3 days, don't give up! A few of my seeds (like the Swiss chard and spinach) took a little longer; the tomato seeds I'd saved from last year took about a week for one to even start sprouting (most of the others followed soon after).

Maybe this is the over-zealous gardener in me talking, but seed testing is fun, good for the soul even --especially at this time of year. It's exciting to see life return, even if it's wrapped in a paper towel, after the long winter months. It reminds me of that wonderful and oh-so-true quote from Henry David Thoreau: “Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.” 

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Your Green Resource, Simple Lives Thursday, and Little House Friday.}

I Made Laundry Detergent! (Again): Easy Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

Back in 2010, I made laundry detergent for the first time. I felt so self-sufficient and pioneery. I was amazed that it worked!

Then I stopped using it.

This was due to one factor: I was pregnant. I had made a big batch of detergent using Dr. Bronner's lavender soap and it worked fine. However, as my pregnancy progressed, the smell of lavender made my stomach turn like crazy (probably from grating all that lavender soap during my first trimester). Every time I pulled the container of laundry powder off the shelf and took off the lid, I felt like throwing up. But I couldn't put it in the trash and start with a different scent -- no way was I going to waste a bar of that soap!

So, yeah, it didn't get used for the rest of my pregnancy and once the baby was here, I still didn't use it. I was already getting the detergent at the store for the cloth diapers (I'd read mixed things about using homemade detergents on cloth diapers and didn't want to deal with that). Plus, I was so exhausted and overwhelmed that I just took a break from making detergent. I needed less on my list of things to do. Months later, even though I was taking on some of the things I done regularly before Baby #2 (as well as some new projects), I still just kept on buying the stuff at the store. My baby will be two this month and we just finished up the last of the store-bought detergent.

I've decided, though, to go back to the homemade detergent. I had my washing soda and borax ready to go, as well as a newly purchased bar of Fels-Naptha. But before I unwrapped the soap and pulled out my grater, I decided to look at some of the liquid detergent recipes on Pinterest. Most of them included grating and cooking and five-gallon buckets. Just as I was going to pass on the liquid stuff and stick to the good ol' powder recipe, I saw something different and waaaay easier.

It was a recipe from P. Allen Smith (I love that guy!). His version of liquid detergent couldn't be simpler to make. Seriously -- it takes less than five minutes from start to finish! It also costs much less than store-bought liquid detergent. You can find the video I watched here or you can follow these step-by-step instructions (plus, you'll also find some before-and-after pics like those ones on detergent commercials!):

To make this detergent, you'll need:

• 3 Tbsp. borax
• 3 Tbsp. washing soda (NOT baking soda. I used to only be able to find washing soda at Ace Hardware but now that homemade detergent has gotten a little more common, I can find it at Walmart in the laundry aisle.)
• 2 Tbsp. Dawn dish soap (the blue original kind)
• water
• an empty gallon-size milk jug

Pour the borax and washing soda into the empty milk jug.

Add the blue dish soap to the milk jug.

{Note:  I'm all for using natural cleansers and eco-friendly soaps; it's something I've mentioned a bunch on this blog. I totally get that Dawn dish soap is made from ingredients that aren't exactly "natural" (though it is biodegradable and there are no phosphates in it. Plus, the original blue kind doesn't have triclosan in it, either). I don't use this soap on my dishes, where traces of it could actually be ingested, for that reason. That said, I don't feel too worried about washing my family's clothes with this detergent -- it's a couple tablespoons of Dawn that's been diluted in almost a gallon of water, which will be diluted even further in when you use it in the washing machine.}

Add four cups of lukewarm water to the milk jug.

Put the lid on the jug and shake, shake, shake!

Next, fill it up with water from the tap, leaving just a few inches at the top unfilled. Don't worry about all the bubbles coming out as you fill it.

Put the cap on and give the mixture a shake again. I also just turned it upside to help the detergent mixture mix with the water.

Ta-da! Liquid laundry detergent! You could store your detergent in a fancy glass canister or in something with a creative label on it like I've seen on Pinterest or you could go my route: keep it in the milk jug and write on it with a Sharpie.

For each load, use anywhere from 1/2 cup to a full cup of detergent (it all depends on load size. I've been using a cup for all my large loads of laundry). A cup of detergent seems like a lot but since it's so thin and watery, you need to use more. Since it's so quick and easy to make, it's not a big deal that you use so much at a time, I think.

You might be asking now, "So does it actually work?"

I'm pretty sure that is chocolate on my six-year-old's shirt (a souvenir from my in-laws from their trip to South America last year) -- at least I think it is. Anyway, here's what it looked like before. I didn't do any sort of stain removal treatment before throwing it into the wash.

It works! The shirt came out of the wash as clean as ever. I also checked on some other clothes that had mud on them (welcome, spring!) and food stains and the detergent worked on them, too. (Sidenote: I haven't used this detergent with cloth diapers yet. Washing cloth diapers is a whole other topic. I've been using a detergent specifically for cloth diapers. I'll let you know what is if it keeps on working as well as it has). All in all, I'm pretty pleased with this new laundry room development.

Hooray for homemade detergent -- especially when you can make it in just a few minutes!

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop.}