Indoor Greens Experiment

Well, they are already starting to get spindly as they make a desperate reach for the sunlight. I'm going to try a different window, but I'm starting to understand why people get an Aerogarden. I may invest in a grow light this weekend, while my Dad is here to help.

Garden Math

Based on average harvests per plant for tomato and strawberries, just to keep our family self sufficient in both we would need at least 35 tomato plants (we have 9) and 300 strawberry plants (what can I say, my kids love strawberries and we eat lots of strawberry preserves). Thats 22 4X4 square foot garden boxes just for those two plants. Yikes! Thankfully, we don't need to be totally self sufficient yet, but as we move towards that end we may have to look into a greenhouse, lol.

Beef Stock

At the farmer's market earlier this week, the grass-fed beef farmer had soup bones for sale in addition to the regular cuts of meat and ground beef. We pick up some and they are in the crockpot right now being turned into stock. Tonight we're having local french onion soup (well, the beef stock is local and so are the onions) to go with our local panini. I'm so pleased to have a source for healthy beef stock - yay!

Independence Days

If you surf long enough, you will find a community of people with the same interests as yourself, no matter how unusual you might think those interests are, right :o) I'm discovering that there is an entire local foods movement with local eating challenges all over the web. A few days ago, I discovered a website http://sharonastyk.com , a website that is hosting an Independence Days Challenge - that is a challenge to move towards food independence for your family, community building and emergency preparedness. Since they started this back in April, I'm getting in on it late, but I think I will try to participate as much as I can and will update my blog weekly.

Indoor Salad Greens Experiment

A few days ago, I asked for advice on container gardening to grow salad greens indoors. Our summers here are just too hot and lettuce bolts in May if grown outside, but I've never tried growing it indoors. Maybe its the homeschooler in me, but I couldn't just sit around and wait for a reply, I had to do something. So, I decided to experiment. All I have is one "window box" so for now that all I planted, but as soon as I find one at a garage sale or clearanced, I plan on having two - one south facing and one north facing, to see which grows better.



On Monday, I put 8 lettuce seeds from Mesclun mix and 8 spinach seeds into the filled box. This morning, I awoke to 4 sprouts :o) This box will now sit in the south facing window to observe what happens. I sure hope we're eating baby greens in a few weeks :o)

Here is our baby "Sprout". Sorry for the blurry picture, but this is lettuce,
so we're talking a really tiny plant. :o)

First Cucumber!

Tackle it Tuesday - Cleaning out the Refrigerator

5 Minutes for Mom is hosting Tackle It Tuesday and helping Moms everywhere to get their housework under control one tackle at a time. Check out what others are tackling!


If i had to choose one most hated housework chore, it would , for me, be cleaning out the refrigerator. I'd actually prefer scrubbing toilets to decluttering and wiping down shelves in the fridge. So obviously, it gets put off until I cannot fit another thing in there. See . . .

Since I know that I might get started only to get frustrated and give up, I'm posting this so that I have some accountability. I am also giving myself permission to do it a little time. The plan is to remove something that needs throwing each time I reach in to the fridge for something else until all old stuff is removed. Then I'll wipe down the shelves and organize. So it will probably take more than today to finish my tackle. I'll post pics later in the week of my finished project. Wish me luck :o)

P.S. For those regular readers of my blog (if there are any, lol) we don't drink colas, but most of our family does, so we keep one in the fridge for when we have guests. :o)