On The Prowl - Inspiring Veggie Gardens

It's been a while since I've done an on-the-prowl post, so I decided to take the opportunity, as I find myself browsing garden photos and designs for ideas.  We're getting our hands dirty this month, ramping up for what we hope will be a wonderful harvest of home-grown veggies from our own backyard garden.  As we fine-tune our design and layout, here are some veggie gardens that inspired me to go big! 

all photos link to source

I love the variety in this garden - and with the addition of a large, in-ground bed this year, our backyard space is more equipped to handle this sort of planting.  We've used smaller, raised beds in the past, but it's made watering more difficult (until we can upgrade to an automatic drip system) and it's somewhat limiting in terms of space.  We've planted the whole in-ground bed from seed, and it will be a great way to experiment with a bunch of crops we haven't tried before... to see what does well, what we like and use, and what we want to grow again!

This one is really unique.  I love the way they've used color as a border and to unify all the beds despite their differing shapes and sizes.  I'd love to do a small scale version of this, using pollinator-attracting plants as a border around some of our smaller planted areas. 

Something we're giving more thought to this year, is the location of particular plants - and trying to use our vertical space to maximize yields.  I love this cucumber trellis idea - something that could work for peas, tomatoes, or any plant that can be trained to climb.  I also love that we could build this from things we have laying around.

We've also been doing a lot more cooking lately, and we're hoping to have a kitchen-friendly garden, with lots of herbs to use along with our veggies.  Here is an idea that I found so creative.  It's a wagon-wheel, with various herbs planted in the sections of the spokes.  It would still be something interesting to look at over the winter months, and during the growing season, the spokes provide the perfect framework for an interesting herb garden (all without taking up too much space). 

And although this layout isn't practical for the space we're working on right now, I can envision this in a different area of the yard - or for anyone who needs a way to encorporate garden beds into a non-traditional space (like along a narrow walkway)!  I especially love that you could grow UP as well, along a trellis like this.  I'm thinking grapevine....  AND, it's from one of my fave garden blogs... Studio G.

And of course, the thing that inspires me the most is thinking about ENJOYING the garden, once it's established.  Thinking about a blooming, producing garden with chickens wandering and relaxing in a shady spot to take it all in... now THAT's got me motivated .  :) 

Happy Mother's Day - and Happy Planting!

The Runaway Planet Experiment - May: Reconnecting With Dirt

After an entirely frustrating month of trying to avoid plastic in an almost purely plastic world, I'm excited to shift gears to our May goals.  We're actually looking forward to spending a LOT of time on this - which is to reconnect ourselves (and our girls) with DIRT and growing as much food for our family as we can.

We've always had a veggie garden (some years have been more successful than others) - but this year, we started early.  We're growing from seed, we've converted a large space in the yard to an in-ground and multiple raised beds... we purchased a sprinkler timer since we don't yet have a drip system - and we're hoping for a major harvest this year.  The best part?  This month is FUN.  Digging in the dirt has us all smiling.


So here are some of our monthly goals:

• Make a garden plan, and keep a journal - so we know how to modify our plan in the years to come

• Plant as much as we can from seed (starting indoors) and try some new things that we've never grown before

• Work to improve our soil as much as possible, as naturally as possible

• Get our kids excited about growing food (we already are!)

 

MOVIE OF THE MONTH:

DIRT! (Available on Netflix)

Watch the trailer here:

It's a really inspiring movie, and it will definitely get you thinking about DIRT differently.

Waste Not: Looking Back At Our Month

Trying to avoid plastic is IMPOSSIBLE!!  If nothing more, our month of waste awareness taught us that.  No matter how hard you try (not purchasing plastic containers or products in them like yogurt, cheese, berries, etc.) you still have to remember to request paper bags (before the checker has bagged them all in plastic without asking you)... you still have to remember to bring a water bottle everywhere you go (or be forced to use a plastic bottled water-type option)... and plastic even sneaks into products that are seemingly wrapped in cardboard (until you open the outer box).  Ugh!

Here's one small example.  Baby Sister's first birthday fell during our 'Waste Not' month.  I had pulled my inspiration for an owl cake from the internet:

I made my list, headed to the store, and realized that nearly everything I needed (candy eyes, oreo cookies, etc.) was packaged in plastic.  Avert!  With a few simple changes, we were able to create a slightly different owl - but using different options.

The (new) inspiration owl:

And here is how our plan B turned out:

It wasn't exceedingly difficult to make these adjustments... just TIME CONSUMING.  I've realized that avoiding plastic is especially hard when you're pressed for time, forgot to plan ahead, or need a specific item (like for a recipe) and you don't have a back-up plan. 

And aren't we all pressed for time?  I rarely plan ahead, at least as far as meals/food goes, and once I'm together enough to make a specific recipe - I NEVER have an alternative plan in mind.  So... we found out the hard way, and made a real effort to plan ahead for these kinds of things.

And then, Big Sister got super sick and ended up at the hospital.  Perhaps a get-out-of-jail-free card?  Perhaps, due to circumstances.  But there were literally zero options when it came to non-plastic packaging for food or drink.  Zero.  Yikes.  Then I remember a shopping trip early in the month, when I walked out of the store with just ONE bag of groceries (including all of our staples) thanks to forcing myself to buy as much from the bulk aisle as possible . So there were some successes along with the failures... considering that on a normal shopping trip for the same items I would have had at LEAST three bags full.

In all, it was a frustrating and failure-full month (with enough successes here-and-there to keep us going) - but as we navigated modern conveniences vs. trying to cut down on unnecessary waste, I definitely found myself frustrated time and time again.  It has inspired me to contact some companies that we love, and encourage them to consider alternatives to plastic (in their take-out containers, bags, or even just general product packaging).  It has made me think through my shopping ahead of time instead of rushing out the door and thinking later (and thus forgetting my reusable produce bags or grocery sacks).  It's also made me hyper-aware of the packages products come in, and how much space the waste takes up.

The walkaway for us continues to be:

1. Composting as much as possible
2. Recycling as much as we can that is not compostable
3. Throwing away the rest in a PAPER bag, and trying to avoid the plastic packaging before it even makes it through the door

 I hope that we can do even better during the growing season - either because we'll have fresh produce from the garden, or because we can buy most of our food from farmer's markets and the like - without the traditional packages.  Wish us luck!
 

Too Good Not To Share - Little G Pants

In light of our 'Waste Not' month around here (avoiding plastic and unnecessary waste whenever possible)... I thought I'd share a great product I've come across.  You might have noticed that there was a big, fat, gaping HOLE in our goals for avoiding plastic this month.  Yes, we stopped buying yogurt.  We are not using plastic bags.  We are trying to avoid plastic containers of all kinds by buying in bulk.  But you know we have a baby, right?  Well.  Um.  What about all those diapers?

Well, in my defense, we couldn't waste the ones we already had on hand!  But this month was the kick in the pants (pun intended) that I needed to transition over to a re-usable diaper.  Meet the little gPants!

I'm not sure why I've always been afraid to take the cloth diaper 'plunge' - but I'm here to tell you I'm working my way to the "other" side.  Little gPants are the PERFECT way to transition away from a disposable diaper.  They're genius, really.  The perfect cloth diapers for beginners.  And a beginner, I am. 

See, instead of facing loads of laundry right off the bat, I can transition to cloth with these re-usable diaper covers while continuing to use a disposal (yet biodegradable, plastic-free!) insert.  The wet ones are even compostable... and you know how excited we are about composting lately... remember this?

They sell packages of biodegradable inserts that fit perfectly into their re-usable diaper covers...so you don't miss out on any of the conveniences of a true disposable diaper option.  But here's my one beef with the little gPants.  I'm doing everything I can to avoid plastic.  WHY MUST YOU PACKAGE YOUR NON-PLASTIC DISPOSABLE, COMPOSTABLE INSERTS IN... PLASTIC?!?!  Alas, sometimes I guess you just have to pick your battles.

Dear Mr. Little G Pants Decision Maker:  PLEASE CONSIDER COMPOSTABLE PACKAGING. 
thank you.  the end of my rant.

After getting over my moral dilemma of buying the non-plastic inserts in the plastic package... I came home with some for Baby Sister, and was anxious to try them out.  Here's how the look with the disposable insert inside.  Note:  when I become a professional at this, I might use CLOTH PRE-FOLDS instead of these disposable inserts.  (Gasp!)

I'm amazed to find (after just a couple of days of using these) that I don't think I'll ever go back to the old Pampers!  I'm hoping to get into a rhythm of using cloth pre-folds at home, and the disposable inserts for overnight and when we're out.  Wish me luck - but I must say, for the cloth-diaper wary... give these a try!  You can find out all about the company and shop their line of products here.

And here is the finished, fully-wrapped product:

What up, 'g'?

How do I look, Ma?  

Yeah, I think they're pretty cute, too.

Meet The Girls - Our Chickens Have Arrived!

Okay, we're chicken crazy this week, and our girls arrived today!!  All six came safe and sound from MyPetChicken.com, and we are so excited to have them.  Big Sister skipped the first part of her school day to accompany us to the post office to pick them up.  It was big time stuff around here :)

And now, for the introductions.  Yes, we took chicky mug shots.  Here goes (all named by our 4 year old):

Harry (Easter Egger, who will lay blue or green eggs)

 Mustard (Buff Orpington, who will lay brown eggs)

 Peck-Peck (Barred Rock, who will lay brown eggs)

 Sneakers (White Cochin, who will lay white eggs)

 Valentine (Welsummer, who will lay dark brown speckled eggs) - we are especially excited that she arrived, as they had called to say their Welsummers were not hatching out as expected.  But she came after all, and we're happy about it!

 and Dotty (Ancona, who will lay white eggs)

Coop Progress & Chicken Week!

After much anticipation, our little baby chicks are set to arrive today.  We also received about 14 inches of snow in the last 24 hours, go figure...  thankfully they'll be inside for the first few weeks!

Here are some shots of our coop progress this past weekend...

Too Good Not To Share: City Specific Seed Starting & Garden Planting Guides

We are counting down the days to the last frost, so we can FINALLY plant the veggie garden that we are so looking forward to.  In our planning, we came across a helpful website that gives you a breakdown of seed starting dates and an in-ground planting guide... get this... by CITY!  That's right.  You can type in your location, and based on calculations of the last frost date, it gives you a complete guide by crop for when to plant.  Love it!

Here's the link for Denver, enjoy!

http://www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-dates/CO/Denver

Movie Of The Month: Dive! (trailer)

This movie is WILD.  It still kind of freaks me out.  But if NOTHING else, it will make you think about the amount of WASTE that is considered acceptable in our society.  This movie stays with you.

Kids & Vegetables

 

As you may have gathered from my Easter Quiche Recipe post, we hosted Easter Brunch for the family this year - and I thought it would be fun to use a spring vegetable (Asparagus!) as part of our table decor.  Needless to say, we had asparagus with our dinner the next night.  : ) 

It occurred to me before the dinner that Big Sister was not likely to partake.  Being 4 1/2, strange new vegetables are not exactly her favorite thing.  But things did not go according to my theory, surprisingly.  We steamed up the asparagus, and drizzled it with a bit of soy sauce (my very favorite way to eat it) - and much to our surprise, Big Sister dove in for a sample before the two of us even sat down at the table.  I'm not sure if it was because she was so recently familiar with the stuff (via our table decor from the previous morning) or if she just felt particularly adventurous, but then she announced:

"Mmmm!  Asparagus is delicious!  I think it's my new favorite vegetable!"

Um, wha?  This SHOCKED me.  This coming from a child who doesn't eat salad?  It's not like she's never encountered asparagus before, but this was something new.  And it got me thinking... as much focus as we've had on increasing our plant-based food intake... on buying organic... on eating fresh, REAL food... 

maybe it's actually having an effect on this kid!  

I'm not sure the point of my posting this other than to encourage parents to KEEP EXPOSING kiddos to vegetables.  While a month ago, I can guarantee you she would have practically gagged down her mandatory "no-thank-you-bite" of asparagus, this month she LOVED it!

Hmm.

The Runaway Planet Experiment: April

This month, our awareness is shifting to the garbage.  We're focusing on all the things we waste, and doing what we can (for a solid month) to eliminate waste where we can.  Not all of these things will stick for the long term, but we're hoping that if we spend a month thinking about them, perhaps we can change some of our habits for the better.

So here are some of our monthly goals:

• No single use plastic.  This means NO plastic bags for the entire month unless we are re-using ones we already have at home.  None.  It also means no yogurt.  No pre-packaged cheese (think Big Sister's lunch favorite, of the string variety).  No fresh berries from the grocery store in plastic containers.  None of our favorite freezer burritos (EVOL brand) since they're wrapped in plastic.  Man.  This is going to be HARD.

• No bottled water.  This month (or probably ever, after watching the movie, Tapped)

• Avoiding any and all packaging that we can on all purchases

• Bring our own waterbottle/bags for all shopping

• We're going to buy as much in BULK as we can to eliminate packaging waste

•  Compost as much of our waste as possible

MOVIE OF THE MONTH:

MUST SEE MOVIE:  Dive! (Available on Netflix)

http://www.divethefilm.com/

This movie follows one family who eats entirely from dumpsters.  For real.  It examines how and why food is wasted in our society - and will open your eyes it's a surprisingly artistic film as well.

ADDITIONAL MOVIES:   Bag It!  (Available on Netflix)

This movie takes a hard look at single-use plastic that will change the way you look at our convenience-driven society forever.

Much of our inspiration for this month's goals comes from the movie: Bag It!, which was actually created by a guy in a small town right here in Colorado. 

Here is the trailer:

  BOOK OF THE MONTH:  Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash  by Elizabeth Royte