Sunday Thoughts

Work like it all depends on you, but pray like it all depends on God.

-Myrnie

Hometown Seeds

I was recently approached by Hometown Seeds about their new website- they sell non-GMO flowers, herbs, vegetables, and what they call "Survival Seeds."  In fact, they offered to send me a free "survival seeds" packet (a $35 value) if I posted a link to their survival seeds page.  Ordinarily I wouldn't have responded, BUT they also gave me a coupon code for you guys...I felt bad leaving you out of that loop :)

So, I'll tell you guys all about the survival seeds when they come (it's going to be a vacuum-sealed mylar bag, with enough seeds to plant 3/4 acre and a freezer life of 10 years.  The thought is to be able to grow enough food for my family in event of an emergency.)

They have this to say about GMO seeds:
"Seeds are the core of our business and vital to life on our planet. We must protect this foundation as a safe and genetically stable source for future generations. We pledge that we will not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds. We are not confident in the safety of GMO seeds and therefore will not sell them to our valued customers. We believe they are being released for public use prematurely. More research and testing is necessary to further assess the potential risks of genetically engineered seeds."

Go check out Home Town Seeds- they have good prices, and a great selection of veggies and flowers from what I see, and reasonable shipping.  There aren't a lot of varieties of each vegetable, but there is a good total selection of the garden workhorse plants (artichoke, asparagus, tomato, kale, etc.)

Use the coupon code "thanks" to get 10% off your total order, until February 28th.

The 2010 Garden Plan

It's time for gardening!  Why yes, it IS January.  Apparently, cold-hardy truly  means cold hardy!  At time of writing, peas have been planted.  Kale, beets, spinach, and green onions are all on the bench to go in next time I step outside.  I've (unwittingly) already missed the window of opportunity for leeks and onions.



Our final frost day is April 1st- after that, melons, squash, beans, etc. are all cleared for planting.  Nothing like planting the garden to make us feel a little better about the last days of winter!



Here's the lineup for this year:
green arrow pea 
tom thumb pea 
golden zucchini 
ground cherry 
table queen squash 
blacktail mountain watermelon 
early silverline melon 
rainbow chard 
calypso bean 
royalty purple pod bean 
red potatoes 
genovese basil
mint
lemon balm
beets
carrots
nasturtium
marigold
small roma-type tomato

And if you're seeing my ground cherry intentions and laughing...my friend pulled these seeds from her own plants. She promises they're the real deal. (Yes, last year I planted ground cherries. 23 of them. And they were all tomatillos. My family loved the salsa they all got for Christmas. So did the friends. And most of my congregation.)

Most of my seeds are ready to go, thanks to my ground-cherry-promising friend, Mama Papaya- she pulled all kinds of goodies from her garden and sent me home with an armful of bagged seeds. (Everything with a fancy name up top came from her garden, which in turn came from Seed Savers.) Lovely, lovely lady. I just hope I don't kill them all.


Have you started your plans for the 2010 garden? Is it in the ground? In your head? Just a pipe dream?


And listen, if you're wanting to start gardening but really don't have space or time, here are a few things to throw on the back porch.

• Potatoes in a garbage can. I've done this twice now, it's magic every time to dump out my can and find real food in that dirt.  (You can purchase ORGANIC potatoes at the grocery store to use as seed- conventional potatoes are normally sprayed so they don't sprout. That's no good for gardening, is it?) I recently read of someone doing potatoes in burlap sacks. That's wonderful!!
• A big fat pot of basil. Start seeds indoors (my mom starts mine, and uses big 20 ounce cups so she doesn't have to transplant until planting time.) When they're nice and big, about 5 inches, put about 8 in a great big pot, like the size a tree comes in from the nursery. (Last year Trader Joes had nice big basil plants for a good price, if you want to just buy starts.) Trim them right when you harvest, and you'll have fresh basil all summer long!

• If you have an isolated patch of dirt, tap a friend for some mint- just dig up a chunk in the spring and plonk it in the ground. You'll have more mint than you know what to do with. (I haven't had good luck with this in pots, but others have.)
• If you buy green onions at the store and just use the green part, put the white bit with roots into a glass of water- it will keep growing! If you like, you can plonk it in the ground when the roots have grown out a bit. Green onions are amazingly cold hardy.

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For more winter home ideas, check out Melissa's Carnival at The Inspired Room!

Things to Make for Valentines Day

Stuck on what to do for Valentine's day?  Here are a few ideas from the archives!


If your sweetie likes chocolate, you can't go wrong with this gift- it's a box made of chocolate bars.  In the past I've filled it with hershey kisses, but maybe that's just chocolate overkill?  Is that possible?  (Not for my hubby it isn't!)


If you want to  make a simple little gift for a girl in your life, how about sparkly earrings?  If you plan on giving a corsage or boutteneire, how about a pretty beaded pin to go along?

For decorating, how about a fun felt garland to make with your kids?  Felt is nice and sticky, so you just need to go in and out with a needle- great for starting sewers!

I've updated the tutorial side bar- check it out for lots of fun things to make!

What do you do for Valentine's Day?  Cards?  Small gifts?  Goodies?

Teeny Tiny Napkins for Teeny Tiny Faces

I picked up a stack of cloth napkins at the thrift store last summer to replace our paper ones, and they're great. The kids love them, they're durable, they wash well...but there's only 8, and always seem to be in the laundry hamper instead of the kitchen! We needed more...and we needed lots.

I picked up a piece of home-decor weight cotton fabric a while back during a fabric sale at Joann's, and stuck it away until a project came along. All the home-dec fabrics have big warnings "DO NOT WASH ME!" Obviously, I felt a twinge of guilt when I got home as I threw my piece of fabric in the washing machine and shut the door. (I'm a rule keeper.)

Yeah, nothing happened except that all the industrial-strength starch washed out, it shrank a little, and...it now seems to be absorbant. None of these are good news for your furniture, but GREAT news for your kitchen!

The edges are just serged with a rolled hem edge, and these tiny wipes are a great size for the kids. As my mom and dad pointed out (while laughing and trying on for size) these are NOT lap-sized napkins. They're not even really adult-sized napkins. But for wiping off crumby faces and fingers, and little drips of milk, these are a great size for the kids to work with. They're about 8 inches square.

Sunday Thoughts: I Know That My Redeemer Lives

Looking through the archives, I found this song I recorded early last year, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives."


He does. And I do.


Happy Sunday, everyone!


-Myrnie

Baby Legs

Baby legs are good enough to eat (and I do- believe me, I do!) but they're extra cute in these leg warmers from the indomitable Aunt LoLo. She makes them out of women's trouser socks- LoLo, I thought you had a tutorial, but I couldn't find it!

If anyone is sewing along at home, you basically cut the foot off the sock above the ankle, then cut the toe and ankle off the foot part to make it into a tube. Fold the tube together and attach as the bottom cuff, and you have adorable baby leg warmers!

(Did that make any sense? In theory it makes sense to me, but I always sew linings and cuffs backwards. Which is why LoLo excels at these baby leg warmers and I've never even attempted them! I'll bet if you ask nice, she'll put a pair in her shop *grin*)

Mimi adores skirts (her gargantuan cloth diapers make pants seem so restricting) and leg warmers are great for keeping her warm, but her feet uncovered so she doesn't slip on our hardwood floors. Plus, the legwarmers are great for our frequent diaper changes, and tights are always so tight over the diapers (plus, they don't breathe well...) Thanks Aunt LoLo, we LOOOOVE our leg warmers!! (In fact, Ernie was so smitten that she wore a pair to bed, over her jammies.)

It feels like this space has been so quiet lately. I've recorded a few new songs for you guys- one is being mixed down by my fantastic husband (we pulled out all the fun stuff- microphones, mixers, cords, stands....it was a riot!) but since I did vocals and accompaniment, the tracks aren't mushed together yet. He's mushing :) I can't wait for you guys to hear it! The second song I recorded needs to be re-done: higher notes, sung while playing piano, don't record well. At all :) I have another picked out to record, but sent the book to my mom for the weekend- it's a great compilation of old spirituals and folk tunes, set to real accompaniment, not just chords and melody like most publishers push out. I can't wait to get it on tape for you guys! There's one more piano/vocal song I have picked out, but it needs a little more work since I just found it yesterday. Then there's a show tune I'm just dying to record, even if it's a cappella (I don't have the piano music, but it's so fanastic it doesn't need accompaniment right? Isn't that what we all tell ourselves when we're belting something out in the shower?)

So, lots going on in the background, but not a lot showing up here!

At the rate I'm snapping pictures of all our Christmas goodies, I could be blogging about the holidays for months!