Jungle Garden

I've put off writing this post for a long time. Why? Because I kept thinking, oh my garden just needs time to flourish. Well, I've given it PLENTY of time and let me say, my first garden attempt was terrible.

Here's what I did wrong: 

1. In my opinion, I planted the seed about 2-3 weeks late. Next time, I won't start from seed, at least not the tomato plants. 

2. I planted the seed entirely too close! Now, I have giant tomato plants toppling over each other with no tomatoes! Wait, I take that back, (see image below) I have tons of green pumpkin like tomatoes, that never fully produced. Also, out of that hard work, time, and effort I have a total of two tomatoes to show for it. TWO. Yes, I can feed an army of none. 

3. Towards, the end I threw my hands up and said, "the hell with it, I'm not watering this!" 

I haven't given up entirely on gardening. Next time, I will only grow a few things from seed and I will start early, water often, and run less. Next spring, I plan of focusing on speed running. More 5K and 10K races...that type of thing. That way, I can focus on other interests of mine, like trying to grow a garden. I believe, if I put the same amount of energy into my gardening, as I do running, I will have the best garden in the world or at least the block. We will see.

Another thing I've learned from this first time gardening experience - Herbs are so easy to grow. Maybe next season, I should focus on an herb garden. Lots to think about, but at least I have time. Now, all I have to do is clean up this jungle in my backyard. Trey?!?!

Here is everything that did not produce, tomatoes, squash, strawberries, and jalapenos. However, the cilantro, rosemary, mint, onions/chives, and basil flourished nicely.

Here are my precious tomatoes and no I won't be sharing, so don't even ask me! :)

Garden @ 8 Weeks

I'm ready to eat tomatoes and squash! Patience. Well, the garden is growing and looking healthy. So far, I've been enjoying all the herbs. I wish I could say, I've been eating all those veggies, but they are not quite ready.

A closer look at the tomatoes...

The two tomato plants on the left side are the same type of plant. However, the one on far left I transplanted and used regular top soil and the one next to it, in the raised garden bed, I used compost. What a difference in size!

Live. Breathe. Smell. Eat!

This morning, Cheyenne and I made our way to the backyard to harvest fresh basil. We took time to smell each plant. It smells so earthy. 

What to do with all this basil? I think I have the perfect recipe. 

"Cheyenne, smell the mint."

"No, momma, I think I'd rather eat it."

Sure.

Smelling Oregano

A Closer Look at The Food We Eat

The documentary, Food Inc, has been sitting in my Netflix cue for months. But the last few weeks, everyone around me has been talking about it. So, when I was bogged down with allergies, I sat down on the sofa and watched it. Most of the info was just a repeat of what I've already heard from other outlets. Here is the trailer.



It did reignite my interest in home-grown local produce and products. Shopping locally is pricey and can add up fast (not saying anything new), but like the movie mentions, we vote with dollars and cents. I like the idea that when I spend my family's hard earned money - it goes back into my community. So, I've decided when its possible, I will shop farmers market. A lot of my friends think I shop organic everything. I don't, but I try to shop first locally, second organic, and lastly supermarket surprise. I've been doing this for a while and it works. The fall and winter months I do a lot of supermarket surprise produce shopping.

But in the last few years organic is popping up everywhere, I'm sure you've noticed this, it's hard to miss. So, this makes my life easier when I shop at Wal-Mart. Lord knows, I've done the whole shopping at Central Market for produce, meat, and bread and then shopping at Wal-Mart for everything else. It's exhausting. I raise my glass to Wal-Mart for offering more affordable organic options.

Cowtown Blend by Aduro Bean

A lot of my friends and family members drink coffee. We love it. We drink it everyday. We'd go crazy without it. Even if you are like my mother-in-law who only drinks decaf, you still have to have it. 

Well, this past weekend Cheyenne and I stopped by the farmers market and I bought this irresistible coffee made by  Aduro Bean. Look them up. Did I mention a bag is $10.50 a lb? Is it just me or 
does that sound expensive? To compare....the coffee I normally buy 
costs $5 dollars (12 oz) and I think its pretty good. I think its so 
good, I've been consistently drinking it for more than five years.

However, Aduro Bean is home grown Fort Worth, fair trade, and 
organic. I can't resist. Plus, my compost pile is going to love these 
coffee grounds. Drink it up. Gulp. Gulp.

If you come over, I'll brew you some, but after the first cup I'm 
going to have to charge you. No, I would never do that.

Compost, We Meet Again

I started composting back in July. Check out the original pile.

Up Close, snapshot taken in July

Now, look at it. It's beautiful.

The pile still needs time to completely break-down. When I mix it, I can still see a few peels, from the most recent kitchen purge. Each week, I walk out with my kitchen waste and dump it, turn it, and water it. A chore, but it's nice to see that it's actually paying off.

In hopes that it will be ready for spring, I've decided not to add anymore waste or clippings to it. I will continue to water and turn it each week. I want to continue to compost, so I started a new pile to the left. This new side will be my new garbage disposal.

I've added countless, banana peels, apple peels, orange peels, coffee filters, and a whole lot of other stuff. Hey, did you know you can add the lint from your dryer to a compost pile? Yeah.

You Know it's Football Season When...

The Anderson's go from two DVD's out at a time (from Netflix's)-----to one DVD out at a time.

Here are the top 3 movies on my queue list:
1. Sunshine Cleaning
2. Pineapple Express---because every time I see Amy she seems to quote or mention it. So, apparently it's a must see.
3. The Wrestler

Currently, I have An Inconvenient Truth on it's way to the house. I'm sure Trey will love it. Yeah, right. It's kind of old, but I never had a chance to watch it. As much as Trey rolls his eyes about me and my "green endeavors" he sure does encourage them. For example: For our next green project we're talking about installing rain barrels. It was mostly his idea.

Compost in Action

A week and a half worth of kitchen waste. It's going in the compost bin and staying out of the landfill.

The food seems to be breaking down nicely. I make it a point to go out once a week to turn and water the pile. I went out this morning and almost melted in the heat.

I think it needs more grass clippings and it still needs some manure.

Compost is Done and It's Too Hot to Run

I’m back in the ELEMENT. The repairs look good and it’s wonderful to be back in my familiar SUV.

In other news, I think it’s safe to say the compost bin is COMPLETE. After Saturday’s baby food adventure, we had a ton of kitchen waste---So I have that pile going in the compost. Earlier this week, I purchased some straw from our local feed store. It was 3 bucks (not bad) and I hear in order to get a good compost batch, you should really use manure….gross I know. We live in a semi-rural area so, I’m thinking about sending Trey to the horse stables to get some. He would do it, I think. But first I need to look up and see if horse manure will be okay, instead of cow. Anyone have experience? This composting business is all new to me, so it may take a while to figure it out. I have several layers going right now:
1. Straw
2. Kitchen waste
3. Straw
4. Kitchen waste
5. Grass clippings
At the end of the week, I have to get out there and turn it with my pitchfork. Yeah, a pitchfork, maybe I’ll put on some overalls while I’m doing it. HA!

About the running
I’m re-evaluating my long runs because Saturday morning Cheyenne and I ran outside and it was beyond HOT! Towards the end, I started to get dizzy. So, now I’m thinking about doing the treadmill for anything over 4 miles, at least during the summer. Long run and treadmill should not be in the same sentence, but it’s better than fainting. My other option, is to wake up extremely early before it gets too hot. But, other than weather complaints, running is great. I’m averaging 13-14 miles a week and loving it. Some days are harder than others, luckily yesterdays 4 miler was easy—I also did that on the treadmill. I had a towel and water close by and a fan keeping me cool----much better than Saturday. I had planned on being outside, but Trey wanted to do yard work and someone needed to stay inside, in case Cheyenne decided to wake up.

So this is how it Works...

I will definetly use this as a reference video, since I don't have a clue what I'm doing. This is also the same model Trey made. If you like it, you can look it up at lowes.com

How to Compost at Home with a Composting Bin
by RM-gable

Birthday Wish: Compost Bin

Check out this big mamma....
It's still not complete, but you get the idea. This is basically, the finished product. All it needs is some hardware cloth on both sides and the top door. Not sure if Trey plans on putting a door/lid on the left side. I like how he made the bin with removable slats.

I put my flip flop here so you can get a scope of the size. It's pretty big. Depending on what the finished compost looks like, I think I might sell some.

I already have kitchen waste ready to go. It'll probably take 4-8 months for the first batch to breakdown.