This is a crosspost from my blog Grandma Rosie's Texas Home . I think you will enjoy this. Who doesn't love hummingbirds, butterflys and pretty flowers!
Part of the beauty of an organic garden is watching birds, butterflies, dragonflies, and bees foraging among the flowers — dipping in for a drink of sweet nectar, loading up with golden pollen, and plucking at tender seeds and berries. But growing organically isn't the only way to ensure visits from these winged beauties. Growing the right plants and flowers helps attract them.
Get "hummers" to hover in your yard. If you want to witness magic, attract hummingbirds. Creating a hummer haven is easy — think red and tubular! Hummers will flock to clematis (Clematis spp.), trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), cypress vine (Ipomoea quamoclit), and their favorite plant, trumpet vine (Campsis radicans). Also consider red-flowered lobelia, salvia, fuchsias, morning glories, mallow, penstemons, and bee balm.
Invite them in with sugar water. Make your own sugar water for hummingbird feeders. The ratio is four parts water to one part table sugar. Bring water to a boil, then add sugar and stir until it dissolves completely. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature before filling your feeder. Change the nectar once a week when temperatures are below 80 degrees F. On warmer days change it every three days so the nectar doesn't ferment and spoil. Unused nectar will store for two weeks in refrigerator. Clean your feeder monthly with a solution of 1/4 cup of bleach mixed with 1 gallon of water. Soak the feeder for an hour in the bleach solution and scrub with a bottlebrush. Rinse well and refill with nectar.
Grow It and They Will Come!
Songbirds:
Attract songbirds with a combination of shrubs, flowers, and trees that will provide seeds and fruits all season.
Trees provide food and cover from predators.
Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)
White cedar (Thuja occidentalis)
Red cedar (Juniperus virginiana)
American mountain ash (Sorbus americana)
Crabapple (Malus varieties)
Flowers provide fruit and seed.
Bee balm (Monarda spp.)
Penstemon (Penstemon spp.)
Goldenrod (Solidago hybrids)
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)
Cosmos (Cosmos spp.)
Tickseed (Coreopsis spp.)
Aster (Aster spp.)
Shrubs and vines provide food and cover.
Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)
Blueberry (Vaccinium spp.)
Japanese yew (Vaccinium spp.)
Cotoneaster (Podocarpus macrophylla)
Common juniper (Juniperus spp.)
Butterflies:
Bring in butterflies with nectar-rich flowers.
Butterfly bush (Buddleia spp. Note that these shrubs can be invasive in some parts of the country.)
Yarrow (Achillea spp.)
Sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus)
Violets (Viola spp.)
Bee balm (Monarda spp.)
Lilac (Syringa spp.)
English lavender (Lavandula spp.)
Passion flower (Passiflora spp.)
Dill (Anethum graveolens)
Swamp milkweed (Asclepias spp.)
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)
Lupine (Lupinus spp.)
Aster (Aster spp.)
Just popping in here. Life on our little Tennessee Homestead has gotten a bit busier this week with Frank heading to Georgia for a new engineering job and the kids and I left to manage the home & farm! But I'm trying to keep up with some blogging!
I found a calculator at the U.S. Government's Energy Star website to help you determine if you should replace your old refrigerator or get rid of an old freezer to save on your energy usage. You can read about the calculator on my blog here.
I'm also trying to get more info on our experiences living with solar power so check back now and then to see what new info I have up!
Happy energy saving!
Kristin Hoffman homesteads with her family in the hills of East Tennessee and blogs about alternative energy, family farming, and home schooling with her husband at www.solarfamilyfarm.com. She can also be found keeping the home fires burning!
Take a look at this!!! We as homeschooling parents need to be organized, this would be a WONDERFUL way to help us stay on top of everything! What a great idea, make sure you spend a few minutes looking it over!
With Love From My Homestead to yours,
~Chas~
Chasity L. Burrell
Senior Editor Homesteadblogger.com
One of the great things about raising rabbits is rabbit poo. Yeah I know-who likes manure? Its supposed to be a stinky nasty mess that no-one likes right? Well in this case poo is pure gold. It can be used for everything from lawn and garden to earning extra cash. I never have enough of this stuff and that's saying something! It comes in a convenient round, dry power ball full of nitrogen and phosphorous. Here is a few ideas to get you started:
1> Garden....my favorite place to use it. It will not burn plants even when applied fresh. Its the secret to your best garden ever.
2> Lawn....Makes a great fertilizer for your lawn. A no cost way to have beautiful grass.
3> Hot beds....Makes a great early starter soil for your hot beds.
4> Worm beds....great for fishing worms. Have your own supply of bait all year long. Red worms also make great potting soil out of your manure for all your potted plants.
5> Cash....Sell it. There are alot of people out there that will give you good money for rabbit poo. Sell it by the zip-lock bag full or feed sack full. I've even heard of people selling it on Ebay.
6> Make good friends and neighbors. There is nothing like warming up a neighbor by sharing your secret to a great veggie garden!
Now for the minor problems with rabbit manure.
1> Smell---rabbit manure does not smell--rabbit urine on the other hand smells awful. A well drained gravel bed under the cages will help alot. Keep the area under the cages clean and dry and you will be less likely to ever notice a foul oder.
2>Flies---flies breed in manure, however, if it is kept dry your problem will be greatly reduced. Raising worms in your manure also seems to help. I do not use fly spray because I use my manure in the garden and do not want the chemicals transferred but for those of you who don't you can spray the area with fly spray to prevent infestation. I just can't recommend this due to my nature.
3>Mice----for some odd reason mice seem to love the stuff. Keep your feed spillage down to a minimum and this will help.
Rabbit manure values approx.:
N
P
K
Rabbit manure
2.4
1.4
0.6
Most concentrated of animal manures in fresh form.
If you have any rabbit questions or problems-just send me a message or comment. I'll do my best to answer any questions or try to point you in the right direction. Blessings>faithfarm
Have you seen those neat container gardening boxes called Earthboxes? This weekend we stopped by a nursery just to look around and they had a display of Earthboxes for sale. At $49.95 , they are just a tad bit out of my price range!
Container gardening is something I really enjoy- no weeding, less work preparing, and you can "take it with you" when you move (which for my family has been quite often). So, I thought some of these Earthboxes might be just the thing...well, until I saw the price!
I showed them to my husband (who builds and designs things for a living) and told him I would like him to design some for me . Today I did an internet search and found this site with plans and photos of some homemade Earthboxes! Not as pretty as those at the garden center, but perhaps my husband can make me some that are pretty as well as functional . I'll let you know what happens there, but be sure to check out the "do it yourself" plans if you think Earthboxes might be for you! If any of you have plans or ideas for container gardening, be sure to share them. I'm always on the lookout for new ways to grow!
at the Homestead Carnival . Pop on over to see some lovely flowers and find lots of great entries to read! And, if you haven't participated before, plan to do so soon, the Carnival is a great way to share your tips and tales with others .
What a pleasure it is for me to bring you this weeks featured blogger! Not only is she a great homestead blogger, but she is my dearest in real life friend. Lindsey~ At Home on this Mountain
On her blog that began a little more than a year ago, you will meet her sweet family. Mama to four precious blessings and many more to come if the Lord wills, and wife to a pretty great guy. They are a lovely family and I am so thankful that the Lord crossed our paths those some 5+ years ago! (wow can you believe it has been that long?)
On her blog you will get a closer look of how she is At Home on this Mountain.
Lindsey shares with us some great recipes and her monthly menu plans. Here are some fun times she had with her family on Father's Day last year
and on a snowy day this past winter. She created her children some modest swim wear for a trip to Dollywood last summer and you can see those pictures on her blog. Sewing is one of her many abilities and you can see some more of her craftiness here! Organizing is such fun... well for some of us.. hee hee, here Lindsey organized her Crafting Closet. Lindsey has also lost 25 lbs and she tells us what she is doing here.
So drop by and tell her hello and congratulations on being this weeks Featured Blogger.
If you have a Featured Blogger that you would like to nominate here on Homesteadblogger you can send me their blog address and name, we have new bloggers each week!
I put out the plea last week for everyone to rally together and list your favorite frugal tip. We had several to participate and I appreciate each and every one!
The first one is from Wendy and her blog A Sunny Place:
First of all - Read the Tightwad Gazette Complete - she's truly the queen of frugal.
Frugal things we do:
Bulk/stock up shopping -shopping more often gives way to buying things we don't need (at least for me it does) So Last Nov we bulk purchased diapers, toilet paper, Kleenex, Sant. Knap., etc and
--Can when items are in season - we canned up a storm in the fall (over 300 jars of stuff) and grocery shopping was local for milk, fresh carrots, etc.
-- Cut our cell phone back to a pay as you go plan - and use it ONLY AS NEEDED and it cut the temptation to talk on it excessively and saved us a bundle! We now spend $200 per year for 2 phones rather than $65/month.
--Stay home! :0) Be a true stay at home mom!
--Buy used clothing (maximize garage sales, hand me downs, Goodwill is the best place!)
--www.homeschoolclassifieds.com has helped make homeschooling affordible to us!
--Don't shop. The only stores I frequent on a regular basis is our local Goodwill and the grocery store. I can't tell you the last time I went into a department store, honestly.
-- Keep a price book - and when you see great sales - if it's local - stock up (on need type items),
--Buy local - especially in the fall and can and freeze what you can. I chop and freeze green peppers and make our own pizza sauce, so I make the dough from scratch and only the pepperoni is purchased - I ration the pepperoni to only a limited amount of pieces per pizza. We eat this weekly - a treat for all - and fairly economical.
--Don't go out to eat. Last year as a family we went to a sit down (Bob Evans) out 1X - with 3 free meal coupons. We went Fast Food a couple times and got carry out pizza only a couple times in the entire year (1X with free pizza coupon).
--Find a scratch n dent type store near you. we have been able to find a variety of things at our local one.
--Buy ingredients and extras (such as chips, etc) are treats (even store bought cereal - try to limit our consumption greatly!) - make foods from scratch.
--Cancel your subs. to the newspaper, or extra magazines you don't really read - find someone to give you theirs when you are done (we get several different magazines second hand from those who know we will read them and are done with them).
--Find local great prices (we have a potato farm nearby and buy 100 lbs at a time in the fall, local dairy sells ice cream half gallons for $2 - including occasionally organic, etc
--we use cloth knapkins (Goodwill $.50 or make your own - we've done both)
--use rags/towels instead of paper towels.
--replace some light bulbs with flourescent
--brown meat - 1 lb and divide into 3 portions - freeze 2 and use only one - in soups/spaguetti sauce, etc. You may not miss it - or supplement with beans or lentils to help with filler
--make a pot of coffee in the morning, and then turn off - then I warm up later in the day for my mid-day coffee what was left from the morning, and don't make a new pot. Some also say you can just add more grounds to save on grounds. I tried, and I must be too spoiled -I didn't like it! But an idea for some...
--we make so many things from scratch that the other day my 6 yr old asked "Mom, can we make our own gum?" :0)
Our next was from Susan at DHC Farm
Here are some links to some posts I've made on my blog about our favorite way to save money.
Find your local salvage grocery store. Okay, so it's not superwal-mart and you'll have to dig in cardboard boxes for items, but it's well worth it with name-brand cereals (even organic at times) at $1 a box and canned foods around $.10 a can.
Serve smaller portion sizes. Okay, so not really a money saving tip, but I tend to king-size our family's portions and making them smaller gives us a better chance of having leftovers for lunch which is not only a money saver, but a time saver as well.
Pack your hubbies (or your own) lunch. This will save you about $25-30 per week or more depending on where you dine!
Carpool to the grocery store. With gas prices so high the neighbor from the next farm and I go together about 1x a week.
Buy less=spend less. Forgo the gourmet starbuck coffees and needless clothes and shoes just because they're way cute! How many clothes do we need really? With twins, I've discovered that if I pared all of my children's wardrobe down to about 9 outfits per week, my laundry would be much less--again, not only in time spent, but in money spent.
These tips are not revolutionary, but thought they might help!
Monica at Books, Bedlam and A Lively Hope
has these thoughts...
Here are some of mine:
Don't assume that just because a store *says* they have the lowest price, that they do. Compare store circulars and shop around, then stock up when items are at their rock bottom price. Most stores are now being built close together, so this should not involve a lot of driving around, either.
Don't go to the dollar store to just browse...and if you think they have something there you need, don't assume that a dollar is the lowest price you can pay for it. You'd be amazed what I have bought for much less than a dollar on the clearance shelves at other grocery/discount stores.
Don't waste money on buying cleaning products without first investigating the uses of vinegar, baking soda, and hydrogen peroxide. There are a lot of good cleaning ideas here: http://www.ecocycle.org/hazwaste/recipes.cfm
Learn to sew.
And of course, for entertainment, education, information, and all sorts of good things, use your local library!
Regina at Homesteading Wife in Training
What I try to use coupons for items that I use regularly and use them on the days the coupons are doubled.
Also buying bread from bread outlets. They sell bread and other baked goods that the supermarkets send them when the bread is getting close to the "sell by" date. They sell it at reduced prices and often have coupons for getting free items when you have bought a certain amount of items.
There are already so many wonderful ideas posted. When I think about saving money I think about my entire house and lifestyle. Take for example right now the three F's (Food, Fuel, Feed) are taking more of our finances, so once you have cut as much as possible from those areas I look at where else I could save money. Turn off lights, I only use the clothes line to dry clothes, I shop for cheaper insurance, canceled newspaper subscription (Too busy this time of year to read it anyway), consolidated freezers (I can use one until harvest), Do necessary tune-ups on vehicles (for fuel savings). In general I trim up the budget everywhere. A dollar saved here can go towards the increased cost in another area. We have increased the size of our garden area, fruit trees and bushes, chicken yard, and rabbit breeder stock. It sounds odd to be increasing in areas but if prices continue to increase we will need to provide more for ourselves and others in these area's. If we plan ahead now and this continues like they say it is then it will be easier down the road.
Kristin Hoffman offers her help on making your own pet food!
I too saw the FaithFarms post! Excellent idea. Last month I went to buy dog & cat food and it had gone waaaay up! In one month! So I figured I could buy a bag of rolled oats at the feed store (about $15) and add my extra eggs, skim milk, buttermilk, table scraps and my dogs would eat better for a lot less money. I also make corn bread for them once a week with some things I already have on hand. The cats are getting milk from the cow & the occasional raw egg. I can get organ meats and bones from the local custom butcher for free. So my feed bill went from $50/month to $15. And the animals are healthier too. I know there is a bit of controversy over feeding all raw vs. grain/cooked but we can't afford that and are doing the best we can!
The recipe I use for homemade laundry soap saves my family so much money! It make five gallons of laundry soap and we use one cup a load.
My homemade laundry soap really gets the laundry clean!
I have the recipe on my blog with a picture tutorial, if you would like to add it to your post.
Another thing that really saves money is cloth menstrual pads and cloth wipes.
We use the cloth wipes instead of toilet paper. You might want to mention on your post about how it can save money.
I do sell cloth wipes and pads for those who can't make them themselves at my blogspot store - http://www.homesteaderbelle.blogspot.com/
Michele at Urban Homesteader
Wow, so many great ideas. Mulching is a great way to reduce garbage and help your garden thrive. I like to reuse as much as I can - ie: clean mayo jars and PB jars to store bulk spices. Garage sales, thrift stores, I can everything, dehydrating, forage for "freebies" such as wild fruits and berries - strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, choke cherries, plums, apples, dandylions, ect. I'm relocating closer to work to save wear and tear on my truck along with gas $$$. We have a small store that sells slightly damaged canned goods, soaps, TP, cerials, ect for CHEAP. Buy on sale and getting extra at that time. Use coupons (sadly nobody here doubles) when able, along with many of the ideas already listed. What a great idea!!!
Mama Duke at Humble Beginnings
We do several things to save money. Here's a short list.
1. Consolidate trips into town to save on gas $$.
2. Cook and bake from scratch as much as possible.
3. Make our own body wash from cheap shampoo. Pour shampoo into larger, empty body wash container, add half that amount of water and pour in epsom salts (about 4 TBSP). I put the lid on and shake it all up. For the container, I use an old baby shampoo bottle w/ a pump on it. It costs me about $.96 for a huge bottle of body wash compared to $3-$4 for a small bottle.
4. I make our own wipes as well by cutting a roll of paper towels in half, putting each half in a huge coffee tin. I fill up a small pot with water, add some baby oil or glycerin, a little bit of baby soap and let it come to a boil. Once it boils, I take it off the heat, let it cool down and then pour it over the papertowels. Once those cool down, I put the lids on.
5. Garden, garden, garden and can, can, can. For what I don't grow in the garden, I'll buy at farmer's markets or go to a local "pick your own" farm and then can those items.
6. I also can our venison and chickens (when they go on sale). This cuts down on what's in the freezer.
7. I make meatless meals about 2x a week. And, those meals that we do have meat, there's usually leftovers for lunch the next day. In fact, we usually eat all leftovers for lunch the next day.
8. I buy items in bulk when they're on sale. I also find it's cheaper for me to buy laundry soap locally than to pay for the shipping on the Fels Naptha (which isn't sold here locally). Shipping is getting expensive.
9. I always buy flour, sugar, oil and butter when I go to the store so that I always have some on hand. Always...without exception.
10. My hubby gets paid weekly and I get paid every 2 weeks. Regardless of how much gas is in the vehicles, we fill up every week. Sometimes I only put in $20 worth of gas but I know it's always full and never worry about it (plus it's a mental thing that I'm spending less on gas). It's weird, but it helps.
11. I make all of our household cleaners using peroxide, vinegar or baking soda. I have a bottle of ammonia that I also use to make an "every day" cleaner. It's lasted me more than a year.
12. We use baking soda to brush our teeth. In fact, our children now think toothpaste tastes funny.
13. I now buy "store brand" items at the grocery store instead of the "name brand". Although I despise the store brand as the quality's not as good, it's cheaper.
Anissa at I love my Husband
Great advice so far, ladies! This was a wonderful idea for everyone to learn from each other.
My two cents:
~Learn to make your own bread
~Stop using your dryer. If you have a small yard here's a great space-saving clothes line: http://www.sunshine-dryer.com/
~Make your own spice blends at home. There are tons of recipes out there to make your own chili powder, Italian Seasoning, etc. We all pay an arm & a leg for those little McCormik bottles of spices. If I can save $3 just by blending spices I already have in my cabinet then I'll do it! Here's the food website I use all the time to find those recipes: http://www.recipezaar.com/
~THRIFT SHOPS are the bomb for year-round savings! Garage sales are wonderful seasonal savings (where I live). Swallow your pride & start saving. Anyone with children at home with save a bundle on children's clothing at thrift shops. Childrens clothes can cost just as much as adults sometimes depending on the age of the child.
~Think outside the box. The hardest part for me has been to rethink how I was trained as a child to do things. Just because mom always did something a certain way doesn't mean that that was the best or cheapest way.
~Measure out your dishwashing soap, laundry detergent, etc. I have a 1/3 cup measuring cup on my dryer I use to measure out my soap every time. It's just too easy to dump in way too much soap into my washing machine. The same goes for my dish washer. I measure out 2 T. into each compartment.
~Read "The Tightwad Gazette". Check with your local library & they may be able to borrow it through the inter-library loan system.
***Thanks!!!!!! You guys are so great, these tips are wonderful and I know that they will be an asset to the readers here at HSB!***
From my Homestead to yours...
~Chas~
Chasity L. Burrell
Senior Editor Homesteadblogger My Cup Runneth Over at Heritage Acres Farm
Your at the point where you have the right breeding stock, cages and equipment. Your happy bunnies are doing fine nibbling on there pellets. Time to increase your stock. Its breeding time. Simple right? Many of us have listened to the "ol timers' say "breed like rabbits"........Well this is partially true. There are a few things to take into consideration. First is age. Depending on the breed size of the rabbit you have at what age you can breed. For example....Small breeds can breed at 5 months, medium breeds at 6 months and Giants at 8 months. My stocks average breeding age is 6 months. The next thing to consider is weight. Fat rabbits just don't breed well. Adjust there food to make them trim and healthy, suitable for breeding. Bucks become extremely lazy if overweight and does have a harder time conceiving. Check for good health and fur. Make sure the does vulva is dark in color (reddish-purple) and the bucks testicles should be fully descended and full. Now that you've made sure everything is in perfect working order, take the doe to the buck. Important not to do it the other way around. Do not leave them--it shouldn't take long. There may be some chasing and fur pulling at first. Don't be too concerned. The buck should mount the doe. You know you have a successful breed when the buck falls over on his side or goes stiff and falls on his back. Until this happens, the buck has not been successful. It will only take once for you to understand what I am talking about. If you are thinking, Did it work?, chances are it did not. It is unmistakable. If you had a successful session, remove the doe back to her cage. Be careful, if your rabbit is ever going to bite you, now will be when it happens. What if nothing happens? They are either not interested or just chase each other around unsuccessfully. This happens with new breeders sometimes. They just don't get it yet. What I do is put their cages next to each other. Give them some close time and try again the next day. This usually works. If not then I put the doe with another buck. It is reported that female rabbits are fertile 365 days a year. This is probably true but I have found that my rates of succesful breeding are greatly increased if I rebreed the doe 8-12 hours after the original breeding time. So I select the pairs to breed in the morning and return that evening and rebreed the pairs again. I cannot say how important this is! Your doe will usually be so much more receptive to the buck at this time. She will often position herself for breeding without a fight.
Ok now we are pregnant, right? Mostly. There are methods to check. Some use the palpation method. Place the doe on a flat surface holding her by the scruff of the neck (10 days into breeding) and reach the other hand under her belly feeling around gently for marbles (babies). This takes some practice. Some breeders put the doe back in with the buck at 10 days for a test breed. (I do not do this) If the doe is pregnant she will growl and strongly resist the buck. Another way is to weigh the doe. Her weight will increase slightly-up to a pound. The gestation period of rabbits is 28-34 days. My rabbits are 31 days exactly. On the 27th day I put in a nest box and plenty of straw. The doe will begin to build a nest. You know the time is close when you see your doe walking around with a mouthfull of straw.(Its very cute!) On the day the litter is to be born the doe will pull fur from her underside for the youngs nest. She will pull more to cover them after she delivers. If you do not see signs that the doe is making a nest this should be your first signal that she might not be a good doe. This is the tragic part of breeding rabbits. Some does just don't seem to know what to do. You can assist by placing fur that you have pulled or saved to cover the young. In most cases it is extremely difficult to get the timing close enough to save the new kits. Delivery does not take long, but if you catch the delivery and the doe is delivering in an unprepared nest or cage floor you can adopt the kits to another doe who has room for them. That is why I always breed at least 2 does together-an experienced doe and a new doe. As long as they are close in age the other doe should accept the adopted kits without trouble. Just because the new doe is not a good mommy the first time doesn't mean she will repeat this the next breeding. I usually give my does two attempts at delivering before they are retired. I have found that after two failures the likelyhood that they will improve is not high enough to risk another breeding.
In about 10 days the litter will open their eyes and begin to come out of the box. This is a fun time! They will be wobbly at first. Keep a close eye on them now. Keeping them from harms way. I usually leave the nest box in until they are a month old. It depends on the litter size when I wean them from there mother. Usually 7-8 weeks old. They should be eating good and appear to be in good health. You'll know when its time. Then the whole cycle starts over again. I hope this has been helpful to someone! Blessings>faithfarm
Hello there! I'm back online after our move, and getting settled into our new nest little by little.
Good news in the gardening area- we got our garden planted last week! Bad news- a series of storms came thru on Friday dumping golfball-sized hail on it . Amazingly, it seems to have survived for the most part, only time will tell.
With all this moving, and other "stuff" going on around here, I've just not had the brain power for blogging lately. So, I'm asking my friends and fellow gardeners and farmers to help me out a bit. Please share some of your favorite gardening tips with us. Blog about them and then leave a comment here so we can check them out (someday maybe I'll figure out that Mr. Linky thing, or some kind soul will help me out ).
My best gardening tip of all is prepare your soil. To get good crops, you need good soil.
We are growing in some very sandy soil, that I honestly didn't prepare as I normally would. See, not even following my own advice! Time and money are both in short supply, and my dh said "just plant it"....we'll see what happens . Everything is an adventure these days! I did put some organic fertilizer in each little planting hole and will topdress this week with some compost.
Another tip is only water the plants you want to grow. Yes, this means more work for you when watering the garden, but you'll spend less time weeding it .
One last thought, check out those "weeds" growing around the homestead, some of them might be very nutritious and useful! I learned recently that both nettle and chickweed are very helpful weeds to have around. Really! I haven't located any nettle as of yet, but I did find a lovely spot of chickweed and made a great chickweed salve. That's one weed that I won't mind giving a little drink now and then .
OK, time for this gardener to get busy, hope your week is filled with planting, plucking, and pleasant pursuits!
Congratulations to our new Featured Blogger of the Week, Mary Anne!
What is wonderful about these past two weeks Featured Bloggers are that they are Mother and Daughter!
Mary Anne began blogging with us in December of 2007 on her blog Woodruffe Rabbits. She lets us know a little bit about her in her first post. She shares with us how she loves old toys and games. Here you will see her beloved pet rabbit Atticus. She is a very talented young lady and she shows us some of her drawings. Here are some of her Treasures in the Trunk. You can see how she she grows and dries violets...
I hope you will stop by and say hello and congratulate her for being this weeks Featured Blogger!!!
Congratulations Mary Anne we look forward to many more wonderful posts from you!!!
Join us on the Front Porch to talk about anything and everything that has to do with homesteading! Catch up on the latest news at HomesteadBlogger. Chat with our Front Porch Team as they blog about their favorite topics. The Front Porch is the heart of our community. Make yourself right at home!
, they are just a tad 
bit out of my price range!
. I'll let you know what happens there, but be sure to check out the "do it yourself" plans if you think Earthboxes might be for you! If any of you have plans or ideas for container gardening, be sure to share them. I'm always on the lookout for new ways to grow!
! Bad news- a series of storms came thru on Friday dumping golfball-sized hail on it 
. Amazingly, it seems to have survived for the most part, only time will tell.
lately. So, I'm asking my friends and fellow gardeners and farmers to help me out a bit. Please share some of your favorite gardening tips with us. Blog about them and then leave a comment here so we can check them out (someday maybe I'll figure out that Mr. Linky thing, or some kind soul will help me out 
. Everything is an adventure these days! I did put some organic fertilizer in each little planting hole and will topdress this week with some compost. 
. 
