Living Out Loud

Things That Go Chomp in the Night...and the Day Too...

2011-06-15T13:45:00.000-04:00

Okay, so being the bibliophile and researching nerd that I am, when I started this garden venture I tried to be very thorough in my studying. But the truth is, while they may have given me a great learning curve, experience is a wonderful teacher. (And perhaps painful, too?) I have lost my entire summer squash bed this year. Again. Georgia has a beautifully long (albeit hot) growing season, so I

Trellis Netting

2011-05-27T14:03:00.000-04:00

Last year, I used twine trellising for our beans, cukes and tomatoes. It worked okay, but midway through the season, it began to degrade and break. Originally, I had liked the idea of being able to toss the whole mess into the compost come season's end, but this was a bit soon for my taste. I'm also not a fan of traditional tomato cages. I imagine everyone has their preference, I just felt like

Almost June Garden

2011-05-27T12:57:00.000-04:00

Well, the garden is off to a beautiful start, and I'm looking forward to reaping soon! The peppers and tomatoes are already producing and I know the boys will be happy when we pick our first cukes. I'm sifting through canning books/recipes to determine what I might like to try this year. There are dozens that sound delicious, but I know that's quite unrealistic ;) I really hope to do some pickles

Hard Lotion Review

2011-05-18T14:31:00.000-04:00

I first heard of MadeOn hard lotion sometime last year...and I was intrigued. Stephanie over at Keeper Of the Home raved about how it had transformed her hands. All four of us have dry skin, and patchy eczema. You can order the bars pre-made, or order the supplies in bulk and make them yourself following her tutorial. And most recently, she has put together a kit to make it yourself! I was very

Crop Rotation

2011-03-14T19:13:00.000-04:00

The garden bed layout is finished, with some pretty significant changes from last year. I had begun with Eliot Coleman's crop rotation as a starting point last year, which was good, but definitely needed some tweaking this year. Here it is: Those are our nine beds, left to right. The pile in the upper left corner are 2 herbs I won't be including in the raised beds and 3 veggies that took over

The Beds are Ready

2011-03-02T15:31:00.000-05:00

We all worked in the garden this Saturday, getting it ready for spring planting. Such fun! Especially since this is the first year that the boys could actually be out there with us :) I've made my list of what I'll actually plant, and I'm ready to start my seedlings! Starting some varieties indoors will definitely be a big benefit, (like, maybe I'll actually have some celery this year?) and

Granola Bars

2011-01-07T17:26:00.000-05:00

There are lots of granola bar recipes floating around out there, and every time I came across one, I wanted to try it. I finally got around to it yesterday - and they're delicious! I used Ina Garten's recipe this time. It could easily be adapted for different flavors. It was super easy, and the boys love it. It actually made quite a bit too. The recipe says to wait several hours before cutting,

A Young Gardener

2011-01-06T15:36:00.000-05:00