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Let The Fun Begin

When we started this garden, we had no way of knowing how it would take off. Some of our crops didn't make it and others seemed to do very well with little effort, which is very surprising since we live in a desert climate. But we were able to relax and have fun with our garden once we took the time to prepare.

I've said in past posts that Extreme Gardening by has been a valuable source for us. I would probably have stopped gardening all together if it hadn't been for this book. We lost just about EVERY crop that we transplanted (from Home Depot at about $3/pot), but every crop that we planted from seed has thrived. That was the first thing we noted... nothing beats 'from scratch' and nothing beats organic.
The second thing that we have noticed is that once the prep work is completed (soil turned, organic compost added and the garden actually mapped out), the bulk of the work is pretty much done. We have been spending all of about 15 minutes every other day watering and about 1 hour on Saturday pulling weeds and actually tending to the crops. We actually credit this very low maintenance to the prep work.To prepare the ground, we tilled it every third day for a week an a half. The purpose of the constant tilling was to expose weeds and kill them at the root. Any that were starting below the surface would then be pulled to the surface on the third day to die, and then the next three days and so on until most of the weeds had been eradicated. Don't get me wrong, we still get weeds, but very few.

Admittedly, our garden would have gone far more smoothly if we had mapped out the garden beforehand, but I didn't get Extreme Gardening until the garden was well underway and I discovered that I needed some help. After losing all the transplanted crops, I then took the time to map out where the future seeds would be planted based on what crops grew well with others. For example, corn thrives when grown next to melons and strawberries grow well next to ONIONS!!! But now we know better and reaping this harvest is becoming so much fun! I wanted to take the time to share our garden update. Let me know if your green thumb has been inspired! Let the fun begin!

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Past 7 Days....

Inking Pink Blog Hop

Hi Hoppers! Danielle, a.k.a. FitterTwit here.... so glad you made it!!! If you're mid-hop, you should be arriving here from Chelsea's blog . Was that a great project or what!?! If you're just joining us and need to start the hop from the beginning, you're gonna want to head over to our lovely Hop Hostess Patricia's blog to start the fun here on our VERY IMPORTANT Inking Pink Blog Hop! Here's to Breast Cancer Awareness!!! My project for this hop is a reminder card..."Remember your checkups!" What a wonderful way to say "I love you" to a dear friend or family member. Now you may not be able to see it in the pic above, but I altered The Greeting Farm's Ebony so that her tee shirt reads, "Say YES to Mammograms!" So, today I wanted to share HOW I added the words to her tee. First I printed the words as small as I could and still be able to read the message using my laser printer onto the paper that I would be using to color in my im...

So Lame

So over at Paper Vineyard, the challenge was to create a birthday project and it COULDN'T be a card.  I've personally been creating WAY too many cards lately so I was happy to try my hand at something new..... only I didn't. :(  Instead, I was busy preparing for last week's Cricut Swarm.  Now, while I missed creating a project specifically for our Birthday Non-Card challenge, I figured the cupcake box that I made would fit the bill PERFECTLY for a birthday-themed project.  The box also has an insert for a cupcake to fit inside.  I made it with my Cricut (cuz of the whole Cricut Swarm bit) and while I ADORE this box, I sort of had a little melt down making it and I decided that this is the last Provo Craft product I will ever buy.... let me share why (read through to find out the cartridge I used for this project)! Most of you know that I DESPISE Provo Craft.  I hate that the Cricut is a one-of-kind product that I loved....

Maple Syrup vs. Honey

I did a post a while back about the nutritious sweetener for the lemonade on the Master Cleanse: maple syrup ! In fact, for quite some time now it has been my only sweetner (well, that and agave nectar... YUM!). But why maple syrup... isn't honey the magical sweetener? First, let's consider where both come from. One comes from a tree and the other comes from flowers, but is predigested and then regurgitated by a bee. Can you guess which is which??? hahahaha ! Really though, just the idea that an insect's already digested nectar from a flower lends to the idea that the nectar is already devoid of nutrients when it's vomited back up. Isn't that the whole point of digestion? To pull the nutrients from whatever it is you have ingested. So is it safe to say that honey is a bi product ? Or even a waste material? I would certainly call MY vomit a waste material... what about you? But beyond the gross visual I now have in my head of honey, I also have a real concern about ...