Gardening 2010 - the beginning - We're Planted!!!!!

At long last, and very much delayed, we are finally planted! We are SO excited!



First we had to get approval from our apartment complex to have a garden on the balcony.

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Then we had to make the gardening plans – ok, we faked this step We rarely plan anything except on the fly.

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We did pick up this book which was promptly plowed through by the voracious new reader in the house – now the in-house expert on gardening of course:
Onions in My Boots – Catholic Heritage Curricula

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We got our bins set up and ordered our seeds… We kept forgetting to get some rocks to use as drainage. Finally managed that one, 3 days *after* the seeds arrived and on our return trip from purchasing soil (purchasing soil??? Yep. When you live in an apartment complex; not many people appreciate you digging holes in their yards so you can have some free soil…. $1.50 for a 40 lb pound isn’t bad – and I didn’t have to dig it up myself – just carry it upstairs and out to our balcony!).

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Our seeds came from St. Clare Seeds who specialize in non-GMO, non-hybrid, non-treated heirloom and open-pollinated vegetable garden seeds…. and worm poop!

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I’m NOT kidding. My son LOVES the worm poop. We use it in our compost bin now and it is just the coolest thing ever for him!

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Ok, ok, ok, so it’s actually called worm castings. But when you’re a 6 year old boy, what is cooler than worm poop in a bin of rotting food that will become soil and compost to make the food that you will be eating, some of which will be turned into…. well, I won’t go there. I’m not a 6 year old boy.

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We wanted <a href="http://www.outdora.com/lawn---garden-composters.html">these compost bins from Outdora.com</a>, but money being what it is, we'll have to wait. So our makeshift compost bins are thriving (one is full and sealed up to finish up its business; just got the second started yesterday).

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And our other bins are full of rocks, soil and seeds.




Oh… did someone ask,

So, what did you plant in each of them?

Oops.

We’ll get back with you in about 2-3 months.

Modest Boys Clothing ?????

Who ever heard of such a thing? Aren't boys' clothes usually modest and just not something to worry about???

Well....

Actually, boys' clothing can be and is fairly immodest. When it is too tight; when it is paid advertising for some company, whether characters or a clothing company; when it is so loose that unnecessary skin is shown; when (ahem) waists of pants hang somewhere mid-thigh (when WILL that fashion go away????? the kids of the kids who were wearing pants like that when I was a kid are doing it now and thinking they thought of something thoughtless from the thoughts of another generation!).

Anyone who could follow that last comment of mine is welcome to a 5% coupon off of total purchase - even modest boys' clothing! at Garden of Francis

Boys clothing is specifically here: Boys Clothing

Actually, our product line is ever-expanding, faster than I can even post photos, but the MIA are coming soon ;)

Our boys' line will also include solid color socks (white for everyday and black for dressy) and items for cooler weather. All items available now are for warmer weather, sun protection and modesty. We're considering a few other garments and will post as we decide.

Our ladies' line is soon to be adding modest scrub tops and long skirts (modest scrub skirts) for medical assistants and nurses.
And a separate area for female underclothing, including feminine products.

Our diaper line is adding a set of contour diapers that can be used stand-alone with pins or other fasteners - or can be covered with a cover of some sort. We are also tweaking the training pants pattern before posting it as available - training pants for young children with snaps on the sides for those *messy* accidents. Reusable pull-ups! What could be better?

As always, homeschool Montessori materials are in the works. We'll take **special requests** for anything that someone needs in the near future. Current turn-around time on Montessori materials is less than a week. And the person who requests the Montessori (or other homeschool) material receives a coupon for 75% off that product.
Homeschool/Educational
Montessori

Last but not least is our homemaking section. We have aprons for children, an upcoming fasting cookbook (pre-orders being taken now!), cotton and mesh produce bags, and pure soap.

Gift Certificates are always available too! (no discounts on these, but you can use them to buy discounted items!)

So what is that code? It will work one time per customer: stblogmodest5

Happy Shopping!

Swagbucks, anyone?

I get referral points if anyone uses my link to get there... And then I get Amazon gift cards (homeschooling books!). ;)

Who needs a sandbox anyway…

...when you have THIS much snow!

[caption id="attachment_76" align="alignright" width="300" caption="This had already been partially cleared and this was on our *covered* balcony!"][/caption]

He’d already swept most of our balcony clear and had started to clear out the wagon (with the dump truck no less) while watching the plows clear our parking lot, when he realized that he was doing just what he did with sand box before all the sand was lost over the sides of the balcony! So he played in snow-sand for a while.

Of course, momentarily that excitement was nothing compared to the thrill of standing on the wagon, holding onto the railing and pulling himself along, to clear all snow from the top of the railing. That was to collect more snow, which was much more efficiently brought up from groundlevel via buckets.

What fun we find when we don’t have a decent play area. ;)

Frugal living: Toothpaste

One of the last few things I’ve switched over is toothpaste. Because I’ve had inexpensive access I’ve just not been as concerned about it – though I still don’t like the artificial colors and flavors as well as the other unnecessary ingredients. If a child under 6 can’t safely use it, it shouldn’t be in the house.

 

Our current tube of toothpaste is not so bad as others I’ve seen.

Colgate Total Whitening Paste: water, hydrated silica, glycerin, sorbitol, PVM/MA copolymer, sodium lauryl sulfate, cellulose gum, flavor, sodium hydroxide, propylene glycol, carrageenan, sodium saccharin, titanium dioxide.
Without getting into a nasty debate about any particular ingredient above, I will say this: saccharin is less healthy than sugar but is equally unnecessary for brushing teeth, anything with the word propylene does not belong in our mouths and others are just downright unnecessary. I even have issues with hydrogen peroxide (again, if I have to keep it out of reach of my 5 year old…).

 

There are many variant recipes available for easy internet searching. A very basic one that follows all of my requirements above is so easy:

 

Toothpowder: baking soda and salt (3 parts soda to 1 part salt). Store in a small glass jar (we use jam jars for everything around here).

Brushing: Ideally 3 times a day, dip moistened toothpaste into and brush vigorously for 2 and a half minutes; follow with a flossing at least once a day.

Mouthwash: A thorough mouth-washing with warm salt-water takes care of the rest of the bacteria.

Frugal Living?

A friend asked me to write up some blurbs on simple, inexpensive, (almost) all-natural living. It’s a work-in-progress (along with everything else in life!), but following are a few tidbits.

 

When it comes to alternative solutions, I have a few requirements before I make a change:

 

Glorify God: Above all else, God must be part of every aspect of our lives. If Mary lived today, would she make this choice for her family?

Frugal: must be inexpensive – or at least less expensive than the current product – I’ll pay more for something that meets all my other requirements, but money is precious so it’s a tough decision (ie I used to use Seventh Generation spray cleaner; but the cost became prohibitive during a particular year in our lives, so it had to go – we switched to baking soda, vinegar, water and occasional dish-soap on everything)

Easy to locate all necessary ingredients/products: my time and energy is precious too

Easy to prepare: did I mention the preciousness of time?

Family participation: if the kids can’t use it or mix it up, then it just won’t work; I want the children to be able to help make things at home using natural materials so that they understand the connection between the things we utilize and their sources; also I need to not worry about locking things away from them for their safety

Safe for the environment: I’m not an environmentalist above all else – it’s just that God gave us stewardship over the earth and all its inhabitants and I want to take this responsibility seriously

Safe for our bodies: typical household cleansers make me physically ill – what are the long term affects?

 

If something fits all of this criteria, great! If not, I have to balance out whether it fulfills or enough or do we continue with our current practice or do we drop it altogether. Many times we have dropped the use of certain products completely rather than seek replacements, because nothing fulfilled enough of the above criteria.

 

And, for those who will ask: NO, I don’t do something just because everybody else is doing it – if it is something that becomes a huge stress, or requires more focus or time or energy than I am willing or wanting to give, or takes away time with God and family, or requires me to make sacrifices in other areas of life, it is just not worth “keeping up with the Jones’”. Not to mention that it is only in the last 100 years that many of our typical choices or products have become in vogue and we have already seen the dangerous results of some of those recent changes made without proper testing and slow implementation first.

 

Ensuing posts will focus on particular areas or products. Please share other ideas in comments, but for the sake of focus, please keep them simple and straightforward.