I Only Killed Two…So Far

BUT it’s not as horrible as it sounds.  I decided to start a mini container garden.  I wish I could say it was the success of my herbs that inspired me but as I predicted, those never grew so I tossed them.  Technically I didn’t kill them, because they never really grew more than the picture I shared in this blog post. And for the record, the scallions are still re-growing themselves and the celery is re-growing as well!

Anyway, so I decided to start a little container garden after the man at the farmer’s market convinced me that it really wouldn’t be so hard.  I know he probably just wanted to sell me zucchini but he was so old and cute and sweet I couldn’t say no.  I got a 4 pack of zucchini seedlings and a basil plant for $3.25.  Not bad, considering one zucchini plant is supposed to produce several zucchini per week.  I managed to get them home without killing them so I took that as a sign of good things to come.

Apparently zucchini plants are huge, about 3′ x 3′ feet so I planted 3 in a large pot and 1 in the ground, just to see what would happen.  I figured once they started to grow I would transfer them to the ground as well, or give them away to someone who has more space.  I also picked up a patio tomato plant and stuck that in a slightly smaller pot.  I made sure to put rocks in the bottom of each pot, then I raised the pots off the ground with tiles to ensure proper drainage.

My new little garden had 1 tomato plant, 1 basil plant, 4 zucchini plants, scallions, celery, 1 garlic clove (an experiment to see what happens) and some parsley, which was the only thing that survived my herb garden.  Here’s what it looked like on Mother’s Day when I planted everything:

That little plastic fence was my failed attempt at landscaping the front of our townhouse in FL 8 years ago.  Yeah, so… that.

Everything looked great and I was so excited about the zucchini and tomatoes but then the weather decided to freak out and drop to the 30s.  I remembered to bring the plants inside on the 1st night, but forgot the 2nd.  The zucchini in the ground was totally fine with all of the changing weather but the plants in the pot weren’t happy about it at all.  Then the weather freaked out again and rose to almost 90 the very next day, which completely threw the zucchini for a loop and 2 of the plants were pretty much dead.  I tried to move them to the ground to see if that would help but it was hopeless.  I think trying to move them sealed their fate.  There was one remaining plant in the pot that looked like it might make it so I left it alone.  I am happy to say a week later it’s starting to grow and looks like it’s going to be OK!

Here is the one that I planted in the ground.  It’s so much healthier than the other!  They were the same size the day I bought them.

My tomato plant seems to be unfazed by the wacky weather and is starting to flower!!  I am so excited!!!!

Something is already eating my basil so I bought some Neem oil to battle that problem.  Next I will have to figure out how to keep the bunnies and deer from eating my veggies.  I can’t build a fence but possibly could build a cage of sorts out of mesh and pipe.  Suggestions?

So that’s what’s happening with my garden experiment.  Oh, and the garlic clove I planted is sprouting and you can eat the greens the same way you would eat garlic or onions!  They are spicy and delicious!  I am excited to see what happens next!  Hopefully my vegetable/fruit mortality rate will remain at 2 per season.  I will let you know what happens!

Superbugs!

You might have heard of EWG because of their Skin Deep website.  Skin Deep is a cosmetics database that allows you to search for your favorite cosmetics and discover their levels of toxicity.  I was shocked by what I found in products that I thought were good for me!

EWG recently posted this informative article about antibiotic resistant bacteria in our foods.

Salmonella. She’s cute but she’s kind of a bitch.
Image from Wikipedia

The article even gives you tips about how to avoid tainted meats, decoding labels, cookbook recommendations and more!!  Regulations in the U.S. (or lack thereof) make it tough to properly educate ourselves about what is actually in the foods we eat.  We have to take it into our own hands.  It takes a bit of work, but I feel empowered by the knowledge and the ability to make healthy choices for myself and my children.

What choices have you made to better the health of you and your loved ones?

Curveballs

I have good news and bad news.  I am going to give you the bad news first, then lift your spirits with the good!

So…life has gone ahead and thrown a curveball right to the face and it hurts like hell!  We recently moved our family to Virginia for my husband’s new job.  This was not a choice we would have made had we not been unemployed for 6.5 months and in need of some income.  It was a tough move on all accounts.  It took my son several months to really feel like this was home and it took me even longer.  Close to a year later, we are settled and feeling like we could stay here but unfortunately, life had other plans.  So now, here we are again, jobless and wondering where we will live next.  What will we do?  It’s very stressful but it’s my job to keep everyone sane so I have to make the best of it!  One good thing about this is that my husband is home for a while and the kids and I are ecstatic that we get to see him more!

Winner Winner Greek Dinner!

** Update: I am re-posting this because today is Greek Easter and since I don’t like lamb I am going to make some of this instead!

I am on a spinach kick this week and I am pretty psyched about this Spanakopita.  If you aren’t familiar, it’s a Greek favorite with spinach, feta cheese and phyllo dough.  You can either make those cute little triangles or make it pie style like I did because I am too lazy to make 50 little triangles.  I also cheated and used store bought phyllo, though I prefer my family’s version, which is chewy, buttery and delicious but since I can never, ever give you that recipe, I figured I would spare you the pain of hearing about how awesome it is just to let you down.

Except I just did that.  Oops.

Focus on the positive.

It looks all picked at because I picked off pieces of the crunchy top layer. I told you, I have a problem.

I Didn’t Kill Them… Yet.

I have a horrible track record when it comes to keeping stuff alive.  I guess I should clarify.  So far I have kept 2 dogs, 1 fish, 2 kids and my husband alive and I like to think I get bonus points for actually growing the two kids from scratch but when it comes to plants I am a total failure. I have killed almost every plant I have ever had.  I don’t know what I do wrong.  I water them, I give them plant food, I put them in the right light.  I did make the mistake of putting a poinsettia outside in the freezing cold and it froze to death but that was only once.  I should probably be put on some plant buying blacklist so I don’t unintentionally murder anything else but alas, I am not so I keep buying more plants!  There is still a shred of hope in me that someday, somewhere, I might be able to maintain a living green thing.

My newest project is a small herb “garden” that I bought complete with seeds, soil & container.  So far it looks like this:

Awards!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Victoria from The Blurred Line for bestowing these awards upon me!  I truly appreciate all of you who read this blog and those who have taken the time to hand out these awards.  They do require a bit of work but it’s such a great way to spread the word about other bloggers that you read and appreciate!

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes Revisited

** Updated recipe!  I made these this morning and changed a few things.  This is what happens when you don’t test your recipes before you post them!  This version was much fluffier!

I got a griddle for Christmas so what else could I do but make pancakes and bacon?

I have to admit I have never cooked on a griddle before and I was loving the ability to make more than 1 pancake at a time.  I am not sure how I feel about the pattern the griddle made on the pancakes but I am going to ignore that since everything tasted so delicious and breakfast was MUCH easier to make than usual!