Homespooled

On the 15th day of the herb garden, I decided to transfer the growing plants to larger pots.  Unfortunately for me, we didn't get any chives or rosemary :(  Jerks.  I won't give up though!  I am definitely going to try those two again.

Can you spot the re-used orchid pots?

It's growing! All three pods of dill are showing signs of life...

I don't have a green thumb.  There are two plants in my home that I can say are alive...not necessarily well, but alive.  A spider plant and an aloe vera.  If you know anything about plants and which ones are easiest to keep, you'll know that's not very impressive.

These two plants have survived on the same sill together since I moved into this house over a year ago.  This morning, I pissed off the spider plant and took it away from its friend, Mrs. Vera.  I needed to make room for my egg carton garden, which I wanted to be placed in the best spot possible.

I use herbs A LOT in my cooking.  But herbs can get expensive and they don't last very long in the fridge once you've removed them from the plant.  Now, I know that there are better ways to store them in the fridge and that if they are to go bad, I could always freeze them in an ice cube tray with oil before that happens, but I wanted a more permanent solution.

There is plenty of room around me for growing my own herbs and vegetables.  I have a huge back yard and get this, a green house.  Last summer, my first summer living here, I worked in the yard, planted some strawberries and attempted to grow a few other things that eventually died away.  Gardening is hard.  One day I intend to learn, but today is not that day.  It is however the day of my first baby step towards turning these thumbs green.

In order to save space in the house, I used an empty egg carton to plant 6 different types of herbs that I use most often in my kitchen.  Even if you or your family don't eat eggs, I'm sure you know someone who does.  Ask them to keep their empty cartons for you!  Of course, when the plants start to grow (if they do, ahh!) I will transplant them to pots.  Until then I believe this carton will do just fine.  (But what do I know?)

For mother's day this year, since the kids are too little to come up with crafts to make me on their own, I figured we would all do a craft together!  And I get presents out of it!

Whenever I'm making crafts with the kids, I like to prepare the materials required in advance (usually the night before, after they go to bed).  Because there is 3 of them and only one of me, it's hard to help them all at the same time.  And since the 2yr old needs constant attention when playing with things like glue and scissors, it's best to make sure the older ones are pretty much good to go once we get started.  Preparing in advance also means that there will be less of a mess.  And that you can decide how much prep you will put into each kid's project. 

For example, the 6 year old can easily cut out specific shapes all by herself.  The 5 year old isn't as co-ordinated, so I will usually draw lines where he needs to cut.  The 2 year, can't follow lines yet when cutting.  So, if a specific shape is required to complete that project, I will pre-cut his shapes for him.  And since it will take him longer to paint, glue, etc. than the others, they'll all be done at pretty much the same time this way.

Spring is here, so I figured it would be appropriate to make some flowers to put in a vase.