john muir

Biking With a Toddler

 Top 10 "Must Haves" For Biking With A Toddler

    

1. A Helmet 

2. Cold water bottles and back up water bottles

3. Sun Screen and Bug Spray

4. Snacks 

5. Diapers and Wipes 

6. Rain Coats and Extra Clothes 

7. Lights and safety gear ( i.e extra tire) 

8. Short distances and points of interest locations (favorite store or friend's house) encourage success 

9. Have a plan B and be flexible 

10. Have a great time creating lasting memories and enjoy the ride. 

! Kitchen Garden !

                                        Grow Edibles 

         

I love beautiful flowers, especially if they are edible !

I recently, last couple of years, have really been inspired by the grow food not lawn pictures floating around the web. 

What a concept, 

your lawn could be edible if you dug up the dirt and planted seeds in it. 

My lawn is by no means 100% edible. 

My husband, son, and I  moved into our current home two months ago and started phase one of our kitchen garden. 

Phase one. 

 * Plant and design landscape with perennials.

* Make raised beds 

* plant small summer garden

*plant small fall garden  

 * Plant and design landscape with perennials.

The outer edge of our landscape will host most of our perennials. 

The perennials planted this year are: 5 blues berry bushes, 2 black berry, 2 kiwi, 1 peach tree, 5 strawberries, various herbs. 

* Make raised beds 

We have 4 wooden beds with plants growing in them and 2 being prepped for our fall garden. 

* plant small summer garden

Our summer garden consists of 1 cherry tomato plant, and 10+ tomato plants, 5 pepper plants, 2 water melon plants, 1 peanut plant, zucchini, eggplant, salad greens, basil, lemon balm, lavender, mint, aloe vera, and parsley. 

  *plant small fall garden

Our fall garden is being prepped to plant beets, collards, kale, spinach, broccoli, and carrots. 

Latest photos of our first home's first garden. 

I am currently located in the growing zone 7 a. 

Here is zone 7a vegetable planting calendar. 

Life Happens !

  New Year Resolution Fail 

So earlier in the year I had wanted to post a quote to memorize every day. 

That went great for all of 27 days, woops. 

Somewhere between chasing my 13 month old son, laundry, starting a business, and life I became diverted to say the least. 

For this reason, I am going to try and memorize one quote a month. 

"The Pessimist see difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. "

-Winston Churchill 

Week 2 aero garden

          There is a something special about eating food you have grown. The taste is sweeter. I thoroughly enjoy knowing that I play a key role in my meal. It tastes good to reap what you sow.

   Eating is not just a daily task, it is a life essential. My body, like a fire, needs to be refueled. In a similar manner, I find it very rewarding building a healthy fire in the same regard as I enjoy caring for my health.
 My father, a food connoisseur, has always said, 'what else is there in life, if not family and good food?' I try to live by this, but often fall short of the good food end.

        When I am not falling short of my eating obligations, I am buying conscientiously, making, or growing my food. My father, a food entrepreneur, has taught me the value of making financially wise choices, by spending the extra money to buy fewer products that are lasting. I am not proposing that I go out of My way to buy the highest end organic food, I am saying that I buy less so I can have quality deli cheese and meat. 

      'Almost' every Friday I make pizza. I buy quality flour and sea salt to make the dough. I use my Grandma Lena's recipe for the sauce. My mother passed down this tradition of making pizza every Friday and pasta every Sunday from her Grandma Lena. I love this tradition and how it binds me to my roots and allows me to bind my family with our origins. 

 
     It is January here in Delaware, and my hydroponic garden is in full bloom. My Grandpa Frank had always had a garden.  His small backyard in the city of Chicago had rows of food and a compost machine (I realized this after its working days). This was a way of life for me, I had always assumed we would eat fresh greens at my grandparents. Years after my grandfather passed I heard the coined term "urban homestead" and it confirmed by belief that my grandpa was homesteady. My grandparent's generation was more than American, they were way ahead of their time.

    I love hydroponic growing! My aero garden is 2 weeks in. Here is my latest photographs:

Day 27

Day 26