Spark of Loves this Week

Life's changes bring about wisdom and experience, but it also brings forth some loves that you can brag about.  Learning new cooking skills, a new baby, or even a new car can bring forth some present loves that are worth sharing.  Here are a few of the things I am loving lately and have to share.

Blue Sky Ginger Ale.  Made with organic, all-natural, REAL ginger.  Love it!  All the Drink Blue sodas are a amazing though, by the way!

Appreciating the little things in life.

 

Learning to forgive and move past trauma and abuse through yoga training and practice.  It's taken awhile, but I am THERE!  Forgiving someone does not okay their behavior, but it allows you to move on and carry on.  Yoga is a great way to help you cope with the issues that life throws your way.  

Living a more meaningful, eco-friendly lifestyle.  

Trying out new items that are Mother Earth approved.  I'm still on the fence with this one.  :-)

Traveling a lot more.  I hate plane rides, but I am loving the trips!

Giving up Facebook as one of my "necessary" social networks. Sorry Zuckerberg, it is what it is.  

Watching Skylar become an in depth, 'for the love of Star Wars' fan.  I've learned a lot about Star Wars in the journey as well.

Cherry Tomatoes.  I will be so glad when my cherry tomato plants have the little treasures for me soon.

Making the switch to better purchases.  This one is still a work in progress, but every little bit helps.

Shopping and depending more on my local Co-op.  

Smiling.  Instance mood lifter!

This quote.

LC's Crafty Creations Video Series.

Reaching out to understand other cultures and beliefs.  There's a lot to learn out there!  Knowledge is an endless playground.

Falling in love with oatmeal!  Every morning, people!  (Hint:  Blueberries are amazing paired with oatmeal)

Decorating more with the Arkansas Razorback!  Red never looked so good!

What are you loving lately?

Eco-Tip:  Mail-order magazine subscriptions can be costly and waste a lot of paper in the process.  If you're an avid magazine reader consider an e-Reader.  Some brands cost under $150 and provide the same great magazine at your fingertips without all the paper waste.  For more tips visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.




    

Growing and Harvesting Lavender

For the past few years I have been slowly getting more and more into the sweet, relaxing scent that lavender has to offer.  It is one of the main essential oils that I truly love to have on hand no matter what time of year it is.  Along with that, I have slowly been growing lavender herbs and harvesting what I can from year to year.

I currently have on hand two decent-sized lavender herbs growing in my side garden and the harvesting have gotten bigger and bigger with each year.  Of course, they have only been in this bed for the past two year, but nonetheless I still have seen an increase in the cutting since the first year they were planted.

Over the past years of having lavender and knowing I wanted to harvest as much as I could from my own plants, I read every article, blog, and gardening book that I could to educate myself on ways to help it prosper.

I learned a few basic growing techniques about lavender that have really helped me in the long run and have helped my herbs become more vivacious than ever before.  Here are a few tips I learned along the way.

1.  Lavender likes to be watered from the underside of the plant.  It doesn't really like to have sprinkles of water from above, minus the rain, which can't be controlled, obviously.  Make a quick assessment once a year to look out for root rot if drainage is an issue.

2.  Grow lavender on a slope is best, but if a slope isn't available plant the lavender on a raised bed or in a hill where your plant's roots can have the water drain nicely away from them.

3.  Plant your lavender where it will get a full eight hours of sunshine and make sure you water it as needed.  Don't saturate the soil around it and drainage is important.  Lavender is drought tolerant so if you go a day or two without watering, it should still be fine.

4.    Pruning your lavender just before the blooms begin to open up.  Make sure to leave about an inch of green when you cut and prune to maintain shape year after year.  Lavender is a perennial and will return if proper care is taken with them.

5.  Potted lavender should be re potted to a bigger pot every spring to encourage the roots to expand and grow larger.  Just like lavender in the ground, drainage is key and pruning is a must!

I surrounded my lavender with newspaper the first year it was in the ground and added more potting soil over the newspaper.  This helped the lavender a lot that first year so it wasn't fighting for water or nutrients from the soil from pesky weeds.

I've been able to harvest quite a lot from my 2-year-old lavender herb and I have started to collect bundles for a wreath I plan on using this fall on my front door.  Harvested lavender have a pleasant scent and it's one of the smells that will never get old to me.  The image of a pretty, scent-filled, fresh lavender wreath hanging on my door just makes me excited!  It will be the first scent guest and I smell coming and going from my front door this coming fall!

Be sure and store your lavender blooms in an airtight container to retain freshness of the herb for extended periods of time.

By the way, lavender is a great addition to any flower garden or herb/vegetable garden.  It attracts honeybees, bumblebees, butterflies, and many other pollinators.

I hope these tips help you grow the most beautiful and abundant lavender that can be enjoyed and harvested year after year!

Eco-Tip:  When it comes to drinking your eight ounces of water daily, fill a pitcher with the recommended water amount and place it in your refrigerator.  This method is a lot better than standing and allowing the water from the tap to run till it's cold.  Plus, the water will be a lot cooler than straight from the tap anyway!  For more tips visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.

    

Creating a Weather Station Terrarium

A weather station is a fun and exciting experiment for kids and it also teaches them how to care for a living thing as well.  It helps kids grasp the knowledge of what happens within a given day, anywhere, with weather and why it does what it does.

Jeff has been recording the weather in our own yard, for the NOAA out of Portland, for about 6 years now, so we are no stranger to weather stations. and Skylar loves any type of knowledge or education about weather.  Unfortunately, living here in Oregon we don't get a lot of fun weather activity like we did when we were in Arkansas, but it is still an exciting time when something does tend to happen. 

We recently took a trip to OMSI (Oregon Marine and Science Institute) here in Portland, Oregon.  We viewed how tornadoes were made by the weather, how rain is created inside a cloud, and also why hail is created by hot and cold fronts.  We also toured the USS Blueback while we were there too.

While learning about the weather and what can happen everyday, and how unpredictable it can be, we decided to purchase a weather station.  With the weather station on top of the bottle recording the weather, there is also a living plant inside the bottle depending on the moisture, oxygen, and nutrients inside the bottle to survive.   

The weather station we picked up at OMSI was the Green Science Weather Station.  It helps you observe and record the weather with a kit that has a wind vane, anemometer, a thermometer and rain gauge and the station is made to fit on top of a regular soda bottle or the like.  You can add water into the bottle at the bottom or even a small "terrarium-type" plant to add even more education.  We added a Star Plant because they work best (in my opinion) for a terrarium.  There are others you can use as well and Martha Stewart has several great videos to help you pick just the right one.  

Here are the steps we took in setting up our weather station terrarium:

For the bottle, you want to have one that has a normal-sized bottle top with treading.  Any soda bottle will work really, as long as it has the treading.  We first removed the label from our soda bottle and washed it out really well.  Then came the soil selection and pebble rocks.  In the images above we strained all the larger items from the soil before we added it to the bottle.

We added pebbles then the soil and then cut a small hole in the back of our bottle to add the star plant.  We wanted to the hole in the back of the bottle in case we ever had to get back inside and also to allow a little bit of oxygen to seep through to the plant.

Once everything was set up, we attached out weather station to the top and placed the bottle outside to collect the weather data we needed.  

Pinterest has some other great ideas for terrariums too.

Just know that succulents, cactus, and any other type of plant requiring little water will not do well in a terrarium.  

The Green Science Weather Station comes with a chart to help your child record the weather changes each day too.  Be sure and have them record the weather at the same time everyday to make sure their record is accurate.

  

We had a lot of fun with this weather station terrarium and I hope you do too!

Here's a view from OMSI of downtown Portland, Oregon.  The night we went to OMSI the sky was clear and it was a great view of the city.

Eco-Tip:  While the summer months are here and giving off a great display of heat and sunshine, why not use that to your advantage when it comes to drying your clothes.  Using the clothes line during these season can save you about $10-$20 a month by using a clothesline.  For more tips visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.

Queso Dip and Veggie Wraps

I love white Queso dip!  There's this little restaurant in Sheridan, Arkansas called Cotija Mexican Restaurant and they have the best Queso dip in there.  It's almost comparable to Don Juan's Mexican Restaurant in Hot Springs, Arkansas, but I prefer Cotija's because I get to go there with John when I am back in Arkansas.  We have this little back bench we sit at and it's very cozy.  Although, it is near the kitchen door where they cook and prepare everything, and I am always prone to look in there just to be nosy.  But it does have it's benefits, I always know when our order is coming out.  Ha!

The Queso dip they serve at both of these Mexican restaurants is almost impossible to duplicate and I have been on a hunt to find something similar for the longest time now.  I have experimented with different cheeses and different seasonings just to find that one-of-a-kind taste, only to come up short handed once again.  But I have found a nice, "tide me over" alternative to their delicious dip.

What's you'll need:

(This recipe was created when I was vegan for 6 years prior to dipping SLOWLY back into eating meats once again)

Make sure the cheese you pick is definitely Mozzarella cheese though, or it won't melt right and it will be a sticky mess later.  

Pair this dip with your favorite chips, or make your own!

You can pair this Queso dip with chips, bread, or even a veggie wrap.

All you need is, a flour or wheat tortilla, cream cheese, herbs and garlic goat cheese (you can get all of these ingredients organic too by the way), black olives, pickles, shredded cheese, and uncured ham.

Start by coating the tortilla with a generous amount of goat cheese and cream cheese. 

Add the black olives, shredded cheese, ham slices and pickles.

Roll up burrito style and tuck one end under to create a pocket to contain all of your goods.

There it is!

Veggie wrap!  You can dip this in the Queso or just eat it along side the Queso by itself.

Look how wonderful these cherry tomatoes look too!

Enjoy!

  

Eco-Tip:  Having beehives is a great way to live off your own land.  Consider keeping one hive before winter hits and see how well you do, then venture out to get more.  For tips on getting starting in the beekeeper business visit the National Honey Board website.  For more tips on living better and homesteading visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.