So far so good! The bulbs are doing great and I added a few daffodil bulbs as well. I did notice a little mould on a couple of the bulbs and made sure I didn't water them for a few days. It's very tempting to add water but I have to refrain from doing so.
This was the stage I got my tulips to last year before I killed them with to much water.
As you can see my narcissus is doing really well, and the daffodils are starting too. Not sure about the Hyacinthus, but it does look like they have some growth.
I think the most important thing is to make sure to keep the water well away from the bulbs, even though it's tempting to fill the water right to the bulbs.
It's a nice little piece of green in my living room because as you can see in the background I have a lot of snow.
Happy Sunday :)
I really wanted to mount at least one of my orchids on the wall, ideally I wanted to attach it to a nice piece of drift wood. I might still do that with one of my other orchids.
A few days ago friends of mine invited me over to make a string garden, there are some cool tutorials on youtube on how to make them. We used spider plants, but I decided to bring one of my orchids and an air plant to make my string garden. They were a great success and a blast to make.
When I got my mini phalanopsis home I was trying to figure out how to hang it, I didn't really want to hang from the ceiling. So I went out today in search of a hanger to hang my little plant from.
I found one!!
Well a wall mount bird cage, I love it. So rather than suspending the plant in the air I decided to arrange it in the the bird cage with a couple of other little foliage plants from Walmart.
It worked out really well and I think it looks great. I used some sphagnum moss on the bottom of the cage to hold in the dirt from the house plants and then some decorative moss to make it look pretty. The orchid was all wrapped up in orchid mix and sphagnum moss then held together by string just like in the youtube videos.
Now I have a mini living wall :)
I have found an alternative to soy, eating primal you don't eat soy and legumes or at least limit them as much as possible. However I do like soy sauce.
To read more about legumes and soy products and their affects on health visit;
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/lectins/#axzz2pYatgN8s
So I've been searching the internet and have found coconut aminos, it's basically coconut sap and sea salt. Tastes similar to soy sauce with just a hint of sweetness. And if your worried about the coconut flavor, don't be, it does not have a coconut flavor. It's gluten free, dairy free and non-GMO.
I'm going to try it out tonight on some duck thighs I bought at the grocery store later today, I will let you know how it turns out.
For those of you that have tried it and have recipes please feel free to share :)
OMG!!! I'm so excited, my new toy arrived today! My amazing husband put it together for me and it looks amazing.
It's a 3 tier deluxe light garden... I love it.
I am so ready to get gardening :) one of the main reasons behind this purchase is that my husband and I enjoyed our home grown food so much this year that we wouldn't mind having it all year round. I went with the large one so I can start all my seeds indoors and also grow some veggies year round in it.
I have it set set up in my kitchen and will be growing micro greens, lettuce, carrots, beets and if I can find them a dwarf tomatoe and cucumber. I can't wait! I will let you know how it goes as things start growing.
If you would like to know more about the light garden, here is the website :)
https://www.veseys.com/ca/en/store/lightgardens/deluxe3tier
I have searched high and low for a deodorant that works well and isn't full of chemicals and perfumes. I don't like antiperspirants because they clog your pores and don't allow you to sweat, now I know none of us like pit stains but let's consider the alternative. We were designed to sweat, to release toxins through sweating, now I don't know about you but I'm inclined to allow my body to do what's natural. Also antiperspirants have a bunch of things I can't pronounce in them so I decided I wanted something more natural.
Eating clean has helped a lot with my own odor which is pretty exciting to me, but after a day of being outside I've been known to be a little rank ;).
I have tried many kinds of natural deodorants and have found you need to reapply several times throughout the day to make sure that you're covered. I didn't love the idea of carrying my pit stick with me all day, so after years of searching I finally decided to make my own. I went to my iPad and searched for homemade deodorant and came up with a few recipes very quickly. This one is my favorite.
http://wellnessmama.com/1523/how-to-make-natural-deodorant-beating-the-b-o-with-natural-deo/
I followed their instructions and having been using the second recipe for about 3 months, made a new batch today. I love it and don't have to reapply during the day.
Just a quick update. I updated my blog today with a new look, let me know what you guys think. Also I have added a labels column on the side so it's easier to find your favourite posts. For examples if your following my recipes you can now look on the side labels tab, click on recipes and only the posts that have recipes will pop up. That way you don't have to scroll through all posts.
Thanks for reading :) Night Night.
This tomato plant I've had since spring, it's given my about 140 cherry tomatoes. Yes I counted ;)
It just started to bloom again but it's looking a little sad. So I gave it a haircut, fertilized it with a bit of Epsom salt and gave it a big drink. If you do use Epsom salt to fertilize your plants I would use the human grade edible kind, not the commercial bath Epsom salt. I'm not certain one kind is better but if you can't eat the bath stuff why would you give it to your plants and then eat the plant? Just a thought.
I'm experimenting to see if I can get another season out of this little plant.
So I didn't exactly leave empty handed on Saturday from my local nursery. My cactus pot was looking very sad and I lost all but two of them. I decided to get a few new ones and repot them, I think my soil mixture wasn't right the first time, to much sand.
This time I did 1/2 sand and 1/2 potting soil, hopefully that helps. I'm really happy with how it turned out, but I have to tell ya, gloves really do help when potting cactus's ;)
It was a bit of a pain positioning them and getting them all settled in, but if you take your time it's all worth it in the end.
Today I really wanted to make something yummy with my butternut squash. I didn't just want to make the usual so I decided on fritters. I've never made fritters using squash before but it's so similar to a potato I figured why not.
So here it is.
1 butternut squash
2 Tbsp of stuffing seasoning mix. I like epicure's apple sage stuffing mix.
1 Tsp of onion powder
1 Tsp of salt. Omit if your seasoning has salt in it.
2 eggs
Grate butternut squash in a large mixing bowl then add all other ingredients, mix well. Turn stovetop on medium heat and melt a little butter in a non stick pan. Scoop a wooden spoon size scoop into pan and flatten with the spoon and sear. Cook until tender, enjoy.
Something had to come home with me after going on my weekly trip to the local nursery. This time it was two beautiful Gerbera Daisy's, I'm very excited about these guys. Last year was definitely the year for Daisy's, it was sunny and hot all summer. I'm just hoping this summer will be like that, but I have a feeling it will be a pansy year ;). I really am itching to get outside into the garden, but it snowed again today so I'm thinking we will have a late start and until I can get outside I will just have to look upon these beauties.
This is a recipe that my husband and I created. We really like coffee cake so we tried to create something similar in a primal way :)
It only takes about 15min to make and no baking required.
Ingredients
1 C pecans
1 C Almonds
1/4 C Butter (salted or unsalted) we prefer unsalted
1/4 C Coconut Oil
2 Tbsp finely ground coffee (we like pacific pipeline from kicking horse)
1 Tbsp Honey
Topping
Any type of dark chocolate, 75% or higher. If using 100% add a little honey.
Place nuts in a food processor and process until you have your desired consistency. Add to a mixing bowl. Melt butter and oil, then add to bowl along with the honey and coffee. Stir until all ingredients are mixed well. Line a 9X9 pan with wax paper and pour in mixture. Melt chocolate and drizzle over your coffee bar, place in fridge for an hour or so then cut into desired squares. Keep refrigerated.
Let me start off by saying I've never had luck with ferns.. I try so hard and every time they die, I've tried low light, I've tried bright light, I've tried keeping them damp, I've tried letting them dry out a bit, I've taking them to the shower with me, I've spritzed them, I've talked to them, I've sang to them and nothing. They always died in the end.
So when I told my husband I wanted another fern I got the look, you know the one ;)
He said I could try one more time, but that's it. So I'm going to get this sucker to live no matter what.
I have it in bright indirect sunlight and I've fertilized it with a little Epsom salt and I try to spritz it everyday. I've done this now for a few months, and so far so good.
Although the underbelly of the beast was looking a little sad the top is healthy and growing. I gave it a haircut and transplanted a little shoot that had started on what looked like a new plant on the side of the pot.
Maybe my bad luck with ferns is over, fingers crossed :)
So I'm trying it again. Starting my blooms inside, this time I'm starting Narcissus and Hyacinths instead of Tulips. The last time I tried this it actually did work right up until they were about to bloom then they started to rot and wilt. Not sure what happened, I'm thinking I ended up adding to much water and getting the bulbs wet.
This time I put them in a shallow bowl with decorative stones and just a little water in the bottom, hopefully my cat won't find them to interesting. On that thought I should really grow him some more cat grass.
I'm really feeling the need to grow something, omg I have like 4 months to go :( oh well I will be starting seedlings in February again so then it won't be that bad.
We have so much snow here right now and it snowed again today, I love it but it's getting to be a bit much. I work outside, which is awesome but I do find myself exhausted at the end of the day and ready for bed by 8pm. But the days are getting longer again and spring will just be around the corner :)
Hope you all had a fantastic and safe new year!
