Well the peas have been planted in their new home! I was able to find some old chicken wire, cut it to fit in the box and then carefully transplanted the peas in! Wow were they rooted! Those poor roots were screaming for a new home. So hopefully they will enjoy their new place and continue to grow!

I could not leave all that open space in the middle so I planted some carrots! Yep that's right I'm actually going to see if I can get some carrots to grow inside!! I also had some new sprouts coming up in the flower area!

You may have to really zoom in to see these little sprouts but they are there! At first I thought it was just the morning glories but on further inspection I spotted these little guys. So excited to see some more sprouts!

Tomorrow these poor tomatoes will be getting their new home! They are really looking pretty hardy so I think it is about time they get their individual spots so their roots can expand as well! I also had help to day from my son he planted his Carolina Reaper peppers and hopefully they will take off soon. He's a great gardener and the proud owner of his very own banana tree right here in WI! we have several little sprouts from his banana tree that we have replanted so now we can have more! Not only does he enjoy working with plants around the house, he loves the greenhouses and also took a class at his high school where he works in the school greenhouse as well. We just love growing things as a family! Hopefully you will follow the blog and see all the updates of our growing, and even some of our family fun trips!!

Just wanted to share with everyone that over the past weekend marked my one month blogiversary! I missed a couple of days last week due to the lovely chronic pain and back injury but hopefully healing is on its way or at least I feel like I can at least blog again! With that being said I decided to add a couple fun things to the blog. There are the usual updates and at the end you will see I decided to use some of the science experiments that I had from teaching and will show the progress as time goes by. Having a lot of my teaching things at home and knowing I can't be there with my students due to my  injury does create a great deal of sadness for me so for now my bog will also be my teaching area! Have to make lemonade out of lemons!

I just could not help myself, I had to add another picture of these gorgeous pea pods! I really need to brainstorm on a way to keep them climbing as you can see the ones in the back are starting to lean. I can't wait to see how these progress once I figure out how to keep them climbing.

Look what else popped up over the weekend, my Morning Glories! I am a little concerned about them as they are not looking the healthiest it may be time to put them in some pots as well. However, I will need to buy some first because I need the kind that you can plant right in the ground. I have a perfect spot for these morning glories right in our front yard on a trellis below our kitchen window! Oh just the thought of getting outside again and planting makes me so happy!

 

Here is the first little experiment that I decided to do. This is a little micro terrarium that comes with everything you need to grow your very own cacti! How fun is that! So make sure you come back to see how this little cacti is doing.

 Here is the last little experiment that I have! With this one we can grow our very own crystals! We love rocks around our house and many times go to different great lakes in search of agates and other great rocks and minerals. So when I saw this little kit I thought for sure my class would love it. However, I can't be there and I don't want to wait any longer so now all my followers can make sure to check back and see the progress of our growing crystal! Below are the steps it takes to grow your own crystal!

                          Make sure to follow the blog and check back for more fun updates!!

I can not imagine having backyard chickens with out some Silkies! The silkie breed of chickens have fluffy plumage and are so soft to the touch, some say it even feels like satin or silk. Guess that's probably how they came up with their name.( Wikipedia ) We have had silkies in the past and they make for great pets, they do lay eggs, they are on the smaller side. They are just adorable and friendly! 

The other breed that we enjoy is the Cochin Chicken, a larger chicken than the silkie but what a friendly breed this flock can be, they love to follow you around the yard they produce eggs, and can become close to the owner again another good breed for a pet chicken. These are also the ones that take the dust baths and are such fun to watch! 

Keeping chickens entertained seems simple enough but there are a lot of great ideas out there to help make your backyard into a fun and active place for your chickens. I found this image on Google Images and thought it was way to cute not to share. 

Another great idea for the back yard. Providing a perching place for them is another great way to keep them entertained 

Look at these pea pods! Lots to update you on. First as you can see from the above picture the pea pods are coming along great! However, the cucumbers did not take after the fur friend incident so I decided it was time to take action and start something else in that area.

Here is a peek at the new starting kit, I planted four rows of cucumbers, four rows of cantaloupe, and four rows of eggplant. We have never had much luck with melons so I am hoping by starting them inside we will have hearty little plants to put out this summer!

I also started some zinnias in hopes that they will be looking good around Mother's Day! Trying to think ahead a little bit here and stay on top of the growing! Searching for an idea to vine the pea pods with, if you have any you want to share feel free to leave suggestions in the comment section. 

A quick update on the doll, still rooting hair and breaking needles, but I think she's getting close. Going to add a little more weight to her limbs and body; looking for her to weigh about seven pounds or so. The outfit that she is wearing now was one of my daughters so that is neat!

Gardening inside has its ups and downs, the down side is my fur friends. Sad to say I found this poor parsley pot in my German Shepherds kennel. I have since replanted seeds, but these are old seeds and not sure they will take off. I will give them a little bit to see what happens. Also Miss Molly had a stern warning to stay away from the plants. Hopefully this weekend we will be able to get some new seeds just in case these ones do not take off.

           

I am extremely blessed  by my very talented sister! She has given me such a wonderful birthday gift. First she gave me three mirrors that will go lovely with my shabby chic look. She also gave me two books, one is about the stories behind Christmas songs Love it! The other is a daily devotional that you can color, Yes I am one of those adults that finds coloring so liberating probably due to the fact I lack all other talents in the crafty area! Then she made me the most adorable little bird cages with handmade birds in them! She is so awesome. If you have not followed her blog you should give it a try just simply click on the word blog above and that link should take you right to her very crafty page.

Looking up more great ways to use Melaleuca I found this site called redefinedmom that has a lot of great tips! Just click on the above name and enjoy a very interesting site! Lots of great information!

So excited to see the Cilantro has finally sprouted! These poor plants have had a rough start as my fur friends like to jump up on the garden tables and knock them over. But this herb looks like it's going to make it! Hopefully when it get stronger and bigger we will be able to make some salsa!

Time to turn these tomatoes they are reaching for the artificial sun that we provide for them. So happy to see the growth, they are just about ready to go into their own little pots! Our goal is to plant a garden outdoors with just the plants we have started indoors! You can see that the little fur friends did get one of the seedling pods but we keep trying and after these get transplanted we will start a whole new crop!

Quick update on the doll, after breaking two more needles she is half way done with rooting. I would have liked to use a smaller needle but considering I have already broken so many I will just stick with what I have and continue to work on filling in the open spots later.

I picked Melaleuca for the month of February and so I wanted to share a quick little recipe for homemade hand sanitizer. I used half cup of Aloe Vera, one teaspoon of witch-hazel, twenty-five drops of Melaleuca and twenty-five drops of Lemon.

Melaleuca is known to have the following properties, antibacterial, antiseptic, antiviral, antimicrobial, expectorant, fungicide, insecticide, and stimulant. information from Shareoils.com  

Just a quick update on the doll, the above picture is the mohair that I will be using to root the dolls hair with, the picture below is the poor baby with a bald head.

Hopefully in the near future I will be able to post a picture of the baby doll with some hair, I've already gone through two needles so at least I'm getting something done.

The above picture was found on Google Images, and because it is Valentine's Day I may be treating my husband to a scalp massage. I read that aloe vera can possibly aid in hair growth, and that just happens to be a department he needs a little help in.

Aloe Vera has been on my mind as I had mentioned in an earlier post we had a really large plant that was in need of getting cut back. Today I did the cutting back and transplanting in to other pots to share and then decided I should harvest some of the gel from the plant so nothing went to waste.  This proved to be very interesting. I started by just cutting the leaves, and scooping out the gel, I was a sticky mess and only had two drops in the bottle. I then used a vegetable peeler which worked much better but still proved to be tricky trying to get the gel into the bottle. I think buying aloe may just continue as I don't think I am very good at this harvesting yet. Any suggestions?

On a much happier note the indoor garden is comping along most splendid! Things are really starting to pop up. The little pea pods were very busy over the weekend and almost all of them are as tall as the cover.

I was also able to replant some of the little greens that my son Toby started and took out those that were not growing. That left me some valuable real-estate to put in  more tomatoes, cucumbers, and 2 different types of flowers. Very excited to see if these  take off as well.  I also started a brand new self-watering seed starter kit by Burpee. Nothing planted in that one as of yet due to trying to follow the directions and let the little pods soak in the water first. Hopefully they will be ready to go tomorrow and I will be able to fill them up as well.  

Today our Christmas Cactus received a brand new home. She started looking a little sad so I thought maybe she was trying to say "I need a bigger pot for my roots" and sure enough those poor little roots were wrapped very tightly all the way around, so now she will have room to grow! Its been a fun filled planting day! 

Next up, the nesting boxes! After searching through many pictures on Google images I found two that are what I was thinking about going with this year. The bucket nesting boxes on the left is more of the look I am going for, also I believe having more of a cover over the top will help keep the boxes a little more clean from droppings. 🥚                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                        These white plastic pails are from an image on Google, however, this idea was seen at a friend of ours many years ago. I always thought it was a great idea. They were also using a kennel for a coop and these buckets were attached to the door. Not sure how they attached them, just remember thinking I like this idea!!🥚

     🐾Maddie is our little Morkie and she has the dreadful tear stains already starting so I wanted to share a little "pawformation" information for our friends with paws!!🐾We have started applying coconut oil to the area and it is really helping, I will try to search for a before picture. This picture is about one week after her first treatment and I think she's looking pretty cute!

I Googled some ideas for chicken coops using the idea of already having a dog kennel and how we would be able to incorporate what we already have into something more useful and also something to keep our little flock safe. The only thing is I want them to be able to be free range in the garden area so still working on how to make that a little more secure. I guess we could just make sure that at night they are in their little house and during the day can be either in or out!



I just thought these would work very well to keep the feed in and also be able to go inside and collect the eggs, and clean the coop. A lesson from our last coop, build it so you can stand inside. Many hot humid summer days were spent cleaning the coop on hands and knees and that was dirty to say the least, also a bit hard on the back! So I think having one that you can walk inside of and take care of business would benefit both the flock and us! I will keep you update as we get closer to summer so please follow!

I was so excited to see these tiny little sprouts of Thyme coming up. You have to look close or maybe even use the zoom button but they are there!!

I also needed to share this picture of my little pea pods starting to sprout! I was overjoyed! They have all had a rough start as our little fur family thinks its a good idea to knock them off the table and to dig in them. We had to rearrange some of the tables to make it so the little darlings can't get up on them so I think they are safe for now. So I was very pleased to see that some of the seeds that I planted have grown. Make sure to follow and see their progression

I just wanted to add that Melaleuca is known to have 12 times the power of phenol and also has strong immune-building properties (Modern Essentials Sixth Edition). So don't forget your oils!!

I have been thinking a lot about chickens in the garden. I researched some pros for having chickens in the garden and found that they not only give you fresh eggs they also keep your yard free of nasty bugs. There is the droppings to think about but again if they are in the garden their droppings will add much needed nitrogen for a more healthy soil. Chickens that we have had in the past were also great little scrap eaters, meaning when you have some kitchen scraps they will gladly gobble them up for you. Taking care of chickens is not a really difficult job, but it is a good way to teach children responsibility.  They also provide great outdoor entertainment, our chickens had free run of the entire back yard. They would often follow us where ever we were especially if we were weeding I think they thought we were looking for a treat, when we would find a worm or grub they were very excited to come over and get it for us. Another favorite was to watch them take a dust bath, they would find a sandy spot in the yard then roll and fluff their feathers to get the sand all over. They would also come when called and enjoyed a little snack of bread or corn, Well I think I have talked myself right back into getting chickens, I truly do miss the little flock that  we had! We will need to find a better way of protecting our little flock, there seems to be a raccoon, weasel, or mink we are not sure what it was because we never saw the nasty varmint  we were just grief stricken to see what had happened to our beloved little flock.

A quick update on the doll, I have a long way to go but thought I would add a picture of what it's looking like right now, Today I was able to finish the nails, the dry matte finish and start to add some of the weighing material. I also added the eyes because I know looking at a doll with no eyes seems a little bit freaky to some. Now I will be able to start the rooting process for adding a little hair.

 Adding a few drops of Melaleuca to your diffuser will help to freshen and purify the air, adding a few drops to a water spray bottle will give you a cleaner to spray on surfaces to help protect from environmental threats

 I was really hoping there would be something starting to pop up in the little herb garden but nothing yet. On the brighter side of things our little Christmas cactus is doing great in its new pot. Its also called a Schlumbergera, I think I will stick with calling it a Christmas cactus. However the this small genus of cacti is one of six species found in the coastal mountains of south-eastern Brazil. These popular house plants can produce flowers in white, pink, yellow, orange, red, or purple!

Information from Wikipedia:
 Schlumbergera. (2017, January 19). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:10, February 6, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Schlumbergera&oldid=760893949

The new focus of essential oils is on Melaleuca! The leaves from the "tea tree" or Melaleuca tree have been used for centuries, The Aborigines used this for healing wounds, cuts, and skin infections. (Information from Modern Essentials A Contemporary Guide to the Therapeutic Use of Essential Oils Sixth Edition) I have been using Melaleuca to help with fluid on my ear. I have also used Melaleuca to help with ear mites in my dogs ears, makes a very nice ear cleanser for dogs! Melaleuca has many for benefits to offer so make sure to come back as I will be sharing more uses of this great essential oil!