The Sophomore Organic Garden- Shopping, Finding, and Recycling

As I enter my 2nd year as an organic gardener and 6th as a worm wrangler, I know that preparation and organization are half the battle!

Because planning is half the fun, I've started a list of things to either buy or find to make sure this growing season blooms successfully:

1. Starter Planters
2012 Buy
Last year, I used biodegradable containers that got transferred right into the garden when it came time to plant:

Although they were convenient, I found an even better idea that's completely recycled and FREE!

2013 Find
My environmentally friendly alternative to the peat pots are to use the cardboard rolls leftover at the end of toilet paper and paper towels. I'll still use the sturdier plastic trays from last year to place the new cardboard planters in so I can move the whole stash around while the seeds start, but these little planters were easy to make.

 I cut the roll into three parts:

 I cut little grooves around one of the edges:

 I folded in the grooves together to make the bottoms:

And voila! Free, recycled seed starter planters!


2. Dirt & Fertilizer
2012 & 2013 Find
Last year, I used some sifted dirt I dug out of the yard mixed with a healthy heaping of vermicompost (thank you, worms!). This was super-successful, so I'll just replicate for this season.  I put the garden to bed last fall:
And here's what it looked like today:

See those berries already?!? Yippee! We are going to give the beds a few good turns and good dose of vermicompost next weekend. If you got excited about those berries and wanted to see them close up, here you go!



3. Seeds
2012 & 2013 Buy:
Last year, I bought my seeds at the local home improvement store. Everything turned out OK, except the onions were a little harsh. I'm going to purchase red raspberry, tomato, cucumber, red pepper, spinach, and onion seeds again.


2013 Find:
I have some marigold seeds I salvaged from the ones on my front porch, and I'll be potting them in row boxes.


4. Stakes
2012 Buy:
You may have read my absolute amazement at finding the perfect garden stakes in various sizes last year.

2013 Find:
I'll be reusing the stakes from last year, and if I need more, I'll construct more out of wire coat hangers.


5. Fencing
2012 Buy:
We bought materials last year to construct berry protection from the birds.

2013 Find:
I'll find it right in my garage! Flashback from last year:



6. Rain Barrel
2012 Buy:
We invested in this beauty last year:


2013 Find:
We'll just reconnect it from it's winter nap on the side of the house.

The worms have been happily eating through our scraps all winter, and the vermicompost has been piling up almost to the top of the Wigwam again- so I know they are ready for me to get planting!

Seed starting update soon!

Cha Cha Cha Chia! Chia Seeds

When I first talk to people about chia seeds, I know this is what they are thinking:



But, really, this is what I mean:





I first tried chia seeds at a resort gym in beautiful Cabo, Mexico- they were floating in some lemon flavored water. They looked like little black dots with gel around them.


(Gym not pictured!)


The resort gym must have been asked a million times what the small black things floating in the water were, because they had a flyer with a short explanation.

Chia seeds, or salvia hispanica, belong to the mint family. They are packed with nutrition, especially omega-3 fatty acids- which is great if you don't eat fish or flax seed.  One ounce contains 9 grams of fat, 11 grams of dietary fiber, and 4 grams of protein.

When chia seeds sit in liquid, they develop this funny little clear jello-like capsule around them. Supposedly, once they land in your belly, the jelly casing helps you feel fuller longer.

Despite having never heard of them until that trip, when we got home I ordered mine easily from Amazon. The three places I've been able to painlessly add chia to my routine:

1. Half teaspoon in my morning tea and coffee
It's a little odd to get used to these little solid bits in your morning drink, but once you do, it seems odd NOT to have them in it. I keep a little Tupperware container in my car for any coffee shop stops, too.

2. One teaspoon in smoothies
I pretty much smoothie any fruit or veggie in my path, and I throw in a teaspoon of chia with all of them. I'm a huge Vitamix fan, and it chops the chia up so fine, I don't even know it's there (works the same with spinach, too!).

3. Sprinkle on salads
Along with garlic sea salt and pepper, sometimes I'll add some chia. Why not?

Chia seeds might be small, but I've found them to be a mighty addition to my diet.

Next up: organic gardening, year 2!

Worm Flavored Jelly Beans

The weather is almost breaking, and there will be plenty of time in the next few months to post about my early organic gardening to do list (including a heavy infusion of home grown vermicompost on my sleeping garden and one tier totally devoted to strawberriliciousness).

But right now there are lighter topics at hand: JELLY BEANS!

Jelly beans were derived from a middle eastern sweet, but the term was first used in Boston in 1861 and not even linked to Easter until the 1930s- so jelly beans are over 150 years old!

Here's a super snappy video I found that shows how they are made:



One of my co-workers treated us to a Harry Potter candy party this week, which is where the jelly bean and worm worlds collided.

Let me explain!

Here was my share of the Harry Potter loot, including
Butter Beer, Chocolate Frogs, and Bertie Bott's Beans:

The Butter Beer was ultra-sweet, almost like liquid butterscotch candy with some carbonation. The Chocolate Frogs had crispies and came with a collectible wizard card (hello, Lord Voldemort!).

Looking a little closer, the jelly beans had a legend on the back to tell you what colors were what flavors:

Look even closer at the third flavor down in the first column:

EARTHWORM! There's even DIRT and GRASS! EWWWWWW! They tasted HORRIBLE!

How fun! Other favorite gross ones were soap, vomit, and booger.


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Top 5 Songs with Worm Lines

I have some downtime with the worms (not unusual, they are pretty well trained by now), so I thought I'd do a more fun post about worm references appearing in popular (ok, semi-popular!) songs.

I bet you think this would be a fast post, right? WRONG! There are a million worm references in songs!

Rock around your wigwam to the squirmy lyrics in my Top 5 Songs with Worm Lines:

5. " I present you, I present to you, I present you this crown of worms"
This song is a little heavy and intense, but I tried to be lenient.
I'm just hoping this is a LIVE crown of worms!
Megadeth- Crown of Worms, from Anthology: Set the World on Fire


4. "Worms don't dance."
The next line is funny, but you'll have to find it on your own...
Beth Orton- Worms, from The Comfort of Strangers


3. "...and he crawls like a worm. Crawls like a worm away from a bird."
I just wanna yell, "Crawl worm! Crawl!!!"
The Used- The Bird and the Worm, from Lies for the Liars


2. "The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochle in your snout.
They eat your eyes, they eat your nose,they eat the jelly between your toes.
A big green worm with rolling eyes, crawls in your stomach and out our eyes."
Whoa! So gross, but probably the first song you thought of about worms!
Originally sung in World War I by soldiers, but the version below is by Mary Jo Maichack, from Howlarious Halloween


1. "...and the worms ate into his brain"
Again so gross, but my favorite worm reference in a song.
Pink Floyd- Hey You, from The Wall




Can you think of any others?

New Year, New Worm Goals!

If you've followed this blog, you know I've taken a pound of worms and lots of kitchen scraps and turned it into my own mini-worm empire, complete with Wigwam and small organic garden.

OK, I'm exaggerating a little bit- but that's always been my goal...in baby steps, of course! Given that worm wrangling and organic endeavors aren't my full time gig, I have to keep my wiggly and earth-friendly resolutions modest and grounded- ha! worm joke!

For 2013, I plan to:

1.  Organize and plant my 2nd organic garden, with the help of vermicompost, of course!
The 2012 effort was good, but in 2013 I am aiming for the absolute sweetest, reddest, most delicious-est strawberries in the history of organic gardening. 
As we last left the garden in October, it was sleeping. Expect berry-licious things- and if you have any berry-tastic growing tips, do tell!


2.   Keep up with worms socially.
No, I won't be attending worm parties or taking them on outings! I'm just following some great people and companies on Twitter to keep up with recent worm news, and sharing wherever and whenever I can @Lilliworm.

3.   Work on securing a consistent, reliable, but not overwhelming food source for the worms.
Mostly they are sustained on my family's scraps alone, but I know the Wigwam can handle a lot more. I have a few great leads, and I'd like to see them through in 2013.  Full worms are happy worms, and happy worms make vermicompost!

I appreciate all of my readers, and I hope you join me for more organic endeavors in 2013! Happy New Year!

The Miracle Pill and The Mailbox Surprise

When I'm not busy peeking on or feeding the worms, I have two energetic dogs to entertain- an 11 year old cockapoo and a 1 year old cocker spaniel mix (bloodhound? lab? beagle? no idea).

Last year, the cockapoo started limping like crazy on his back left leg. It seems to start suddenly, so we assumed he pulled a muscle. Except it never really got better- it just kind of changed in degrees of severity, from a slight favoring to an all out limp or completely holding it off the ground.

I took to the internet, and found a lot of dog owners with similar problems had used Cosequin DS to help. I started him on it, and he improved significantly over the next month.

Then a few weeks ago, the same thing happened with his front left leg, but very suddenly and much worse.  He didn't want to walk at all on it, and he hunched his back and seemed like he couldn't lift his head all the way.  In the morning, he could barely raise his head. In addition, the back leg seemed weak again. We could tell he was in pain, and of course we felt terrible. Clearly the Cosequin wasn't doing the trick anymore.

Immediately we had him at the vet. She gave him an exam and said it was arthritis. She gave us some Tramadol to give him twice a day, along with some information on range of motion exercises we could do with him.

But I just couldn't give up that easily. I wanted a miracle pill. I understand that dogs are going to age, and it wasn't unreasonable to think he had arthritis...but this came on so quick and severely that I really felt like it was something...I don't know...maybe fixable?

Back to the internet research!

I quickly found a product called Nzymes. Their website had a lot of  hype and testimonials and blah blah, but at this point I was open to just about anything. To be sure I wouldn't do more harm than good, I asked the vet about the ingredient list. She said that even though the ingredients were more for digestive issues, the treats would not hurt him and might even help. 

The testimonials spoke to the product improving everything from skin issues to coat luster to joint and muscle problems- I was SUPER skeptical, but stayed open minded.

I ordered the Antioxidant Treats for Pets for $21 online at their site. (Interesting point: they also sell them for people.)  Within three days, they arrived.

Here's what came in the package:

Yes! Two bottles for the price of one! I was pretty pleased already.

But what would my dog think of them? Rather than treats, they looked like giant vitamins. His reaction:

 After some sniffing, he was a little skeptical, too. Here's his skeptical face:

The only thing left to do was give it a try. I gave him one pill in the morning and one in the evening. I also continued his Tramadol, as directed by the vet.

Within a week, he was walking stronger. The hunch disappeared. He was lifting his head and raising himself up and down without effort.

It was two weeks since the first pill this weekend, and we took a two mile hike today. He did some running, and had no soreness afterward.  The hunching hasn't returned, and all of his legs look strong and even.

Just for kicks, I also gave some to my friend who has a schipperke mix with super-itchy skin (another of their cure claims). I asked her how it's going- no more itching. Crazy.

Do I think this is a miracle pill? Right now, YES, I do.

I am going to cut his Tramadol down to once a day and see if the improvement continues. I'll keep you updated on him and the schipperke mix just in case you have or know someone with a pet with similar condition.

In other news, last week I got an amazing gift in the mail from an amazing lady!

After corresponding with the original bag holder creator, she sent me one of her very own designs!  I love gifts and getting mail, and this was extra-special since hardly anyone I know shares my love of trash clean ups like she does:

As I expected, hers is much more lightweight and ergonomically sized for optimal trash picking up than the imitation one my husband and I created.  Hers even has a separate bag for recyclables!

I drove down the hollow today, and another trash pickup is right around the bend- so thank you a million times over to her!


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Make Your Own Bag Holder on Thrifty Fun
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Labor Day Local Trash Pickup

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