Potato (Lasagna gardening) update

As part of the From Seeds to Harvest gardening challenge, I've been posting about our potatoes, among other things.



Our recycled potatoes, planted lasagna garden style, appear to be growing well. Two weeks ago we only had a couple plants up. Now they all seem to be growing and we're ready to add more straw to them.

We've since added another section using seed potatoes we purchased, which are under the fresh straw but not up yet. My best friend gave us her leftover seed potatoes the other day so we are adding a third section of potatoes. I really hope this method works well.

Last night, this is what the first plant to pop up through the straw looked like. Quite a difference in two weeks!

You can follow other gardening adventures at Teaching Good Things.

My favorite gardening tool

Can you see the grin on her face?

Of course she's happy. She's been dying to use my flame thrower...er...weed burner...for ages.

I like to wilt all the leaves when I torch. Following her dad's instructions, she pointed at the base of the plant before squeezing the handle to blast it.

The idea is to heat the water in the plant so hot that it damages the cells. It's not only fairly effective, it's lots of fun!

A lot of things aren't killed with the first try. I'm currently trying to eradicate some daylilies and tall phlox. I've torched them 4 or 5 times this spring and they just. won't. die. I'm not giving up, though. I have too much fun trying.

Three Cups of Tea

This month our small, literature based co-op read the young reader's version of Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.

We decided we wanted to do a service project as our activity for our day together so we worked at a homeless shelter in Flint.

We were divided into groups and assigned different areas to work. I went with Julianne and two of the other kids to clean upstairs.



Julianne and her friend Molly cleaned out the cleaning closet. The girls emptied the room first, then started cleaning. Julianne spent quite a bit of time scrubbing the deep sink and when she was finished, wondered aloud if it had made any difference. Molly wiped down the shelves, then wiped the walls as high as she could reach.

I helped one of the guys clean out the linen storage closet/room. Poor Chris was stuck working with all girls but he worked really hard and didn't quit or complain. He emptied the room by himself while the man from the shelter talked to me, then he rolled up 15-20 sleeping bags and folded linens.

I wiped down the shelves in the linen room but I had a hard time reaching the high shelves. I moved on to wiping the stair railings while Chris finished the linen room.

Julianne wiped the walls a little higher than Molly was able to, then worked on vacuuming the room.

The kids vacuumed the hallways after they finished the rooms we cleaned. By then, it was time for lunch so after we ate, we joined the rest of the group to sort clothing.

Allison was part of this group. They emptied bags of clothing, sorted it by size, then placed it in the appropriate area in the clothing room. This table was empty when they quit for the day.

It was hot, smelly work but working with friends made it enjoyable.

As we cleaned and sorted, we realized that there is a terrible lack of undergarments and socks available to the needy. We've been brainstorming ways that we can help with that problem. Julianne spoke with our youth pastor about organizing a sock/underwear drive at our church and we're still thinking about other ideas.

These are basics that I take for granted and it was eye-opening to see the complete absence of these items as we sorted clothes. I know I have passed by great deals on these things in the past because they weren't the sizes my family needs. As my budget allows, I won't be passing them by again.

For Kathy

Julianne wondered if I was going to write a haiku for Kathy's birthday. I hadn't really considered it but came up with a few in her honor:

It's your special day
Happy Birthday to Kathy
Hope it's all you want.


Did you hear the news?
Kathy is celebrating
another new year.

Now that you have heard,
join me in wishing her a
very special day!

Kathy is a great wife, mom, aunt, and sister-in-love. Due to scheduling, and more car issues, I'm not sure when we'll be able to see her so I'm sending her our family's best wishes for the happiest of birthdays. We love you, Kathy!

Signs of progress

Remember our recycled potato experiment? This is an update for the From Seeds to Harvest Gardening Challenge going on at Teaching Good Things.



Clarence read a book called Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza earlier this spring. He used that method to plant the leftovers of last fall's harvest of potatoes that had sprouted.

It's been almost three weeks since then and last night I counted two different plants poking up through the straw. (That's just one in the pic.) It's looking promising!

He tried to get the tiller started last night and it seems to be having major problems. We may be doing more lasagna gardening that we originally planned if we can't till.


Clarence is also giving me almost daily reports on his orange pepper plants. He has a little pepper on one that seems to grow noticeably each day. He's very excited about them! I'll try to get updated pics of them for next week.

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We are leaving for the state homeschool convention. I'll see you all Sunday or Monday!

Plant markers

My best friend's birthday is tomorrow. She often invites us to share her birthday with her by making us dinner. Yeah, it is pretty nice.

This year, that isn't going to work. Clarence and I are heading to our state homeschool convention and they had the audacity to schedule it on Cinda's birthday. Believe it or not, Cinda didn't accept my invitation to attend with us. I guess she isn't interested in homeschooling her cat. She might regret that someday.

A couple weeks ago, I saw some cute plant markers that I was sure Cinda would enjoy. Since she's an avid gardener, and has decorated a room in a garden theme, I was pretty sure she would like these and find a way to use them either inside or outside.

The hardest part of making these was finding the clear marbles. The first three places I tried only had the ones with an iridescent finish. Walmart had the plain, clear ones.

I don't think they're a terribly useful size, as plant markers go, but they're so cute I didn't care.

New to me

My Oster mixer, a wedding gift from my coworkers almost 21 years ago, is on its last leg. I still use it regularly but I have to stand right in front of it, ready to hit the "off" button if it starts squealing. I've found I can dial back the speed and, when I turn it back on, it works without the noise. It takes forever to knead dough at the lower speed, so I'm saving for a new mixer.

Last year, I went to Kathy's to help make pizza dough for Victoria's open house. I borrowed Mom's Kitchen Aid to use along side Kathy's. On the very first batch, Mom's mixer started making noises that made me decide I wasn't going to chance using it. Several years ago Mom had to have a gear replaced in it and I was afraid it was going again. We muddled through with Kathy's mixer, letting it rest after a while to cool down. Yes, we made that much dough.



When I returned Mom's mixer to her, I asked her if she'd been having any trouble. She hadn't and, as she continued to use it, the noise never happened again.

She must have been a little concerned though. She started watching for sales on the new 6-quart Kitchen Aid mixers. She managed to find one several months ago on sale, plus used some sort of coupon. She snagged a really good deal and was excited to have the bigger model. She offered me her old one (since I'm the only family member without one) but I declined, remembering the noise and thinking I'd just have two mixers almost ready to die.

Then I read The Parson's Wife's blog back in March. Her hubby ordered, and installed, a new gear for her mixer. I told Clarence I was sorry I hadn't taken Mom's mixer after all. I knew he'd be able to fix it as long as we could get parts and Shawn was nice enough to link to the site where her husband found the part.

I thought Mom had already donated her mixer somewhere until she mentioned it on Mother's Day. She was getting things together for a rummage sale at her church and the mixer was on the list to go. We brought it home with us instead.

I fully expected to be ordering the gear once I used it for bread but I've already made 100% whole wheat bread in it and it didn't so much as whimper.

I'm still saving for the Electrolux I've been eyeing, but I am very thankful to have such a nice mixer in the meantime. Thanks, Mom!