My goodness! It has been another busy week. My family and I are starting a journey of making all of our foods from scratch. We are trying to stay away from processed foods. It will be a long journey, and I will be sharing all of the things we have made and tried along the way. One thing that we have always wanted to do, is grow our own vegetables. Last year, we managed to grow some zucchini, carrots, and green beans. We started too late to start seeds indoors though. This year, we are giving it a try.
Cricut Project for the Week
Other than getting our hands dirty, I have been busily working on some decals for a friend. She asked for 45 decals that said, “Friends are the Family You Choose”. They are rather small decals, that need to fit onto pint sized jars. If you use a Cricut, you can imagine just how time consuming weeding all of those little decals can be. Whenever I had some free time this week, I was working on these little decals. I timed it at 10 decals weeded per hour.
Also, if you were ever wondering about the transfer tape at the Dollar Tree, I can tell you that it actually works! I don’t know about the vinyl yet, but I did try the transfer tape for these decals. I had planned on getting some from Joanns, but they didn’t have any in stock. The transfer tape definitely doesn’t look like it would work, because it is wrinkled and coming off of the roll. It does work though! Just apply it to the top of your decal. Then you can rub the back of the decal paper with your Cricut scraper. When you go to remove the decal, remove the paper from the transfer tape. It works so much better than removing the transfer tape from the paper.
Anyways, even though this project was time consuming, I am always so happy when my friends think of me for projects they need done. I absolutely love creating beautiful items for people. My next project for a friend is a Ghostbusters cake next weekend for her boys’ birthday party. It should be fun! These decals turned out great, and I can’t wait to see them on all of those jars!
Final Rock Tumbler Update
My daughter was able to decide which rocks were perfect for jewelry this week. These were the jewelry pieces that came with the rock tumbler. We aren’t quite sure what we want to do with the rest of the rocks. She told me I should drill holes in them and make beads out of them for bracelets. I will have to do some research before I attempt that. Either way, I am sure more jewelry will be made with these rocks. Then sometime this summer, more rocks will be found and polished for more jewelry. Never again will the rock tumbler be tumbling in our home though. This will definitely be a summer hobby. I am definitely enjoying the quiet! We are so happy that the rocks turned out well though!
Start Seeds Indoors
Let me start by saying, I have never done this before. I may fail, but I am going to do everything I can to make these seeds grow, transplant them outdoors, and hopefully have vegetables at the end of it all. We live in the Pacific Northwest, so we have to start seeds indoors this time of year in order for them to grow in the spring outdoors. I am pretty excited to see what will grow!
What You Will Need:
- Seed Starter Cells (with drip pan and lid)
- Grow Lamp
- Seed Starter Soil
- Seed Starter Heat Pad
- Spray Bottle
- Envelopes
- Seeds!
Step 1: Organize Seeds
Before I did any planting, I started by going through all of the seeds and organized them. I looked at the back of each seed packet, and put them in envelopes based on which month that seed should be planted in our part of the US. I also, made an envelope for herbs that we were wanting to grow indoors all year long. If you want to plant different herbs together in the same container, make sure that you research what herbs grow well together. Based on my research, I put parsley, basil, and cilantro together; oregano by itself; and rosemary and thyme together.
Step 2: Install Grow Lamp
We decided to put our herb garden on our peninsula in our kitchen. I found a grow lamp at North 40 Outfitters, and installed it to the bottom of my upper cabinets. This lamp will be used for our herb garden daily. It is very bright, and has become the best lighting in our kitchen. We went with a 2 foot long light, and it fits perfectly below our cabinets.
The other grow light that we installed under the cabinets above the peninsula was strip lighting. This is perfect, because we needed extra light there. It has three light settings for the different stages of seed growth. I am not using them quite yet, because most seeds don’t need light to germinate. Once the seeds sprout, I will prop them up to be 3 inches below the light strips. When we are done growing seeds indoors, we will have extra light in our kitchen. I found this lighting at Home Depot at https://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Electric-11-Watt-8-ft-Linkable-Indoor-and-Greenhouse-Seeding-Vegetation-Flowering-Plant-Tape-LED-Grow-Light-TAPE48-GROW-LED/320664468.
Step 3: Seed Starter Soil
A lot of what I have been doing to start seeds indoors has come from research and reading this PNW blog about starting seeds. https://www.swansonsnursery.com/blog/how-to-start-seeds-indoors. It has been very helpful during this process. The website also has many helpful blogs about outdoor gardening, when to do certain things, and what should be planted together. The next step is to find the right soil for your seeds. I found this Natural and Organic Seed Starting Jiffy-Mix at North 40 Outfitters. You should be able to use any type of seed starter mix.
According to Swanson’s Nursery and the instructions on this bag of soil, you need to make the soil damp before add it to the seed starter cells. I just ended up spraying water from my spray bottle into the bag while mixing the soil with my hand. It seemed to work just fine.
Step 4: Plant Seeds!
For planting the seeds, I found some inexpensive Seed Starting Pro-Hex Kits at Walmart. This kit comes with a drain pan and a greenhouse lid, which are both necessary to start seeds indoors.
This month, February, I only had five vegetables that needed to be planted. I filled five rows of cells with the seed starter mix. Then I poked holes in the soil of each cell to the suggested planting depth on the back of the seed packet. Your kids’ little fingers would be perfect for this part. I planted a few seeds in each hole and covered them up with soil. Planting more that one seed in each cell ensures that you will have at least one of them grow. If both grow, they will have to be thinned out at some point. For February, I planted broccoli, sweet pepper, sweet onion, white onion, and asparagus.
I also, filled up three pots with indoor potting soil for our herb garden. Then I started a few seeds from each herb packet in the pots that I decided they should go in. Make sure you label what you planted, somehow. I wrote the names on pieces of tape to label them for now. At some point, I want to use my Glowforge Aura to create labels with popsicle sticks. Those will be perfect for the garden!
Step 5: Taking Care of Your Seeds
Now that they are planted, I am waiting for the seeds to germinate. While I wait, I keep a grow lamp on 12-16 hours per day for my herb garden. For the seed starter kit, I placed a heat pad under the cells, keeping it on during the day when I am around. If I notice the soil getting a little dry, I mist water on the cells. Then I keep the lid on the starter kit at all times. It is interesting to watch how it acts as a greenhouse for the seeds.
Now we wait! I will update you with the next steps, once these seeds begin to sprout! I can’t wait!
God is Love
Along with making time to start seeds indoors this week, we also got to go to a homeschool Valentine’s Day party! We are so blessed to have a group of families in our area that we can get together with once a month. Homeschooling can sometimes feel like you are doing it all alone. Finding a community for you and your kids to meet families is so important. All of these Moms and kids are going through similar things, which makes this time together so necessary. The Moms get to talk and catch up, while the kids get all of their energy out playing with friends. I love this group of homeschool families, and I can’t wait to continue getting to know all of them.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8
This verse is perfect for Valentine’s day. It tells you to love one another. At the same time you get to remember that God is the reason why you get to love one another. It is so cool to think about. Without God, you don’t know what love actually is. Share your love with everyone around you, because God is love.
Below is a fun song that we sing in children’s church. I hope you and your kids enjoy it! Have a wonderful week friends!