Worm Wranglin'

Let me start by saying my boyfriend is amazing! When he says he wants to build a chair or make compost bins, you better believe that when you get home from work, you have new furniture and new compost bins. Needless to say, we now have compost bins - and WORMS!! Don't cringe, these aren't an invasive species issue or an outbreak of the creepy crawlers, but rather an aide in creating nutrient rich soil. These worms will eat your vege scraps and then - this might be gross! - poop it all out for some extremely healthy soil. I know it sounds dirty, unsanitary, crazy even, but I remember learning about the necessity of worms in dirt when I was in elementary school. As usual, none of this is new!
The other week we were excited to get worms for our compost bins. Amazingly, we were able to find worms LOCALLY! Narda, who sold us the worms, is the all-knowing vermiculturist when it comes to the red wrigglers; a sort of 'worm guru', if you will. She's also from my area and buying from her not only helped our local economy, but also saved us about $30. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

We decided that Thursdays are to be designated feeding days. Narda informed us that the more we bug the bugs, the less handiwork they'll do. Red wrigglers, as they're known throughout the composting world, don't like a lot of light. In fact, when you open the lids to wherever it is you have them working, you won't see them. They are amazingly fast for worms.

Anyways, Thursday = feed day, and it really couldn't have come sooner. We'd been saving all our veggie scraps and the tubs we use were filling our fridge up fast. And it was starting to smell a little funky to me. Finally though, I arrived home from my long day at work, and we went to the bins. Let me back up by saying that we had been adding vegetable and fruit scraps to the bins in the week while we were waiting for the worms, so they had been working hard for a week already and we were about to see what they had done. At first, it wasn't really visible that anything had been eaten, and there seemed to be a lot of other bug - life going on in the bins, so I was a little worried. But then, we dug down a little bit and lo and behold!

There was what looked like rich, black compost! It was so exciting! Everything has been a worm success so far. In fact, we are probably going to get more worms for the other bin we have. We're planning on using all the compost for our own garden, and whatever we have leftover, we look forward to sharing with friends and family.

Planting the Future

Oh Monday, how quickly you come and go each week!!!

This weekend was Mother's Day, and it was really lovely. Firstly, I want to say, Happy Mother's Day once again to all the mothers who have been in my life. I have been touched by each and every one of them and they have all taught me valuable lessons to follow. Mothers are unique, special and irreplaceable. My sister, who is a great mother to two amazing children, feels every day should be Mother's Day, and she's right about that. So, Happy Mother's Day today, and everyday.

This weekend was special not only because I spent so much time with my mom doing fun things, but because we have started our vegetable garden! My boyfriend has created vegetable beds and compost boxes so that he and I, and my parents can grow our own vegetables safely and organically.

To start our amazing garden, we went seed shopping at the Sun Valley Garden Center on Saturday and I won't even try to remember everything we got plant-wise. My mom and I also loved everything the nursery had to offer that wasn't alive! *Note to self: shop there for MDay next year!

We mostly purchased seeds because they're cheaper than seedlings (seeds that have already started growing) and because they came from Botanical Interests and Seeds of Change, both incredibly reputable seed companies. Also, instead of buying the plastic starter kits, (remember, PLASTIC IS EVIL!) we made our own! Because I'm an interior designer, I have a lot of project material, which includes heavy stock paper. It is perfect for seed starters! Cut some construction paper, which can be even more fun because it's colorful, into 2.25" x 5.75" strips and tape the seams together with Duct Tape. Because these are filled with an organic compost blend found at almost any store, ie dirt, I recommend using cookie trays. I managed to make about 120 of these little guys! They're very easy to make, and when it comes time to plant them in the vege beds, all we have to do is peel off the paper and Voilà! no irritated roots.

One of the seedlings we did buy though, were jalapeños. I have a habit of needing to name everything, so, I present to you, Gonzalez and Oscar (Gonzalez is on the left).

I know, I'm totally silly. Anyways, we are very excited for our first jalapeños to grow so we can make tacos and other delicious food!

On a serious note, we are very excited to be doing this. Essentially, we are creating life. We are growing generations of vegetables (did I mention that most of the seeds are Heirloom seeds, which means they come from 30 - 50 year old strains?) which are being grown with love, patience and most importantly, knowledge. We have taken the responsibility into our own hands, which is way more than I can say for most these days. We were tired of buying genetically modified foods that offered little to no nutrients, and instead of whining about it or even shelling out extra bucks for organic foods, we're doing it ourselves.

Wish us luck! :)