Here We Go!

Remember I told you that we got Sesame Street starter seed kits. And I told you they were fun and colorful and cute... well here they are. And here we go. These are the pictures from our planting day which was a couple of weeks ago.

We are growing watermelon (Cookie Monster blue ), orange sun peppers (Bert & Ernie orange), garden beans (Oscar the Grouch green), tomatoes (Elmo red), and pumpkin (Abby Cadabby pink -- my daughter's favorite). The kits come with stickers which really got the kids eager to participate. The boxes are supposed to make mini-greenhouses. We'll see what happens. We are very excited!

Remember all great things start small. And here is our start. Follow-up pictures to come!

Spring Clean Out

Well, those of you who follow my other blog know that my family has spent the last week sick Sick, SICK! So we did not start our garden even though I got the cutest Sesame Street container garden set. I mean REALLY cute -- I will share this with you when we are able-bodied enough to embark on that brave new world.

After having been so sick, however, I was inspired to clean, Clean, CLEAN. And this included my pantry. Out with the expired food. Which I am ashamed to say was a lot. But you now what is scarier than a pantry full of expired food? Finding "food" without expiration dates! How is that possible?!?!?!

I have to say that this was eye-opening. When I started my journey over at 38 and Growing, I realized that I was living my life unconsciously. This evolved into my husband and I looking at our personal health, our family's health, and our contribution to the world's health. We were floating through life doing the "easy" thing, not necessarily the good thing. Well, there cannot be any good thing about food that doesn't expire -- either for our bodies or our Earth!

My eyes are open. I am aware. I cannot pretend otherwise. And that is good. I am going to have to learn to shop differently. I am going to have to work harder at preparing the food for my family. But it's worth whatever time and effort are involved because I'm worth it, my kids are Worth it, and this planet is WORTH it!

Starting a Spring Garden

Well, next week is Spring Break for my kiddo and we are expecting beautiful warm weather so we will finally be starting a garden on our patio. I want to get the kids involved -- I think that it will be very valuable for them to see the work that goes into growing their food and I am hoping that they may be more willing to eat green things if they have an investment in them.

I found a great website http://startergardens.com that is dedicated to container gardening for beginner gardens. I'm very excited to get started. Do you have any great advice for a beginner? What vegetables would you recommend to get kiddos involved in?

I'll keep you posted. Maybe I'll have some pics to share.
:-)

Working on It... Next Question

So thanks to everyone who has already followed me over here and started chiming in with advice. It is exactly what I had hoped for.

As to my dumping the Pull-up challenge, I am starting to investigate the cloth options for night but in the mean, I found these pods that go into the training pant.They supposedly help teach with a cold feeling -- I've seen no evidence of that -- but they are very absorbent and a useful tool for running around town and sleeping. I know that it is not a completely disposable-free option but it is certainly smaller than the pull-up so I think we are improving. Even if just a little?

So here's my next question. I want to start a little garden on my patio. Because I am in Texas, our winter weather is relatively mild most of the time (ignoring this bizarre Arctic push we are currently experiencing) so I've been told that I don't have to wait for Spring for hearty vegetables. Any suggestions? Are certain plants easier than others? I have read some on-line but I was hoping for real life experience. I am also curious if anyone has tried the herb garden in a box set and or the "As Seen On TV" hanging tomatoes?

So thanks again for coming round. Each week I will try to institute an improvement for our family and the environment. And my husband wants you to know that the fun stuff is coming soon.