Tomato Seeds

I received these seeds from Our Engineered Gardener (thanks again Jeff) back in November.  I am very excited to try these varieties of seeds.  I am still very much a newbie to growing my plants from seeds, so hopefully all will work out.  Also, I love watching his videos, he shares so much information/videos regarding his growing process that it is like you are right there (along with Jude).  Also, he is truly amazing at creating things from scratch (from wood, electronics, etc.), you can't imagine the things he has created (just do a search for his compost turner, that will show you).  He is also very giving of wanting to share his knowledge when creating a new project.  Thanks again Jeff.

Cherokee Purple, Information from others from Daves Garden
Roman Candle, Information from others from Daves Garden
Black Cherry, Information from others from Daves Garden
Paul Robeson, Information from others from Daves Garden

Here is what EG says about these tomatoes that he grew:

Cherokee Purple - I've got plenty of these to go around, and if you haven't tried it before, you're missing out....

Black Cherry - Really good cherry tomato.

Roman Candle - This is a bright yellow paste tomato that is really pretty.

Paul Robeson - A black tomato, and really good.

I will keep everyone updated on these varieties and my process in growing them.

Lookie What I Won

I recently participated in a Fruits & Vegetable Challenge at work through our Wellness Council and I won a $50.00 gift card to Whole Foods.  I really like that store, but the food is rather expensive, so this gives me an opportunity to test out a few things, without breaking the budget.  Who knows I may find something that I just have to have always (wink wink).

The goal of the program was:

Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day from November 1st to December 24th.  You were required to keep track of your daily intake of produce and the prizes were:


1) Farm to Work Produce Basket
2) Cookbook: Food to Live By, author: Myra Goodman
3) $50 Gift Card to Whole Foods

The American Cancer Society recommends eating 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day to help prevent cancer. These foods contain important vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and antioxidants and are usually low in calories. In general, those with the most color - purple, green, red, yellow, and orange -- have the most nutrients.

Eating at least 5 servings of vegetables and fruits each day may not be that hard to do when you look at how small one serving really is:

1/2 cup of fruit
1 medium piece of fruit
1/4 cup of dried fruit
1 cup of leafy vegetables
1/2 cup of cooked or raw vegetables

Trying to visualize the serving sizes?
1 medium apple or orange: the size of a tennis ball
1 cup vegetables or fruit: the size of a baseball
1 medium sweet potato: the size of a computer mouse
1 cup of dark green lettuce: 4 large leaves

Tips to fit more fruits and vegetables into your day:
• Try filling half your plate with vegetables or fruit at each meal.
• Explore the produce aisle and choose something new. Variety is the key to a healthy diet.
• Add fruit to your cereal, oatmeal, waffles or pancakes at breakfast.
• Create your own yogurt flavors with plain yogurt and different combinations of fresh fruit.
• Snack on raw vegetables or fruits instead of chips or pretzels.
• Use chunky salsa instead of thick, creamy snack dips.
• Add frozen veggies to any pasta dish.
• Keep fruits and vegetables in line of sight. Grapes, oranges, bananas, and apples make a colorful bowl arrangement on the table
• Dried fruit is just as portable as potato chips -- and less messy.
• When cooking vegetables, make 2-3 times more than you need and immediately store the extra for tomorrow. It will save time later.

Eating the fruits and vegetables was no problem at all as I use certain fruits as my sweet for the day and the vegetables are pretty much served at each dinner meal and sometimes used as a snack.  The problem was the tracking (as eating them was second nature), but I had to stop and track it or I would forget.  On the weekends, I had to send myself a message to remember to log it when I got to work.  I am so glad that I participated in the program and overall I won for something that I do anyway.  Tooooooo cooooool.

Organizing Scraps (at least my attempt)

I have been organizing my scrap piles into colors for some months now and I finally had a chance to stop and do it all at once on 11/24.  Close to being finished I ran out of the plastic shoe boxes (of course) to store them as I had been working up until 11:00 pm, I told myself to just put them color sorted into plastic baggies and purchase the containers the next day.  That way it is sorted and you are that much further along in the process.

This is what my scrap pile looked like before (there are more bins next to it and stuff was in baggies):

This was my attempt to sort them by size, that got old real quick.

Here is what it looks like now, still needs more work, but it is much better than before.  I find it alot easier to use the bins this way because if I need a certain color, I start there before I go into my actual fabric stash to cut a size that is not in the bins.

Layer Cake Quilt Along (Basket)

Here is block 3 by Sarah Vanderburgh through the Layer Cake Quilt Along. This pattern was easy and came together way faster than I thought.

Layer Cake Quilt Along (Block 2)

Just completed bock 2 by Vickie Eapen through the Layer Cake Quilt Along.  I mistakenly grabbed some solid brown fabric that I had in my stash and was done making the half square triangles (HST) and as I was  pressing the seams open on the last one (of course it would be the last one), I noticed the others were shrinking.  Upon closer inspection turns out that solid brown fabric was not 100% cotton, still don't know what it is.  I had to make the HSTs all over again.  I would have been finished and onto block 3 earlier today.  Oh well you live and learn.  Enjoy.

How to make a grow light on the cheap

I watch Praxxus quite often on YouTube, he always brings informative information form his experience in doing it himself.  He tells you quite often to give it a try, you will never know if  you can actually do it.  I thought I would pass this video on to those who like to start their plants and flowers from seeds when it is cold outside.  Last year I went to put together a growing system from the hardware store and the already made products were very expensive (the light bulbs alone cost more than the lighting system), so I used other lighting to get my plants going, needless to say the light was not bright enough, so I did not get very good germination and most of the plants died.  I will try this and see how it works out (as I just recently made my own light box for transferring patterns, post to come soon on that, so I am not so afraid of putting wires together, I still respect electricity though).  Enjoy.

Crazy Quilt Block Tutorial

I came across this pattern from the blog of Jennifer at twobutterflies and thought it would be great to use up more of those scraps that we always seem to accumulate and the process to make this quilt is so fast.  Can you imagine this quilt with a white background and the inner squares in various arrays of black or even one with just red colors both black and white with a hints of white in them.  She made it as a baby quilt and the random colors she chose were great too.  Just wanted to pass this along and I am also adding it to my to do list (which is getting very long)  HA HA.  Enjoy.