To Prepare For Spring…

You CAN feel better!

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I love to fill this blog with lots of ways you can support your own health in your own home.

I believe health is your birthright and your natural state.

One of the best ways you can support your own health is to take charge of the food you put in your body.

 

Beyond checking labels and shopping organic and eco-friendly packaging… I’m talking more intimate than that.

I’m talking growing your own food in your own garden to support the health of your body.

 

Not only will the organic foods be more delicious and nutritious, but all that gardening and Earthingâ„¢ will be healing your body and supporting your natural well being every second you are out there planting, watering and harvesting.

 

I swear, planning my summer garden is what gets me through the dark cold January each year… and it can help you too! This is what I do:

  • I dream of spring crops.
  • Sketch out my garden beds and plan where each crop will go.
  • Flip through Baker Seeds Catalog and order my seeds.

 

Because I save seeds from last year’s fruits, I only need to reorder a few packs of my favorites and then I expand my garden by picking out a few new delights.

 

The most important step of dreaming up your garden is to make sure you are getting non-GMO seeds.

It is more important than EVER to make sure you are as close to your food as possible… knowing where your food comes from is the only real way to ensure what you are putting in your mouth is what Mother Nature intended. Due to cross-pollination, the introduction of GMO crops has now made *organic* crops (and the animals that feed off of this so-called organic grain) pretty much obsolete.

 

At this point, most natural processed foods and animal product foods sold in stores (even natural stores such as Whole Foods) are labeled organic but have GMO derivatives in them… especially foods containing corn, soybeans, canola (and the animal products that feed off of these foods.) So… more then any years past, I like to make sure I start with heirloom quality seeds… seeds that are pure and non-GMO.

 

Generally, the seeds you find on a rack at a garden store or seedlings from your local hardware store are going to be a hybrid seed.

This means that the seeds are not heirloom quality… you can’t trust that the seeds that are produced on that plant you grew can be replanted and grown to produce the same product.

A hybrid plant may have some seeds that come out bearing a different type of fruit then the parent plant.
I love Bakers Creek Heirloom Seed Catalog… love the company and love the gorgeous catalog I get the pleasure of looking through each year.

 

Every single seed they sell is guaranteed heirloom… pure and preserved.

 

Meaning, you can save the seeds from your fruits and use them the next year to start your garden all over again.

 

Many folks recommend getting your seeds from a catalog as opposed to your local store anyway because seed companies store their seeds in temperature controlled rooms… unlike at hardware store warehouses where they have been stacked in an overheated warehouse, decreasing their germination rate. Having the seeds ship straight to you helps ensure their success.

 

So back to spring dreaming…

Here are the crops I’ll be giving a go to this year:

 

  • Tomatoes
  • Carrots
  • Watermelon
  • Cucumber
  • Lettuce
  • Several types of hot peppers
  • Corn
  • Pumpkin
  • Peas
  • Black Popcorn
  • Strawberry Popcorn
  • Onions
  • Basil
  • Dill
  • Mint
  • Motherwort
  • Toothache Plant
  • tons of different flowers
  • and for fun… cotton and cat grass 🙂

 

Other things you can do to help January move along?

  1. You can start getting ready for spring by turning your compost and getting it ready to add to beds in a few short months. And…
  2. You can start collecting materials from your recycling bin to make totally free, eco-friendly seedling greenhouses for you to start your seeds in.

Because I save seeds from ripe crops year after year, add my own compost for soil amendments, and start my seedlings from recyclable waste, our entire garden and all the fruits and veggies we eat are close to free.

It’s awesome what Mother Nature can do with a little bit of winter dreaming!!!

xoxo, Laura

 

PS — want another fun project you can do to light up your winter?

Check out these glorious crystal trees my family made. I found the idea on Pinterest (Click here to follow me!) and it couldn’t be simpler.

Just wrap wire around a rock and twist to form a tree trunk. Slide beads onto each wire tip to form the branches and curl the tips to prevent the beads from sliding off.

We are using ours as an indoor garden centerpiece on our kitchen table, until I can grow the “real” magic outside in our garden beds!