06.06.09
Posted in Gardening at 12:30 am by Cassie
Wow! I’ve not had Internet at home, so I’ve not really been able to blog regularly (not that I was too good at it before). I’m trying to focus my energies here to educate and update as well as in my classes. I filmed a short video of us planting our garden planter in our front yard. I had many of the kids involved. I’ll post that soon as well as what it is looking like now. My Square Foot Gardening demo box is overflowing with lettuce and the kale is HUGE! It is getting a lot of attention in classes and at the Granville Farmer’s Market. I had to harvest it, but I will have to before the lettuce bolts. The kale will probably be OK for a little while. The pansies are beautiful, too.
There are some exciting upcoming events… I’m teaching the 10 Basics of Square Foot Gardening class on June 17th, 7:00 p.m. at the Second Presbyterian Church in Newark, Ohio. This is free. I am also offering a workshop on June 27 at 9:30 a.m. at the OSU Extension office in Newark. There will be a cost to this class, but it is yet to be determined. I’ve been asked to do a private class at the Health Department, too.
OSU Extension is offering a food preservation class on July 8 at the Granville Public Library at 7:00, I think. I think there will be a huge turnout, so call the extension office and let them know you plan to come. This is also free. Bring your pressure canner lid to have the pressure gauge tested.
I’ll be starting a couple of plots at the 6th Street Community Garden in Newark soon. I’ve been waiting on my adoption subsidy to start so I will have the cash to get the supplies. When I do, I’ll be offering a workshop. Some folks suggested I charge for the workshop so I’ll have the money to get the supplies. What do you think? Would you pay to come work and learn? Email me at Cassie@CassiesStuff.com and let me know!
It’s late now and I have to get up early for the Granville Farmer’s Market, so more soon!
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04.22.09
Posted in Gardening, Parenting at 10:20 am by Cassie
Happy Earth Day everyone! Celebrate your wonderful green Mother by planting something long-lasting - a tree or shrub. Tomorrow, I’m digging tree seedlings from my garden and potting them up. I just can’t bear to throw them out! I have maples, redbuds and black walnut, all at least 12 inches high. Let me know if you’d like one.
I hope to have someone to replace me at my job soon, so I can focus full time on my business, blog and online store. I’m feeling rather fractured working two part-time jobs, running a business and raising 6 kids! The laundry is never done, the house is never clean and last week, the dishwasher broke! You’d think with 6 kids in the house, I would have enough hands to get the dishes washed, but it just doesn’t seem to work that way. Why is that? LOL
Tonight I’m teaching the 10 Basics of Square Foot Gardening for the Upper Arlington Life Long Learning program. If anyone knows of a place to get coarse vermiculite in the Columbus area, please let me know. I’ve not tracked it down yet, only here in Licking County - and that is at Wilson’s Garden Center and Cedar’s Garden Center.
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04.21.09
Posted in Gardening at 8:08 pm by Cassie
Just sent this out in an email:
Since my request for worm castings has generated some interest, let me share with you some information I found online:
There are tons of places on the web to order worms. I’d start here, site of author Mary Appelhof, writer of “Worms Eat My Garbage.” Lots of great info at this site:
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/index.html
If you click on their catalog link, it does list worms to buy. They are redworms (eisenia fetida) and you may be able to find them cheaper at a bait shop (there’s one by me on Western Ave.)
At the composting class last Saturday, I shared a website which has directions for making a wood worm bin (and lots of other composting units) at: http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/hort/g06957.htm Be sure to scroll down for the worm bin directions.
Enjoy!
Cassie
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03.29.09
Posted in Gardening at 6:59 pm by Cassie
Wow! I’m pooped! Very good show, lots of people through the door. Taught my Square Foot Gardening class this afternoon and they had to add chairs! This is so huge this year. If you’ve not gotten on board, check out my next class at the Newark Public Library in downtown Newark, Ohio, Tuesday, April 7 at 6:00. Coming soon! I’ll have a merchant website where I’ll sell various garden and sustainable living-related products. I will also be adding a “double opt-in” email program and you’ll need to reply to the invite email in order to continue on my email list. This will make it easier to send out a newsletter and timely growing information. Right now I’m too tired to write anything else.
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03.27.09
Posted in Gardening at 9:14 am by Cassie
I’ll be at the Buckeye Valley Home & Garden Show this weekend. It is at the beautiful Bryn Du Mansion Fieldhouse in Granville, Ohio. Come see me!
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12.07.08
Posted in Gardening at 7:38 pm by Cassie
It’s not even Christmas yet and I’m tired of winter already! Seed catalogs come out next month and in Ohio, I can plant peas in March! This past fall we didn’t get my garden boxes built so Dylan (my 15yo son) and I still need to get those built and in place to be ready for Spring.
However, I am scheduling Square Foot Gardening classes and have the first one (so far) scheduled with Upper Arlington Life Long Learning in February. I’m looking for other locations to teach, so let me know if you have any good leads!
If you’re not familiar with Square Foot Gardening, check it out at www.SquareFootGardening.com. Click on this link, All New Square Foot Gardening
to take a look at Mel’s new book. If you have the original book, it is well worth the purchase of the new one. Lots of improvements, color photos and great planting charts.
For now, in my winter doldrums (I really hat the cold), I’m fiddling with my house plants and planning for spring. I can’t wait for the Johnny’s Selects seed catalog to come out. I’ve been wanting to experiment with microgreens, but haven’t bought the equipment for it. It doesn’t take much, just a couple of restaurant trays, some basic soil (Mel’s Mix should work) and perhaps some grow lights. Microgreens are something somewhere between sprouts and mini greens and are highly nutritious. I eat a lot of greens and this seems like a good way to get them economically.
We’re simplifying our Christmas this year. I did buy new Christmas stockings this year. I’ve been wanting for 20 years to make matching stockings for my family and have never gotten it done. Now maybe that’s a good thing. This year I have A LOT more people in my house - with my three, adopting four and a young woman and her 2yo son living with me, that’s a lot of stockings!
For our tree, we’re going to make salt-dough and cinnamon-applesauce ornaments, string popcorn and dried fruit and raffia ribbon. It should look nice and homey. For now, we’ve been trying to clear the clutter so we can have a really attractive Christmas. It should be fun!
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11.07.08
Posted in Economy, Parenting, Self Improvement, Yikes! I don't have a category! at 2:09 pm by Cassie
Have you ever felt like life was living you instead of the other way around? I’ve felt that. I’m just floating along with whatever happens next instead of having some real focus and attention on what I really want. Don’t get me wrong, my life is pretty fulfilling and pretty full! I have three biological kids (two out of the house) and four foster kids, whom I am adopting. Life is very much in transition. Income for the future is as yet undetermined as we go through the adoption process. I will get a subsidy stipend, but it is not likely to be at the level I am receiving now. I work part time, but really what I want to do, need to do, is work from home. I have been researching Internet marketing for several years, but have not yet found a way to make it happen. Actually, I’ve never sat butt in chair long enough to make it happen. I have received a generous offer from someone willing to be my mentor, but I need to get myself focused and on task before I start with him. I am decluttering my house, but more importantly, I need to declutter my mind. So on the weekend of Nov. 21-24, I am sending the kids away and I am going to find my own little weekend getaway place to focus and renew.
So this is where I need your help. What kind of questions should I be asking myself? Here’s where I’ve started:
Do I go back to college?
If yes, do I get my Associates in Web Design or my Master’s in Public Administration or something else?
Do I really want to spend my energy into delaying the money AGAIN to go back to school?
What am I passionate about?
What is important to me?
What can I let go of to make room for the new?
Where can I have more fun?
How can I get a little romance to balance the Mom?
Where is my life out of balance?
What are my talents and gifts?
What am I supposed to be giving to the world?
How can I benefit my readers?
How can I celebrate my accomplishments so far?
That’s what I can think of right now. What other questions should I be asking myself? How else can I create an “action plan” for my life? I’ve done enough reading. It is time to start doing.
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10.12.08
Posted in Economy, Parenting at 7:23 pm by Cassie
Today my daughter learned a hard lesson in natural consequences, or perhaps it was more rightly logical consequences. At any rate, all the kids were going to go to the homecoming football game with a friend of mine. I told everyone to be sure to take a sweatshirt because it would get cold after the sun went down. I told them at least four times. Well, we get to my friend’s house and my daughter doesn’t have her sweatshirt. My friend told her she couldn’t go. Ouch! My daughter cried for almost an hour over it. When she calmed down I called her to me and we talked and then I held her on my lap for several minutes. Parenting can be difficult at times. We don’t want to be the meanie, but we’re really not doing our children any favors by letting them slide by. The world will be a lot tougher on them and the world won’t discipline with love.
Speaking of the world, we seem to be having our own little lesson in natural consequences, aren’t we? We’re learning hard lessons in bad debt, over-extension of credit and overall bad choices by the banking industry. Do we really learn the lesson if there is always someone (big government) there to bail us out when we get into trouble? I’m certainly no economist, but I do know basic math and that tells me we can’t keep spending beyond our means, draining our natural resources and running the credit dept up without eventually having to face the consequences. It may not be easy, but we need to get back to basics - spend within our means, pay only cash, buy in bulk, conserve energy, walk or ride a bike when possible, grow our own food and basically, be wiser with all of our resources. A downturn in the economy may be exactly what we need to get back to a more balanced use of resources
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09.28.08
Posted in Gardening at 11:49 pm by Cassie
If you’re looking for Square Foot Gardening information because you attended one of my classes or know someone who attended one of my classes, please email me at Cassie@CassiesStuff.com. I’ve removed that content for the time being as I redesign my website. If you need direct info, please visit www.SquareFootGardening.com for information direct from the author of SFG, Mel Bartholomew.
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Posted in Yikes! I don't have a category! at 2:27 pm by Cassie
This is my second attempt at starting a Blog. The genre fascinates me, but I don’t yet know what I’m doing. Stay tuned. One of the top bloggers on the Internet has offered to help me personally! I won’t reveal his name yet ’cause it is not all confirmed, but when it is, I’ll share what I’m learning.
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