Our Newest Outdoor Classroom

I have gotten some great feedback since I have announced the Garden 118 summer classes. Thank you to everyone that has liked us on Facebook and have started following our blog.

I would like to share today, our newest outdoor classroom (we have 3 total outdoor areas where learning takes place) . As you can see it is not quite finished and we still have landscaping to do, but it has come a long way. And it sits right between the compost/garden bed and the greenhouse/main garden.

 The beginning of our project started back in January. We really have come a long way in such a short time.

 Standing the walls was a fun day. My husband and I have built the entire building by ourselves. We both did a lot of research on how to make it more efficient and we used as much recycled materials as we could.

 We also wanted to building to last a LONG time. so we used aluminum siding (recycled from material ordered wrong), a metal roof (left over pieces are being used for the chicken coop as well as all the scrap lumber), we created a rain screen, used radiant barrier, and sheeted it with drain wrap (not in that order).

 Here it is with the radiant barrier and the bottom half of the siding up, a nice shiny, reflective building. The doors and windows were old pieces from a local high school and the fixed one in front is leftover storefront.

This has been a great project for my husband and I to complete together. Our kids are loving it as well, they have learned a bunch about helping and creating something as a family.

 I can't wait to share it with all of you this summer! 

Please follow us on Facebook for up coming events and class dates and times

Garden 118

Now on Facebook

Today I set up a facebook page for Garden 118!  I figured it was a great way for me to get the word out about the following:

Art work by 5 year old for our unit study on plants, identifying and collecting specimens 

I am so, SO excited to announce that I will be teaching organic gardening classes to kids between 2-6 this summer. Parents are encouraged to stick around and join in the fun and snacks and drinks will be provided.

All classes will be free of charge. We will be learning all sorts of fun things through hands on activities.

Come to all or just pick a few. It is a great way to beat the summer vacation boredom.

Please check back often for more exciting news and the see the progress at Garden 118. Please leave a comment if you have any questions regarding classes or schedules or email me!

St. Patrick's Day Cards DIY

 In light of St Patrick's Day and my ongoing desire to create snail mail, I decided to get creative and craft a couple of cards for the kiddos. I shrunk a of a file folder down to make it card size on a copy machine. I then printed out some Irish St. Patrick's Day Stickers from Pinterest, that I printed on cardstock.

 I took a few tags that I cut out, taped them on added the sticker cut out, created a small bag of a "pot 'o' gold" (confetti and glitter), a parasol just because they love to get something interesting, drew a rainbow and sun, and to finish it off I melted some pony beads into a clover shape, added a stem and wrote a saying.

 The kids will love to find these in the mail box on St. Patrick's Day. Anytime snail mail arrives for them they are super excited knowing that someone is thinking of them.

Have a safe and fun St. Patrick's Day and enjoy all the Corned Beef and Cabbage!

DIY Faux Filofax Garden Journal

Since I am an avid gardener and love growing new things each year, I keep an extensive record of plants and flowers I grow. Every other year I have just used some notebook paper or composition books, but this year I decided to do something completely different.

I have to admit I have a LOVE for all things paper, snail mail, cards, stationary, envelopes, pictures, tickets, scraps of paper...I could go on and on. So with my paper love and an old 2008 planner I had I got to work creating my Faux Filofax Garden Journal.

 Working in the greenhouse, recording seeds planted, progress of seedlings, and just relaxing.

 I started by emptying out all the pages of the old planner. For the first page I cut down a page that used to hold baseball cards, now it has a few business cards and a little doodad thing for color. 

  Using the old dividers, created a template to create some of my own. I laminated them and labeled each tab with something garden related, contact information, and project ideas. I did this for the sides and tabs at the top.

I cut down notebook paper and blank paper to fit then punched holes and added it to the different tabs, then started taking notes and writing important information. 

As the garden and my business grows, I hope to have it stuffed with drawings, more contacts, pictures, all kinds of good things that come with having a planner/garden journal, maybe I will share in a couple of months just to see if the journal has progressed.

Hope you have fun creating one of your own, and get creative. If you don't have an old planner, peruse thrift shops, or just decorate a composition notebook or just staple some of your favorite papers together or better yet sew them together. I make journals for my kids by sewing folded scrapbook paper and blank printer paper sewn down the middle. It's super easy and fun!  

Enjoy, and please share some of your handmade garden journals in the comments!

Keeping Bees and Rainy Day Photos

What better way to spend a rainy day than taking pictures around the garden!

I would love to show off beautiful new office that is currently under construction, but the muck and mud that is surrounding it makes me shudder.

 I could never call myself a gardener again if I showed my unlandscaped yard, instead enjoy the lavender and below is some moss that grows on the fence between houses, always so green and lush when the weather is dreary.

 I do have some ideas for the landscaping though. We have chosen not to go back with grass and instead grow white clover. I am trying my hardest to get more bees into our yard. Funny thing, bees are a hobby. I absolutely love them. They are the most interesting insect to watch and study, I photograph them most everyday.

 In the next few years I am hoping to have a hive hanging in the tree out front to study them in a natural way. Taking honey in the spring, leaving honey for them through the winter so they have food to keep them nourished. No added sugar for the bees, it just doesn't see as nature intended. I also want to research and study  Colony Collapse Disorder, it interests me.

 Back to the garden. I have a set of these lovely mushrooms from the 70's hiding out and the Vinca has decided to bloom in this warmer wet weather. I have found the rain water refreshing and so have the plants.

Question: Do you keep bees? How do you keep your bees? Any tips on raising bees? and lastly, Where is a good place to start with Colony Collapse Disorder? 

Also, on a side note. Local people only, I will be posting the heirloom plants I will have ready for sale by June. I will also take orders for herbs, squash, and melons so stay tuned.