I ran into our local farm and home store to buy a bag of dog food for our well-fed overweight, four legged family member. To my delight, there was a large display of seed potatoes, onion sets, garlic, seeds, soil, garden hoses, starter fertilizer, etc. Gardening season is quickly approaching in my zone! Without any planning, I gave into the impulse and bought what I thought I would need to get started. I could not resist and bought far more than I needed (also had forgotten what I had already bought from the seed catalog). I think my solution will be to expand the garden or give my extras to the neighbors. (more…)
Nutrients are an important part of our lives. See how they help us feed ourselves and the world and keep the earth green through activities such as gardening.
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Dee McKennaAs a stay at home mom of three girls (ages 8, 3 and 1), I have a passion for... |
Archive for February, 2012
Starting Seeds – Part 1
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012A Teacher’s Book List on Gardening and Agriculture
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
Switzer presents at Nutrients for Life workshop at MAEOE Conference
Rhoda Switzer, a teacher at an independent Montessori school in Maryland, recently created a comprehensive book list about agriculture, gardening, and everything in between for a Nutrients for Life workshop at the Maryland Association for Outdoor Education Conference (MAEOE). As a whole, children today know less and less about where their food comes from and what it takes to get food on the table. But teachers like Rhoda Switzer are working to educate students on the importance of agriculture in their day-to-day lives. In the spring, her students work on Lesson 5 of our Nourishing the Planet in the 21st Century elementary curriculum: Planning a Garden. Ms. Switzer sees the value environmental education, such as having a vermicompost bin as a classroom pet and integrating environmental lessons into her classes. Her school is also developing and installing a new playground for the school, in which they aim to have certified as a Nature Explorer space through the Arbor Day Foundation, and maintaining a butterfly garden. Below is an excerpt from her book list; do you have other books to suggest for teaching soil science? (more…)
Planting Food for Thought
Thursday, February 16th, 2012
It finally arrived! I had been anticipating the CHS magazine with a feature story on the Nutrients for Life “mommy blogger” (that’s me). It’s not every day your blog is featured in a Fortune 100 company magazine with a circulation of 235,000. I quickly thumbed through and found the article. I called my three girls to the kitchen and showed them the article. They giggled and recalled the photo shoot with CHS photographer, David Lundquist. This “mommy blogger” is humbled and honored to be featured by CHS Inc. (more…)
What the Plant Hardiness Zone Map Can Tell You
Friday, February 10th, 2012
My daughter wanted to plant a banana tree in our backyard. She’s brilliant; think of the money I would save! (Her eagerness to plant everything she likes to eat makes me giggle!) I would love to send my three monkeys out to the backyard to pick their own bananas. Those of you living in zones 8-11, I envy you. You CAN plant and grow a banana tree in your backyard. I live in zone 6; we cannot plant tropics, like the banana tree, it’s too cold. (more…)
Fish Fertilizer
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012I don’t know how long he had been floating but it was obvious, our beta fish had passed away. After I broke the news to my three girls, it was time to bury our beloved (often neglected) fish, Goldie. When Mom is a gardener, the fish does not get flushed, it gets buried deep in the compost pile. Morbid I know, but fish emulsion and fish meal are common garden fertilizers and the little ‘ole fish will add nutrients to our compost. You are not supposed to put meat in your compost pile because it will draw rodents. I went ahead and buried Goldie deep in the middle, hoping the mice won’t sniff him out. (more…)
