It isn’t every day an article or book can change your lifestyle. Of course for me it takes additional weeks during my prime growing season to get through an entire book because I’m more of a visual person who would rather be out taking photos or some where with my hands in the soil. After being sent a publication by Barry Estabrook those tomato volunteers that were popping up in the middle of the isle in the traditional veggie garden bed in my Ohio garden became more then just a question of should I ‘compost it?’.
I’ll be the first to admit that I have fetish with seeds so being the administrator to an event afflicted to #gardenchat called #supersowsunday will come to you as no surprise. Seeds are like shoes to a fashion fanatic to this city girl who finds herself in the middle of ‘tomatoland’. Not only am I effectuated by the art on the packaging but the creative ways companies and gardeners chose to preserve them. It was no surprise this late spring when it came time to transplant all those seed starters from my 10′x12′ greenhouse out into the soil that I had enough for my entire county! As the season rolled on and most of those little seed starters were off to a strong growing start in my veggie garden areas I noticed a few volunteer tomato plants in various sections of the veggie garden and in my raised beds. After reading Tomatoland by Berry Estabrook there is no way I could compost most of those volunteers. Growing my own tomatoes from heirloom seeds has became even more of a lifestyle for me rather then just a hobby. If you want good tasting vitamin packed tomatoe its even more important to grow your own.
On My Desk Today : shared on Twitter
I want to share with you my thoughts on the opinions and facts that were shared in this book because it not only effected my way of thinking as a year-round grower it inspired me in more ways to grow my own food and preserve it for during the months I can’t grow my own. I’m sure you have come across someone at some point in your life that couldn’t stand the taste of a tomato. Either it was the texture or the various flavors. My opinion on that had always been that the person who didn’t like a tomato just didn’t have it prepared properly. Now ask yourself where does most of America buy their tomatoes? In my neck of the woods if it isn’t summer time most of the tomatoes are purchased in grocery stores carrying hot house tomatoes. In this book you will learn why the tomatoes we purchase at the supermarket are not ‘really’ tomatoes. They contain less vitamin C, thiamine, niacin and calcium and have way more sodium as its 1960′s counterpart.
These are my 4th of July tomatoes by Burpee Home Garden
This book covers everything starting from the roots, chemical warfare, slavery, cost factors and a plan to help get the tomato back to a good tasting supermarket tomato. All though I may not be a big fan of enjoying a good book during the summer months when I would rather be out growing this book is on my MUST READ for everyone who enjoys to eat. Take responsibility for what is being put on your table starting with the tomato.
I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who enjoys to eat! It is a fact filled book that will get you thinking about how gardening and buying local will effect your lifestyle. Thanks for taking the time to check this entry out and I hope you will leave your 2 cents on the comments section below!
As the gas prices this summer go up I find myself discovering creative ways to keep the family entertained without going to far from home. We have always been the family that kept travel for special occasions having a large garden and animals to care for. The landscape here at home filled with edible gardens and greenhouse to grow in provides a personalized getaway we enjoy in our own backyard. Living out in the country allows my family and I to enjoy different commodities then many of our friends who live in town but however big or small your living space is it is possible to create a getaway. Locally, I’ve seen a couple of yards where younger people live where they have converted their yard to a 4wheeler track , ‘greens’ being developed in backyards used for golf course activity, and my own pond with sand beach. In the image featured in this article I snapped a photo of the deck on our pond at night. Adding little things like Christmas lights to the trellis adds a special touch to the surroundings. This year we found a paddle boat for the pond on ebay for $70. It needed a little fixing up but we’ve for sure got our moneys worth watching our pup Olivia waiting for someone to join her on an evening ‘cruise’.
What are you seeing people in your community do to stay close to home? I invite you to share with me and my readers what you are doing to create your summer getaway.
Tips On Creating A Getaway
Keep it simple : use items that you have on hand to create a zone. Example of this would be using Christmas lights out of season to festively light up your zone.
Think of what you enjoy most when you are on vacation away from home. Maybe it is a Tiki Bar ? This can easily be created at home by supplies found at a hardware store and adding inexpensive tiki touches to your patio area.
Look on Ebay / Craigs list for larger commodities. Remember I’m the queen of ebay finding my $4,000 greenhouse available for $350.
Think green – of course I’m going to put a plug in for growing a garden or patio container garden because I truly believe living a good life begins with gardening!
I’ve been talking to some AMAZING people who are really up to growing some fun things this spring. Take a look over at the new Podcast page located here on my website.
I’d love to hear from you if you have a suggestion on what you want to hear about on my site. Be sure to leave a comment on this post.
Living in the North, South, East or West really doesn’t matter on most occasions while in cyberspace. We all have surfing the web as our common interest and the ability to reach countless connections to interact with. If you have caught on to how search engines work, you will be able to discover networking groups of like minded users that you can be inspired by. This might be why I make it a habit to click on over to SashayMagazine.com
Sashay Magazine is a fairly new publication created by Shirley Bass, Monica Dutcher and Grace Ann Belangia. This magazine is about woman and their journey and along the way sharing story ideas, new perspectives and different ways of living. The magazine prides itself on being the ‘Real, Rugged and Refined Women‘ ages 25 -55 who are affluent and engaged in their world as 21ster, that is as an individual who utilizes technology and the spirit of independence to successfully maage work, travel, pursuit of dreams, personal time and family. This publication is not feminist, rather . the articles are a platform for both conservative and liberal voices. I personally love the colorful photography and inspiring stories from all walks of life.
I would like to invite you to take a look at their publication coming out today, APRIL 4th, not only because some of my photography and an article by me is featured in this printed issue but because the theme is Eco-friendly. I’m so excited to be included in this publication that I’m going to giveaway a copy to a lucky COMMENT chosen from this blog post about the magazine! All I ask is for you to please leave a comment about something you did today that is Eco-friendly.
Today I received my copy of I Garden: Urban Style Grow The Garden that Fits Your Space & Schedule by Michael Nolan and Reggie Solomon. The photo to the left is a MUST share considering I can’t help but imagine the creative ideas I’m going to get out of this book to help make this little space in my yard the growing area I’ve been dreaming of. I literally ripped into the package just a few steps from the mailbox and this cabin where the mail is delivered knowing it was what I had been anticipating after speaking with this books Author yesterday. I held the book up to admire the cover and it hit me… TOMATOES! I’ve been drawing up plans to make this roof top a live roof and working on a way to water in this location during the hot months that I never thought of planting one of my FAVORITE treasures from each summers harvest. I can see a landscape with fresh veggies like tomatoes featured in this space growing this summer. As I flipped open the book I was captivated by all the bright images used to capture the true creativity of gardening. Let me tell you – I am loving this book before reading it!
Did I mention that Michael Nolan is our guest host on Monday for #gardenchat. I’m excited to here all the wonderful gardening tips and ideas he has to share with us. Please bring your questions for him as well because he is also a rockstar on Twitter and will be able to take questions live!
Want to know where Michael got his nick name Garden Rockstar? Ever wonder what it is like to write a book? I had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Nolan last Friday about these topics and about his plan to grow 60% of what he eats by 2012. I invite you to kick back and enjoy this podcast with Michael Nolan – The Garden Rockstar.
This podcast with Michael Nolan, Author of I Garden Urban Style is going to get you out in your garden or balcony and growing what you eat. If you want to learn more about Michael please visit his website at www.TheGardenRockstar.com
Join us on Monday April 4, 2011 at 9pm EST for a special #gardenchat event with The Garden Rockstar, Michael Nolan. He wrote the book on urban gardening and now he’s breaking new ground building a rural homestead. As a lifelong gardener in some of the most unforgiving environments around the country, Michael thinks that everyone has the power to grow no matter where they are. Come armed with your questions and stick around to enjoy the company of hundreds of like-minded friends. From community gardens to containers, kitchen gardens to just plain kitsch, we’re talking about the limitless potential of a new generation of gardeners this week on #gardenchat. Don’t miss it! If you would like to submit a question early for Mr. Nolan please do on this blog entry.
Grow It * Prepare It * Eat It : My Motto when Gardening
As we dive into the sometimes exhausting chores of spring cleaning here in the Midwest, there is one thing going through my head that helps keep me energized: ‘Grow It * Prepare It * Eat It’. Could Gardening get any better then that? That little saying is one of the mottos that I use in some of the gardening videos to describe what I love most about gardening.
My hobby-turned-way-of-life of veggie growing started with the dream of having an endless supply of food that could be prepared for family and friends. My love for preserving tomatoes lead me to learn to grow my own in our country veggie garden here in Ohio. As I experienced first hand how easy it can be, my garden expanded to grow more of the veggies used to make dishes like salsa, stews, and relishes. Today I grow on a 40′x 60′ garden, raised beds in my greenhouse landscape area, and containers through out my home and garden. This maybe just one of the reasons why I’m loving the P.Allen Smiths ‘Seasonal Recipes From The Garden’ cookbook. In this cookbook you will find some amazing recipes that can served during the Holidays as well as every day cooking that always use fresh ingredients from the garden. Using what we grow is a theme I share here at BGgarden.com in ‘From Garden To Kitchen”collections.
I became a follower of P.Allen Smith after first spotting him sharing the Proven Winners that I so adore when I worked in a local garden center about four years ago. P.Allen Smith shares beautiful blooms in creative landscape and container designs featured in my favorite magazines that we could share with our clients. This was a great way to share ideas on what garden center shoppers could do with their gardens. It was an honor to meet P.Allen Smith for the first time last summer when he was one of the featured guest at the IGC event in Chicago. One of the first displays I visited at IGC was the debut of P. Allen’s amazing Christmas collection that I captured as photographer for Shirley Bovshow of Garden World Report.
In October of 2010, I became the administrator of #gardenchat and was honored to have P.Allen Smith and his crew as one of the first guest hosts. What a way to dive into a twitter forum of sharing the garden world – Wouldn’t you say?! His transcript about Raising Backyard Chickens has had well over 2,000 hits off of my site. And now I look forward to the Garden2Blog event that takes place in Little Rock, Arkansas this April with P.Allen Smith, which I was invited to attend along with 19 other garden bloggers from across the country.
A new webpage is ready here on the BGgarden.com website ,where I will be sharing the world of P.Allen Smith during the Garden2Blog event later this spring. You are invited along to the Garden2Blog event via my shares on Twitter where I network whats growing on Twitter as well as shares from P.Allen Smith daily.
Are you curious which recipe I brought to my table from the P.Allen Smith Seasonal Recipes From The Garden Cookbook? You know it is going to have tomatoes as a key ingredient and be super easy this time of year because I’ve got seeds to start and talk about while raising my family.
You’ll have to check out Allen’s book for this yummy Garden Tomato Salad from page 91 featuring some of the herbs that can be grown year-round. You can find more recipes and information about his book on his website at P.Allen Smith Garden Home.
In this podcast P.Allen Smith shares with me his thoughts on gardening, inspiration and the Garden2Blog event that takes place in April. I hope you will follow the event from my page here on BGgarden.com and on their facebook page at Garden2Blog.
Living in the North, South, East or West really doesn’t matter on most occasions while in cyberspace. We all have surfing the web as our common interest and the ability to reach countless connections to interact with. If you have caught on to how search engines work, you will be able to discover networking groups of like minded users that you can be inspired by. This might be why I make it a habit to click on over to
Today I received my copy of I Garden: Urban Style Grow The Garden that Fits Your Space & Schedule by Michael Nolan and Reggie Solomon. The photo to the left is a MUST share considering I can’t help but imagine the creative ideas I’m going to get out of this book to help make this little space in my yard the growing area I’ve been dreaming of. I literally ripped into the package just a few steps from the mailbox and this cabin where the mail is delivered knowing it was what I had been anticipating after speaking with this books Author yesterday. I held the book up to admire the cover and it hit me… TOMATOES! I’ve been drawing up plans to make this roof top a live roof and working on a way to water in this location during the hot months that I never thought of planting one of my FAVORITE treasures from each summers harvest. I can see a landscape with fresh veggies like tomatoes featured in this space growing this summer. As I flipped open the book I was captivated by all the bright images used to capture the true creativity of gardening. Let me tell you – I am loving this book before reading it!
