Vegetable Yarden

This is a front yard vegetable garden in Ferguson, Mo

Pictures.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Amy!

Upcycle a T-shirt

There was a huge news article about a month ago regarding the ban of plastic grocery bags. So many people are in an uproar about it.

But let’s put on our rose colored glasses and mellow out on the chill side and make some lemonade.

We betcha that you have a closet, a drawer even a hamper of old t-shirts that you don’t even have the courage to wear outside the house, let alone in the front yard. Imma right? But you just don’t have it in your heart to give away, throw away or turn into a dust rag. Right? Of course I am right, cuz I have a few of those too. Maybe it’s a t-shirt from a concert, some ugly crafty thing your kid or grandchild made JUST FOR YOU!

Why not turn it into something useful. I have found 2 individual sites that teaches, shows and demonstrates for you the ease of turning an old t-shirt into ::::drum roll please:::::::: a grocery bag. Yep, you can make your very own t-shirt grocery bag. How cool is that!?!

Didja wanna have the kids practice their sewing skills this summer. Need a project to keep the kids busy? Have some spare time and wanna make some cool bags for a gift. Well this is the easy schmeasy way to upcycle your t-shirts. I love this idea for t-shirts as well as the t-shirt quilt. Go ahead and ask me, have I made either one of these and my answer is no. Not yet.

I want you to check these 2 sites out:

In this picture tutorial, Lee shows you how to make a t-shirt bag with a new sew method and all you need is a pair of material scissors or any scissors sharp enough will do, a regular short sleeved t-shirt you no longer wear and a safety pin.
Check out Lee’s site: leelthel! do stuff! blog

This second picture tutorial gives instructions with sewing needed. You can do this stuff by hand, ya know the old fashion way. A fun project to keep your tweens busy. If ya got some crafty friends and you are all thumbs with a needle and thread, just purchase and give the supplies to them, these look easy enuf to whip out over night. So why haven’t I made one yet? I just don’t have any t-shirts I wanna cut up at the moment, but maybe I can raid my friend’s closet. Hmmmmm…..
Check out About.com’s DIY T-shirt Tote: Make a Grocery Tote from T-Shirt

Share the Sunshine,
Amy and David

The Scoop on Poop from the Coop

Has the $h!t hit the fan yet?
Are you full of it?
Have you stepped in it?

I have stepped in it quite alot lately, but that is what happens when you let your backyard chickens free roam your backyard. *smirk*

Chickens, like any other backyard *pet* (and yes we do consider our backyard chickens as our pets) require attention, care and respect. One could consider them a pet with a purpose, a utilitarian pet, because they do serve a purpose for more than just companionship and more than just sheer amusement and beauty. Primarily they lay eggs, well at least they do when they reach the 6 month mark. Secondly, they will reward you with a pest free gardening environment, they will eat every last cootie bug, crawling critter insect, snail and slug. Lastly, they poop. Alot.

Chicken poop cannot be used *hot*, as in fresh. Please do not start layering your garden beds with fresh manure, you will burn, kill and destroy your garden if you do this. If you got the space or a compost in process, add the coop poop to that. On the flip side, if you have rabbits, you can add their poop straight into the garden. No composting or drying is needed.

Share the Sunshine,
Amy & David

Chicken Coop

Last summer we built a chicken coop from scratch. Watched a couple of videos online, researched a few popular backyard chicken websites, chatted with a few people who currently had chickens…. and then we went to the hardware store bought some untreated lumber and began our coop.

This summer starts another chicken coop project…. but this time we are starting off with a caged run. It is a 10 x 10 area, and now we need some genuine imagination and engineering ingenuity to make this plain o’l cube something that will keep the chickens warm and safe at night and allow them a secure environment to day pasture.

We have been generously accepting scrap wood and chicken wire for this new project. The chicken coop will be part of our garden that is being homed at The Kingdom Center in Oxnard.

Have you seen the pictures yet on our Facebook Page?
Check us out A & D Family Gardens on Facebook.

Sharing the Sunshine,
Amy & David

A & D Family Time

Recently David posted on A & D Family Gardens Facebook Page: “…if you have children or little ones around, you might want 2 consider spending time in your garden with them. its fun, relaxing, and a great way 2 connect with your children. (trust me it works)…”

Working together side by side, is so much for the younger members of the family. Not only are they learning about cooperation, but they are “helping”, they are part of the team. Being outside, getting some fresh air and getting away from our electronic games and devices really allows for the conversation to flow. Talking about the garden, how your young person’s day has gone so far and teaching them about the plants and foods that you are planting together. Might just get the young ones to eat their vegetables, no guarantees tho.

Even my niece loves to come over and help feed the chickens. Having her pet and handle Las Gallinas domesticates the hens and baby chicks. Of course I am the coolest Tia Amy ever too….. who else do you know that has chickens for pets? My older niece helps with cleaning out the chicken coop and helps in the garden too. She doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty.

These young members of our family are learning about the many colors and types of fruits and vegetables. They know that they love eating strawberries, zucchini and watermelon and now they are learning that they just don’t come from the grocery store. They are also learning how it looks when growing from our own soil. What it means to take care of the food we eat and how much tastier it is. The best part, is admiring all your hard work and reaping the rewards as well as the benefits.

Spending time with our family is just one of the many ways A & D Family Gardens share our sunshine.

May 1st

Even if everything is coming up roses and lollipops and daffodils and sunshine and Santa Claus…

Lily of the Valley is the birth month flower of May.

So back in the good old days when chiks wore fancy clothes and got strung up in a girdle and gentleman came a calling, they often brought flowers to the ladies. And tho alot of the “language of flowers” has been lost, people still send red roses to someone they love. The meaning of a single red rose is….. C’mon, I know you know the answer to this one.
Romantic love. There is even a *technical term* for this flower language, it’s called floriography which was the secret lover way to communicate during the Victorian era. Flowers were exchanged so no one really knew what you were saying, it was all done in code. How romantic! But not only did the flowers themselves represent a particular meaning, so did the color of the flower.

Let’s take the rose, there are many colors, and there are some with thorns and with out. For example the color of roses. The red rose symbolizes passionate romantic love, but the pink rose means affection while the white rose symbolizes virtue and chastity but a yellow rose says friendship and devotion. And well a bouquet of withered dead flowers, that just means the it’s over.

The Lilly of the Valley has it’s own meaning too. The scent is extremely sweet, but not in that obnoxious bossy Gardenia kind of way. The Lilly of the Valley is much more delicate, just like in it’s meaning: sweetness, humility, returning to happiness, trustworthy.

Share the Sunshine and show someone today your sweeter side. Help some one else return to their happiness. Happy May First!

A & D Family Gardens