Egg Shell Seed Starters

 As I was doing a little Easter shopping online I came across some ceramic Easter eggs that had seedlings in them that you could water and then they would grow. This got me thinking that real egg shells would actually be great seed starters. They have tons of calcium in them so you can just put them directly in the ground and it will give your new plant a calcium boost. So I thought I would give it a try. Jacob was the expert at cracking the eggs at the very top, keeping the rest of the shell in tact.

Then I simply gave the shells a good rinse. The kids helped me fill them with soil. We used a large needle to poke holes in the bottom of each of them so we could simply fill the egg carton up with water and they could stay moist from the bottom up. We filled our egg shells with pepper seeds. We really like peppers around here and use a lot in our canned salsa recipes. We planted a big variety this year. I hope they do well.

A couple of weeks later we had pepper plants peeking out of each one of our egg shells. Yay! Success! When I planted my peppers, I gave each shell a little squish and put it directly in the ground. They make perfect, organic, and completely biodegradable seed starters. I am thinking this is a great idea. I will be starting a bunch of seeds in egg shells for next year's garden. 

What a Busy Spring. . .

It has been such a long time since I have had a chance to post anything new. It has been such a busy spring for us. We have expanded our garden a bit this year and that has been a bit of work but we are really looking forward to the additional harvest. We are once again going to keep track of our harvest totals for the year to see how much more we can produce with just a little bit more space. (Check out our totals on the side bar.) Things are already looking good. We have been harvesting kale, spinach, and strawberries like crazy. It has been great we are really enjoying the kale and spinach in smoothies and just gobbling up the strawberries fresh. I have also had a few busy months helping out with my sister's wedding- she got married in the Provo Temple last Saturday. I was lucky enough to get to sew skirts and ties for the wedding. When I say lucky I really mean it. I love to sew and I was thrilled to be asked to help out. We also made the journey to Utah last week to be there for the wedding. It was wonderful and even though it was a short trip I am so glad we were able to make it. We made it back safely but unfortunately, not all of us came back in one piece. As we were loading the van to leave our two year old had an accident on the trampoline. We were hoping for just a twisted ankle but we came home to find out she actually fractured her tibia, so now the poor little thing has to have a cast for 6 weeks. Which means, I will still be extra busy for the next 6 weeks as my previously very active and mobile toddler now has to be carried everywhere. I am feeling exhausted just thinking about it. In other news, we are expecting our 4th child at the beginning of September. We are very excited and we were able to surprise our family with the news on our trip to Utah. So many things are happening around here, but I hope to get back to posting about some of the things we have been up to, there really is a lot to share, so check back for future posts.

My Interview with Jack Spirko on TSP

I wanted to share with you my interview with Jack Spirko on The Survival Podcast (TSP).  He had me on to talk about home energy efficiency, building methods, materials and misnomers.  We cover everything from energy design, energy audits, insulation, SIPs, ICFs and earth sheltered homes etc. We also briefly discussed BeePreserve.com and our Mason Bee Partner program   

Jack's show is a level headed approach to preparing for tough times while working to improve your life each day.  His tag line covers it well "Helping you to live a better life, if times get tough or even if they don't".  His daily podcast covers everything from gardening, permaculture to politics and how to preserve food.  There really is a show for everyone, no tin foil hat required. 

The TSP forum is a great place, where quite a community has formed.  The amount of information you can gather from his 1100+ shows and the depth information in the forums will feed your demand for knowledge for years to come.  Check out The Survival Podcast I know you'll like it.


TSP Interview with Jacob Nielson