I hate thinning seedlings...

Its probably because I spent so much time and effort planting the seeds, watering the seeds and crossing my fingers that the seeds would somehow magically turn into little tiny seedlings but I simply HATE thinning seedlings.

I feel so terrible for the little baby plants that I have to callously chop off the tiny heads of.  I feel like I tricked them, begging them to germinate and pretending to give them a warm loving home only to brutally smite them the second they trusted me enough to emerge from their tiny, safe seed pod home.

It really is my least favorite part of gardening. 

Next year?  I'm going to buy ALL of the seed trays in the world so I only have to plant ONE seed in every single pod, that way if she germinates, I'll tend to her and care for her and help her grow into a strong little plant.  I might end up with hundreds of veggie and flower plants that will never fit in my yard but hey, I'm sure SOMEONE will be happy to take them off my hands, right?

Maybe I'll have a little seedling funeral for them?

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Starting Seeds with a Toddler

When Jaylee was born I thought gardening would be a wonderful activity to do with a baby, I imagined my lush and perfect summer veggie gardens and how much fun we would have frolicking around in them.

Unfortunately I didn't realize I would get blessed with a very clingy baby who wanted to be held around the clock and while the benefits of baby wearing are numerous, my back simply couldn't handle carrying her while kneeling over weeding/planting/etc for extended periods of time.  After much effort, I finally had to admit that perhaps gardening was not as child-friendly as I thought...until now!

It turns out, Jaylee simply wasn't old enough to be my garden buddy yet but this year, now that she is 16 months we had a WONDERFUL time dumping the soil into the seed trays and placing the seeds into their spots.  While I definitely had to lower my standards of gardening a bit (the seeds are probably not planted at EXACTLY 1/4" depth, and I'm pretty sure we got some mint seeds in the cilantro trays) we still had a great time and I HIGHLY recommend gardening for your next toddler activity!

Its a self funding (or possibly even money saving?) activity as well, we spent $5 on soil, $10 on seeds, and $7 on trays.  If all goes well that's about $22 spent and we should easily get $22 worth of fresh herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peas in the summer!  Plus the trays are reusable so that's $7 we won't need to spend next year!

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Oh yeah, we have chickens

I thought now might be a good time to let you guys in on a little secret...we have chickens!  As part of our commitment to sustainable living we think its important to know where your food comes from, and to make an effort to not only care for the animals as if they were your pets but also understand how much space, food, and resources are requires to make food you eat.

We have two coops, one is an 8 x 12 metal coop build from this kit, Arrow Shed at Lowes with an 8x8 run build in this style at Domestic Endeavors.  The second coop is an Omlet Classic that we use when we need to separate a hen for one reason or another.  We have 6 chickens at this moment, 3 New Hampshire reds, an Americana, an Olive Egger and a Cream Legbar.  We love having them, they are very personable and fun to hang out with and OF COURSE the best part is the free eggs we get!

If it wasn't so darn cold outside I would shower you with photos of their adorable "Clucking Hen Palace" but it is, so instead you will get bombarded with chicken faces!

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Casey's Wood Toys

I wanted to...no I HAD to post a review of these toys for you guys because these things are so FANTASTIC I just couldn't keep them to myself!  I'm not sponsored by them nor do I really know them in any way other than I've bought a LOT of their toys over the past couple of years for crafting, playing, or gifting.

A good chunk of their toys are made right here in Maine using american grown hardwood and they will even tell you exactly which ones.  They have a very easy to use website, their customer service is lickety split, their shipping is reasonable and the best part, the BEST part?! Is that you can get GREAT toys for your toddler to practice colors, building, shape sorting or whatever all for a VERY low price!

None of their toys come finished or painted so that part you have to (or in my opinion you GET to) do yourself but there are plenty of easy to find non-toxic paints and finishes perfect for your mouthy baby or toddler.  We like to use organic local beeswax to finish ours but you can use anything from mineral oil to commercial food safe wood finish.

You can find Casey's Wood Toys website here http://www.caseyswood.com/ and if you are in the area you can even stop by to pick up your order.

You can also search etsy or google for "Montessori Wood Toys" to get inspiration for what you might do with your toys!

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