Grow-Along Week 1

Spring daffodils are coming up!

Hi again, Micro-Farm Family!
Welcome to Week 1 of our Grow-Along! We're super excited to announce that we have seedlings to show you! It seems our peppers and tomatoes have sprouted right on schedule and are being rather cooperative for the timeline we set for the Grow-Along updates. Also, we thought it would be fun to have a little contest since we've got a rather unusual plant getting ready to put on a display in our grow-room.

Let's Get Growing!

Can you guess what time it is?

We are excited to announce a new feature on the blog today! But first, just a quick reminder to our friends and followers in Zone 6 - you need to start your seeds for peppers, tomatoes, onions, and other heat-loving plants this week if you haven't done so already! (Find your growing zone here!) This week puts those of us in Zone 6 at the critical seed-starting time for plants that need a long warm season in order to fruit. You'll want to get seeds started for those types of plants now to ensure that they have approximately 8 weeks of grow-up time to be ready to plant as soon as the first frost date has passed. If you start the seeds too late, your plants won't have enough time to set fruit and produce before the cool season starts again in the fall. Also, pea planting will be just around the corner! My Pap-Pap Jack always planted his peas on St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) to ensure the best harvest as peas should be planted outdoors a few weeks before the last frost. 

Moving along, we'd like to give a warm shout-out to our good friend, Mary Jane Bigley who recently commented on our interest poll to let us know that she is very excited to have some land to garden but is looking for some beginner tips and hints. (Hi Mary Jane!!) Her comment gave us the idea to host a grow-along. So, here we go! We now declare an opening to the first annual Dusty Rose Micro-Farm Grow-Along! So, here's how it works. We'll be posting weekly updates on what plants we have started, what varieties we are growing, and share progress pictures of our plants as they grow and fruit. You share your planting/growing progress with us in the comments on our blog, via our Facebook page, or by email and we will feature your pictures and stories once a week in our weekly Grow-Along post! :) The Grow-Along post will be featured on our blog every Thursday. The exciting thing about this kind of community project is that even though some of us live in very different areas, we can all learn from each other and support one another along the way! So... Let's Get Growing!! :)

Preparing for Spring

So, I don't know about you, but I'm SO ready for spring to get here!

Here in Southwestern PA, the last couple of months have been a weather roller-coaster. We've had everything from 60° and sunny to -12° and icy. I don't know about you, but I sure am ready for sunshine, longer days, and warmer weather.

This time of year I always start to get anxious and tend to jump ahead of myself (and Mother Nature!) on my spring planting. The feed stores and hardware stores have started stocking seeds and growing supplies, and I find it so hard to avoid jumping in headlong and getting started right away. I just keep reminding myself that plants started indoors this time of year will outgrow their pots far too soon and it will still be too cold to move them outside by the time they do.

Ladies, meet your new best friend...

Ok, so this post is for the ladies. Seriously... guys, this is your fair warning. This post contains frank discussion about women's monthly cycle and an awesome product that I want to share with all my sustainability loving ladies. If you don't want to read about this kind of thing, I encourage you to stop reading now and perhaps check out one of our other blog posts... perhaps one of our Everyday Herbal posts. :)

You still reading?

Ok... last chance... the real post starts after the break...

Everyday Herbalist

Starting the first week in February, I will be doing a monthly post about herbs that can be grown or found in our gardens or yards (or neighbor’s yards) and that can be easily used in our everyday lives.This blog series will look at how to correctly identify the plant, how to collect it for use, how to grow it in your own garden, how to prepare it for use, and what it can be used for.

I will be introducing a new herb the first week of every month and will continue to post about it throughout the month. If you have questions about the herb we are talking about please feel free to post a comment and I will provide an answer and further discussion. If there are any herbs that you want to know more about please comment on those as well so that I can either provide what I know about it or find out that info for you.

As a little bonus, here is a sneak-peek about preparation and uses of some of the herbs we will be talking about! This past holiday season, we made an herbal salve that we put into lip balm tubes to give out with our Yule presents. The herbal salve was made from dried herbs that were heated in olive oil and then combined with melted beeswax. The herbs used in our salve were Chickweed, Plantain, and Comfrey root. Chickweed will help with cuts, burns (minor), rashes, and eczema. Plantain will help with sunburns, stings, insect bites, snakebites, poison ivy breakouts, rashes, burns, blisters, and cuts. Finally, Comfrey root, because of it's high allantoin content, makes cells grow faster and speeds the whole healing process along. The three plants individually would work well enough (especially the Comfrey) but together they make a well rounded salve for most cuts, burns, bug bites, and stings all in an easy to carry tube. I have already heard a few success stories from the friends that we have given them to who were quite surprised at how quickly their cuts have healed up after using our salve! (Most have reported a huge success using the salve for the dry winter cracks around fingernails and knuckles).

So, keep a lookout for the new blog series that will be coming out in the beginning of February! I hope that you will all find this information useful and engaging, and I hope that it will inspire you to get out in your yard and garden to see what you can do to help yourself in making a healthier you.