Easy worm bin for vemicomposting

Vermicomposting has been on my list of things to try, but I will be honest in that I've been a bit reluctant to step foot into the world of composting with worms.

After an evening composting class where I saw a worm bin - created out of a file box - I figured it was worth a try. My oldest child is obsessed with worms, and after all, didn't they want a pet?

The owner parted with a cupful of worms, and armed with directions, we created our worm bin in about five minutes.

I reused a styrofoam cooler that was used to ship insulin to me. It's been collecting dust in my garage for a year, as I've never really known what to do with it. 

I poked holes for air in the lid.

Inside, we added the recommended mix of worm food: Shredded papers (newspapers and others), a banana (covered to deter fruit flies) and some dill and weeds. We mixed in the container of worms and, well, worm poop, and are letting them do their thing!

My little guy's job is to feed the worms - I learned that  a pound of worms might eat 1/2 pound of food each week, and they love banana peels and eggs. My oldest's job is to make sure the environment stays damp but not drippy.

It will be an interesting experiment to say the least!

Not your mama's Gardening badge

I realize many kids don't realize that a carrot comes from anything but a plastic baggie, and that many others have never had the thrill of playing with those "helicopter" leaves. But I had to admit, for our soon to be second-grade girls, the Plants badge for Brownies was just too rudimentary. (Particularly since they did the gardening journey series in kindergarten.)

The great thing about our Girl Scout council is that they encourage adaptation of badge requirements to fit the girls' needs. So we took advantage of the idea, and tossed the whole Plants Try-It on its side. (I should note: This badge was being retired and nothing remotely was taking its place, a miss I think for the Girl Scouts!)

Instead of seed starting and plant rubbings, here's what our Brownies are doing this month:

Planting a vegetable garden for the sisters who live at our church's convent. The girls got a huge kick out of starting their seeds last year and planting the garden, which fed the nuns all summer. So much so that we're having another planting night later this month, after the risk of frost has passed.

Growing their own mushrooms. Thanks to a very kind donation of mushroom kits from Back to the Roots, the girls are growing their very own oyster mushrooms. The kits themselves are being divided into sections of 4 to 6 mini-mushroom kits.

Experimenting with seed paper. After getting a cute wildflower seed paper from the University of Kansas during a fundraising campaign last month, I contacted the alumni association about getting seed papers from envelopes with bad mailing addresses for the girls to try out. (If that fails, I'll make my own homemade seed paper to share with the girls. Making homemade paper during a Brownie meeting can be the epitome of mess!)

Making pressed flower and leaf cards. I found this great activity on education.com that we'll be sure to try!

What other great ways have you found to teach children about plants and gardening?

Mushroom fail (or success...)

Mushroom growing has been a fun adventure for my kids ever since we got a kit at Christmas.

I figured it'd be a great activity for my gardening-loving Girl Scout troop. We were blessed to receive a donation of mushroom growing kits from Back to the Roots. I started a demo one, which went like gangbusters.

Today, as I went to divide up the packages and prep the sample for next week's gardening night, I realized that the others did as well!

It is a really cool example of seeing how mushrooms develop; it's just disappointing the girls won't get to enjoy it! They're right -- truly no green thumb is required! ;-)

Back To The Roots Mushroom Kits are actually pretty affordable experiments in gardening - they retail for about $20 on Amazon.

Bunny Bling

Wishing you a very blessed Easter!

Bunny "baskets" for the garden

Baskets from the Easter Bunny have been something I've struggled with since becoming a parent. I don't want the kids overrun with trinkets, or worse, drowning in sugar, but there's something fun to the tradition of a little treat on Easter morning.

In recent years especially I've worked to simplify the kids' baskets, adding a small religious book or item or a toy that they can enjoy. Last year, The Bunny brought "harvest baskets" - large baskets that the kids have since used to harvest their beans and tomatoes from the garden.

This year, we're taking a different spin on it. Noting my kids' love of (OK, fights over) watering our plants with the hose, we're investing in cute watering cans which will be used as the "baskets" this year from The Bunny. Keeping with the theme, my little guy will get his own pint-size gardening tools, and my daughter will get a flower ring she pined over at the Girl Scout shop.

You could easily add seeds or other fun items to the mix, but in our home, we're well stocked-up.

Are you doing any alternate Easter basket ideas this year?

Gardening mishap #432

Note to self: While your children might understand the concept of one pea seed per hole in the ground, it does not necessarily translate to other seed packs. Like radishes. Of which an entire pack of heirloom seeds was poured on the ground into the diameter of a coke can! Yikes.

Sprouts anyone?

Harvesting Hermie

We made a suprising discovery when I came back from our trip.

Upon checking our garden for peas to harvest, we found a friend or two. Nestled on our carrot leaves were two caterpillars.

"It's Hermie! It's HEERRRMIEEEE!" screeched my 3 year old. "Sissy, it's HERRRMRIIIEEE!!!"

Luckily the kids had gotten bug boxes for Easter, which meant my food containers weren't at stake this season. So we rustled up some carrot leaves, gathered the two caterpillars and brought them inside.

Those poor things are lucky to be alive.

In the last few days, they've been dropped. Bounced around by the kids at day care. Nearly starved to death as some of the leaves withered when we forgot to take the box home.

Still this morning, after replacing with fresh carrot leaves, I checked on the caterpillars a bit later. The larger of the two had managed to move the door and escape to the box's handle.

Maybe we should rename our Hermie Houdini.

Proud parenting moment #37

The other day I caught my daughter, of all things, burping on my bushes.

What in the world was she doing?

"I'm giving the plants carbon dioxide so they can grow," she said.

Glad she pays attention in school.

Evolution of a gardener girl

From windowsill pots to full-blown, three-season vegetable gardens and edible landscaping, and back to windowsill pots again. But what I've learned most about gardening this last decade or so is there's a lot to be learned.

Check out today's post on the Green Phone Booth: Evolution of a gardener girl.

Conversations over a catalog

Seed catalogs are my children's answer to the bulky Christmas catalogs of my youth. You remember the 400-page tomes that would come in the mail, only to be fought over, scurried away, bookmarked and circled and flagged and abused, until Dec. 25 where they would be forgotten in the darkness of the closet.

For my kids, the seed catalogs represent beauty. And hope. And excitement. And dirt. And colors. And mud. And doing something tangible with their own two hands and a water hose.

And if you find just the right catalog, the one with bold colors and brighter promise, you unlock something within my children.

The good seed catalogs get whisked away to an armchair, where the kindergartener thumbs page after page, her little legs barely sticking out from underneath.

The really good catalogs get my preschooler's attention too, and risk breaking out a fight over the books.

But it wouldn't be a good catalog without a good wish list. And they've got theirs.

My 3 year old wants to plant chicken nuggets. But he'll settle also for okra, which he discovered and we ate for about three weeks' straight last summer.

My 5 year old goes for creative color, opting for the purple carrots, the red Asian beans, a rainbow of flowers.

My husband salivates over pages of heirloom tomatoes, which he'll want to try all of but will settle for a few good black krims.

But what's most fun about seed shopping is the conversations we have. We talk about growing, and cooking and colors. We talk about silly things. And it's fodder for many a mealtime conversation this summer.

Can't we garden yet?

"Can we garden today?" my 5 year old asked New Year's Eve.

Doesn't she realize it's December? That she lives in Indiana? That she just wrapped up weeks of snow and we'll likely get weeks more before it's all over?

Yet, New Year's Eve was the rare exception, and a blast of warm air brought in 61-degree temps. And my daughter wanted to spend it gardening.

Who am I to argue, really?

Maybe I was feeling a little too overconfident after reading my copy of Four-Season Harvest that my husband got me for Christmas. Maybe I was tired of last season's seeds staring at me in the garage. Maybe I just wanted the kids to make a mess outside for once after the previous two weeks. So we went outside. To garden. On Dec. 31. In the Midwest.

We scattered some leftover carrot seeds on the ground, just to see what might happen once the temperatures really warm. We planted a few small onions from the summer's garden, as they had happened to sprout little green shoots. I cleaned up a few weeds. They played with bubbles.

Later, we potted an amaryllis we'd gotten for Christmas and decided to do a "gardening experiment" by planting a few seeds in a pot in a garage.

It's a small comparison to the real thing. I'm starting to get seed catalogs in the mail, and I'm sorely tempted to try new things this summer. Like okra, which my kids discovered last year and love. Or ground cherries. Or maybe, this year, I'll have real luck with my tomatoes, which failed at seed-starting, froze after my early-spring over-enthusiasm, and later failed to produce like those lucky vendors at our farmers markets. Can't we just garden yet?

My harvest helpers

Two things have caused chaos in my garden this season: First, the unpredictable weather. The next, my helpers.

Having two harvest helpers means new challenges for me, who's trying desperately to keep my garden going in my spare time. Usually they drown a plant (or more likely, themselves) in their sweet attempts to water the garden. Other times, it means finding my produce in the most likely of spots.

Like green tomatoes tossed around as balls in the backyard.

Or cherry tomatoes floating in a pitcher.

Or purple beans floating in a puddle.

Or tiny radishes lying, forgotten and shriveled, on the pavement.

Funny how they don't want to help pick my weeds...

Cucumbers are not guns...and other realities of 2-year-old boys

Boys are different. I never really truly appreciated how much so until I had one.

My daughter, oh, she was easy when she was little. No tantrums, mild temperment, generally behaved in public. My son, he's an independent spirit. Fiercely so. He drenches himself in the baptimsal font each Sunday, and he's dripping wet despite my best attempts by the time the readings are done. He has one speed: Fast. And he knows what he wants. So much so that people recognize me by my son's wail.

So I should only have guessed that those same everyday activities I do with my daughter would take on its own bent with my son. Farmers market? It's only been in the last week that he hasn't melted down the minute we stepped outside. Nevermind that I'm constantly putting things back like the "balls" - melons or gourds - he finds or alleviated bruised egos on the days there aren't apples for sale.

And yes, this week, I uttered words I never imagined:

"Honey, cucumbers are not guns."

And he agreed, instead munching on it like an ear of corn.

Or when we garden, which should really mean creating mud puddles and soaking mommy with the hose while he cackles hysterically. Take last Thursday, when we grabbed some peas from the garden. He eagerly ripped the first few off the vines, then went to play with his toys. A few minutes later, I noticed he was grabbing the peas out of my bowl...and throwing them on his teeter totter. Repeatedly. Good thing those things can wash!

What are some of the quirkier things you've had to endure with your kids?

Seed starting: What have I done?

Two weekends ago, the kids and I took on our seed-starting project. After all, that's what the books said to do - start around six weeks ahead of last frost date. Right now, I'm wondering, what have I done?

The peat pellets did well. Far too well. Within a few days we had some early sprouts:

The kids were thrilled, and each day had to check progress. And one week out, we had actual plants:Another week later, and I'm stumped. With temps still sometimes getting below freezing at night, we're not to the point of transitioning outside. But I'm drowning in sprouts - some of which have already outgrown their peat pellets and needed to find a new home.

The tray of seed starts is still on my table, and my already crowded countertops are overwhelmed with pots. And I have company coming in four days...Any brilliant ideas of what to do for housing these guys for the weekend?

Seed starting - A few quick wins

Seed starting is great if you need the thrill of quick successes in the garden. It's especially helpful when you have two little helpers you're wanting to get interested in the process.

This weekend, we took our first stab at starting seeds for summer 2010. Last year wasn't as successful - we managed to start leeks, only to lose them in the transplanting process. This year, we're hoping for better results.

We went the route of least mess and invested with a pack of peat pellets, mostly because we'd saved the tray from the year before.


The kids had the fun of putting the pellets in the slots.

The were amazed to watch them grow as the pellets soaked up the water, and eagerly watched as I poked the first few holes in the top to add the seeds.

And then the toddler came back to the table with forks. Yes, forks. You have to rip apart the peat pellets somehow!

After getting the gang back under control, we planted a variety of seeds to try our fate. This year's batch included heirloom tomatoes, early broccoli, bok choi, rainbow chard, onion seeds, cucumber, squash and one watermelon under diress. I figured it would be a great way to show how all seeds and plants are different sizes and grow at different speeds.

Morning came, and we carefully lifted the top of the container. No change. But within three days, the broccoli were beginning to sprout. Next was bok choi.

And then came rainbow chard. The first flash of red brought squeals of excitement from my 4 year old. So far, nearly everything has sprouted, except for the squash, tomatoes and melons. The broccoli sprouts are nearly an inch tall already. It's amazing how fast some things will grow.

So if you're looking for a few fast wins when gardening with your little ones, try seed starting indoors with a few of the options above.

If you have other vegetables that are easy to start from seed, please share your successes!

Fairy Garden Kit Winner

The winner of the fairy garden seed kit is Mia J. Please contact me with your mailing information at goinggreenmama at gmail, and I'll get it sent to you.

Thanks to everyone who participated! Look back here for another garden giveaway later this month.

Check back on the comments page if you're interested in great ideas on how parents have encouraged their kids to get active in gardening. There's some great ideas. But the best story comes from Alycia:

My daughter has helped me in the garden since she was a toddler also. Her
favorite thing to grow has always been radishes, a very unusual choice for a
little one! Aside from often trying to harvest them too early, our "girlie girl"
was known for pulling the, wiping them off on her jeans, and eating them....dirt
and all!

Have a great week!

Full of $^!+

This weekend, we took advantage of the warmer weather and drove to Bloomington. There we checked out the winter market (more on that later), got down and dirty in a park and visited an organic gardening store.

You would have thought my kids had died and gone to heaven. No, it wasn't because of the plants to explore, because there weren't any offered for sale.

Instead, it was all about the poop.

My daughter's been obsessed with the idea of worm poop as fertilizer ever since we experimented with some last year. (No, worm castings don't smell, it's a dark-brown consistency, and truthfully looks like a heavier (but not clayish) dirt.) In the height of her curiousity, she even asked a poor worm on our driveway after a rain, "Hey worm, did you poop?" I'm not sure why she wanted to know. I don't know that I want to know.

So at the garden store, she flocked to the gardening "enhancements" area, and proudly pointed out the worm poop to her toddler brother. They mushed the bag and looked at the sample baggie of worm castings. They banged on the different packages of enhancements and noted which were softer and which were not.

But the highlight of our excursion was learning that there just wasn't worm poop in this world. Oh yes, variety is the spice of life, and you can have it in your castoffs too. Chicken. Seabirds. Bat guanos from around the world. (The garden catalog even had a world sampler!) But in the end, we stuck with the garden-variety earthworm castoffs, which worked for us last year quite well.

At an age where you're already dealing with the "shock value" of potty talk, poop is all the rage. And they love getting away with discussing it in the context of gardening. It's quite impressive to a four-year-old. Days later, my kiddos are still talking about the trip.

Tomato tip from Dr. Greene

In one of the strangest ways of work and life intersecting, I'm listening to an online presentation by Dr. Alan Greene, the author of Raising Baby Green.

He mentions that 40 percent of kids won't touch tomatoes - but they're twice as likely to actually try - and enjoy - the tomato if you had them the knife! "It's a simple thing to do to involve them in the meal preparation," he said.


"If you take them to the garden and have them pick it, you're more likely to have them try it. If you have a child plant a tomato, wash it and pick it...it becomes a treasure."


Yes, they are treasures in our house. Tomatoes make a great use as balls. And my kids love to grow them in the garden. But eating them? Hardly. They just make my daughter in her words, "sad." Guess we aren't statistics in this family!

It's not the size, it's what you do with it that counts

I miss the days of carefree living, when I could stop what I was doing at the drop of the hat and...

Have a 5-minute uninterrupted conversation. (OK, a 1-minute uninterrupted conversation.)

Leave the house on a whim, with nothing but a small purse.

Go for a long walk without someone whining about having to use the potty.

Spontaneously road trip some place.

Make a 3-course Chinese dinner for some friends.

(Where did you think I was going with this anyway?)

I confess I had to chuckle when Tina at Crstn85 proposed a topic of "Does size matter?" for the September APLS carnival. Does it matter, she wondered, if you're a singleton or a party of five when it comes to being green?

Oh yes, yes, it does.

Before I was a mom, I didn't give much thought to environmental concerns. Sure, we were card-carrying members of the Sierra Club, loved to hike, recycled our cans, had our 40-mpg little car. But I didn't think about bigger picture items. Like the amount of plastic we chucked each week, or what it contained. Or the amount of chemicals coating our food. Or what really the world would be like a generation from now if we didn't change our ways.

Before I was a mom, my trash can and recycle bin were a lot emptier. I didn't have to juggle three versions of milk, or sippy cups, or random Happy Meal toys saved lovingly by my mom, or craft projects from day care (now multiplied by two).

Before I was a mom, shopping at the farmers market, cooking a healthy dinner and working in my garden were a heck of a lot easier.

Before I was a mom, I didn't realize how much fun making a batch of muffins, or playing in the puddles in your garden, or taking a walk at a snail's pace could be.

And I say all of these things, as a mom, full well knowing that whatever I do, I'm in the middle of a spectrum. I'm in the middle of the fast-food-for-dinner crowd and the stay-at-home, handmade-everything moms. For every mom who amazes me with her ability to make well-rounded dinners from food in their backyard, presented on recycled placements recreated from repurposed materials, there's the mom who frankly, thinks I'm nuts to go as far as I have.

And I know that circumstances in my life will change. Someday, we could have more financial resources again. Someday, my kids will be able to be left alone for five minutes without fear of them using the magazine rack as a stepping stool to the stove. Someday, we'll be able to work in the yard without worrying that the kids will run in the street or fling all of my tomatoes like softballs. And someday, this too will have passed.

For now, though, I'll enjoy my seemingly weird Saturday traditions of chasing my babies at the farmers market, cooking with my kids, playing in the mud patch that was a garden and thinking someday I just might get that laundry done, even if it means putting them in the dryer on high.

Seed saving - now what?

The idea of saving seeds from this year's garden was a bit intriguing to me, I'll admit. But what to do with them once I had them, I was completely unsure.

Few garden catalogs in my home offered options, and they were in the $20 or more variety - far exceeding my budget for this little experiment. I asked online to my fall gardening group, and they offered varying advice, including double-bagging them in Ziploc bags and putting them in the freezer. (I suppose seeds in the "real" world can handle a freeze or two.)

And then I stumbled on an article on making seed packets, which is an incredibly easy thing to do. So my oldest entertained herself for a few hours designing custom seed packets for our squash and bean seeds. You can find a kid-friendly template here. Want a "grown-up" version? Download a template here.