Weeds & Seeds Swap

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Safer® brand. All opinions are 100% mine.

Welcome to the first day of winter…and it is wintery here in northern NJ - lots of snow fell over the weekend, as most of you have probably heard on the news, and it’s cold and windy, but the sun shines brightly today! This is Christmas week, and after Christmas come New Years and January, when many begin to see gardening catalogs show up in their mail boxes as they think ahead to Spring gardening…as for me, I like to do my shopping online, and most paper mail ends up in my recycling.

Last summer I enjoyed my medicinal and culinary herb garden, simple as it is, since we have a shortage of sunny property. I’m still eyeing a big section of sunny grass that we gained when a new septic system was put in because trees were removed.  We don’t use many pesticides, and try to make some ourselves, naturally, when we can because it’s not always easy to find chemical-free pesticides and other “green” gardening products that are good for the earth that God has given us to be stewards of.  But now I think I’ve found a source.

You lucky folks that live in warmer climates may already be able to take advantage of the wonderful green, good for the earth, good for the garden products offered by saferbrand.com. I appreciate the time they have put into helping the gardener know about many garden pests, they have a great section on insects that can threaten your garden, and an equally informative section on organic gardening. Since my “green thumb” doesn’t seem to work very well when it comes to growing plants indoors, the “houseplants” section was also very helpful.

There will be events taking place all year to promote organic gardening, and it won’t be hard to keep up with these events because Safer brand is officially on twitter, I’m going to “follow” them on Twitter and invite you to as well.

Twitter and Facebook are the primary, almost only social networking sites that I use, so I was happy to hear about Safer brand’s facebook page, and will be heading over to become a fan after posting this.

Vegetable Gardens of Switzerland

We love “green” on this blog, it has always been a favorite color of mine, and to me, is a symbol of new life, expressed in the new green buds and blooms of springtime. 

“Going green” is a term we are hearing more and more, and it has a little bit of a different connotation, it is more related to the preservation of the beauty we see around us by how we care for our environment. 

And then there is the term “sustainable”, which also refers to the ability to sustain our environment, and ourselves, through our natural resources, and how we care for them, how responsibly we preserve them. 

Something I did not know until the opportunity presented itself to explore a bit was that beautiful Switzerland is one of the “greenest” countries in the world.  In “sustainable Switzerland” people take caring for the environment very seriously, making it a perfect place to visit..not only because of all the magnificent beauty in the area, but because of all the things we can learn from their way of life.  We balk at the thought of being charged taxes or fees for things that will preserve the environment, but this is common practice in Switzerland, and through it, people learn to be more responsible citizens.  

When you travel in Switzerland, it is easy to get around by train, biking is very popular.  You find many organic products, in fact, a friend of mine has traveled there twice to take part in a hands-on organic farming program.  You know from reading this blog that this would be just the thing I’d like to do while there, along with visit the many beautiful, natural places to enjoy God’s creation. 

You will find “green” hotels, even staying in one of these and observing what they do to preserve the environment by how water, waste and electricity is handled can be a fun learning experience.  Take a little time to learn more about sustainable Switzerland and see if this might be a place you’d like to plan to visit…even a visit to the site is a treat!

I love animals, and think Deer are among the most beautiful and gentle looking creatures there are.  We see them frequently around this area as it is very wooded, as well as bears, raccoons, squirrels, and you name it, we have it!

My tulips are beginning to put out their buds, and when they flower I’ll be doing what I can to keep our cute but rascally squirrels from eating the flowers.

Deer are not a big problem for me unless they are making their way down to our lake during a drought, I believe I shared a story on this blog once before about how they came down from the woods on the way to the water and ate every one of my beautiful orange triple-flower Day Lilies. That was a major but rare disappointment, at least here on our property.  But deer can be real pests in many gardens…I have watched them grazing in yards and gardens very early in the morning when driving, while the homeowner/gardeners are still sleeping and unaware.

They are beautiful, but also do their part spreading Deer ticks that cause Lymes Disease, a disease that started here in NJ if memory serves me correctly?  Definitely somewhere nearby in the Northeast. It is quite common here, as are the ticks, I’ve found them on myself and my dog on a number of occasions.

“Deer Off”® is an organic/natural repellent that you can safely spray on your plants and in the gardening area to keep Deer away, after all that work, a deer repellent like this will save you from waking up to a great disappointment like the people that I just mentioned must have found.

havahart.com has a wonderful Havahart® Deer Off ® II Battery-Powered Sprayer that has a patented Dual Deterrent System™ formula that provides both scent and taste barriers to repel deer, rabbits, and squirrels…so not only will it take care of the Deer, but those squirrels I was telling you about that like to eat my tulip flowers.

All gardeners know the benefits of the sun when it comes to the garden, we are always looking to the sun when we determine what to grow..will this plant need full sun, partial sun, or full shade?

But I had never taken time to think about the importance of the dark, night sky to all wildlife. Seems surprising since I am what many call a “night owl”. If you want to learn more about this, you can visit the Dark Sky Festival website, this is an annual event that takes place in Harmony, Florida, but even if you can’t attend the event, the site is interesting and will give you some things to think about that you may not have considered before.

Obviously a beautiful night sky in an area that doesn’t have a lot of artificial lighting is wonderful for viewing stars and planets, but “light pollution” can also have a negative impact on the natural order of things that God created. This event and some of the things at the site can help you learn to lessen the impact…in fact they give a good example of how they influenced change in their community.

Personally, I appreciate the fact that our rural area has little artificial lighting, and our night skies are quite beautiful, we love to lay out on the deck when there’s a meteor shower and watch for falling stars, and look at the constellations. I can’t imagine not being able to appreciate this part of God’s creation.

The 6th Annual Dark Sky Festival is next weekend, April 25th, at Harmony, Florida, and it is a bit out of reach for us this year, but it’s free, and I’d be there if I could…if any of you visiting happen to go, please tell us about it in a comment!

Not everyone has the pleasure of being surrounded by budding trees in the spring, flowers in the summer, fall colors, and the stark look of the woodlands in winter. Many by choice or necessity live in the big cities where they are surrounded by buildings and little else.

I was interested in knowing what kind of advancements have been made in of gardening on a rooftop. I am not thinking of container gardening in the sense that most of us are familiar with, but on a large scale, and was happy to find this video showing a large rooftop garden, and giving some information on how safe it is, and it’s benefits which include cooling the building itself, providing for wildlife, such as birds, bees and insect life, and improving air quality.

I would love to hear from anyone who is living in urban areas, what creative ways to do you find to garden in the city?

Here I sit waiting for the first flakes to drop as we wait for March to come in like a lion here in Northern NJ. With a winter like this, one can only continue to dream about what it will be like to begin digging in the soil.

I remember when I was a young girl, I wanted to start my own garden on our property, so my mother allowed me to try to grow in a plot along the side of our house. I remember getting a few plants to grow, but not with the same skill as my mothers gardens. I was pretty much left to learn on my own by asking questions, reading, no one did the work for me. At that time there wasn’t the emphasis that there is now on organic gardening, or using organic gardening products in the garden. In fact, when I was raising my children, there was some awareness of this, but not with the same passion that we see today.

Do you garden with your children? Do you have a site about gardening with children? Please share in a comment. When thinking about organic gardening products, and how important it is to teach children to garden organically for the health of the earth, as well as our own health in the case of vegetable gardening, I was looking at some products at saferbrand.com and liked all the basic products that I saw for killing weeds, as well as organic bug control in the garden or around the home. I but also found the site educational, explaining the difference between natural -v- organic, providing mulching information, and more.

Here is a video that I hope you’ll enjoy:

Last year I decided to buy some blinds for our bedroom…our old ones were a dark brown color, and I wanted to brighten the room, so purchased white vinyl blinds, only to find myself squinting when the sun rose very early in the morning…challenging for a night person like myself!

At the time, I had not been introduced to the Shade Store that offers a wide variety of shades and blinds, including wood or metal blinds that can completely block the sun.

What I found unique about this site, is the fact that they offer Eco-Solar shades that conserve energy, absorb heat in the summer, protect you in the home from harmful UV Rays, and reduce glare without obscuring your view of your gardens, or in the case of the picture above, the City. Their Eco-Solar shades are made from 100% recyclable materials, another good thing for the land that we love.

Their Solar Shades are “Green-Guard Certified”, and if you, like me, are not sure what that means, visit the link above and look in the little box in the upper left of the landing page, then click on “Green-Guard Certified” for an explanation..impressive!

The theshadestore.com is offering my readers a 15% discount, this is not available at the site, only to those who are reading this post. When you make your purchase and check out, use the code IZEA01 and save.