Garden Totals!

We planted nearly 200 seeds inside this Spring, which yielded nearly 50-pounds of produce this year. My goal for 2015 season is 75-pounds. It seems like a nice modest growth amount :) We'll see how I do!

Garden Update #1

Herbs, Impatients and Marigolds growing in the blocks. 

Garlic Scapes have been consumed. 
Just waiting to harvest the garlic 
bulbs for drying. 

The garden is growing beautifully! I purchased some new plant markers at the A2 Art Fair today which made it in the pictures. My first new purchase in over a year was eight trellises for all my berry plants. The trellises were normally $39.95 but were under the 14.95 sign so I saved $212! Not bad! (My second new purchase was an insulated grocery bag for my groceries coming home from the co-op. The bag I chose didn't have a tag. It was supposed to be $2.99 and I got it for $0.99 since it didn't have a tag!). Total harvest is only 5-7/8lbs, but it's been mostly greens.

Sweet, Purple, Spicy & Thai Basil
have their own garden. 

Hoping 20 tomato plants produce
enough to can some sauce. 

Cabbage & Kale are growing beautifully. 

Bean plants are steadily producing. 

Willingness

Lately I've found myself in a few conversations surrounding the concept of willingness to let God do ____. I shared that often when I see people fail I get "judgementally" upset that they "must" not be doing more/enough or otherwise they would've succeeded! The irony I realized is that they likely were "doing more" which led to their failure because in fact they should've been "doing less!" God gives us strength to do the things He wants us to do... not the things we think we should be doing.

My part is to be willing and open. His part is to make things happen. I need to pray for peace instead of asking God to answer specific prayer requests (like give me a new best friend instead of having peace with the friends I have). Once I'm willing God has more freedom in how He can choose to answer the desires of my heart. When I act out of willingness I build less resentments because God can answer more prayers because I'm open to more possibilities! When I'm willing I can hear better too; I can listen for the words that person needs to hear and speak them. When I'm willing, I can see more areas where I need to grow and make the changes I need to in order to improve. And for somethings, they shouldn't be improved. I need to ask God to remove my character defects, my judgemental and selfish ways, my pride and lack of compassion because these don't need to just be improved upon. These things need to go away.

Simplicity Lessons Continue

So, G has huge feet. At one year of age he's wearing a size 5! Needless to say, we leave for Europe in a week and the little walker as no shoes that fit. A couple of my friends suggested the brand, See Kai Run, which promote healthy foot development in kids. They are of course like $60. I don't even spend $60 on shoes for myself. So, I prayed before going to Once Upon a Child that I would find a pair and I did! For $5 and they look basically new! I'm thrilled and grateful that I'm reminded once again, I don't need to buy things new.

After getting the shoes I headed to a woman's house that had some clothes for sale on yard sale FB page I follow. All of this recent weigh loss has led to a conundrum in the wardrobe department. I don't want to get several things when I want to continue my downward trend. But I did want to a have a couple things that would fit well before we left. So, I picked up a couple sundresses and a jacket. While I'm there we start chatting and I learn that they are selling their men and women's bikes! I've been praying for a bike for S and scouring the sites for the past two months with no real luck. And I've been trying to figure out what to do with my bike since the frame is too small for me, but I wanted to make what I had work. So once again, I can find what I need when I remain open to having my needs fulfilled more slowly and creatively.

Have you run into a situation like mine where you were able to find what you needed just when you needed it for the price you can afford? I'd love to hear about it in your comment below!

Garden Expansion & Challenge

Friday I had five yards of dirt delivered. Everyone kept telling me, "that's a lot of dirt." By everyone I mean, two soil companies, guy at The Home Depot, my mother & my husband. Yes, I'm aware that it's one dump truck full, but I need a place to plant these 192 seedlings I have growing in my guestroom! Speaking of which, while waiting for the dirt delivery my friend and I planted all of the greens (spinach, lettuce, arugula, pak choi, Bok choi), radishes, and carrots. Then we surrounded them with straw to keep them warm and keep the weeds at bay.

My friend and a guy from the time bank were able to finish moving and spreading the dirt in about three hours. Here's some pictures to document the occasion. Now to get cinder blocks to make a border!

I'm planning to weigh my garden harvest this year! Comment on this post of you're going to join me in my weighing challenge!

Feeling Inspired??

Well, my beautiful blog readers... are you feeling inspired yet?! If so, (as I know some of you are), please comment on this post and tell me how! I'd love to continue the momentum I've built.

This is after I just added ten more items to the yardsale pile!

Oh, and my latest challenge is to get rid of 100 books... I have 95 up for sale and 6 out the door!

Maintenance-free Clutter-free Living

So, after getting all excited about riding my child around in his new kid bike trailer, S points out that I have no brake pads, (like less than none), I can't change gears and I have one flat tire. Huh.

S, "When was the last time you did maintenance on your bike?"
Me, "What do you mean? I didn't think bikes needed maintenance. You just get them out of the garage and ride them and put them back, right?
(At the bike store). Bike guy holding my brake pad, "What bike were these on?!"
S, "That's not a good sign."

So, two trips back to my local bike shop, Tree Fort Tires, and I was on the road again. S raised the seat for me and my legs still don't extend like they should. S pointed out that this bike has a smaller frame than a standard woman's bike. In truth, I believe my parents bought this bike for me for my 10th birthday which was in 1990... yes I still have my childhood bike. And it's still in pristine condition (well, after some maintenance). For the record, I still use the dressers and trunk my grandmother bought me when I was three, making them 30-years-old and still in great shape! I still wear clothes from high school (only 15-years-ago). Among other things... Hmm, I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the amount of clutter I have in this house considering I obviously keep everything and keep it in good condition....

The thing about keeping things in good condition means that they do require some amount of maintenance. I've spent my entire life taking care of my stuff. Everything we have, we have to care for. Those knick-knacks on the shelf need dusted. The modes of transportation need maintenance. The yard, the house, you name it. It all needs up-keep. So the more we get rid of, the less we have to care for. Here's to more decluttering!

Book Dehoarding

So I spoke about this briefly the other day, but thought it deserved it's own post. Book dehoarding that is. If you've ever been to my house you can see by some accounts that I'm on the edge of being a book hoarding. Others of you would say my diagnosis is classifiable. We will have been married for nine years this year. It's a good milestone to think about whether or not I've actually picked these books up apart from packing them up and moving them. If I haven't read it in a decade (because I certainly did read it the year I was engaged before that), then I think I can safely let it go.

So nearly daily I've been posting more and more books online. I have now sold and shipped five books to new homes and have posted an additional 62 books!!! This is a huge feat. Let me give you an idea of how bad it is. That biology textbook from freshman year of college? Wasn't that in 1999...? Ahem. Yes, and yes I still have it and have moved it at least six times to three different states. There's my Nancy Drew Collection volumes 1-19... from when I was like eight... All in mint condition apart from the dust they're collecting. I had envisioned passing them along to my daughter, but then I had a son.

Why do I keep all of these books? Well, obviously they were interesting and I might want to read them again, and then what would I do?! This is hoarding mentality at it's best! But, ten months in my Voluntary Simplicity Vow has taught me that if I will need it again, then I can always find it again. In the meantime, "If you have things you're not using then you have someone else's stuff."

Growing Up!

G is only a "baby" for two more weeks. It's hard to believe that he will be a year old, even though I do feel a year older... We got his nine-month photo shoot pictures back recently. Here are some highlights :)

         

We're also expanding the size of the garden this year and having 9-cubic-yards of topsoil/compost mix dropped off this week. We're grateful to have a friend come help us spread some dirt around. Meanwhile I planted 96 more seeds and my last 96 seedlings are growing big! The seedlings are growing so tall I had to move the lights up and now they are hitting the lights again! I wasn't planning to transplant them until the end of May and beginning of June but I might have to rethink that. This is good to know for next year that I can wait a month to start seedlings. This year I started March 5th.



I actually got serious about downsizing my every-growing book collection. I've posted 28 books online to sell and have successfully sold and shipped four of them!!! It feel great to be getting rid of books I've barely looked at or never even read. My goal is to have ALL of OUR books fit on the built-ins, plus one bookcase. It's going to be a tall order, but I'm hopeful. Let the downsizing continue!

Surpassed My Goal!

With three more months left of my one-year-long Voluntary Simplicity Vow, I am realizing how much I have to be grateful for these days. For starters, I've surpassed my goal of giving away 100 things! The last items on the list included two bags of clothes. But now it's become a rhythm, so I have someone picking up three boxes of plastic straws that have been collecting dust on my baker's rack and serving as a temptation for G. I started selling things on Craigslist (which S thinks is super sketchy). I decided there were some things we wanted, so we needed to sell current things in order to acquire the new. So we sold S's old radar detector to purchase new phones and then sold our old phones to purchase the insurance for our new phones! I sold some other random stuff too.

My desire to acquire more is definitely significantly lessened. It's weird to see something I want, and not feel the impulse to just "shoot it, bag it and bring it home." I'm actually even researching purchases, including looking up customer reviews, and looking at more than one store before making a decision! Weird for me... I know! But it's paying off in many less purchases, and being truly delighted with the purchases I do make. It's a serene and jubilant feeling.

I'm also enjoying just having less clutter in the house. (Although at this very moment I have piles of clothes going from one mom's daughter to another, so it looks a little cluttered...) I've noticed how my view of my possessions has changed already to looking at every item and wondering if I really need/want it. I'm not really afraid of scarcity anymore, so I'm not stockpiling for the end of the world. (Besides if the end of the world comes, extroverted-me doesn't want to either be the last survivor or stuck with tin-foil-on-the-head guy.)

I'm excited to start biking again this summer with Grey in tow. I've been researching kid bike trailers. There's a wide variety out there, but I'm mostly interested in being able to bike to the farmer's market to get our crop share. I'm not interested in dragging the wagon two miles every week. And it's literally only 1.1mi from our house, so I can't really justify driving.

My seedlings are growing stupendously well! I'm elated! I have 96 seedlings! I'll be keeping you updated with how many pounds I harvest this year to set a foundation. Then I can increase from there. I'm not even sure what a realistic goal would be.

All this simplifying has led to be losing 35lbs, putting me at my lowest weight in a decade. 

I purchased a homeopathic kit & some other goodies from my naturalpathy store including an organic bath mix. I had a cold & did a foot soak: 20min Epsom salt, 20mins organic bath mix. Next day, I felt fine. So weird. And the water started out clear but this is how it looked at the end. 

I know I had more thoughts, but G isn't a very helpful typist so I'm hitting backspace as much as I'm typing. So I'll have to continue to my thoughts later.

Productivity Report

I've downloaded the blogger app in an attempt to post more often. I have the iPhone 5C now which is strange being only one generation behind as I'm usually lagging much further behind in the technology world. I've begun selling items on Craigslist to further the decluttering process & to earn money for random things we want (like new iPhones). I've been altering bridesmaid dresses & practicing all my new sewing skills. And I planted some seeds. It's been pretty productive month or so. Here's my set up on the seeds :)

79. Beer glasses

80. iPhone 3G

81. Radar locator

So total counts:
Freecycle In: 6
Freecycle Out: 6 (I'm even!!)
100 things: 72

And here's the bridesmaid dress & jacket I altered from a size eight to a four. 

Minimalist Efforts Continue

I got rid of 14 items in the last week to some fellow Freecyclers; 12 of which had been gifted to me. I'm pretty happy that I've managed to not acquire anything else besides a juicer, which hubby got me for my birthday and our Christmas gift. (We've been using it daily and I'm loving it!) I'm also proud of myself for making it through seven months of the Voluntary Simplicity Vow. I'm continuing to crave to own less, get rid of more and I find I'm desiring to obtain less things. I love the new freedom I'm feeling to put my time and energy elsewhere, instead of taking care of my "stuff." I'm really looking forward to spring and summer so I can start using the clothesline again and dig out the compost pile from underneath all that snow. I'm planning to borrow some grow lights from a local organization. If you offer to grow two trays of seedlings for them, you have space to grow two trays for your own garden. So between those trays and the one grow light I own, I hope that'll be all I need. We watched a movie recently where the woman hadn't purchased a veggie in ten years. I was so inspired! I'm planning to dry and save my seeds this year for the first time. Just some more of my new efforts :)

60. iPod Speaker Dock
61-69. Bibs
70. Infant Bouncy Seat
71. Mobile
72-74. Infant Toys
75-78. Three White Shelves

So total counts:
Freecycle In: 6
Freecycle Out: 6 (I'm even!!)
100 things: 69