Friday, May 27, 2011

Square Foot gardening

What is Square Foot Gardening?

A simple system that adapts to all levels of experience, physical abilities, and geographical locations. Grow all you want and need in only 20% of the space of a conventional row garden. Save time, water, work and money!

These are the advantages to Square Foot Gardening:
*New Method - Easy to understand
*User Friendly - Great for beginners
*Locate Anywhere - Close to your house
*Economical - Reduces everything 5 to 1
*Efficient - 100% of the crop in 20% of the space
*Easy to Protect - From pests and weather
*Earth Friendly - Reduce Reuse Recycle
*Very Productive - Just  as much as you need


Check out these videos!



 For way more information, check out this website:
http://www.squarefootgardening.org/whatissfg#!__whatissfg/what_is_sfg

I also recommend buying this book if you are going to start a Square Foot Garden:
http://www.squarefootgardening.com/products/ALL-NEW-Square-Foot-Gardening-Book.html

This is the kind of garden we started last year. It was our first time planting a garden and it was so easy to do. I couldn't believe it, I didn't have to do any tilling, digging or weeding!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Vitamix giveaway from The Thrifty Mama

Vitamix Giveaway

by Crystal on May 11, 2011
This giveaway is from  TheThriftyMama  (http://www.thethriftymama.com)
To enter this giveaway, click on this link below ↓:
http://www.thethriftymama.com/2011/05/vitamix-giveaway.html
vitamix turbo blend Vitamix Giveaway
This is from TheThriftyMama: http://www.thethriftymama.com/
You amaze me. Yes, you sitting there at your computer (or browsing on your smart phone), I’m talking to you. My reader. Thank you for your profound support, encouraging words, fabulous emails, Facebook comments, Twitter tweets and for just being all around awesome.
I couldn’t write this blog without you. It’s tough work, but you make it all worth it. So thank you! And as a thank you, I’ve giving back by offering one lucky reader a Vitamix. Vitamix in no way sponsored this post, nor did I receive anything in order to do this. I’m just giving this away ’cause I know a lot of you out there are dreaming of having one of these.
So here it is.. One winner will receive a Vitamix Turbo Blend Countertop Blender ($379 value).

Giveaway ends Sunday, May 15, 2011 at 9pm EST

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

1001 uses for white distilled vinegar--Laundry

http://www.vinegartips.com/Scripts/pageViewSec.asp?id=8

Laundry tips:
Looking for brighter whites or bolder colors? The answer just might be white distilled vinegar. It’s a safe and inexpensive way to boost the power of your detergent and add a little more muscle to your stain remover. With vinegar in the mix, your clothes have never looked better.
 
Prevent lint from clinging to clothes by adding 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar to the wash cycle.

To remove soap residue that makes black clothes look dull use white distilled vinegar in your final rinse.

Get stained white socks and dingy dishcloths white again. Add 1 cup white distilled vinegar to a large pot of water, bring it to a rolling boil and drop in the articles. Let soak overnight.

Some stains on clothing and linens can be soaked out using equal parts milk and white distilled vinegar.

Before washing a mustard stain, dab with white distilled vinegar.

Attack spaghetti, barbecue, or ketchup stains
with a white distilled vinegar and water solution.

Remove perspiration odor and stains on clothing, as well as those left by deodorants, by spraying full-strength white distilled vinegar on underarm and collar areas before tossing them into the washing machine.

Forgot that you left wet laundry in the machine and it now smells moldy? Pour a few cups of white distilled vinegar in the machine and wash the clothes in hot water. Then run a normal cycle with detergent.

Remove smoky odors from clothes by filling the bathtub with very hot water and 1 cup white distilled vinegar. Hang the garments above the steaming water and shut the door so the steam can penetrate the fibers.

Keep the steam iron clean and in good working order by getting rid of mineral deposits in steam vents and spray nozzles. Fill the water chamber with a solution of equal parts white distilled vinegar and distilled water. Set it in an upright position and let it steam for about 5 minutes. When the iron is cool, rinse the tank with water, refill and shake water through the vents onto an old cloth. Test before using.

Remove scorch marks from an iron by rubbing it with a warmed-up solution of equal parts white distilled vinegar and salt. If that doesn’t work, use a cloth dampened with full-strength white distilled vinegar.

Remove musky smells from cotton clothes by sprinkling them lightly with white distilled vinegar and then pressing them.

Get water and salt stains off shoes and boots by wiping them down with a solution of equal parts white distilled vinegar and water.

Give patent leather shoes and bags a better shine by wiping them down with white distilled vinegar.

Get cleaner laundry! Add about 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar to the last rinse. The acid in white distilled vinegar is too mild to harm fabrics, yet strong enough to dissolve the alkalies in soaps and detergents. Besides removing soap, white distilled vinegar prevents yellowing, acts as a fabric softener and static cling reducer, and attacks mold and mildew.

Eliminate manufacturing chemicals from new clothes by adding 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar to the water.

Remove soap scum and clean the hoses of your washing machine with white distilled vinegar. Periodically run the machine with only a cup of white distilled vinegar in it—nothing else added to the wash cycle.

Bring out bright colors by adding 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar to the rinse cycle.

Fluff up wool or acrylic sweaters (hand- or machine-washed) and rid them of soap smell with 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar in the last rinse water.

Get rid of the tiny holes left along the hemline when you take out the hem of any garment by moistening a cloth with white distilled vinegar, placing it under the fabric and ironing.