Living Homegrown

Garden Jewlery

Here is something fun! Check this out:

This is a pendant you can buy on Etsy. I like it. The moss is not real (so no sunlight or water is required) and the idea of wearing a tiny garden just cracks me up. Who says you can't take your garden with you? 

And here is a ring...with faux moss and pebbles!

The ring is not my style...but fun, none the less. The pendant sells for $25 and the ring is $38. You can click HERE to see the full line of garden jewelry.

And no, I do not know these people, nor did I get anything for mentioning these items. I just thought they were fun and unusual.

It's The Great Pumpkin!

Here is something just in time for Halloween!

Have any of you dreamed of growing a gigantic pumpkin? Many people do! A contest for the biggest and best pumpkins in Southern California was recently held at the Heritage Museum of Orange County.

This year's winner? Michelle Lofthouse with a 903 pound beauty. (That is her winning pumpkin in the picture - Photo credit: Pumpkinmania Blog)

But that is not even close to the world record!

The largest pumpkin on record in the United States was recorded in Ohio this month. That monster weighed 1,725 pounds! Christy Harp was the grower.

She said that she and her husband have a private competition each year to see who can grow the largest pumpkin. Last year he beat her by 200 pounds. But this year, she beat him by 400 pounds! Christy prepares the soil with coffee grounds, manure and compost and then carefully selects her seeds. I'm sure that she does a lot more than that, but she's not telling! She won $2,500 for her efforts. (Photo credit: GrowGiants)

If you want to see the other contestants from the Orange County contest, check out the Pumpkinmania: a blog for the Southern California Pumpkin Growing Community. Their motto is: "Changing the world, one pumpkin at a time."

If you need tips for growing some of your own giants next year, here is a basic article by Organic Gardening - just to get you started.

Yard Sharing - in Portland and Everywhere

Yard Sharing.

Have you heard of this? It has become increasingly popular over the last few years. Gardeners who want more space to garden team up with people who have the yard space (but lack the time or skills to garden). The gardener provides the labor, the homeowner provides the land (and usually ends up helping too). They agree to split the crops.

The result? Both sides end up with baskets and baskets of edibles! It is a great idea. Everyone eats more local, wasted space is used efficiently and total strangers become garden buddies.

Yard sharing is especially popular in the Pacific Northwest. There are several groups in Seattle and Portland that help organize this concept and more groups are appearing all across the US.

Portland Yardsharing.org is one such group. Their mission is "to provide resources to our community that enable the creation of gardens with the sole purpose of generating fresh local food while cultivating healthy growing relationships in our neighborhoods."

But you don't have to join a group to make yard sharing happen for yourself. I have enjoyed reading about the yard share experiences of the Shibaguyz. When they were looking for more land to grow food on, they just posted an ad on a community blog. Within a few hours, they had over 30 offers! They picked four garden plots that fit their needs and their urban yard sharing adventure began.

It really is a simple idea that reaps such huge benefits. Many yard sharers are even growing rows to feed the hungry. Something to think about next spring...

My video segment on GardenWorldReport

I recently taped a short segment for Garden World Report, (Shirley Bovshow's new online garden channel). The episode was on Educational Gardens -- a subject near and dear to my heart!

So here I am, answering the question "What is an Educational Garden?"

See? I don't look at all like a sepia-colored watering can! LOL

You can view all the previous episodes of Garden World Report on YouTube HERE. The  channel is only a few weeks old, but Shirley is hard at work to bring us interesting garden content. She has some wonderful episodes coming up.

I will keep you posted on Shirley's new channel as well as her other projects as they develop!

On Twitter, you can follow Shirley @GardenWReport

and you can follow ME @GardenLiving!

GWA Tour - Art in the Garden

I attended the fabulous Garden Writer's Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina last month. A portion of each day was dedicated to bus tours around the area. One of the tours took us to North Carolina Botanical Garden.

There happened to be an art exhibit in the garden at the time of our visit. Artists from around the state had loaned pieces to be strategically placed around the grounds.

The gardens were beautiful to be begin with, but the sculpture added an element of surprise.

We never knew what we might see around the next corner.

 

It made for a whole new garden experience.

One  of my favorite places in the garden was the "Storyteller's Chair" perfectly placed in a grove of trees. You could just imagine little ones sitting on the log seats listening to an enthralling story being told from the massive chair. Heck, I would have loved to sit there listening to the story too! The setting made it even more whimsical.

Canning is Finally Cool Again

A few weeks ago, I mentioned Canning Across America. That project is still going strong. In fact, it is becoming very obvious that canning is now becoming "COOL"

 

- Just look at this new  "YES WE CAN" T-shirt you can buy online!

- If you do a #canning search on Twitter you will be hooked up with hundreds of canners across the world.

- Sites such as Homegrown.org have large canning/preserving sections and they are growing daily.

- And if you don't want to take my word for it, look at this article in the New York Times. The reporter took a canning class and is now a canning convert.

According to the article, people are canning for a variety of reasons, namely:

"The worst recession in decades and a trend toward healthier eating are inspiring many Americans to grow their own food. Now the harvest season is turning many of these gardeners into canners looking to stretch the bounty of the garden into the winter."

Ah yes, the whole growing your own food movement has indeed sparked a renewed food preservation movement. I love this! I have been canning and preserving my whole life and became a Certified Master Food Preserver way back in 1991. I am thrilled that others are wanting to join in the fun.

Come on everyone! Don't be intimidated! Home canned food captures the 'fresh-from-the-garden' flavors in a jar. And they make great holiday gifts!

Is A Garden Changing Your Life?

While cruising the web, I stumbled upon a page asking me "Is A Garden Changing Your Life?"

Why "YES!" I thought, "It always has!"

The page is part of questionnaire by Southern California Public Radio. They are looking for insights and photos answering this question. Their environment reporter, Molly Perterson, reports on the interesting gardens they find. They even have a special "Garden Feature Page" with interesting stories and photos from around Los Angeles.

Check it out...And if you don't live in Southern California and cannot participate in the survey, I would still be interested in YOUR answer to that question. Please post a any answers below...

Think about it...Has your garden changed your financial picture? Health? Outlook on life?

IS A GARDEN CHANGING YOUR LIFE?

Something to think about...

A New Gardening Show Is On The Horizon!

Hang on to your trowels everyone because a new gardening show is about to take America by storm!

For years we have been complaining about the lack of good gardening shows on television. Many garden bloggers joined in, especially after all the excellent posts over at GardenRant pointing out how most TV networks just don't get what we want.

A year ago, there was even a protest among some fellow garden bloggers to change the "G" to lower case in the  HgTV Network. Their point was that HGTV no longer focused on "gardening". Instead, the network featured primarily home improvement shows. The few "gardening" shows they did broadcast were either about landscaping or instant makeovers. (With the exception of A Gardener's Diary, with Erica Glasener. We all LOVED that one!)

To read some of those rants, go to GardenRant, Mr. McGregor's Daughter, Red Dirt Ramblings, May Dream Gardens

And THEN, Tina K organized a whole campaign to let networks know that gardeners are very upset about the current state of gardening shows on TV. There was a consensus among the bloggers that networks and producers did not "get" what we were craving.

Robin over at the Examiner summed it up best by saying she wanted:

"Beautiful shows about real gardens and real gardeners. I want to travel the country and peek into people's backyards. I want to meet the people who grow all those beautiful roses and find out how they got started. Who was their inspiration? How did they learn about gardening? Where do they look for plants and supplies? How did they figure out how to design their beautiful spaces?"

We all wondered if anyone was listening...

Well, one person IS listening and his name is Joe Lamp'l. (Also known as the Joe behind the Joe Gardener Company)

Being a nationally recognized garden show host and a gardener himself, Joe was feeling the same disappointment and frustration with today's programing. Both of his own television shows (Fresh from the Garden and GardenSMART) were no longer in production as networks were shifting focus (although episodes are still airing on some networks).

Joe decided to take matters into his own hands by producing a gardening show himself...

And now, his new show "Growing A Greener World" is starting production today in Philadelphia! Episodes will begin airing in the spring on PBS.

At the recent Garden Writer's Conference, I had a chance to chat with Joe about what makes his new show different.

According to Joe, Growing A Greener World will:

- feature the latest trends in eco-friendly living mixed with traditional gardening know-how.

- focus on telling a compelling story about the garden and the gardener (no instant make-overs folks!)

- include inspirational stories about how some people are making a difference through their gardening.

- offer tips, ideas and even recipes from the garden.

- explore the latest in eco-friendly gardening, water-wise landscapes and sustainability.

- And much more...

Joe's co-host on Growing A Greener World is Patti Moreno also known as "The Garden Girl". Patti is all about sustainable living and you can watch her numerous videos on her website GardenGirlTV. She also writes for several magazines including Fine Gardening and Organic Gardening, spreading the word about being sustainable in an urban setting. Together, they are touring the country filming interesting gardens and gardeners everywhere.

And guess what?

Now that the show is in production, I can tell people that I am going to be featured on one of the episodes.

Joe and his crew are coming to film my Urban Edible Homestead and now Charlotte (my Polish chicken) will get her big television debut. Charlotte is all ready primping for the occasion. But Joe did warn me that she will not have any "people" (or "peeps" as she likes to call them) because she is expected to do her own feathers and make-up. No divas in the garden on his productions!

No problem Joe, Charlotte will be ready for her close up. And all the gardeners out there are ready to see what you can put together for us.

All we can say is "Thank you" for taking this on.