Spring Leftovers & Napping Furkids

This is how I fell asleep the other night!  With Cricket & Riley laying on my legs right next to each other.  Paco sleeps in his pen area for safety reasons and his immune issues.  We would hate for him to try and jump up on something and injure himself.  He doesn't seem to mind it - I think he actually prefers it - it's his own space that no one else can invade!  But aren't these two so sweet?  Cricket is certainly sweet when she wants to be and other times she's the instigator!





In other news...Spring has sprung!  And here are some leftovers that are popping up on their own from our Rooftop Garden/Container Garden.

2 kinds of chives!  They look better than ever before!  They are mostly onion chives but I think one is a garlic chive, too!  In this background of this photo you can also see some Lavender as well!

This is a close up of our Rhubarb that is start over for the season!  How exciting!  Can't wait to see what else progresses!  I do know that we need to start planting seeds to see what happens with those soon, too!

With my full time job as of late - I have been doing a lot of local speaking for high school students and organizations.  It's been fun!  I'm also highly considering joining our local chapter of The League of Women Voters!

What To Do With All That Lemon Balm

Photo Source: WikiCommons

Yesterday I blogged a little bit about my new obsession...Essential Oils.  But another thing I have been into lately is herbs and using them in body care type situations.  My mother has an INSANE amount of Lemon Balm all around her property and I grabbed a few clumps and replanted them on our Roof Top garden and now we have 4 containers of Lemon Balm.

If you are over run by Lemon Balm like we are  - perhaps there are a few things you can tinker with in this post today.

One thing you can do with it is to make a paste for acne and/or blemishes.  Take a look at this post I did for The Raw Food World RECIPE Section.  It's Lemon Balm Blemish Paste.  

Another thing you can do that is SUPER EASY is Lemon Balm Hair Rinse.

Of course you could always 'brew it up' for a nice tea/tisane, add it to your dishes for flavor and garnish, and boil it in your kitchen to naturally diminish kitchen odors.  What are some of the things YOU have done with Lemon Balm?

More Rooftop Garden Progress & NEW Patty Pan Squash is Flowering!

I have 2 quick posts today so be sure to check the post out after this one, too!  That will finish up my Warren County Fair Concert posts but something unexpected happened this past weekend...we ended up going to Crawford County Fair, too, but only for 1 day so I will start in with that tomorrow!  I still have so much to post so I will most likely be double posting most days in the meantime.

I'm also going to get back into videos, too, so here is a quick one with Rooftop Garden Progress!  I apologize in advance for it being sideways again.  I will get my act together again one of these days!  You may also notice that this video is posted to a different channel it's my 2nd account so if you want to also follow this channel it's located HERE.  I have to say with everything going on I've REALLY excited about the Patty Pan Squash potential!!!  Check it out!

Rooftop Garden Check-in & Cricket Update

I've had a few people ask me how our Rooftop Garden has been doing this year.  I haven't talked about it as much and I probably should.  We didn't do as many things this year because of less people to help with it and those who do most of it have been busier than usual.  But what we do have - I have taken some recent photos in the last week or so and will be posting a video, soon, too!

This year we have 3 different kinds of tomatoes we are trying.  2 out of the 3 are starting to produce something.  I will be posting more about which kinds at a later date.  Here's a pic of one of them in the meantime.

You know me and BASIL - I love it!  We have 2 'trees' of it we started this year as you can see here and we have one left inside near a window leftover from last year.  We have 2 'just starting out' plants that are growing from a 'drop off' from previous plants.

My mother has like 9 basil plants doing well in her back yard and she doesn't even use basil much so I guess it's time to start making pesto, eh!?  I know each time I mention it I have people interested in taking some once it's made.  I think I will make that a mini goal for this week and next week!

Another mini goal of mine SHOULD BE to do something with all of the Lemon Balm that is popping up everywhere!  I brought a little bit over from my mom's and it's going NUTS!

We have 3 containers of it going strong and I'm not doing anything with it...it's taking off on its own completely.

All I can think of is include it in tea but I want to try and come up with some home remedies and health/beauty ways to use it, too!

Suggestions for Lemon Balm?  Let me know!

And just a quick update on Cricket before I go...here she is!  She's a sweetie!  Ever since we lost Suzie - Paco and Riley have been going thru the motions with no real 'leader' and Cricket is leader - that is for sure!

She loves riding in the car, going for walks with fur friends, and doesn't mind baths.  But she doesn't like her nails done...so that will be something I will need assistance with soon!  She's still around 4 pounds and done growing but she has no idea that she isn't as 'big' as the other dogs!

Rooftop Garden Mini Video Tour

Rooftop Garden 2015!

I decided to do a 2 minute video from the Rooftop Garden!  This is just the beginning!  There are some Basil Plants, small Pepper Plants, various Leafy Greens, a squash plant that was from the actual squash that started a shoot so I planted it to see what happened.  It probably won't produce but it's fun to look at and it's going a little crazy!  Also in this video are 2 different kinds of chives, lavender, 3 different kinds of heirloom tomatoes, and Rhubarb!  Woot!  I plan on visiting one of the places where I got some starters today so I might be getting a new plant or two to add to the mix!  I will keep you posted!

Since I am new to YouTube I would really LOVE some new subscribers!  Please subscribe to my channel HERE.  Thanks so much!

Rooftop Gardening 2015!

If you have been reading my blog for a while now you may remember last year we started a Rooftop Garden at work.  It was COMPLETELY Trial and Error!  We learned a lot and will continue to learn a lot!  We know a lot of what NOT to do this year and from here on out I will be sharing with you what we will try and do THIS year!  That's right!  It's the 2015 Rooftop Garden, folks!  First up...Rhubarb!  Now that I am in sales in addition to other tasks at work I am able to get out and chat with our local growers!  I LOVE this!  I have been able to get more of them to advertise with us, too!  So far I have grabbed a Rhubarb starter from a local outlet.

It's DOUBLED in size since I bought it, too!  We are REALLY excited about that!

A few things we won't be doing this year on our Rooftop is tomatoes...they didn't do well at all last year.  We did a few different kinds of peppers and we still might try and do some this year but the yield wasn't too high last season.  Maybe this year we will have better luck!

One of our Basil Plants made it thru the whole winter and we had it in our production room.  We might take that outside again.  In the meantime we purchased another starter!

They seem to be doing well so far but I will be SHOCKED if they get as big as the ones did last year!  They might but I'm not banking on it...those were CRAZY HUGE last year!

I hope to introduce something new each week.  If I do I will let you know!

We got quite a bit of rain over the weekend so some of the area farmers and markets already have corn nearly ready!  And Strawberry season is near, too!

And check this out!  Our chives came back!  Even after the horrible winter we had!  Actually they came back TWICE as strong!  As a matter of fact last fall we threw one of the chive plants away in the compost pile and it sprouted up like crazy this year so we replanted it!

One of the plants is flowering!  I have been reading up on Chive Flowers lately and might try to start using them in dishes, too!

It was a slow start this spring but I'm getting super excited about the potential of the Rooftop and Container Gardens once again this year!

NOT Giving Up Because It's Snowing...

About 3 weeks ago I picked what was ready and left from the Rooftop Garden that we experimented with this year for the first time.  It was all a learning experience that is for sure!  Our office Manager said 'you have to pick these before the frost' so I did.  There are a few things left out there but not much.  I'm sad to see this end.  So Sam and I decided to try a few things INSIDE during the winter months.  I hope to take some photos of those soon.  So far we have some Sweet Banana Peppers that look like they are going to work as well as some more greens.  As for the items you see in this photo from outside...one of the tomatoes and one pepper...both of which didn't get very big.  We will probably not try tomatoes and regular bell peppers next year.  We may get a Tomato Hanging Basket instead and only do non-bell peppers since the larger one pictured here at the bottom is a Big Jim and we got 5 good sized ones out of the plants we did do.  Then...the Dragons Tongue Beans were one of the best things we did do this year...we will be doing them indoors during the winter and most likely again next summer, too!  Then we have a Contender Bean, too.  We had 2 plants that survived.  We didn't get many Contender Beans but what we did grow was tasty.  We still have a few Brussels Sprout Plants we are HOPING will make it to full size.  I'm tempted to bring them inside tho...eventho I have read that a little bit of frost will make them sweeter...I just don't want to lose them...afterall...we started from seed in April.  BUT...just a heads up...I will be switching from Rooftop Garden posts to Container Gardening and Indoor Gardening posts SOON!

Big Jim Peppers Are Here, Homemade Chana Punjabi, Vegan Russian Dressing, and More pics

I was going to wait to post these photos in near-future posts but I'm already so far behind with blogging I didn't want to bankroll them.  that and I'm so excite to share these pics with you guys! 

First up...

This pepper!  BUT...this isn't just 'any' pepper...it's a Big Jim Pepper from our Rooftop/Container Garden at work!  Woot!  Sam and I cut one open and ate it raw and LOVED it.  It wasn't sweet.  At the end it had a kick to it, too!  YAY!  These did really well for us and we are already planning on doing more next year.  We had 3 plants that were good size and produced a few.  If we spaced them out more I think we could have gotten more of a yield but I'm happy with what we did get!

We have some late bloomers of our rooftop produce which I will be sharing with you soon.  We are still waiting on the Brussel Sprouts, too, but they do take a long time from start to finish.

Last night I wanted an Indian Inspired dish but also wanted to make some for my lunch today.  Based on what I had in my pantry and in my fresh stock in the kitchen I made some Chana Punjabi and it turned out great.  It wasn't spicy but it was tasty!  Here's the recipe I threw together...

1 Can of Chickpeas
1/2 tea Wildtree Garam Masala
1 tea Wildtree Garlic & Herb
2 Large Tomatoes
1/4 tea Turmeric Extract
Pinch of Garlic Chili Sea Salt

Last week I was sort of craving a Russian Flavored Dressing so I came up with this Mayo-Free, Soy-Free version that I was quite proud of that I did in my Vitamix.  Recipe...

1 C Cashews
2 T Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tea Coconut Sugar
1 tea Wildtee Garlic & Herb
1 tea Dijon Mustard
1/2 C Relish (or chopped sweet pickles)
3/4 C Ketchup

This was a great dressing AND a wonderful dipping sauce.  Overnight in the frig it thickened up because of the Cashews!  YUM!

Why...yes...YES...that is Moonshine!  I'm mostly posting this because I LOVE the way the photo turned out!

We visited 3 Moonshine places while in TN.  It's now legal there.  We sampled a few from Ole Smoky.  They had Moonshine infused cherries.  I thought I would like them more than I did but they look super cool in the glass jar, don't they? 

My husband ended up purchasing one of their baseball caps.  And some of their Blackberry Moonshine.

There were a few Wineries nearby and we intended to go back and check them out but we ran out of time while on vacation.

DOH!!!!

I just LOVED this fountain that was tucked back in one of the coves in the shopping district of Gatlinburg. 

There were places to sit and shop.  A few places to grab some beverages like a specialty coffee or pastry.  But my FAVORITE part was this fountain and the building facades.

I still have a LOT to blog about from our vacation and more photos to share here and on the Travel Blog.  But I will save those for another day!

I have more giveaways to post about, too!  Hopefully tomorrow!  Stay Tuned!

And don't forget to scroll down...this wasn't my only post for today!

Weekend Roundup & Rooftop Garden Updates

A little bit of a "Weekend Round Up" as well as an update on the Rooftop Garden/Container Garden in this post!  This past weekend my mom, dad, sister, and I were with our Wildtree Products at Merritt Winery outside of Dunkirk, NY, for the 2nd time this year.  The weather started off not-so-great but it ended on a more pleasant note.  I was able to take a photograph of their vineyards before we left Sunday Night.

My sister and parents went on a little outing not too long ago and grabbed a drink or two at a Greek Restaurant and saved me this bottle.  WHY?  You might ask?  Well, because it has a Unicorn on it - of course!  If you don't already know - I've been a life long unicorn collector...I added this to my collection.  I posted this photo on InstaGram and noticed Mythos Beer is really popular overseas...I saw posts from Greece, Turkey, Italy, and other countries, too!  Pretty neat!  I made a spot for this empty bottle in my Craft Room.

Another thing I wanted to take time today - to update you all on - was some more Rooftop Garden/Container Garden updates!  On the right are two Dragons Tongue Bean plants BUT on the left is a container of Yard Long Beans that are crawling over and attaching themselves to the Dragons Tongue.  The Yard Long Beans are CRAZY HUGE!  They really can grow up to a YARD long!  Hence the name!  One of these days I will try and take a pic of me holding one so you can see just how long they really are!  They are so cool!

Here are some peppers we are having luck with now!  These are the Big Jim Peppers!  They are supposed to be mild to medium on the heat scale.  I think we will let them go a bit longer before picking because they can get to be between 7 and 10 inches long and I've read they also can turn red, too!  These are doing pretty well under our stairs in partial sun.

Questions of the Day...How was your weekend?  Do anything interesting?  How's your garden going and growing?  Any surprises there?  Have you tried Yardlong Beans or Big Jim Peppers?  What are your thoughts on those two produce picks?

Interested Animals & Container Garden Progress

I'm still doing a little bit of catch-up with posts.  I figured today I would do a few collages of two subjects and combine the blog post.  This first photo collage is of some of my favorite animals from the fair a few weeks ago.  The two birds I just LOVED the colors of the feathers and they were so cool.  Their temporary living quarters were very clean and of the most spacious I have seen.  The Rabbits had their whole family there and chillin' in their own pen area.  They were precious!  This horse was nodding off while standing...or maybe just blinking...but it was cute and I LOVED the brown and white color combo and spots!

I've been trying to update you all on the Container Garden and Rooftop Garden Progress!  Well, here is some more!  The Dragon's Tongue Beans have been a real hit this year!  We've had great luck with those!  We are already sure we are going to do them again next year!  I'm almost wondering if we can do them year-round indoors...we might try!  Then the other two photos here are of the Brussel Sprouts!  We have one that is doing REALLY well.  Another one that is doing ok.  And the other two are up-in-the-air.  I think we might pull one of them today.  I think the branches are too close to grow the sprouts and they aren't really sprouting much.  But we are very excited about the ones that have 'nubs' on them - like the ones you see here!

 

Basil, Orange Peppers, and Tomatoes - Progress, Sort of...

These are 5 gallon buckets.  In these 5 gallon buckets are Basil plants!  The Basil Plants are about 3 and a half feet high so far.  I honestly can't believe how much basil these - once small plants - produced this year!!!  I know they usually do well - but had no idea they would do THIS well!

I'm very excited about this!  I have already done a few different pesto's out of the leaves I have plucked.  I hope to do more and very soon!

I will surely log - here on my blog - more about my near-future pesto adventures.

I think I might try and juice some and maybe add some to a few green smoothies, too, since I have so much!

But WAIT...there's more!  Yup!  You see correctly!  That's a 3rd basil plant!  This one isn't as big as the other two but still a very good sized plant. 

Oddly, this is the Basil plant I thought was NOT going to make it but it ended up pulling thru just fine!

In front you can see some of our cucumber plants.  They were slow at the start but I think we might see a few - thru to the end!

There are some Contender Beans next to the Basil - in this photo - as well.  We thought we were going to lose all of those, too, but we were able to save 2 of them.  One feel off and started growing next to it - in between the one Contender Bean and the Basil plant - all on it's own!

We've been picking them as they are ready and munching on them as snack - while at work!

This is a photo I took of our one sweet orange bell pepper last week but I'm happy to report that it's even more orange today.  The leaves are a little limp but we worked in some more soil and such to see if that helped.  I think a few bags of soil we bought were crappy.  One had too much 'wood' and the other was like mud/cement.  Live and learn - I guess, eh!?

Next year we will know not even to try the root veggies and I think we will nix the broccoli next year, too!  Eventho our broccoli plant was HUGE - it seemed to take MONTHS and ended up not producing ANYTHING.  Oh well.  This year was our first year and we will apply that to following years and go from there.

It was slow-going or should I say slow-GROWING with our Rosalita Lettuce but we were able to get a few of them to produce some greens.  We learned if we let them go too long they produce weird 'shoots'.

It's been VERY 'hit and miss' with our tomato attempts so far.  We have these two and another one that seem to be doing well but that's about it. 

Next year we might not do tomatoes.

We really tried to bring these guys back from the 'brink' with a little bit of 'lime' that Sam's father gave us.

I'm hopeful with our 3 Sunflowers - more on those in the near future - fingers crossed!

We might try and experiment with indoor container growing in off season months, too.  Nothing major just a few things we can try in the front room that has large windows.

I know there seem to be a lot of things that aren't really going our way but I want to keep trying!  There are other things that we are having success with - I assure you!

Mouse Melon Progress

Take a look at the Mouse Melon Progress on our Rooftop Container Garden at work! 

I have to say I'm so excited that Sam brought one of these in for us to grow!  It's doing so well!  We've munched on a few that have matured but I'm certain there are a lot more on the way! 

Mouse Melon - or - Melothria scabra is a vine grown for its edible fruit. Fruit are about the size of grapes and taste like cucumbers with a tinge of sourness. Vernacular names include mouse melon, Mexican sour gherkin, cucamelon, Mexican miniature watermelon and Mexican sour cucumber.  This plant is native to Mexico and Central America, where it is called sandiita (little watermelon). It is believed to have been a domesticated crop before western contact began.

These plants are slow-growing when they are establishing themselves, but can eventually grow up to ten feet under proper conditions. They are drought resistant and pest-resistant due.

Similar to the cucumber, these plants produce both male and female flowers. These plants can fertilize themselves, but the flowers are not self-fertile. Flowers are small and yellow, about four millimeters in diameter. Fruits develop at the base of the female flower.

Our tomatoes aren't doing very well but we might see 3 of them.  Some of the peppers are doing ok and some aren't...more progress on those down the road, too!  We have 2 solid Brussel Sprout Plants 'happening' and I will post about that soon, too!  As well as others!

Let me know how your garden is doing!!!!

FUN on a FRIDAY!

Well, well, well! 
It's Friday!  I'm SO over this week and ready to move on to the weekend!  I'm officially declaring today FUN on a FRIDAY - day!  To share with you a few things WHY this Friday is so FUN...here we go!  To start things off...I received another shipment from The Raw Food World today!  YAY!

As you can see I'm very excited about adding these raw food books to my growing collection!  Sometime this weekend I think I am going to have to start a new 'shelf or rack' for my Raw Food Books!  I wanted to get the 80/10/10 Book, too, but it was on back order.  I have two more on order in my next order thru them so I will let you know when I get those in!  As for other items in my last shipment you can see them on the left in this 2nd photo!  More snacks, dried foods, some Nutritional Yeast which is less expensive than I can buy it locally so I thought I would get some of that PLUS some Kale Chips - 3 different flavors...even...some freeze dried Jackfruit and Mangosteen!  YUM!  Some more nuts and such...and I got some chocolate items such as dark chocolate covered figs as well as Peppermint Mint Truffles which are AWESOME, btw!

Between this order and my next order I'm really totally restocking my pantry and shouldn't need anything for a good-long-while expect for FRESH Produce!  I am so blessed to be obtaining a lot of new-to-me foods, as well!  Down the road I might look into getting a Citrus Juicer.  I have my main juicer which is a Jack LaLanne Brand but I might upgrade or get an additional one at some point.  I want to get this Citrus Juicer as well.  My husband will start on a new diet down the road - hoping to reduce his Crohn's related issues and I know he likes orange juice but they don't want him consuming juice with a lot of pulp.

In with my shipments I have also been getting a few things to share with co-workers at work, my sister wanted some raw Cashews, and my Dad wanted some Dried Pineapple.  I thought I would try a 3 pack of these Air Therapy Sprays and keep one at work for our bathroom, too!  I love the way they all smell!  They are a convenience size, too!  In addition...I also bought some roll on pain reliever for my husband.

OH!!!!!  I'm going to a Wilson Phillips Concert tonight so I will be sure to blog more about that next week!  That's another reason today is a FUN FRIDAY!!!!!

We've also been having FUN with our Container Garden/Rooftop Garden.  The Spicy Mix and Sweet Mix Lettuces are doing awesomely!  We've had a lot of luck with both of those!  Our Sweet Basil is getting out of hand, too!  We transplanted 2 out of the 3 plants this past week. 

You can see here some of the lettuces that have flowered so I thought I would add them to the office.  They look nice, don't they!?  Even tho they are flowers from lettuce!?

But that's NOT all...I took pictures of those greens, too!  A HUGE bag full, actually!  Check this out...

It's almost a whole canvas bag full!

I have been doing a LOT of writing lately!  Even more than usual.  It's my busiest time of the year for commercial writing at work AND I've been going NUTS with the Raw Food World News Site, too!

I will do another post soon with some of my favorite posts and link to them for you!  I've done a few reviews as well!

So stay tuned for those!

What have you been up to!? 

What have you been writing about lately!? 

What new foods have you tried lately!?

Been to any concerts yet this summer?

What's the last fruit you ate!?

Rooftop & Container Progress

I've been wanting to post these photos for a while now but JUST got around to it today!  Sorry about that!  Thank  you for those who have been asking about our Rooftop Garden and Container Garden Projects!  Thanks for the continued encouragement, too!

In this first photo you will see 4 Brussels Sprout Plants in the orange buckets.  These 4 are doing really well. 

Next to that in the off white pail is one of the Dragons Tongue Plants.  These are doing really well too!  We've since brought another one of these plants outside but we have 3 others inside, too!  In the 2nd photo you can see what the Dragons Tongue Beans look like!  We absolutely LOVE them.  They are so unusual.  So fun!  So flavorful!

And we have a LARGE Broccoli Plant at the bottom that is MASSIVE.

We are eager to see the Broccoli Head start as well as eager to see the Brussels Sprouts start coming out of the side of the stalks.  I will surely keep you posted on that, too!

Mostly we have been gnawing on the beans - raw - to snack on throughout the day.  Some of our Little Marvel Peas are harvesting, too, and we've been snacking on them.  Most of the Little Marvels only have 1 or 2 peas in a pod.  This morning we found a few that were 'hiding' and the pod wilted but the pea inside was still fresh and tasty.

Our Basil has really taken off, too!  I had to grab some a week or two ago and it's really helped with the growth by keeping up with the plucking.

I ended up making some Walnut/Pinenut Pesto with the picked Basil.

In another week or so I will probably pick some more.

I just LOVE the aroma of the Sweet Basil and could just go out and breath in the scent and be happy!

Our Loose Leafy Greens are the WINNER so far.  With the little bit that we planted we have already harvested it about 6 times.

I harvested quite a bit yesterday and haven't used it yet so I might try and do a green smoothie with it tomorrow and/or maybe try and do a sauce or dressing with it, too!

A few select 'greens' on the spicy mix (on the left) flowered and was close to going to seed, I think.

The Spicy Mix sure is spicy so I might try and juice it, too!  Oh...the possibilities!

There are a few things that haven't going well for us - such as Onions and Carrots.  So far all of the onions we have tried haven't done anything.  We are trying one more carrot container in the meantime but so far no such luck with carrots either.

And check this out!  Our very first Pepper!  This will grow to be a Sweet Orange Pepper!  We have a few other varieties that are getting plentiful as well.  This is the most progressed one, tho! 

We've transplanted nearly everything at least once.  We were able to transplant a few things easier than some others - but - I guess - you will have that, eh!?

Most of our Contender Beans didn't make it but we were able to save TWO of them and we brought them back from the brink and they are flowering and budding right now. 

Sam can't wait for the Sunflowers to get big but I will say they are growing quickly!  And FINALLY we have a few heads of Rosalita Lettuce that we were able to bring back from the brink, too, but they still have a ways to go!

Rooftop Garden NOW Outside!

Hello everyone!  I'm a little behind on visiting your blogs but I hope to do that very soon! 

My days have been jam packed with writing - not only at work - but at the various sites I contribute to - as well as HOME issues.  My brother in law had to have emergency surgery a few weeks ago.  My husband has been having stomach issues again.  We've been in and out of vet's offices, etc. 

Because I try and keep this blog positive and optimistic - I have been doing more and more reflecting.  Because of the things around me - it's put some things into prospective.  These issues continue to speak to me and tell me just how important diet and physical activity is and it's never to late to make changes in your life.



Everything is a reminder to show LOVE to those you hold dear but also to those you may not know.  Be compassionate and understanding as much as possible.

I've been thinking about the small things in life, lately, too!  The little things that make a difference in each day.  The tiniest of occurrences that put a smile on ones face.


One of the MANY things I am thankful for and interested in these days is the progress of our Container Garden and Rooftop Garden Projects that myself and a few co-workers have been working on.

You can see some recent photos throughout this post!  Sure...some attempts have been better than others - but - you won't know unless you TRY - right?

In the first photo you can see that we have hardened off many of the indoor plants and they are now outside full time.  Many of them remain in the containers and/or reused/recycled items I've mentioned in previous posts.  By keeping them in containers we are able to move them if need be.  One thing we have yet to find out is the impact the hot roof will have on certain plants.  If this is an issue we are able to move each containers location to another part of the roof and/or we may put down reused plastic tarps or shelves underneath to cut down on the heat/temperature.  In the 2nd photo you can see some of what we are trying to grow a bit better. 

From left...we have one of the Dragon's Tongue Bean plants.  We kept about 6 other plants indoors.  I think they are thriving better inside actually.  The difference I have noticed with ours is that the indoor Dragon's Tongue are more plentiful and the yields are higher.  The individual beans are larger, too.  However...this outside plant is smaller but more colorful.  If you have read my previous posts about the Dragon's Tongue you may remember that when they are mature they are purple and green in color.  They are gorgeous!  The flavor is amazing, too!  We have harvested some already with more on the way!  They are EXTREMELY Crispy and Juicy!  YUM!

Next up we have some Spinach growing and regular green and white Swiss Chard as well as some Bright Lights Swiss Chard.  We are also attempting some regular spinach.  On the far end you will see a few other the smaller Brussels Sprout Plants we are trying.  These aren't growing as well as the ones we are growing in the orange buckets which I will be showing you in a bit.  We thought we would try a few of them in a different section just for kicks.

In the next photo you will see a table along the back with items on top.  We have everything from Beans and Peas to Basil and Chives.  We have some cucumbers and peppers, too!  In the smaller white containers - for the time being - we are using them to catch rain water.  We also have a few tomato plants and sunflowers started. 

You can also see we have some stairs.  We have more chives on the stairs, a few attempts at onions - which may or may not work - time will tell, and we have more space to expand!

Also under the stairs we have some leafy greens.  We have the Spicy Mesclun Mix as well as the Sweet Mix.  Both have been doing VERY well!  With the Sweet Mix I have already gotten 4 or 5 salads out of it and when I looked at it again this morning it looks like I could pick another lunch-size salads worth!  Since we took this photo we have re-arranged a few things and the peas are no longer in that spot.  We have Kale going there instead, now.

Off to the right of this last photo you can see our STRONGER Brussels Sprouts in the orange buckets.  Next to that is our MASSIVE Broccoli that is sprouting up VERY nicely!  We are stoked!

We decided to keep our Little Marvel Peas INSIDE along with the other Dragon's Tongue Beans.  We have some Rosalita Lettuces we are trying to bring back from the brink and a few other things in our indoor container garden, too!  I will try and share that in the future.  As for the house - we won't be doing much after all.  I did, however, find a Cherry Tomato Hanging Basket from a local greenhouse and purchased that as well as a Hanging Strawberry Plant.  Our Hosta's are taking over 3 sections of our yard!  I'll be sure to share photos of those with you soon, too!

Ponytail Palms, Cats Without Tails, Simple Foods from the Container/Rooftop Gardens

I know I have been posting a lot of food lately and you know I will continue to but I also have a lot of other things to post about too!

Here's a mish mash of things that aren't really food related - for the most part - that have been going on lately!

First - this AWESOME Ponytail Palm!  A few months ago my co-worker Sam brought one in for her office and I LOVED it so much!  I would do up and check it out each time I visited her office.  Her mother found one for me last week and it's now sitting on my desk.  I'm NOT next to a window but we will see how it does.  I have regular florescent office lights.  Hers is next to a window.  Mine isn't.  So I figured every Friday afternoon I would take mine upstairs and put it next to hers for the weekend near the window!

It's been a few weeks now since Charlie's surgery.  I wanted to wait to post about it until I was sure he was ok.  He had to have his tail amputated.  He has been doing remarkably well without this tail.  They left a bit of a 'nub'.  It's still healing but doing good.  When they took his tail off they noticed he had very small warts all over his tail that were NOT visible until after they shaved his tail to remove it.  They said to look for other unhealing wounds that may pop up.  They aren't overly concerned at this time that there is much else wrong.  However, IF he does have other unhealing wounds that form they said it may be cancerous. 

So of course when I saw this about 2 weeks after his surgery I was concerned!  After we took the cone off of him he had this small - yet clean - hole on his arm.  The first day it bled but I'm sure that was because he was licking it.  Ever since then it's been dry, clean, and unchanged - yet open. 

FINALLY yesterday morning I noticed this wound was closing!!!  I think we are on the upswing! 

As you can see on the other arm - that's the arm they shaved to put the IV in.  NOT the arm with the wound.  BUT...as long as it continues to heal - we are happy!

Okay...Okay...I know I said I wouldn't talk about food...but I can't help it!  Simple Foods left from last week!  Yes...I've now gotten 4 salads from our containers at work!  YAY!  I used some leftover dressings I made to top it and it was a nice simple lunch. 

I will have a post very soon with the progress of our Container Garden and Rooftop Garden Attempts!  We've also been doing updates on MyFolia.com which you can follow via my sidebar but I will be posting that more soon too!