What I've Decluttered Wednesday!

I am on a mission to declutter my house. This will take a while. I'll post each week the items I decluttered, and that will help me stay accountable. I think I might re-read Peter Walsh's book, It's All Too Much. I read it a couple of years ago, and it really helped me change my mindset on my stuff. A couple of great blogs on decluttering, that inspire me, are 500 Things, which is a great daily read, and Cleaning Up The Clutter. I recently had a garage sale, and got rid of a lot of stuff. It felt great, but I feel like I only peeled one layer off of the onion. I want my house to flow, & be clutter free.

We live in a small 2 bedroom house, built in the 40's, so space is at a premium... no walk in closets, no coat closet, no pantry (well... sort of. We turned a tiny broom closet into a tiny pantry), no dining room, no eat in kitchen, one tiny closet-less bathroom... you get the message. I can't afford to store things that I do not use. It has got to go!

This week's gone items:

- child sized reclining armchair. This was super cute, but my son never sat in it, and stuff would accumulate on it. It took up 4 valuable square feet of floor space! Freecycle got it gone! Looked like this:



- Playmobil Pirate set. I bought it at a garage sale, but my son never played with. He relinquished it to Freecycle, and the lady who took the chair was happy to take the pirate set too. This is the set:



Next week I should have even more to report! I have gotten rid of a lot in the past 2 weeks, but that is just the beginning!

More garden updates!

Are you sick of my garden updates yet? No? Good! Today we went to an earth fair at the Green Earth Institute, and I bought some of my garden plants... some heirloom cherry tomatoes & sweet peppers. I bought several varieties, so I could see which ones I end up liking & make note of it for next year.



I still need to get my tomato plants from The Pure Gardener, my local organic garden center. I got my organic 7 heirloom seeds from them, as well as other garden necessities. Not only do they carry the best stuff, but they are master recyclists, and come up with the coolest ideas. One I saw, and borrowed, was lettuce in a colander... perfect for my spinach plants!



Hmmm... I still have a lot of space in my garden...


Time to get plantin'!

Now back on the inside of the house, the little wisps of dill that started to sprout died almost immediately :(. I'm going to try again, outdoors this time. As for chia kitty?...



I don't think this is what the picture on the box looked like. Hmmm.

Butterfly garden, garden updates, and Chia Cat!

We are excited & anxiously awaiting our butterfly garden plants! We ordered native plants that are all butterfly attraction from a local garden center. They benefit from the sale of the plants, so it makes it even better. The lady at the garden center said to also plant things the caterpillars like to eat, so they will stick around. Dill was one of the things she mentioned, so i'll be planting dill among the flowers. I started the seeds, and they're starting to grow. They have a way to go.


My spinach is growing wonderfully, and I will plant it in a pot in a shady area off the porch soon. My raised garden is in full sun, so it wouldn't do well there.


We couldn't pass up this Chia Cat we found at a garage sale for a quarter. We put the seeds on 3 days ago, and are patiently waiting. I may grow edible chia seeds on this later, if I can ever find out if the clay is food safe or not.
ETA: They said it's ok!

Mud race!

I saw this for the first time last night, and will be signing up myself for the 5k, and my son for the kid's run. It's a race, but with obstacle courses & mud! I'm so excited, and i'm hoping I can talk someone into running it with me!

Garden Markers

I'm out of garden markers and I need more. Looks like i'll have to eat more ice cream bars! ;)

The raised garden is ready!

I decided on tan split face cinder blocks with pavers on top, and i'm glad I did! It looks so much nicer than plain cinder blocks. First I laid them out, leveling them as best as I could as I went. It isn't a giant sized garden... that shovel & wheelbarrow are my son's ;)


I sprinkled cinnamon all around the cinder blocks & garden area to prevent ants. Then I laid down newspaper to prevent any weeds that were below from coming up. A farmer I met at a nutrition seminar gave me that tip. Thanks, Farmer Jim!


After that I had the newspaper in place, and wet it so the breeze wouldn't blow it away, I added the pavers to the top of the cinder blocks.


Since the cinder blocks are 16" long, and the pavers were 15 1/4, I ended up with some smaller spaces to fill, and used bricks & paver pieces I had in the yard. It won't win any awards, but I don't think it looks too bad!


I added the soil, then my helpers helped me get get the compost in from our composter. Thanks helpers!


One helper was nice enough to stick around & help me spread it out.


I can't wait to plant!

Cinder block raised garden

After much thought, I have decided to make my raised garden with cinder blocks. I originally wanted wood, but if I use treated wood it will have chemicals. If I use untreated wood, it will eventually rot, and need to be replaced. I also read that "cinder block raised beds have the added advantage of creating thermal mass which stores heat and warms the soil longer". The down side is that they are ugly, but there are some solutions.

This creative recyclist used mosaic tiles to decorate her cinder blocks:


There's cement stain, and split faced cider blocks, that are more visually appealing like these:


My husband likes the look of the flat pavers on top like this person did...


I kinda like the idea of using the holes to plant things in, like this person did:


I am currently waiting to see if anyone on Freecycle has some cinder blocks that they don't want. If not, I may go with the split face cider blocks. I figure it's worth the extra few cents a block, since it will be a permanent fixture in the yard.