|
|
February 8th, 2010 |
|
 Chickadee by auburnxc I have a special guest for you today, a guest who is keen to learn about birds. Enjoy!
Dear Mama,
I really want to spend some time with you this weekend learning about birds! I heard about the Great Backyard Bird Count and I am really excited to identify new birds. We only have to spend 15 minutes watching and counting individual species, but we could go to the pond and look for the big red hawk or some ducks. There’s a website where we can look up great information about what kinds of birds live around our house this time of year. I heard there are even some eagles over near the river; maybe we’ll see one of them!
To take part, we need to go bird counting sometime next weekend (February 12th to 15th). After we make our list of species we send it in through the internet. Scientists are collecting all this information to see if there are changes from other years. This is one way scientists keep track of the climate changes. I think that what scientists do is really cool and I’d love to see what it’s like to do their work.
So can we check it out? I‘ve been feeding the birds in our yard for a long time, but I never looked up their names. Now I can and it will help others learn too! Could this be our special Valentines Day adventure?
Love Ya, Your Little Explorer
PS. We could even win some of these prizes for participating! I’d love to win a new birdfeeder!
 Shannon Baer started writing at Backyard Mama this past summer in an effort to inspire grandparents, parents, teachers, caregivers and their children to spend more time in nature. Follow @backyardmama for up-to-date tweets about her new adventures. She looks forward to meeting you knee deep in mud and exhausted from a full day of nature play! See you outside!
February 5th, 2010 |
|
 Growing Great Vegetables in the Heartland is a vegetable gardening book by Andrea Ray Chandler. Decide whether this is the book you need.
I’ve been on a search for a great vegetable growing book which covers everything I need to know for growing in Kansas, and which I would be happy to recommend to you.
How to Grow Vegetables in Kansas
Growing Great Vegetables in the Heartland is now my first choice book for vegetable gardeners in Kansas and the Midwest. The list price is just $18.95 and it is available for a lot less (currently around $2) through the Amazon.com marketplace.
Things to Like About Growing Great Vegetables…
When it comes to gardening, much of the knowledge you need is regional. It’s worth finding resources customized for your area. This book covers USDA zones 4, 5, and 6 and the following states: South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, most of Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio and parts of Minnesota and Oklahoma.
What You Will Not Find
There is no claim to be using new and amazing methods in this book.
What is in Growing Great Vegetables…
Beyond being a regional book, Andrea Ray Chandler has a no-nonsense, readable, writing style. She covers such things as: composting; mulching; labor saving; organic pest management; indoor seed starting; container gardening; and seed saving in the vegetable garden.
Sections are as follows:
- Introduction – what makes the Heartland special for gardening.
- Your Garden Ground – soil, composting, digging, raised beds, siting your garden, rainfall and watering needs.
- Understanding Catalogs – seed terms, packet sizes and costs, proven winners, narrowing down choices.
- Seed Starting and Garden Planning – equipment, containers, indoor starting, transplanting, garden layouts, spacing, maximizing harvest.
- Moving Out of Doors – frost dates, plant protection methods, mulch, trellising, tomato cages, supplies.
- Spring and Autumn crops – cool season vegetables.
- Warm Season Vegetables – squashes, corn, beans, tomatoes etc.
- Growing and Cooking with Herbs
- Bugs, Slugs and Four-legged Thugs – pests and methods of organic control.
- Tool Selection
- How to Get Brilliant (no extra charge for this part)!
Who Should Buy Growing Great Vegetables…
Growing Great Vegetables in the Heartland is for anyone living in the Midwest states listed above. Whether you are new to vegetable gardening, or already have some experience, this book has lots of information without being overwhelming. I hesitate to state that it has all the information you need, but it must be close to it.
Shop for this book at Amazon.com (new, or for around $2 from the marketplace) or online from your local independent bookstore.
February 2nd, 2010 |
|
Do you want to plant a new garden this year, pick out some flowers to attract butterflies or birds, grow vegetables with your kids for the first time, or change to more organic management?
Maybe you want to do something in the garden, but you’re just not sure where to start. Gardening might be a new interest, or something you’ve been thinking of doing and you’ve just never figured out how to start. You might have too many ideas, or not enough. You might want to make a totally new garden, or just change something around a little.
Step by Step Gardening Club
What you need is someone to hold your hand and give you a step by step gardening approach to get you off the couch and digging in the dirt.
If you want help to garden, I’ve got just the thing. Sign up for my Step by Step Gardening Club and receive a mini-course of 5 e-mails to get you started. Here is what will be in the course:
- Dreaming Your Dream – discover what would bring you happiness this year in the garden.
- Making a List – getting practical with what you need to achieve your dream.
- Finding the Things You Need – seeds, plants, tools, materials, compost, a guide book, time etc.
- Mentor, Mentor – what a mentor can do for you and how to find one.
- What Next? Keeping on track. Caring for your garden and handling pests and challenges.
Sign Up and Dream Your New Garden
Step by Step Gardening Club currently consists of a free e-mail course of 5 e-mails sent to your Inbox one per week for 5 weeks. I don’t have a fancy e-mail service so there is no sign-up form (at least for now). To receive the course simply leave a comment here and I will get you on my little, manually maintained, un-fancy, practical list (I don’t share your e-mail with anyone else).
Do you want to dream a new garden, or do something new in your garden? I’m here to help with Step by Step Gardening Club.
|
Support Your Local Bookstore
|
