Organic Gardening & Natural Living

I get asked quite often "Isn't is hard to garden organically - don't the bugs eat all of it ?"

Well, it can be harder to be an organic gardener - BUT the results and knowing that you are not poisoning your family are so worth it !

Once you get your compost going well and you understand about rotating your crops and companion planting... then it isn't as hard as you would think.

There are natural herbal pesticides that you can make to ward off some bugs and rabbits...
Still, there can be a total loss of a crop - so it is best to plant a variety.
This ensures that you will get something for your efforts.

I have only 1 acre, yet I have 3 peach trees, 2 pear trees, 1 huge wild plum tree that keeps wanting to send up runners so I will have dozens soon if I'm not careful - LOL, 4 apple trees, 2 cherry trees, 4 hazelnut bushes, almonds trees that are just babies so it will be several years before I get a crop, dozens of raspberry bushes, several blackberry bushes, several herb gardens, several vegetable gardens, several rose bushes and lavender plants, and several flower beds that also have some edible flowers.
I'm sure I forgot a few things, but you get the idea - it does not take a huge piece of land to grow your own food.
I still want to put in more blackberries and get some blueberries.
I had a blueberry bush before, but it did not like where it was planted - eventhough I amended the soil to be more acidic.
So, I want to try it again, but closer to the old burn barrel where the soil should be more to a blueberry bush's liking.
Anyone have any blueberries that they don't want ?
:)

I have health issues that make gardening more difficult.
I have a genetic condition that has killed my brother, several aunts and uncles... and it is trying to cripple me.
I do what I can and some days I do too much and pay for it the next few days.

Fighting with the weeds is the biggest problem, but hubby helps out a little bit with that if I ask him a few times.
I am trying to get raised bed gardens so I can sit on the edges and do my planting and weeding a lot easier, but I am waiting to save up some money to have someone help me put them in.

If having a big garden is too hard to do, and you can't get raised beds put in, put some heavy duty hooks up around your porch or somewhere easy to reach and plant some things in hanging baskets and you can put window/porch boxes on your porch or patio...

I do this too so that I can have some herbs, tomatoes, peppers even cucumbers... near the door to make a quick snack or salad.
It is so satisfying to have something growing right by the door where my kids or I can help ourselves on a whim ;)

I have a whole page of Organic gardening hints and tips here : Diana's Organic Gardening page

And, here's my page all about composting : Diana's How-To Compost page

Do you have very dry skin, sensitive skin or other skin problems ?

I hope you are not using chemical-laden commercial laundry soaps, perfumes, fabric softeners, soaps... these are VERY hard on your skin.
Even the so-called gentle/sensitive-skin ones have what they call "masking scents" in them or other fake ingredients.

If at all possible, switch to all-natural versions of these things.
Make sure to read the labels to see if what they call "natural" is really All Natural.

I grate up some of my handmade goat milk soap and dissolve it in hot water until it stays "gloopy" even after sitting all night. If after sitting all night it got too thick, then I add a little more boiling water - stir and check on it again the next day.
I use this for my laundry and shampoo.
It doesn't look pretty - in fact it looks rather disgusting - LOL, but it works well and I am not polluting the earth or adding to the landfill mess this way.

I find I don't need to use hair conditioners hardly at all any more as my soaps do not strip my hair - just cleans it.

I use my All Natural Luxury solid perfumes as "Hair Perfume" on the very ends of my hair where it is dry all of the time and this is enough to smooth it as it softly scents my hair too.

Use a 1/4 cup of vinegar in your last rinse cycle instead of using store bought fabic softener and do not use those sheets in your dryer.
If you still want to use a little scent in the dryer, put a drop or two of REAL essential oil on a clean wash cloth and toss it in with your clothes. Or use a dryer bag of lavender... .
I use lavender in a muslin bag and can get anywhere from 4-9 uses from it before the scent is almost gone.

I make my own all natural solid perfumes by infusing my flowers/herbs... into oil for several weeks (read about this on my main website's blog or at my online store).
These soften my skin as well as lightly scent it.

I also use the natural citrus cleaner that I make.
I had my formula published in an magazine and the magazine's online E-Zine as well. It works great and smells good too.
If anyone wants the link, I posted it in the next section.

Have a good day everyone !

Diana

My virtual storefront: http://organicgiftsbydiana.mybisi.com

My main educational/informational website : http://www.dianascraft-antiqueshop.4t.com

Here is the link to Diana's Citrus Mint Cleaner/Degreaser/Window Spray

While it is not actual gardening, planning your gardens or on what to change/add... is very important and can save you some work in the long run.

Over this cold Winter is a good time to be planning your gardens.

What do you want to add, what didn't work so well last year and how will you try to fix the problem, would you like to find other uses for what you already grow ... ?

Take out a notebook or drawing pad and jot down notes about what kinds of things you want to grow and where you might like them to be and how will you use them.

Make sure you check on the prooer growing conditions for the plants and for your area.
Do you have enough room for that plant/tree/vine ?

Are there more uses than just food for that plant than you thought such as for healing, or to make baskets, or as a companion plant, or a trap plant, or to attract honey bees to polinate your fruit trees... ?
If so, then you may want to try to fit it in even if it does take up extra room or has special needs - it just might be worth a little extra effort.

It is possible to push the envelope a little with what you can grow if you are careful.
Even within your own yard, sometimes you can have micro climates that allow you to grow something that you shouldn't be able to in your area.

We can use the shelter of our house/shed/garage/taller plants/trees/... to give protection to more delicate plants and this might let us grow them even when the zone limit is borderline for us.
I am in zone 5 and I have easiely been able to grow many zone 6 crops using mulch/sheltered spots/other plants as protection from wind... .
There are many tricks to help us, BUT learn the proper methods first because even then - success is not assured.
I do not want anyone to try to push the limits right off the bat and then give up - thinking that they cannot do well at organic gardening.

After you have figured out the basics, go for it and have fun experimenting !

Need a few landscaping ideas ?
http://dianascraft-antiqueshop.4t.com/landscapingideas.html

Organically Yours,
Diana

http://organicgiftsbydiana.mybisi.com/

http://www.squidoo.com/AllNaturalPerfume

because it is really tough to find a REAL lilac soap.

I make a soap with my old purple lilacs and one with my white lilacs too.
The scent is almost the same, but my loyal customers know which one is their favorite and say they can tell the difference just by the smell - so - I keep making both.

The colors of the two are a little different too with the purple lilac soap having a slight tinge of color to it.

It is a LOT of work making all natural soaps and other products - so most folks don't bother - but I guess I am too much of a nature lover to compromise my beliefs so I cannot and will not use the fake stuff eventhough it would be so much easier - LOL

Most folks just use a fake lilac fragrance oil to scent a soap and other products, but I will not.
Instead, I make a softly scented lilac soap that is REAL.

I was posting about getting ready to harvest my lilacs as soon as they appear and a friend asked me what I was going to do with all of the lilac blossoms that I gather up.
Here is my answer (with a little additional info that I just thought of added in) :

I use the lilac blossoms in soaps and I get a hint of lilac scent in the soap - not very strong, but you can tell it is lilac.
Of course, I have to rebatch the soap with "blossom water" in it so I don't "kill" the scent in the saponification process.

If you softly steam a few handfuls of cleaned and destemmed blossoms in a little water and then strain - you have nicely scented 1/2 to 3/4 cup of scented floral water to use in your soap via rebatch.
I also grind up some of my lilac blossoms and add them into the soap for a little more scent and for some texture as well.
Rebatching is So much extra work, but it is the ONLY way to get a lilac soap that doesn't use the fake fragrance oils.

I rebatch all of my soaps - that is what sets me apart - LOL

I'm the CRAZY one who spends HOURS harvesting each kind of blossom (seriously - I spend at least 8-10 hours JUST on the lilac blossoms for the gathering and destemming alone) and I also do the same with herbs - although they do not usually need to be as babied as the lilac and other blossoms need to be.

I use these blossoms as I stated above in a soap rebatch OR I infuse them into oils and use this scented oil for my perfumes or my balms.

I am going to try my hand at making a lilac perfume too this year (2009) using my blossoms.
I think if I just keep recharging the oil with fresh lilac blossoms, I will EVENTUALLY get a nicely scented oiI to use alone or in a blend.

Well, off I go to await to harvest the perfect lilac blossoms at their peek.
After that, it will be the peach and plum... blossoms turn and so on ...

Organically Yours,
Diana

Update :
June 2008
The lilacs, and fruit blossoms are harvested for this year.
Now, I am working on gathering the roses for my perfumes, soaps and balms... .
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, the scent is wonderful out in my organic gardens :)

Join in the discussion here and let me know : What does All Natural mean to you ?

Is your favorite company lying to you about how natural their products REALLY are ? - see this article about Greenwashing

I have added a newsletter now and here is the information :

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If you want a book or video tape for yourself or for a gift, this store (Gypsy Queen Media) has a ton of them.
Some of them, I have never seen anywhere else.
Here's her link :
Gypsy Queen Media

Mighty Mouse / Heckle & Jeckle: Wolf Wolf [Slim Case]

Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers - Undercover Critters [VHS]

Clinical procedures;: A concise guide for students of medicine
by: Jack C Fisher

Combat Medic: Vietnam: Combat Medic: Vietnam
by: Craig Roberts

Cybill Disobedience
by: Cybill Shepherd, Aimee Lee Ball