So lately my son has started singing. It took him long enough… he’s over 3, after all. But he doesn’t always get all the words right. In case you haven’t heard the song before, I had my daughter sing it for you first. I’m sorry the volume of the first section is much lower than the second section–just be aware of that if you turn it up initially. (Email subscribers, please click through to see the video.)

My mom was the queen of gardeners. At her prime, she had 1,000 square feet of garden beds (not including walk-ways between them, nor the dozen or more fruit trees in the orchard). Then we moved away and she had to start all over.

I, however, have never been successful with growing anything since I moved away from home. With the exception of basil, which loves hot weather and doesn’t need much water, and therefore thrived in spite of my neglect the one year I decided to grow some in Texas. You could say I got gardened out in my growing up years!

But with food prices on the rise, as well as my increasing concern with non-organic foods (especially the dirty dozen), I have felt the need to garden. Unfortunately, the last two years circumstances kept us from being able to grow anything. And even this year we are getting a bit of a late start (the last frost was several weeks ago), but I figured we have to try something!

So I bit the bullet and bought 4 packets of heirloom seeds from Victory Seeds. Lettuce, kale, cilantro, and basil. The first two are cold weather crops, so a week ago I went down to the hardware store and bought some peat pots from their nursury and planted 6 each of those seeds. Or rather, my daughter planted them. She loved it! The other two prefer hot weather, so I’m going to wait until probably the end of May. Besides, my garden area isn’t quite ready yet, though hopefully it will be all tilled up sometime this week.

Here’s a close-up on the seedlings, taken Friday (5 days after planting).  I don’t have a grow light, but I have a skylight in my kitchen which seems to work almost as well. It keeps them from bending like they would in a window. The larger ones are the kale plants.

My plan is to also plant red & yellow onions and some sweet potatoes if I can find slips. It’s a bit late to grow my own slips (they take 6 weeks, and then 100 or more days once they are in the ground). Then in the fall I want to plant more lettuce and kale, and maybe some other cold-weather crops like broccoli.

Are you growing a garden this year? What are you planting?

This post linked with The Modest Mom; We Are That Family.

After writing several posts discussing the routines I was establishing, I haven’t written more. Why? Well, we moved, and we don’t currently have Internet. This, of course, makes it harder to keep up with blogging. But that’s not the only reason. I mean, I have written a few posts offline and published them at the library. This one, for example, I’m writing on my iPod during the wee hours, because I can’t sleep and have nothing better to do.

The real reason Is that pregnancy is getting the better of me. I just hit the third trimester, and I’m tired a lot! By the end of the day, I’m dragging most days. I don’t always have the energy to get even my basic routines done. Sometimes my husband will wash the supper dishes and shine my sink for me while I crash on the couch with a book or go to bed early.

However, my routines haven’t gone completely out the window, either. I still lay out my clothes most evenings and get dressed before I start breakfast most mornings. I still swish and swipe every day except Sabbath. I still try to keep my sink shiny as much as possible.

Partly because my energy levels are a tad low, and partly because I have been dealing with pain in my hips that is directly related to the effects of pregnancy on chronic scoliosis, I don’t move very quickly, and sometimes it takes twice as long to get everything done. This doesn’t leave me with much chance to do extra things, like unpacking. But I try. Of course, it doesn’t help that most of the boxes are full of dusty items that give me hay fever, and I can’t take allergy medication while pregnant, so I can’t do a lot of unpacking at a time.

But I do have a daughter who is becoming quite a capable housekeeper. She can was most of the dishes, just not the really heavy ones or the really fragile ones. She can mop the floor on hands and knees. I usually use a damp mop with a handle, but the other day there was something sticky on the floor, and even though I mopped it 3 times, it just wouldn’t go away. So I filled a bucket with soapy water and gave her a rag. She mopped while I took a shower, and when I got back, the floor wasn’t sticky anymore! She likes mopping this way, too; don’t ask me why!

So I’m just trying to cope as well as I can, doing what I can and looking forward to getting my body and energy back later on in the summer. Of course, by then routines will be of utmost importance, so I’m doing my best to maintain the ones I have as well as I can. I also plan on using some of my down time to make my control journal. That way my husband will (I hope) be able to keep things more under control in the first few weeks after the baby arrives.

So instead of continuing my series on routines, I will soon share how I made zones in my house. Because I wasn’t happy with Flylady’s zones, but I liked the idea of zones. I’ll tell you about that soon.

How about you? Have you established any routines? How do you keep up with them when you are sick or pregnant or just don’t feel like it? Please share!

Okay, so the title might be a bit corny, but surely the picture is cute:

I know not everyone enjoys peeling skin. Some people think it’s disgusting. Others, however, delight in it. My mom does. I do. And, apparently, so does my son. From sunburns to bubbled skin after a bath, it’s a fun pastime.

Of course, it makes it difficult to get him dressed as long as he can find something to peel!

There is only one thing worse than moving when you are pregnant. Okay, I should be grateful. At least it’s second trimester, not first or third. I mean, I’d be perfectly useless in the first trimester. In the third, I could direct, but I wouldn’t be much help. In the second, I at least have the energy to pack and unpack–at least, more than I would with the other two.

This is actually the third time I’ve moved while pregnant. First time was from one town to the next, and I was in my first trimester of my first pregnancy. Fortunately we didn’t have much, and my husband was able to move it all himself without my help. The second move was during the second trimester of my second pregnancy. It is amazing how much I did–even to driving the big moving truck!

But this time trumps it all of those times. What is worse than moving while pregnant? Moving while pregnant and sick.

The day of the move out of our house in Aloha, OR, I was feeling pretty well. I could tell I was fighting something, but my energy was good and I figured I could do what needed to be done. Thankfully I had some help with getting packed and loading the van (because carrying heavy boxes was not something I felt safe doing, especially this far along in pregnancy). But I overdid it. The next day, I could tell that I was succumbing to whatever I wad fighting. And I succumbed. Missed church and everything. My daughter, on the other hand, was able to rest when she felt sick and got well in just a few days. I was sick for almost a week.

We moved most of our stuff to the new home and a few things we needed to our friends’ basement apartment for a few days while we waited for everything to be finished in the home. I had planned on spending the days we stayed in the basement unpacking and organizing the house, so that it would be easier to move in. Instead, I spent most of them relaxing in a recliner and trying to recover from being sick.

One week after moving out of the rental house, I was feeling well enough that I just wanted to move into out new house. So I packed up our stuff and got a friend to come help ne load and unload the van.

But once again I overdid it. And while I didn’t get quite as sick as I had the week before, I was not exactly well either. I had a sinus infection that was toying with being bronchitis. Then it was finally clearing up, and I was trying desperately to be productive, cooking and doing mountains of laundry (because our bedding had been in storage for a year and was musty smelling–as were our towels, my maternity clothes, and other needed items), and trying to unpack and organize the kitchen and the rest of the house.

A couple of those days, I was so out of it that all I could do, it seemed, was cry and wish someone would come over and help me. Or bring me food so I didn’t have to cook. Or offer to watch the kids for an hour or two so I could focus on unpacking, or take a much-needed nap.

But no one came. I went to bed early and felt better the next day.

But then, exactly two weeks after moving out, I noticed my sinuses were getting bad again. As in, infected. But I had two prenatal appointments, and a kitchen that was very much in need of staples like fresh fruit and veggies and some other commonly used items. So I went shopping. By the end if the day I was dragging, and I was in bed a bit early. Or I should say the recliner, since my hip was bothering me and laying down just makes it worse–especially for midnight trips to the potty!

Well, that was yesterday. Today, I have a sinus headache. It’s 10:00 am as I’m writing. I’ve eaten breakfast, and my daughter has (my husband prepared it while I tried to sleep), but my son still hasn’t eaten. You might remember that he is allergic to almost everything, and he is going through the typical 3-year-old I-no-yike-dat-food stage, so almost every meal is a battle. And I don’t have energy for battles right now. Not to mention that I don’t really feel it’s good to have battles over food. I’d rather let him get good and hungry so that he’s willing to eat whatever is set before him.

So now I’m worn out, wishing I had help, trying not to be overwhelmed by the things that must get done today, wishing I had more energy to do what needs to be done.

And thinking that the next time I hear of someone that is sick or moving, I am going to bake a casserole and head over and offer to help. Even if I have to drag the kids along. The friend who helped me pack had kids, and I really couldn’t have done it without her.

And I hope that I can get over this infection soon and be back to being the happy mom that I like to be!

Wow, this has been quite a day! It started out with an 11:00 am orthodonist appointment, which I wanted to leave for by 9:45 (it’s about an hour away). Breakfast is normally at 8:00 in our house, but with the time change, we’re still adjusting, so it was more like 8:30, plus I had to pack two lunches (for my husband, since he was going to be in school today, and for my son, who can’t get enough to eat in any restaurant, thanks to allergies). I didn’t actually wash the dishes like I normally do–just rinsed and put them in the washer. We left about 9:50, got to my appointment 20 minutes early (traffic was lovely), to find that the first four patients had showed up late, so they were running behind! Fortunately, they have a lot of fun toys in the office, so the kids were pretty happy the whole time. Gislaine, though, decided she didn’t want to be early next time!

After that, since I wasn’t hungry yet, and the restaurant we planned to eat at was fairly close, I decided to stop at my favorite thrift store, which was pretty much on the way to the restaurant anyway. I found a lovely Eddie Bauer black turtleneck for $2! Yes, this store is much cheaper than Goodwill. I already have a black turtleneck, but it is rather faded, and this one looks practically new. So I’m going to cut my old one up to make a dickie for wearing under low-necked blouses. I found a lovely, lightweight maternity blouse/sweater, but the neck is way too low. It’s warm enough to not need another shirt under it, so I wanted something to wear under it. Now I can cut down my old black turtleneck and wear the sweater! It will be so nice to have something different to wear to church!

Then we went to Sweet Tomatoes. That is our family’s favorite place to eat out. Granted, I like some other places better, but as a family, that is our favorite place. I love how I can make the biggest salad I  want, and they always have a good variety of vegetarian options, including soups. Almost anyone can eat there–except my son, who can’t have lettuce or tomatoes or potatoes or just about anything. He ate olives and jello from there–after eating the food I had brought for him. It’s also nice that they have the salad bar right at the entrance; you get what you want there, pay, then when you are ready go to the soup/baked potato/baked goods/pasta section. So I can get my daughter to eat some veggies before she gets anything else.

We were over an hour early for my next appointment–which was only 4 miles away–so I decided to hop over to the mall and see if JC Penny’s had any maternity skirts, since I happened to have a couple of gift cards from there. They didn’t–not even in the catalog. I was very disappointed. But I did find a very cute black polka dot blouse with a high neck (almost all their shirts had low necks), cute embroidery down the chest and around the hem, and ties in the back. It was $20–much more than I would normally spend on a blouse, but of course, I wasn’t paying for it, and it probably could have cost a lot more than that. I’ll take a picture some time. Then we walked down the mall for a bit and got a Jamba Juice vegan green smoothie. It was, as Manny would put it, “Uh-wish-us”

Then we went for my first prenatal check-up. That was a very new experience. This is my third child, but I’ve always had midwives doing my prenatal care. I expected to be asked all kinds of questions about my diet and lifestyle, exercise, etc. Instead, I was simply asked about the birth history of my first two, some other routine questions, given a breast exam, pap smear, quickie ultrasound, and sent to the hospital for a blood draw to do all the lab tests that were due. No explanation was given for the labs that were being done, either–just a handout that I could read. I wasn’t told which were optional or anything. Not that I really care at this point, but it is just a different feeling. I can understand now how women going into the hospital in labor can get railroaded into having procedures done that they never wanted done–simply because they aren’t given a choice or a chance to ask questions. When I described it to my husband, he said, “They are just mechanical,” and I agree. It sure reinforced my desire to have a home birth with a midwife!

I was a little nervous mentioning my plans for a home birth, because I didn’t know what she would say. I wanted an OB that was comfortable just doing the prenatal care and letting a midwife oversee a home birth, but I had tried several OB’s, and none of them wanted to do the prenatal care if I was planning a home birth. I wanted to get the prenatal care covered by my insurance, which is why I contacted them in the first place. But when she asked about my birth history, asking if I had had an epidural with my first, I said, “No. She was born in a birth center, and my son was born at home.” She responded, “Then why are you coming here?” I explained that I wanted a home birth, but wanted to get my prenatal care covered by insurance. She was fine with it. In fact, she told me that she would rather that women got prenatal care, however they chose to deliver, than to not get it. So that made me happy. I don’t think I would have chosen her if I were planning a hospital birth, but for my prenatal care, I’m content.

From there, we went to the hospital to get my blood drawn for labs. It had been raining most of the day, sometimes more than others. At that point, almost 5:00 pm, it was getting down to a steady drizzle, the kind that makes you quite damp walking from a building to the car. And I forgot the folder with the order for the tests in the clinic–and didn’t remember it until I was just feet from the hospital entrance (that is, about to walk in). So we turned around without even reaching the shelter of the overhang at the entrance, hopped back in the van, and drove around the corner (fortunately it really was just around the corner), parked, went back up to the clinic, got the folder, went back to the van, and drove around the corner again, and walked in. Needless to say, we were rather damp by that time! But we dried out. I’m just glad the hospital was right next door (we would have walked there if it hadn’t been raining)!

By the time we finished, it was already after 6:00. What a long day! Manny had leftover lunch, so I gave him that. Didn’t have anything for Gislaine, so we stopped at McDonalds and picked up a parfait from the dollar menu. That’s the second time in a month I’ve bought from them, but I figure as healthy goes, a parfait isn’t really too bad, and I wasn’t about to get the kids out of the van again, and the drive through was very convenient!

When we got home, Manny was asleep. I left him in the van in the garage with the door to the garage cracked, and got Gislaine a bite to eat to fill her up and put her to bed. Then I warmed a little bit of hemp milk, got Manny out of the van, fed him his milk, put on PJ’s, and put him in bed. It was well after his bedtime by then, so he didn’t fuss about going to bed!

So that was my day today! I just felt like writing about it. I was going to do some prenatal yoga before hitting the sack, but I’m too sore from all the exercises I’ve done lately, and just been too disoriented since I got home, so I’m going to drink some fiber and go to bed. Tomorrow we are going to try to get the laminate floor into the house to acclimate for 3 days so we can get it installed before D-day, next week. We have to be out of here by Wednesday next week.

How did your day go?

Last night we had a very special evening. The Hoodview Church ***link*** had an Agape Feast and communion. It was a potluck-style supper of fruit, bread, and soup.

I wish I had taken my camera, but I didn’t think about it until later. The room was beautifully arranged by one of my friends. There were a number of rectangle tables arranged in the shape of a cross, with extra round overflow tables around it. On the tables were decorations of candles, crosses, and almost two dozen of this very beautiful resurrection garden, made by various church members. (I’ll see if my friend who took pictures can get me a picture later–otherwise follow the link.)

After supper, we sang two songs, “At the Cross” and “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross.” Then we had a short homily by a young man that I assume is a pastor-in-training (we haven’t been to this church for a long time, so we are a little out-of-touch with what is happening there). Then we broke up for footwashing preparatory to communion, at which point we went home. It was almost 8:00 by this time, and Manny was what I like to call “tired wired”–you know, when toddlers get hyper because they are actually tired.

Before leaving, I asked if we could take a little communion bread and grape juice home. I hadn’t participated in communion for a while, and I didn’t want to be cheated of the experience on account of the kids!

Once we were home and the kids were in bed, my husband crashed on the couch and searched for a Bible passage to read, while I set out the communion meal and prepared a basin, water, and towel. Then we shared communion together.

By this time, we were both tired, so we went to bed. However, I woke early this morning. I remembered how the last time we participated in an Agape Feast at Hoodview, the pastor had walked around the cross, meditating out loud on the various wounds of Christ and His sacrifice for us. So in the wee hours before sunrise this morning, I lay quietly and did the same in my own mind. It moved me to tears. What love Jesus has for each of us!

Today we go back to celebrate his resurrection. Sure, it’s a day early, but since we don’t worship on Sunday, it is more convenient to do it today. There will be a potluck brunch, ministry booths in the foyer, followed by a musical, dramatized reenactment of Jesus’ death and resurrection. I am looking forward to it!

How are you celebrating Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection this weekend?

I have been invaded. Or maybe I should say, my kitchen has been invaded. The invaders come in swarms, too numerous to count. They make trails, devour anything tasty, and generally make a nuisance of themselves.

In case you haven’t figured out what they are yet, I’m referring to ants.

Click Image for Source

Specifically, honey or sugar ants. These little critters love anything sweet, and seem to smell it from wherever their home is and come after it. Leave an empty but unrinsed bowl of cereal in the counter, and in an hour or two it will be teaming with the little critters. Spill a drop of juice or honey on the counter and fail to wipe it up, and soon there will be a trail of ants going to and fro, the drop itself obscured by their little bodies.

Lately, with my diligence to get the dishes done right after meals and leaving the sink spotless before bed, the tiny ants have not had much motivation to come into my kitchen. However, one night recently I was just too tired. I didn’t shine my sink and I didn’t wash all the dishes. When I walked into the kitchen, they were everywhere. Climbing in and out of dirty bowls by the sink, making trails on the walls and counters, and in general making a royal mess. But I had to get breakfast ready, and I was too hungry to wait until I had cleaned up the kitchen to begin. So I cleared an area near the stove to work on and began, trying to ignore the devastation going on behind me.

I took a package of tofu out of the refrigerator and drained it in the sink. I noticed that an edge piece was loose and decided to have a nibble (I love raw tofu). I have no idea how it got there, but suddenly the flavor of honey ant filled my mouth. If you have never tasted it, you have no idea how awful it is. It’s not the kind of taste that makes you gag, but it is extremely unpleasant, and totally unexpected.

Well, I just lost it. Somehow that taste in my mouth–which doesn’t just rinse out, by the way–was the last straw. I was tired, my husband had yet to come into the kitchen yet (I don’t know if he was up yet–probably, but just hadn’t come out yet), and the kids were already up, and ants were crawling all over me, and I just couldn’t take it. I called him to come help. I knew if the kitchen were cleaned up, the ants would disappear, but I had already started breakfast and couldn’t just stop and clean for 15 minutes. I did take a minute to spray a cleaner on the ants (which has a soap in it, smothering them and killing them instantly). My dear husband came in and washed up the dirty dishes and wiped down the dead ants and any other ones he found wandering around the walls or wherever.

I know I had been tired the night before, but honestly, 10 minutes to right the kitchen would have been much less traumatic than eating an ant the next morning! So lesson learned: Make sure the kitchen is clean the night before; and if I don’t really have the energy to wash the supper dishes, at least rinse anything sweet out of them! And take a minute to wipe the counters!

There is another lesson, however. Sometimes we allow things into our lives that seem harmless, or maybe it’s just a little neglect of duty, such as really taking the time to spend quality time with God. It wasn’t some big rebellion, saying “God, I don’t need You. I can do it on my own.” Just little neglect. But suddenly, life becomes overwhelming and we just can’t take it anymore. Everything is out of control, and we realize that we just can’t do it on our own after all. Then we must cry out to our Heavenly Husband to come help us. He will clean up the sin and the mess, and bring peace and harmony back into our lives.

Oh, that I may not neglect those little things!

So it’s been over a week since I posted on this topic. No, I haven’t forgotten… just that blogging has gotten me into thinking of things to blog about, and some of them I didn’t want to wait to share. But now I have some time and I wanted to share about my Before Lunch Routine.

This one is fairly simple. The only thing is actually starting it on time. You see, I have struggled with schedules for a long time. I’ll make one up, but I can’t make it work. Too many details, or not enough of them, or I get tired of it. With a routine, I don’t actually schedule the times. For instance, I don’t have a time that I have to be finished with the breakfast dishes, but I try to do them quickly right after breakfast. However, I have found that my Before Lunch Routine works best if I start it around 11:30. The idea is to have lunch ready by 1:00 on an average day, and makes sure I have enough time to cook it–especially if it’s something like split pea soup that takes a lot of time to cook (an hour, not including the time it takes to come to a boil).

First, I check the laundry. Depending on when I started it in the morning, the first load may or may not be in the dryer. Either way, I do the next step in the laundry process, except folding (unless lunch is super easy, like sandwiches–then I might fold a load). With the laundry room out in the garage, it’s easy to forget, especially if I miss the timer or forget that I heard it while doing something changing a diaper–we moms can forget things so quickly when we have so many pressing, urgent must-do-nows!

After rebooting the laundry, I pause to consider what is for lunch. I have a menu, but this consideration is more to think about how long it will take to prepare. Half an hour? An hour and 15 minutes? When do I need to start to be sure it’s finished by 1:00? Or did we eat breakfast late and need to eat a bit later lunch as a result? This step takes all of about 15 seconds, and often I do it while rebooting the laundry.

Then I empty the dishwasher. If I do it now, I will be more motivated to wash up the dishes right after lunch. I also want to try to wash prep dishes as I go. It’s hard for me, because I’m working alone and I never learned to wash as I go. If I do that, I tend to get distracted and forget what’s cooking… but I want to try, anyhow. Or maybe sometimes I can use the time while the food is cooking to clean up, depending on what the meal is and how much I have to watch it. I mean, if I’m making a stir-fry, I can only leave it for 10-15 seconds at a time (since I stir fry hot like they do in restaurants); but if I’m making soup, once all the ingredients are in, I can clean up while it cooks.

Next step is to drink water. This might mean to finish the water I started earlier in the morning, or perhaps to drink a little bit while the food is cooking. Just a reminder to make sure I get enough.

The last one is to set the table. Since I already thought about what is for lunch, I know what plates or bowls or silverware are needed, what hot pads or whatever.

So that’s my Before Lunch Routine. Let’s recap:

• Check laundry
• What’s for lunch?
• Empty Dishwasher
• Drink water
• Set Table

All together, that whole routine shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes (unless I have lots of time and decide to fold a basket of laundry).

Granted, I am still struggling to make this work. But 90% of my problem is delaying until I absolutely must start lunch instead of stopping whatever I was doing at 11:30 and starting the routine. But I’m working on it.

Do you have a before lunch routine? If so, I’d love to hear it!

I don’t ever remember my mom doing a proper spring cleaning, so I haven’t ever done one either. However, the ideas here could be spaced out over several weeks (to keep it from being overwhelming), and I think I want to try some of the ideas here! –Lisa

A clean home gives you many benefits, the best one being a great stress reliever. After a long day at work, wouldn’t it be nice to go home to a clean and organized house where everything you need is at the right place?

Spring is the perfect time to clear your home of all the clutter and chaos. This doesn’t mean you have to throw out everything, though. Here are some green solutions you can try during your spring clean this year.

Be open to change

The best way to go about spring cleaning is to dispose items that you no longer use. These can be empty lotion and shampoo containers, clothes that no longer fit, or maybe the really old toys that you loved as a child. In order to do this, you must have the heart to let go of the stuff you’ve been keeping for a long time. Springtime is a season of growth and change, so allow yourself to move on and let go.

Organize and Segregate

Go through all your belongings and sort out the ones you want to donate, recycle, and discard. Bring out the items that you know you will be able to use often and keep the things that you only use once in a while in a box. Label each box accordingly. By doing so, you will be making your life a lot easier.

Decide which ones need to make their way to the garbage and which ones you can still use. Group the other items into things you can reuse or recycle and stuff you can donate to charity. Find clothes you haven’t used in months and give it to someone you know will benefit from it more. Remember that the lighter your home feels, the better your life will be.

Find another use for your old items

There will always be stuff that you’d be too embarrassed to donate, like tattered clothing and lone socks. Instead of throwing these out, use them as cleaning rags. Old shirts and towels make good cleaning cloths so don’t waste your money buying new rags when you already have good ones at home.

Your old toothbrush is also another item you can recycle. Use it to clean your faucet and bathroom sink as well as your shower and toilet. If you are going to use one brush for everything, make the toilet its last destination to avoid contamination.

Detoxify your home

Houses may be home to the most toxic products that could compromise human health in the long run. Now that you’re in the mood for cleaning, check areas that need extra attention such as medicine cabinets and the refrigerator. Collect all your medicines and throw out the expired ones. You can also bring them to your local pharmacy and they’ll take care of the disposal.

If you’ve accumulated lawn care products and pesticides that haven’t been used in years, it’s definitely time to get rid of them. These types of wastes are labelled as Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) and most states require that they’re properly discarded. Find facilities in your locality where you can drop off hazardous for proper disposal.

Clean your garden

Spring cleaning is not just about de-cluttering your home but also renewing your connection with nature. Freshen up your home by including the garden in your clean-up. If you don’t have a garden, now is the best time to start one! Being eco-friendly means being one with nature as well as taking care of it.

It can be a small plot in your backyard or a container garden for your kitchen. Use old ceramic pots or empty mason jars to plan herbs and spices. Meanwhile, you can use expired food items and vegetable or fruit peelings as fertilizer.

Gardening offers you lots of benefits like having your very own source of flowers, fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, you actually burn calories from 45 minutes of gardening as with a 30-minute aerobic workout. All that fresh air and nature’s scent will do wonders for your health and well-being.

With these eco-friendly ideas in mind, you’re well on your way to reaping the benefits of a healthy earth and home. Happy (green) spring cleaning!

Jessica Phan is a designer for Balsamhill.com a purveyor of high-end artificial Christmas Trees. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area is perfect for her because she has a wide range of interests, including Art & Design, Fashion, Photography, Painting and Thrift Store Shopping.