An Organic Valentines Day

Every year my husband stresses about Valentines Day. First of all, he hates spending money, second, I'm so damn picky that its nearly impossible to shop for me.. But this year he did pretty good. I picked out 90% of my presents and he bought 1 on his own, which I ended up loving! But that's not whats so special about this valentines year. This year we bought presents for each other that will last a while and help us grow together as a couple. LOL, grow, you'll get it later I promise.
Lets start on what I got Craig. Seeds! Craig loves growing anything and everything. Every time I eat anything with seeds in it, he insists that if there is one that has intact seeds in it, to keep them. Right now he has two kinds of orange trees, a grapefruit tree, limes tree, an avacado tree, and a clementine tree all growing upstairs. These are just the ones that I am aware of. There are many more I'm sure. But to add injury to insult, I added on many many more projects. I found a place online that sold organic seeds for a reasonable price.
http://www.sweetcornorganicnursery.com/
Sweet Corn Organic Nursery had their organic seeds all at the same price, 2.49, but the amount in each varied I think. Either way it beat most of the competitors and offered free shipping.
Here's a list of the organic seeds I got Craig:
Basil (Large Leaf), Spearmint, Oregano(Italian), Chives
Crimson Sweet Watermelon
Carwile's Virginia Peanut
Cinderella Pumpkin, Early Sweet Sugar Pie Pumpkin
Bonny Best(I think these are tomato's..), California Wonder Sweet Pepper, Early Alaska Pea, Habanero Hot Pepper, Green Sprouting Calabrese Brocolli, Mary Washingtons Asparagus, Black Beauty Zucchini Summer Squash, Pablano Hot Pepper, Roma Tomato, Tall Utah Celery, Giant Noble Spinach, Long Orange Carrot, and Walla Walla Onions.
Listed on the back of each is a description, soil preparation, planting and recommended fertilizing and amending.


He was very excited to see that I had taken an interest in growing our own food. So he took me out and bought me some tools since I had never owned any in my life, to help with the gardening.
On top of that we had to buy even more seeds. Burpee offers organic seeds now.. here are a few we bought from them:
Summer Squash Black Beauty(an unknown repeat) and Sweet Peppers Carnival Mix. AK Lawn and Garden also offers organic seeds. We picked a few of them too: Pink Beauty Radish, Calabrese Brocolli, and Jalapeno Peppers. But some seeds we just could'nt find organic at the store. We had to settle for these: Yellow Round Onion, Scallions, Kohlrabi, Sweet Corn, Blue Lake Garden Beans, Beafsteak Tomato's, Rutgers Tomato's, Delicious Tomato's and Cherry Tomato's. I'm sure we could have easily found these online, but we cant resist a sale and figured 85% of its organic, next year we can work on 100%. Plus since we don't use fertilizers or pesticides, its mostly organic anyways. So 35 packets of seeds later, we decided that we may be in over our heads. Only time will tell at this point.

To go along with the gardening we got a few books. One 100% recycled notebook for keeping track of what we have planted. "Plenty" by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon, which is a documentary like journey of the couple who eat within 100 miles for a year. Very good so far!! "The Backyard Homestead" by Carleen Madigan which I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend to anyone interested in growing your own food. Its easy to navigate and has a ton of awesome information. I read it cover to cover because it was that interesting.

To go along with the rest of valentines day, we got a few eco friendly items that were needed. A compost can for the kitchen. Craig tells me its to hold the scraps until we can get them into the real composter outside. We saw a real one at the Home Depot for 50.00. That's probably next.
And we also needed a few extra reusable cups. I got these at T.J. Maxx for a fraction of the cost. I got the compost holder at Marshalls. Both are great places to find these types of things for a good price.










So our valentines day didn't consist of chocolates or flowers or those awful greeting cards which I think are the biggest load of B.S. and so wasteful.. ugh.. anyways.. sorry, I HATE greeting cards. I hate them even more if they aren't holding anything inside. Whats the point then? Lets get back on track...
Our valentines day will live on all year as we grow and harvest our own organic food. I honestly cant wait!!

P.S. Sorry it took so long for another post. I was out of town for a few weeks. Leland's birthday is coming up soon and lots of fun organic toys to review!!!! YAY!!!!