The thing I love most about the very beginning of spring is how suddenly you're filled with possibility. Watching bulbs you planted in the fall turn into breathtaking flowers right in your own front yard feels downright sinful. I look out my window and I see my climbing roses entering their third summer and I know this is the year where I actually know what I'm doing. Where I look at their long thorny arms and I can see exactly where the new buds are sprouting and for a change I'm not worried they wont be healthy. I know they're healthy. I can visualize how full of life they'll be in just a few months and I can't believe that three summers ago the foot tall dead looking twigs I planted have bloosomed under my care.
Spring reminds me of all the things that are so damn corny about life. It's so cliché, but I can't help but find the world an amazing place when you're a 'gardener' in the springtime.
Take this bush in the front yard for example. Someone coming to my front door might turn their head to the right and spot what appears to be a dead bundle of twigs.
But you see, I look at that bush and I see magic. Because I know what they don't. That it is coming back to life.
Owning this house has been so very difficult at times. I've had nights where I wished we'd never made this leap into home-ownership. And then spring happens and I realize how much this house has changed me. How much I've learned about coaxing life out of seeds, dirt, sun and water, and I love this house so deeply I never want to leave it.
This past weekend I walked through the garden store like an old pro. Selecting soil, natural fertilizer, and telling Adam which flowers I wanted to purchase now, and which I knew wouldn't be available for a few weeks. Explaining which house plant would thrive in our office, and which would die. I tilled my soil, made garden rows, seeded my cold weather veggies and felt... confident.
A few springtimes later, this once confused gardening wannabee feels like a super hero.
It's still only a training cape, but a cape none the less.
Sorry, I got all excited and wanted you to guess what I was doing with these eggs, and then I didn't do the project. Making the whole guessing game post a little premature.
This weekend though I finally got my act together and now I can let those of who who guessed "gardening" know that you were indeed, correct!
HIGH FIVES THROUGH THE COMPUTER TO ALL OF YOU!
Last year I bought one of those seed starter kits with the little soil pods and it was extremely easy to use, but it was a little costly, and I had weird results with things like my carrots as I've mentioned before. Also, I really wanted to see if I could start my plants this year the cheapest way possible AND the most environmentally friendly. I'm still finding the little cheese cloth casings from last years seed starters in my garden!
A little research led me to the option of using eggshells for seed starters and I was hooked.
So here we go. I am now going to breakdown the process of making eggshell seed starters, and I warn you, this is long. But informational! Like that time I told you how to build a garden.
Here goes nothing!
First thing you need are some eggs. And the dedication to eat meals containing mostly eggs for the next couple years. This entire process is slow and tedious, so if that sort of thing bothers you, buy the seed starter kit.
Here is a quick video on how to take your raw eggs and extract the goods inside, while also making sure to preserve your shell for your seedlings.
It took me about a month of quiche and omelets before I had as many eggs as I needed for my first round of seeds. I could have been more dedicated and ate strictly eggs for two weeks, but I was worried I'd never want to eat another egg again so we took our sweet time.
I am going to have to rebuild up my eggshell stash here for my second round of spinach and lettuce seeds, and then ANOTHER batch for my summer veggies as well.
That is a LOT of eggs people. Be prepared.
Once you have all your eggs you'll need to assemble the following.
Cleaned eggshells
Organic (ok, not true, but I recommend you get organic!) potting soil OR seed starter. I couldn't find seed starter like I wanted, so I went with potting soil.
Sharpie
Knife
Seeds
Something to contain the shell and dirt mess if you're doing this inside
Sunset Magazine, not required, but highly recommended reading!
Take your first shell and break away the opening to make it slightly larger. You don't want a little pin sized opening because it wont allow the seedlings to get enough light. Once your opening is larger, use your knife to poke a drain hole in the bottom of the shell.
Next take your eggshell and fill it nearly to the top with soil. You need to have room to add the 1/4" of cover dirt that will go over your seeds.
Set aside, and then rinse, lather, and repeat. I warn you, from the care it takes to open and wash and then store each shell, to the tedious nature of this seeding process if you are someone who is a little A.D.D., step away from this project RIGHT NOW. Just warning you.
Eventually you'll have filled all your shells. This will feel like a major accomplishment and I recommend you have someone around to high five you.
Once you have all your shells filled with dirt you can add your seeds. I put 2-4 seeds in each shell. Except for the one I took a picture of here where I got a little overly excited and added a million seeds. I will be needing to thin out this badboy for sure.
Do this seeding step a zillion times.
Once all your shells have seeds in them, grab a pinch of dirt (packets always say 1/4", I just do a pinch and call it a day) and cover all your seeds. Next I took my sharpie and wrote on my eggs so I'd know in the planting process exactly what was growing in each egg. Added benefit to eggshell starters!
Next you want to water these little guys. Seed starter kits have you soak the soil disks in warm water before you begin seeding, so following that idea you COULD pre-soak your soil in warm water before filling your shells, but I thought that would make a mess times 7,000 and so I skipped it. Here's to hoping something still grows.
You don't want to drown your seedlings and have the seeds inside the shells shift around too much, but you also need to make sure this first watering is a good one. I used the water filling device from our floor steamer to enable me to have a very controlled small stream of water so I didn't drown out one particular egg.
Lastly I cut off the top of the egg carton container to make it more compact for my windowsill, placed the seed starters in a western facing window (I learned from my moldy seds!) and stepped back to admire my hard work that was WEEKS in the making.
To keep my seeds moist I have a spray bottle I keep in the office, and once the top of the soil seems to be drying out I'll give all these guys a healthy spritz of water. Also, the great thing about using eggs is if you see that one of your shell walls is too high and possibly blocking out light you can just break off a little shell wall and instantly improve the conditions of your seeds.
When these are ready (these are my cold weather seeds like spinach, lettuce, onions, and spring flowers) you can dig your transplant holes, give the shell a squeeze to add some cracks to the shell and plop it in the ground!
You now have organic seed starters that took a bunch of time to make, but didn't cost you hardly a thing and will be good for your garden and the environment.
There you have it. May you all go forth and spread the hippie organic gardening love to you and yours!
My lovely Kelly (sounds like I own her doesn't it?) recently posted her findings on a personality test that she said was slightly different than most because it asked you to define meanings of shapes instead of answer textual based questions.
She was perplexed by the response she got, and I thought to myself, "Hell, who isn't interested in a personality test that asks you to define shapes?"
Here is what it told me.
"Though quiet on the outside, you are often the hidden hero; someone who rushes in when needed and then after the emergency is over fades back into the woodwork. Because of this sense of duty and honor, you can also on occasion be rigid in your viewpoint and unyielding in the face of other ways of thinking. Usually cynical and rarely trusting of others, you maintain a small set of intimate friends. These bonds are stronger than most. You are always grounded in the present moment. Your close bonds can also lead to clique-ishness and a tendency to gossip about those who are deemed less worthy. You are an integrative thinker, collecting data from a wide range of sources and applying it to your worldview. You can become overly task-oriented. In stressful situations you often withdraw from the world to seek peace in contemplation. You often seem cold and withdrawn. Often you will withdraw rather than verbalize your discontent."
Excuse me shape personality test, get out of my head.
How in the world did this test determine by asking me which shape I thought looked more scary than the other that I have a very small by close group of friends? That I am CRAZY task lady? That people who meet me think I am cold and withdrawn? That when I'm stressed I close in on myself? That I can be WAY pig headed? That I am "save the world" emergency responder lady?
I mean, there are a few seedlings actually growing in there, and I think they'll be able to pull through, but I think it's also very apparent that I am currently growing more mold in this container than I am oregano.
My problem with gardening?
Directions. Rules. Doing things the right way.
Because this little package of "kitchen herbs" that was all self contained with the seed box and the pots, the soil and the seedlings told me SPECIFICALLY to place my little seed babies in a western or southern facing window.
So, I placed them in an eastern facing window. Because I'm stubborn.
And then I grew mold.
Smelling defeat, I finally moved the moldlings to a western facing window, AS ORIGINALLY DIRECTED, and wouldn't you know it, there are now seedlings growing around all my mold.
I'm telling you, if you can't follow directions this gardening shit will become very hit or miss.
I canNOT drink luke warm coffee. So the Nissan 16-Ounce Stainless-Steel Thermos is my morning heaven and earth. I have two of these puppies and even better, they are completely spill/leak proof.
This is a neck warmer, headband/ear cover, hat, OMG you name it the Buff Headwear becomes it. They are an Alaskan staple, and if you play outside in the cold, this is so much better than a bulky beanie or hat.
The Sorel Slimpack Riding Boot are great for snow and rainy melt slush, but they're also ADORABLE. They're not bulky, they look amazing with skinny jeans, and did I mention they're adorable?
The only chew toy I can get Oly that she can't destroy in 4 seconds are the 100-Percent All Naturally Shed ElkAntler Chews. They don't smell, they last FOREVER, and she goes nuts for them. Must buy for a chew freak of a dog.
So the 
