Herbs that are easy to grow

I love herbs for everyday use. They can be added to a a variety of dishes, provide flavor to home made bread and to make healing drinks.

They´re  one of the most useful items to grow in your yard or home.  They grow quickly and a quick snip of the scissors brings fresh taste to your recipes and dinner table.  Let’s go in detail with these 5 herbs that are easy to grow.

Thyme

In drier climates, Thyme is used as a xeriscape ground cover.  This means it requires minimal irrigation and grows like a weed!  You can grow them in a container garden, right in the soil, or on your window ledge.  Thyme is another one of those herbs that comes in a number of varieties.  It’s best to grow it from a cutting rather than directly from a seed because seeds take a long time to cultivate.

photo credit: busbeytheelder

Mint

Mint is delightful in drinks, deserts and in many Middle Eastern dishes.  Mint, a perennial, is easy to grow because it really doesn’t care much about the soil it’s planted in.  If you’re growing mint outside then take care because it spreads like a weed and can take over your garden or lawn.  This makes it a great herb to grow indoors in smaller window ledge containers.  Leaves can be harvested as soon as plant reaches six inches.

photo credit: quinn.anya

Basil

There are a number of basil types including spicy Thai Basil and Sweet Basil, which is commonly used in Italian cooking.  Basil can be grown either indoors on a sunny window ledge or in your garden once the fear of frost has passed.  Place the seeds in the ground per the package directions. The plants can grow up to two feet high which means you’ll want to start thinning them until they’re about six inches apart.  Leaves can be picked and used for seasoning when the plants are six weeks old.  If you’re going to dry leaves then pick them before the plant’s bloom spikes appear.
photo credit: nathanborror

Dill

Dill grows to about three feet tall and produce yellow flowers, so it fits quite nicely in a flower garden.  Both the greens and the seeds from the flowers can be used to season food.  The leaves are best harvested before the flowers open.  The seeds can be harvested when the flower is open and they’ve ripened.  It’s advised to sow them from a seed as transplanting dill plants is difficult.  Like Basil, plant seeds after danger of frost has passed.

photo credit: Jochen Laier

Parsley

Parsley, either curly or flat leaf, is another quite versatile herb.  It grows quickly and reseeds itself, which means you could end up with a garden full of parsley if you don’t prune and keep an eye on it.  Sow from seeds directly into your garden.  They’re not choosy about their soil but they do like a lot of sun.

photo credit: quinn.anya

Growing herbs at home is one of the easiest gardening tasks even an amateur can have success at.  Many herbs are so easy to grow and practically raise themselves.  Whether you garden indoors or out, in containers or in a small plot in your yard, herb growing is a great way to add flavor and fun to your meals year round.

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Life without plastic

I’m from the generation of plastic. I remember plastic items all over the house since I was very young, so I can’t really say I know what a plastic-free life is.

However, I’ve been told by my mom that she grew up without plastic, and I wish she would add more detail when she tells me about the different materials they used instead of plastic.

For example, I recently learnt that in the past the grocery stores delivered lard and other products in cabbage leaves. What a great compostable and even edible package that now is being replaced by plastic bags.

What I remember is that when I was a child (living in Quito) plastic bags were still a sort of an expensive thing. The stores were not so liberal at distributing them and would give you the smallest size needed or even charged for them. Now things have changed and everyone seems to be careless about the plastic bags monetary costs.

I’m not all into completely eliminating plastic from our life, but I find that we’re getting too much of it unnecessarily, and even worse, we’re throwing away plastic items all the time thinking those are recyclable and not expensive. I’ve heard in other corners of the world this is improving, but in Quito and other Ecuadorian cities the plastic bag is still the queen of the shopping.

Anyone here with plastic free life experience? I’d love to hear from those of you who live in cities where plastic bags have been banned.

In my search for alternatives to plastic I’ve found an interesting website about plastic free living, featuring safety and environmental information about plastic and other materials. They also have a blog with related insights and an online store carrying nice alternatives. That to say that I fell in love with the wooden bento box they carry. It seems like the perfect item for our frequent outings, especially having a born-in-Japan son who loves all that has to do with his birthland

Meanwhile, I’ll continue asking my mom about her past plastic free life…

photo credit: me and the sysop

Ideas to celebrate Earth Day as a Family

photo credit: MissFancyPants

I’m not into big celebrations. Especially not into big Earth Day Celebrations that include lots of talk and after-party garbage. I’ve been there and it’s not fun to be given a flyer with a message telling you to save paper and after the event finding them flying all over the place.

That said, there are trully eco friendly activities we can do as a family to celebrate Earth Day, and here I share some options:

Kids love being a part of efforts that they know will help to protect the earth. Not only do they like knowing that they have a respected role to play but they like the fact that their parents and other adults acknowledge their abilities and maturity enough to discuss important issues with them like the environment.

Earth Day is an opportunity to seriously think about the messages and actions that are being taken both locally and globally. “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” are messages that can take on greater meaning through purposeful activities that you choose to do with your kids on Earth Day.

A good start could be to gather as a family to discuss the following:

What can we recycle in our household and how can we recycle these items?

How many disposable items, from diapers to plastic bags do we use as a family, and how many items can we choose to do without?

Where can we reuse items we no longer want?

Here are some uses for existing items that might be in your household:
• Reuse a plastic or paper bag for different uses so you don’t have to buy new
• Reuse empty food containers as storage for leftovers.
• Habitat for Humanity accepts building material donations in some chapters – contact your local chapter for this non-profit group before disposing of old building material.
• Your local Goodwill can make good use of your gently worn clothing and gently used furniture or other household items. Contact them to find out delivery options.

Hiking is a great family activity that can turn into a enjoyable Earth Day Activity if the purpose of the hike is to pick up garbage in your local park or trail. It’s a satisfying project that will make kids feel they are doing their part to take care of an area that gives them and their friends in the community much enjoyment – especially animals!

One of the best ways to teach our children about the impact of trash on our environment is to show them the “trash trail.” Where does the trash go after we put it out for the garbage truck? On Earth Day why not take your kids on a little journey along the “trash trail.”

The garbage workers or sanitation engineers take residential garbage usually to a transfer station that collects the community’s waste/rubbish before shipping it off to a regional solid waste facility. In many cases the garbage gets trucked to a landfill or incinerator plant. Sometimes that garbage is then burned to produce electricity – depending on where you live. Here in Quito the garbage goes all mixed up into landfils, a pretty big stress to nearby people and the environment. That’s why I wouldn’t dare to take my child thru the end of the trash trial, but in some cities this might not be a big health concern.

Finally, why not consider making your own fridge and saving on electricity? My old home made pot in pot is out of business right now, but it worked for us for more than a year. Learn more about it here: Pot-in-pot, our low cost, home made, non electrical fridge.

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