A Call to Arms!

(Cross-posted at True Epicure Says)

5 Years ago, a sister Silpada rep was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and the diagnosis saved her life.  I’ve seen several of my friends suffer debilitating illness over many months or years, only to find out that they have Celiac Disease,a gluten allergy, or gluten intolerance.  While I can never *completely* understand what it’s like for them, my own personal struggle with corn products helps me to understand some of what they go through each day.

In honor of the amazing people that I know who suffer from one form of gluten intolerance or another, I’ve decided to participate in a fundraiser for two organizations: The <a href=”http://www.celiacdiseasecenter.org/CF-HOME.htm”>Celiac Disease Center</a> at Columbia University in NYC and the <a href=”http://www.healthyvilli.org/”>Healthy Villi</a>, a support group in New England. I will be donating 10% of my Silpada sales between March 11 and March 18th, to these great organizations.

Over the next few weeks, I will post more information about this program, and you will learn about how almost 40 Silpada Sisters have banded together to help make the world a better place.  Please contact me for my website and directions how to make sure your payment goes where it’s supposed to!

Please pass the word and follow my <a href=”http://www.facebook.com/bosjewelry”>Facebook page</a> for updates!

Wearing Nature

I recently started a new business adventure as an independent representative for Silpada Designs.  It’s one of the reasons I haven’t been blogging much, and I was trying to think of a way to tie both of these parts of my life together.

I was reflecting on the matter when I remembered that our line contains a number of pieces that have nature themes, or incorporate flora into the design in other ways.  Take for example this sterling/wood/leaf/resin pendant:

S2123 Description : Reflect nature's bounty with this Sterling Silver, Black Ebony Wood and Soursop Leaf Resin Pendant.

If you’d like more information about how to purchase this pendant, post a comment with your email address, or use the Contact Me form.

Sidetracked

Yeah, I got sidetracked. By Facebook, Pinterest, Life, a new business. I’m going to try to be more regular about posting… In the meantime, take a look at my Garden Spaces board on Pinterest. Lots of garden pr0n.

Bloom Day, October 15, 2011

My Chrysanthemums are blooming again. They bloomed in July because I’m lazy and I didn’t pinch them back. Now they are blooming again, and they look even better now (with the exception of a little cold damage from last week). Sometimes laziness gets rewarded.

Save Landreth Seed Co.

If you are a gardener in North America, you can be proud to be a member of a community that has been going strong since the beginning of human civilization. If you are gardening in the United States, you can claim to be part of a gardening community that has been actively growing and cultivating plants since the mid-1700s.

The D. Landreth Seed Company has been selling seeds to growers and gardeners since 1784, and claims the title of “Oldest Seed House in America.” Landreth brought some of our most beloved seed varieties to gardeners in the United States for the first time. If ever there was a company that could claim to be an American original, it’s Landreth Seed.

Landreth Seed may not be around much longer without your help. The company is in danger of closing because of a clerical error, and their lender isn’t willing to give them an extension on their loans. Landreth Seed Company needs to raise approximately $250,000 (short-term) to stay in business.

To help save an American icon, please consider purchasing a catalog, designed, published, and printed right here in the United States. You can purchase non-GMO seeds, gifts, and my personal favorite, the notecards.

(edited to update accurate funding needed to stay in business, per Landreth’s documentation)

Genetics Lesson in the Garden

We had to move all the potted plants inside last Saturday afternoon. This included all of the SeedGROW plants and my baby shrubs. Woo. That sucked. And we didn’t even get enough storm to make it worth the effort. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

The basil got a bit etiolated from being in the garage…

…but the Marigolds look fine:

I’d also started some ‘Purple Petra’ Basil, which is very interesting to grow. It’s not part of the SeedGROW project, but it was basil, so I thought I’d include it. I sowed five plants (multiple seeds) and just look at the variation:

(Plant in the middle is obvious. Plant to the right is from the same seed packet. Almost no purple at all)


And more variation (Sorry for the craptastic, picture):

Just because you have the same genetic material, doesn’t mean that you and your siblings are going to look the same. This is one of those real-life genetics lessons.

I’m growing with the SeedGROW project. Thanks to Reene’s Garden for the seeds.

SeedGROW: C’est la vie

I’m a little bit behind the SeedGROW pack with my plants because I was out of town most of the month of June. I finally got my seeds planted in mid-July, and now I have plants ready to go out for the fall season. Of course, now I have to wait for the temperature to cool down. C’est la vie.

I haven’t planted any of the lettuce seeds yet, because it was already too hot here in VA by the time we received the seed packets. I’ll be planting these in about a month or so. The Basil and Marigolds are doing well, I am happy to report. My pictures came out completely craptastically, so you’ll have to pretend until I can take more tonight.

When I planted the Basil ‘Cameo’, I decided I would also plant the lime basil I acquired earlier this year, and some Basil’Purple Petra’ from Botanical Interests. Mind you, we already have ‘Genovese’ and some thai basil; but you can never have too many varieties. We use it all summer long, and hopefully I can get some saved for the winter.

So far, ‘Cameo’ is doing the best of the three varieties I planted in this batch. The ‘Cameo’ seeds sprouted first and had true leaves first. They are starting to produce a third set of leaves, while the other basil sprouts’ true leaves are barely bigger than the cotyledons.

I’m debating planting some seeds of both the basil and the marigolds in the ground, just to see how they do. But a) we have bunnies who ravage plants (i.e. no Kale this year) and b) it’s to frickin’ hot right now. I may try anyway.

I’m growing with the SeedGROW project. Thanks to Reenes Garden for the seeds.