Zip Code Specific Gardening

Want to know when to plant your garden for your specific zip code?  Use SproutRobot!  If you are like me and live in an area with many micro climates, this is a great help.  I hope to be able to put this into more use.

Our compost is really starting to look great. The benefit of living in a hot climate, is it seems to break down faster.  The chickens go crazy every time I turn the compost.  I joke that they are begging to be let loose on the compost.  Sorry ladies, Las Vegas does not approve of chickens out of their coop/run.

Right now we only have 3 topsy turvy planters.  I found them on sale in the middle of winter for $2 each a few years ago.  We finally got them hung and filled this year.  Yes, I am guilty of being a procrastinator married to a procrastinator.  With 5 kids I feel like I spend much of my day in damage control. (3 glasses were broken by my kids this week alone)

Growing in our hanging planters are tomatoes, two kinds of peppers and strawberries.  Everything but one of our peppers has flowered. We have gotten a few strawberries that my kids instantly ate.  We have 1 huge pepper on one plant and nothing on the other.  Darn bugs attacked and destroyed the leaves faster than it grew them.  We may not get anything from it.  Our tomato plant has tons of little green tomatoes.  We are just waiting for them to redden up. Although some fried green tomatoes like my dad used to make sounds really good. Or the pickled green tomatoes from my mom. Is my lack of patience showing?  

I can't wait for the first taste of a sun warmed tomato.  They have a different scent and taste that for some reason makes me feel as if everything is right with the world at that moment.  Then another dish breaks and I'm back in the trenches of motherhood again.  Thank goodness for my Tomato Vine Scentsy scent. I bring that sun warmed vine smell into my house anytime I want.

Are you an urban gardener?  What is the one thing you love growing the most?

Hoover FloorMate SpinScrub Wet/Dry Vacuum Review

I was not paid or provided any rewards for this review of the Hoover Floormate SpinScrub Wet/Dry Vacuum.   My family had killed another floor steamer.  With over half of my house being tile it was an enormous task to clean.  When you add all the pet/kid mess I clean as well it is overwhelming at times.  Bird food and bunny food scattered around cages.  Jello hidden behind the couch because my 2 year old doesn't like the texture.   I was spending too much time cleaning the floor.

With my Floormate SpinScrub I do a quick sweep of all larger object. Why sweep first? Because there was a chicken nugget under the train table.. among other WTF findings after my children picked up.  Then I switch my SpinScrub to Vacuum and finish picking up any dirt or debris.
I almost cried the first time I actually washed the floors with it. It was cleaning my gross grout! I was to the point I wanted our floors professionally steamed.   I've even pulled up gum and other mysterious spots that were here when we moved in.
Once I was done washing the floors I switch it to dry and my floors are dry before I can wrap up the cord.  Which for me means no children's footprints across a newly cleaned damp floor. It's dry before they can even plot to run on it.
Cleaning the machine is easy too!  Everything comes apart for easy washing.  The Spinbrushes underneath pop off for easy rinsing as well as the front hood.  I clean my machine after every use. Dumping the dirty water out without spilling is so easy my kids sometime help me.

My Hoover Floormate SpinScrub Wet/Dry Vacuum has become my favorite household appliance. That is really saying something because I finally have an Artisan Kitchen Aid Mixer as well as a Delonghi Food Processor/Blender both that I have wanted for years.  This amazing product has taken a chore that would normally take a few hours down to a 20-30 minute task to clean the same areas.

I bought my machine off Amazon because with our Amazon Prime membership we got as great discount as well as having it shipped to our house. Hoover Floormate SpinScrub Wet/Dry Vacuum 

Our Easter Egger Chickens and Eggs!

They have only been here a short time but we already love our Easter Egger chickens.

Wary of us on their first day

It took them a day or two to get used to us.
These chickens have surprised me with their intellegence and curiousity.

Checking what I dropped for them.

These bearded ladies have individual personalities.  

Their feather patterns are gorgeous.  We say they look like they are wearing chainmail. 

Two of our Chainmail Chickens!

Smallest yet bravest chicken

Bossiest chicken

The colorful eggs they have provided for us have been a fun rediscovery every day. Sure our 4 hens will never provide enough eggs for our family of 7 on a daily basis.  They are a good start though.  Plus they are a better pet than aother dog.  Atleast the chickens will provide us with a meal once a week.

3 Shades of Green Eggs from our chickens.

Eggs in their storage container.

We are saving up the eggs to make Eggs in a Basket for breakfast for everyone.  Should only take 3 days for our very young chickens to lay enough eggs. Some of our earlier eggs went into making cookies. 

This is how I take pictures of my eggs. In natural light outside on top of artist white paper.  I love how on the white paper shows the best variations of the coloring.