Split Personality

I have decided to split my personality so to speak... My original blog here will contain all the garden, homesteading, and sustainability stuff, plus occasional mentions of my critter corners which will be split off into 4 sub-blogs. Reptiles here: http://serpentden.blogspot.com/, plus my other critters as soon as I can get those going -- someday soon I hope!  :)  So for those of you who follow my snake posts, now they are all together without the hike through my garden!!  ;)

Baby Dragons! :)

I recently saw dragonfruit at a local grocery so I decided to see if I could grow a few myself. I did a bit of research to see how others had done it and decided the paper towel method seemed to be the easiest way, not to mention the most fun as you get to watch the seeds sprout!  :0)

To gather my seeds, I simply scraped a few off the top of my fruit as I was eating it. After I finished eating (yum!) I rinsed the seeds a few times through some cool water and then left them overnight to soak some of the pulp off.

To my surprise, the following morning, some of the seeds had already begun to sprout!  So I spread them over a paper towel and put them in a clear plastic container -one of those you get lettuce mix in from the grocery.... and snapped on the lid to keep in the moisture.

In just 4 days, many were fully sprouted tiny green seedlings.  They have not changed a whole lot since then, (its been 18 days) but I will get them into a flat in the next day or two. Then they should take off and start growing! :)   I'll post more about my baby dragons again soon!

Recycle your Pickle Juice!

Pickle juice is one of those things that just does not go bad. It seems a shame to throw it away with so much life left in it! Check out this link for some cool tips on ways to reuse your pickle juice! http://www.ilovepickles.org/node/16
 Here's a couple of my favorites!
 "Add cut-up raw carrots, celery sticks, broccoli and cauliflower florets, and red and green pepper strips directly to the jar of any type of leftover pickle juice. Make sure to keep these tangy tidbits refrigerated. The marinated veggies are great for snacking on straight from the jar or become an innovative addition to a crudité platter. "
"Slip sliced onions into a jar of sweet-hot bread and butter pickle juice. The "pickled" onions liven up turkey, chicken or ham sandwiches, as well as hamburgers. "
"Pickle liquid mixed in with the mayo can give a new twist to your time-honored potato salad. Or, try this Dilled Potato Salad: combine cooked red- skinned potatoes, cooked-till-crisp-tender green beans, sliced black olives and chopped dill pickle. Toss with a dressing of 1/3 cup oil, and 1 Tablespoon each of pickle liquid, country-style Dijon mustard, lemon juice and chopped fresh dill."  (I gotta try that one!)

Update--  Try using pickle juice for a quick 3 bean salad! Just add beans! 

Another Update-- Just had some veggies (the ones in the picture) I had soaking in sweet pickle juice for about a week. VERY YUMMY!!!  :)

Orange Candle

I saw this on Facebook (on Our Green Planet's wall, posted June 23) and just had to pass it along here.
"...Peel the top of the orange, then gently get the natural wick at the center. Add a bit of Olive Oil, burn the wick and you have a 100% organic Candle!"  I have to try this!  I'll report back with results!

So... to report back on this.... FAIL!  Though the wick did burn for a bit, it was not a large enough flame to do any good for light or anything else. It slowly burned out after a couple of minutes. Even after allowing the wick to sit for about half a day in the oil, still, no luck.  There are plenty of other ways to make great candles, so this will not be one I try again. :P

The Incredible Fava Bean

Markus Rothkranz shares the amazing power of the fava bean:


Click here to visit HealthCures101.com.

Unfortunately, these amazing beans are not easy to find. So I think I will have to plan on growing them myself! Fava beans have a number of varieties as you can see here:
 http://www.italianseedandtool.com/category/italian_seed_and_tool.vegetable_seed.beans__fava/?gclid=CP7GwJ3xj7ECFcpeTAodOVUkfA
and here:
http://www.vegetable-gardens.co.uk/vegetable-varieties/top-10-broad-bean-varieties/
Several articles I read seem to indicate that the variety "Red Epicure" wins the taste tests.  So I guess that's a good variety to start with!  :)

Sharing Wealth

I just made an exciting discovery! I looked at my blog's stats for the first time and saw that my blog is quite popular! I had NO idea! 37,335 views and counting! 41 views just today! Wow! Thank you everyone! :D
So what brought me here today was that I have been thinking. ...

1.  I need to make money.  Don't we all, right?  I don't want to make money the old fashioned way- by selling something no one wants or needs. -A plastic trinket,... a pyramid scheme,... a gadget that will break next week, ... blech! We all get enough of that! I want to provide something of real value and benefit to the person that chooses to invest in me.
2. I want to do something I LOVE to do. That was the thought that brought me to my blog today. I was talking about this very subject and I said, "you know, I really love writing articles for my blog."
So when I logged in to Blogger's home page, they had the stats displayed... almost like it was Fate trying to tell me something. One should always listen when Fate speaks, so... I'm listening!
I feel as if I have been sitting on a golden egg for all this time and that egg is about to hatch.
Now I can think of a dozen ways to provide things of value for you my readers. But I would love to hear your input too. So far I am thinking of more book suggestions on gardening and sustainability,  referrals to suppliers or products that I recommend. (Such as Provent-a-Mite spray for reptile mites!)
It has been suggested that I make my blog available by subscription, but I am not sure I want to do that. I like the free knowledge that I share here and I really want to keep it that way.
If I can use this blog to make money, then I can spend a whole lot more time devoted to articles on herbs, wildlife, sustainability ideas, pets, homesteading, oh I am so excited! :D  This is truly what I love to do! Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. What do YOU want me to write about?
I will be putting a lot of thought into this new concept! Thank you everyone for giving me this great gift!

Shifting Sand

So Qwatra moves to the Desert?!     
My life has completely changed.  Events took me from my 

beautiful Northwest home into the DESERT of all places!  How am I supposed to garden here?!  *holds up handful of sand* Anything and everything grows in the Northwest and I miss my garden dearly!! Life is full of challenges, and I guess this is one of those trials I am supposed to overcome.  My challenge is to grow food from rock and sand and with minimal water.  Fun.  Everything here in the desert is about water.  Well, not for the city of Las Vegas it seems. They love to flaunt water like gold.  At what point will they realize that there is a drought I wonder?
Despite water issues, the desert thrives!  We have so many flowers, lots of birds, bright butterflies, flitting bats at night, chattering hummingbirds curiously hovering over our heads as we sit in the backyard. With just a little bit of water, the desert comes alive with such abundance! If there is one thing that the desert teaches, it is a deep appreciation for miracle of life! I am amazed by the beauty I see all around me! I hope to return to a milder climate someday, but in the meantime, gardening here will be an adventure, and I am up to the test!

Mille Fleur D'Uccles

My new favorite thing in the whole world is my flock of Mille Fleur D'Uccles (pronounced DEW-Clays). Ok, maybe not the whole world, but definitely my backyard! So after going through regular size chickens (too loud even though I only had hens), ducks (too messy, smelly and still loud), and quail (too stupid and way too loud surprisingly) , I am full circle back to chickens. These pint-size chickens are the perfect urban egg producer! Even the rooster, as far as roosters go, is not all that noisy. He crows every now and then and has his morning fit of course, but even at his loudest he is drowned out by any one of the neighborhood dogs.
Milles are clean and don't smell much compared to their larger cousins. They don't eat as much, don't take up as much room, and they are BEAUTIFUL! I love the endless variety of the feather patterns. They are so cute and pickupable! Even the rooster is pretty tame, docile, and holdable.
From 7 hens I am getting 5 eggs every two days. Two are still a bit young I think and will start laying pretty soon. But right now I get one egg one day, and 4 eggs the next day. I love 4 egg days! ;) The eggs are small, about the size of any small chicken egg. So I use about 2 to 1 ratio for recipes.
Since we have a number of hawks and owls in the neighborhood, I am afraid to let them out of their pen to roam the yard. We have had a large hawk (Harrier) attack the pen while my hubby was standing about 8 feet away! The rooster flipped out, but the hawk seemed unimpressed. I do hope maybe with the help of my dog Dori, maybe we can start letting them out to forage. Luckily, since they are small, the pen is very roomy and spacious and they seem to like their living arrangements. They are such a calming tranquil joy to watch as they cluck and peck around their pen.