Gardening: How To Compost

This is for the gardeners out there. The ones heeding the siren call of spring.

Yesterday, I turned the compost that's been "cooking" for the last 6 months. I think the compost I use in the garden is one reason everything grows so beautifully. If you don't compost, you should.

What is compost? It's a combination of nitrogen-rich and carbon-rich organic matter.

The nitrogen-rich is made of trimmings from raw vegetables and fruit, grass clippings, yard trimmings that are relatively small, coffee grounds, tea leaves, etc.

The carbon-rich is "brown" organic matter like straw, dried leaves, hay, small twigs, sawdust, etc.
Any of this brown organic matter should be small pieces. You wouldn't want to dump in a hay bale into a small home garden compost pile.

Dirt, time, rain, earthworms, beetles, etc. do the work of turning this waste material into rich soil for growing plants.

I have 2 compost piles in the back corner of my garden. Landscape rocks separate them from the rose beds and from each other.

I think of one as the active pile and the other is the dormant pile where the elements are doing their work.

The active pile is where I add raw organic matter every day followed by a shovelful of dirt over what I added. I turn it over once a month usually.

The dormant pile was completed months ago. It's gestating, I guess you could say. I turn this pile over every other month. It's amazing how many earthworms inhabit it. They go back and forth I imagine between both compost piles.

When the active pile is ready to be allowed to rest, I start using compost from the dormant pile. This is the old school method of composting.

You can buy many different kinds of compost bins at your local nursery center or Home Depot. There are ways to make compost faster, but my method is fine for me because my garden is small.

Takeaway Truth

Gardening is a stress-reducing activity that yields untold rewards. It provides joy to the senses when you walk out into your garden and see the beauty and smell the aroma of flowers and herbs.

What's Your Reward

If you're a Goal Setter, do you do to reward yourself when you achieve your goal?

Big Goals are made a thousands of baby steps one must take to finally achieve that goal.

Every time you hit a checkpoint in your journey to the goal, you should reward yourself.

Reward System

If you have a set of Goals, then you should have a Reward System. Unfortunately, most people don't. To misquote Martha Stewart, "This is a bad thing."

If you don't reward yourself, you risk burnout. When you're always working hard to achieve something, and then you do, what happens? Do you celebrate the achievement in some appropriate way? Or do you just move on to the next goal and put the old nose to the grindstone and start working hard again?

That "work hard, accomplish the goal, start on the next goal," and repeat the process leads to burnout. You end up feeling overworked, exhausted, and even worse, you start wondering why you're working so hard.

Don't just shrug and think you'll do something special at some future date.

Don't think that just achieving the goal is reward in itself. It's not. You deserve a reward so design a Reward System for yourself.

If your garden needs weeding, and that's your goal and you do it, reward yourself. Maybe your reward would be a new plant for your garden or maybe an ice cream cone.

If your goal is to write a chapter, reward yourself with something appropriate--maybe meet a friend at Starbucks for a cappuccino.

If your goal is to write a book, then you have checkpoints and rewards with each chapter finished. At the end, when the book is ready to be published, reward yourself with something suitable.

I just finished a book. It's going through final edit now. Next week, I'll tell you how I rewarded myself.

Takeaway Truth

Remember that old cliche? All work and no play makes Joan a dull girl? Okay, okay, it was originally "Jack a dull boy."

It's true so avoid turning into a dull, pale version of yourself.

Saturday Share: Cheesy Chicken Oven Dinner

One thing I do that helps me put dinner on the table quickly is to cook a bag--the whole bag--of boneless, skinless chicken breasts in advance.

I put the chicken in a big Dutch oven with enough water to cover it. I also add a couple of stalks of celery, a couple of carrots, a large onion, a little thyme, and salt and pepper to flavor the broth.

When the chicken is done, I shred the chicken and store it in freezer bags. I usually put the equivalent of 3-4 chicken breasts in each bag.

I freeze the broth in 1 cup amounts in smaller freezer bags. When I need to cook quickly, I just grab a bag of the frozen cooked chicken and a couple of cups of broth if needed, and I have the ingredients for a meal like the recipe below. This easy and delicious casserole serves 6 to 8.

Cheesy Chicken Oven Dinner

Ingredients

• 8 ounces cooked drained noodles of your choice
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup canned water chestnuts, drained & rinsed, optional
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup milk
• 12 - 14 ounces of cooked chicken
• 1/2 cup canned sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Butter a 2 quart casserole or spray it with Pam or a similar product.
• In a saucepan, saute the celery and onion in the butter until tender and translucent.
• Stir in the sour cream, milk, chicken, mushrooms, peas, and noodles.
• Pour into 2-quart casserole and sprinkle the cheese over the top.
• Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Takeaway Truth

Have a wonderful weekend!

Plant a Tree for Arbor Day

Today is National Arbor Day. Let's all plant a tree! We planted a Gala Apple tree between the Pink Lady Apple tree and the Kieffer Pear tree. I say we, but my Darling Hubby did the manual labor part, and he did a great job.

I look at yards without trees, and they look sad. Trees enhance the beauty of any lot and add value to your property. Ask any realtor if you don't believe that.

The giant live oak tree at left was one reason we bought our present home. This is how it looked before we removed the "ring" around the tree.

We created a rock "river bed" style in the entire area where there was grass so the roots now have more room. The tree was there long before the houses were built, and I want it to stay healthy.

Why Plant Trees

Strategically placed and planted, trees and shrubs can shade a house, making it cooler in the summer, and in the winter protect it from the bitterly cold wind. Landscaping for energy efficiency can reduce air conditioning costs by 15%.

When choosing trees consider whether you want them to block the sun or lose their leaves to let the winter sun warm your property.

How To Position Trees

1. If you need protection from harsh winter wind, then evergreens are a good choice. 

2. To shade your house from the summer sun, plant trees on the east, south and west sides of the house.

3. Plan ahead by drawing a sketch of your property. Make sure the site on your lot where you want to plant has room for the growth of a tree. You don't want a mature tree to crowd the eaves of the house or the roof. You certainly don't want to plant to close to your house because the roots can ruin your foundation.

4. Plan wisely by calling your utility hot line. They'll send someone out to mark your underground utility lines so you won't cut a cable or phone line or blow yourself and your house up by hitting a gas line. (My neighbor didn't do this, and he cut the underground phone cable. He didn't like the $750.00 bill the phone company presented him with.)

I'll close with Trees, a poem by Alfred Joyce Kilmer that is now in public domain. Known primarily as Joyce Kilmer, he was born December 6, 1886 and passed away on July 30, 1918. Mr. Kilmer is  mostly remembered for Trees, published in 1914 in the collection Trees and Other Poems.

CC0 License: www.pexels.com/photo/night-tree-7130/

Trees by Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Takeaway Truth

Now go out and plant a tree. 

Happy Birthday, SlingWords

I've been in deep lurk as I've been writing my new book.

Hurray! Yes, all you readers who have waited for Book 2 of All Brides Are Beautiful, that time is finally at hand.

(I'll write more about that later and do a cover reveal for Second Chance Bride which is now in its final edit.)

I've been so engrossed in writing and meeting my needed word quota each day that I missed the anniversary of my first blog post 13 years ago.

Celebrating 13 Years of SlingWords

That's right. SlingWords debuted on April 12, 2005. To date, counting today's post, there have been 2,972 posts published here. Every post from the beginning can be found in The Archives. To keep the blog looking fresh, I've changed the theme 4 times.

I've written about books; the art, craft, and business of writing; authors; reviews of music, television, movies, books, videos, and software; humor; all things Texas; history; trivia; video book trailers; and occasionally a truly personal post.

Blogging Frequency

Once I blogged every day which is why SlingWords grew in popularity. Readers always want new content.

For the last few years, real life has prevented my maintaining that consistency. However, my goal remains to provide content that's interesting, informative, and entertaining.

I've always seen my blog as a way to pass on what I've learned, and I've always written it informally--like a conversation with friends.

I've particularly enjoyed hosting  hundreds of authors on the blog. It's always interesting to hear what they have to say about their own books.

A Look Back

The first post I wrote was entitled, Japanese Proverb, and I wrote it to encourage a friend who had suffered a series of setbacks. Here's that first post in its entirety.

There's an old Japanese proverb--perhaps old is redundant since, I guess, all proverbs are old--but I'm digressing. This proverb is about how to succeed.

Fall down 7 times; stand up 8.

Ah, if only success were that easy! By that I mean, if we only had to fall 7 times. Too often that 7 is multiplied by a hundred or more. I've been falling regularly of late. The interesting thing though is that with each fall, it hurts less. I mean if you're already covered in bruises, one more isn't going to matter.

I added the Takeaway Truth at the end of each post about a year later. If I were to add that to the first post above, it would be: So keep trying. The next time you stand up may be the time you go on to win the day.

Takeaway Truth

Writing this blog has been a joy and sometimes the only thing that kept me producing words. I thank you for reading and hope to keep you as a member of the audience for SlingWords.

Sound Protection

I read articles about self-protection. One I've never really thought of is to use an air horn as a layer of protection.

Actually, this is probably a good strategy since criminals want to be as inconspicuous as possible. This kind of noise would wake anyone!

The Sabre Sport & Safety Horn has a 115dB horn and can be heard up to half a mile away. It's small enough to fit in your pocket.

This air horn would be a great emergency signal if you needed help right away like going camping and getting lost in the woods or breaking a leg.

Hmmm. I'm thinking of some ways this could be used in a book. It might be a great plot device.

What I Use Mine For

I have an air horn, but I use it to shoo the thousands of starlings away from the house when they're nesting. They're such messy birds building their mud nests under any overhang like the eaves of your house or under your porch.

The air horn temporarily makes them seek another location. Unfortunately, you have to monitor throughout the day or those pesky birds will have globs of mud before you can yell, "Shoo."

This Sabre Sport & Safety Horn is available from Amazon at a price of $11.99. Shop around and see if you find it cheaper elsewhere. If you do, let me know.

Takeaway Truth

Readers, any of you carry an air horn product for protection or emergency signaling? Have you ever used it? Did it work for you? Let us know.

Love The Planet: 3 Earth Day Tips

Luv The Planet Reusable Grocery Bag

Happy Earth Day! Want to know 3 things you can do in the name of ecology that pay lasting rewards?

1. Get some cloth or canvas tote bags and throw them in the trunk of your car. Use these for bagging your groceries. The bagger at the checkout will use your bags instead of those flimsy plastic ones.

Where do you get bags? My goodness, they're usually given away at events, or you can order online, or make them yourself if you have a sewing machine.

The Luv The Planet Bag shown at left is from WriteWay, my CafePress shop, and comes in 2 sizes. The one shown is Medium, and it's 10-ounce weight natural canvas. The graphic is on both sides, and it features full side and bottom support gussets, measures 15"x18"x6" and has 22" reinforced fabric handle. It's a good size for groceries. Earth Day Price is $13.99 for this week only.

2. Recycle paper, plastic, aluminum, glass, and empty food cans. If you have curbside recycling, separate the items into the specific colored bin as necessary. A lot of curbside recycling takes everything in 1 bin. Unfortunately, my small community doesn't have curbside recycle, so we got some cheap plastic kitchen trash containers and lined them up in the garage. Plastic in one, aluminum in the other, etc. When full, we empty into a large trash bag and take to the big county park near us and dump the stuff into their huge recycle containers.

3. Learn not to be conservative consumers. Avoid conspicuous consumption. Back in the day, people were taught this mantra: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."

While this Spartan philosophy may seem alien to you, it's the basis for being thrifty and ecologically practical. Use what you've got rather than running out and buying something new. Learn how to re-purpose, re-fashion, or up-cycle. These 3 skills are hot trends right now. There are books and websites that espouse and teach these skills.

If you just want something new for the sake of newness, don't throw away something that's perfectly good. Donate it to a charity thrift store where it will be recycled and/or re-purposed.

Takeaway Truth

Simple practices like the three about can change the way you live and might just save you money including saving the landfills and reducing the taxes too.