Green Thumbs & Green Buns

Our gardens really took off this year. We tried an experiment with our corn and planted 1/2 of the crop 2 weeks later than the first 1/2. I'm not sure if the weather played a part in it or what, but for some reason the 2nd crop produced very short ears compared to the very satisfactory 1st crop. It is possible, too, that we planted everything way too late--I didn't get the first batch in the ground until late June. However, we have feasted on corn on the cob plenty of times this summer as well as zucchini, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and eggplant. And we did scale back...we only have 96 pepper plants this year. (For those of you who like our salsa...get your pantries ready, PLEASE.)

As for the "green buns" part of this post, we've officially switched to cloth diapers. A bit late in the day for that, putting a 20 month-old in cloth, but every little bit helps not only the environment, but our budget as well. I've been wanting to do it for months, but every time I research cloth diapering on the Internet, I get a migraine. (Type "cloth diapers" into your Google search and you'll see what I mean. These are NOT your mother's cloth diapers!) I finally bit the bullet and ordered them. We have 1 dozen bumGenius 2.0 one-size diapers for Liesl, as well as a few wetbags and a few dozen cloth diaper wipes. I purchased everything from an online diaper store called Abby's Lane. The owner, Stephanie, has a super-fast shipping rate, ships for free on orders over $50, and answers any questions you have very quickly. I love her! So far, so good! It's really easy to wash and care for these diapers, and the "ew, gross, poop" factor isn't a problem at all--there's just as much poop to deal with in a cloth diaper as there is a disposable. (Poop is poop, it really doesn't care what you put it in...I didn't realize that until I had used these diapers for a few days.) I wish we'd have done this months ago, but these diapers will be ready for when Squidgie is large enough to wear them. (These diapers are, unbelievably, one-size-fits-all, and are adjustable for babies from 8-35 pounds. Yes, really...and I was skeptical, too!) Squidgie will probably be wearing cloth prefolds with covers for the first few weeks/months of his/her life, and then be ready to move into these larger diapers.

On one more "green" note: My humblest sympathy to my dear University of Michigan friends after these last two weekends in football. You all must be feeling quite awful. I am so sorry for your losses....really....(it is so hard to keep a straight face while I say this....)

The 2007 Gardens

Raspberries at the right foreground

Corn, squash, eggplant, cucumber, and cutting flowers in the middle

Pepper & tomato garden in the left background

Closeup of the front pepper & tomato garden--the black row cover that Tom painstakingly put down to squelch the weeds really did the trick this year.










My prized Chianti sunflowers, with a little pollination help going on :-) (Thanks, Mr. Bee)