Recycle Old Items to Create a Beautiful Garden

As we approach the season of spring cleaning, you might be tempted to take the easy route and dump all of your unwanted items into the trash. In attempt to keeping your household items and empty plastic containers out of the landfill, check out these fun recycling ideas for creating potential garden spaces.

Reuse Crocs

Milk containers for folks in apartments.

 From that leftover gutter job.

Your honey's old boot.

A colander

Staked tomatoes in 5-gallon buckets

Book plant for the poet in the family.

Here are a few other ways to recycle items for your garden. You just need to use your imagination.

Save Money With Salvaged Building Materials

Did you know that using salvaged building materials in your garden is in? One of the best reasons for using salvaged materials in the garden is the cost. If you've seen the price of new compost bins, cold frames, and garden border - your head will spin. If you ever considered using salvaged materials to create your garden, it truly is a less expensive alternative.  

Using salvaged materials is the wave of the future. As we get closer to 2015, the target date for the UN Millennial Development Goals, environmentalists are going to prevent us from throwing certain materials into the landfill. So why not begin getting creative now? Here are some ideas.

Cold Frames
You can start summer seeds early, or grow lettuces into late fall and winter. Your goal is to insulate from the cold and allow the heat from the sun to warm the plants. These old windows can be found at thrift shops, Freecycle, or Craigslist. You might want to consider painting them before setting them outdoors. Here’s some examples.

Bails of straw

Compost Bins

Composting converts grass clippings, fallen leaves and other landscape leftovers into a nutritious soil amendment. It recycles plant nutrients, improves the soil's structure, improves drainage in clay soil and increases the water-holding capacity of sandy soil. 

You'll eventually need two bins: one for the already cooked batch, the other one for your current scraps. Be certain that your container is no larger than 4 ft x 4 ft. If it is, it won't get warm or properly breakdown quickly.

Recycled Pallets

Plastic storage bin

If you have dogs in your neighborhood, you may consider securing the lid. You could partially bury the can, which would prevent them from tipping it over. 

Garden Border

Here are a few garden edge ideas. Some of these may take a while to accumulate.

Firewood

Single layer of bricks

Double layer of bricks

You just need to be a little creative and not too picky.

Soil Testing your Garden

Knowing the nutrient content and pH of your soil is the first step of getting something to grow in your garden. You may think you're doing all the right things by adding fertilizers or compost, but you may suffer the consequences later for not taking this first important step. You really should know what's going on in your soil before you plant the first seed or transplant. The soil test will either confirm that your growing plots are in peak condition, or you might have to make some adjustments.

There are basically two ways to do this. You can purchase a small kit from a garden center, or you can send a soil sample to your nearest testing location. If you want to attempt to do it yourself, which may not be quite as thorough as the soil service, watch this how-to video.


(YouTube link)

If you decide to get your soil tested by the professionals, call your area extension office. They work in conjunction with a local university, and will have an address to send it to. Often they will provide a box and application form, and charge a small fee. The steps for taking the soil test will be printed on the materials. This is how you take soil samples for the test. (Note: A soil sample can be collected any time the ground is not frozen.)


(YouTube link)

When you get the soil test back, this video will help you interpret the results. She is long-winded, but you'll get the idea.


(YouTube link)

These tests are a simple and inexpensive way to ensure that your garden has the best foundation possible. 

Vegetarian Lentil - Barley Soup

 Delicious and it sticks to your ribs!

1 lb. Lentils, rinsed (remove and discard all black lentils)
10 cups water
1 (16 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 cup med. barley
2 cups onion, coarsely chopped
2 cups celery with leaves, diced
2 cups carrots, diced
1/3 cup oil (Crisco, etc.)
2 Tbsp parsley, chopped or dried
1 Tbsp salt (seems like a lot, but it's right)
1/2 tsp pepper
1 Envelope dry onion soup mix
1 Pkg. (10 oz. each) frozen chopped spinach, partially thawed OR several handfuls of fresh spinach

1. Place all ingredients except spinach in 6-quart Dutch oven or stock pot. Stir and cook over moderate heat. Bring to a slow boil, stirring occasionally; reduce heat. Let vegetables simmer for about 50 minutes or until lentils and barley are crisp-tender. 
2. Add spinach; cook 10 minutes longer or until lentils and barley are tender. Add a little hot water only if needed (if too thick). 
3. Serve hot or transfer cooked soup to 5-quart crock pot and leave setting on "low" until ready to serve. Freeze leftovers for another meal.

How to Start Seeds Indoors

Starting seeds indoors is something I haven't mastered. I can get anything to grow, but keeping them alive is another story. Light and temperature are the keys to getting them beyond their first set of leaves. That is my goal for this year.

In the following video, the GardenGirl shows you different methods of converting an space into a seed starting area. Any window are will do, but she does every project big. Extra lighting is important, and this can be done with a shop light with grow lights, or a ready-made light kit. Also, if the room you are using to sprout in is very cool, you'll want the heating matte.

I'm not too crazy about starting indoor plots or in re-usable containers, the way she did. How on earth do you get the plant out without tearing it up? Transplanting is a delicate process, so disposable cups or peat pots seem the logical way to go.

Here's the video:


(YouTube link)

More info on grow lights

Media and Children

Dimitri Christakis is a pediatrician, parent, and researcher whose influential findings are helping identify optimal media exposure for children. See how different forms of television programming is detrimental to brain growth.


(YouTube link)

How to Make Homemade Pantyliners

Have you noticed that there are more buzz words being used in the media like: sustainability, minimizing our carbon footprint, and going green? As we get closer to the year when the Agenda 21 environmentalists create a new world for us, we will all have to make adjustments to the way we live. Many of the cleaning supplies, paper products, grocery bags, and sanitary napkins will become harder to come by, or they will no longer be sold. If products aren't Earth/eco friendly and biodegradable - you can kiss them goodbye.

I have begun to do little things to prepare for the unwanted changes that will come. This week I made my first set of homemade cloth pantyliners. When I started to do my research, I found that they come in different shapes and sizes. Women make them with different types of fabrics, and some are lined with waterproof fabric. Since they are pricey, I decided to blow the dust off of my sewing machine and make my own. I had waterproof liner left over from those crazy-looking menstrual pads I made a few years ago, so I made a couple with the liner. I made a seven in all, just in case they weren't able to get through the laundry in time. This is how I did it.

• Preshrink and iron your fabric.
• Print off this pattern and cut it out on the line.
• You will need enough fabric of your choice for two wing bases, and two pad pieces. If you were going to make several, you will be working with one yard of fabric from each color fabric. Fold it over, with right sides together, until you have enough to lay out the pattern plus 1/4 inch extra.

 Pad and wings were contrasting flannel colors.

•  Trace around the pattern, using a regular pen or fine marker. You are marking on the wrong side, so it will not not show. If you are using very dark fabric, white Milky brand gel pens work great. Make sure you can see the line. This will be the line you put your sewing stitches on. 
• Pin, and roughly cut out the fabric, Then sew directly on the line you made, all the way around. Do not leave a gap in your sewing for turning inside out. Yes, there is correct, I'll get to that in a minute.

The wings

The pad

• Trim the edge down to 1/8th inch. This will allow the curves to ease nicely, but will give you just enough seam so your stitches don't tear out.
• Once you have a wing base, and a pad part sewn, cut a one inch slit, and then turn inside out. Finger press until the whole thing is turned completely and smooth. Press both pieces, making your edges sharp.

Both pieces have slits placed in them, so you can turn them right side out. If you want them lined, insert the fabric through the hole in the pad. The liner is made from reusable quilted baby bed pads for baby cribs.

• Top stitch the wing edge first, then the inside line of the pad.  Now lay the two pieces together, with the slits facing each other (neither slit should be visible) and pin. You will now sew along the outside edge of the pad, which is the only stitching you'll do to keep the two pieces together.

• That was the easy part. The next thing you'll need to do is attach either a velcro button, a snap, or place a button and button hole onto the edge of your wing. I used a snap. They need to be going in the right correction in order for them to snap. It's tricky, but you'll get the hang of it.

 

Aren't they some sweet looking pads?

And they'll save me money in the long run. I've laundered them since finishing them up and they did great in the wash. I'll never have to buy a pantyliner again!

~Pattern and instruction help was provided by shewhorunsintheforest.

Seriousness in Children and Teens

by Jim Elliff

It is increasingly obvious that children and young people in many evangelical churches are anything but serious about Christ. There are notable exceptions, but in many churches a cursory look at the behavioral signals put out by the young people reveal a profound disinterest. On the one hand there is a sort of giddiness and silliness by some who believe that church is there only to provide them a place for enjoying friends and impressing the opposite sex. On the other hand, a complete boredom or disdain for worship and the Word is seen in their dull eyes and passive participation. This should grieve us.

A theological misunderstanding is to be blamed for much of this. We have failed to understand that children and young people are not God-lovers until the Spirit changes them. They are dead to God. Our attempts at getting these young people to "pray the prayer" when they were small have not necessarily made them children of God. Their behavior belies the true state of their hearts.

God has said that the only hope for them, therefore, is the regenerating work of the Spirit in the context of the preaching of the Word (James 1:18). However, our inadequate view of depravity and the inability of man has led us to resort instead to a greater confidence in entertainment to reach them and a minimizing of the use of the Word.

If God has ordained that the Word and the Spirit are the only hope for these kids, then we should not avoid the means God has promised to bless. Our Bible studies for young people should be more intense and our prayers more fervent for the Spirit's intervention. Children and young people ought to be sitting with their parents in worship services in order to avoid the distraction of other friends. As much as it is possible, we should not encourage young children to draw and play during the preaching of the Word since we are training listeners, not idle-minded pew sitters. And parents must show in their own enthusiasm their love and need for the Word. Pastors should seek to preach convictionally and refer often to the need of the children and teens to obey the Scriptures. And churches should weep for their children in corporate prayer. The answer is not in providing more fun things to do for the children. The answer is in the Word and the Spirit!

If a more intense and prayerful approach to our young people does not reach them, or if many refuse to participate because there is not enough entertainment to appeal to their love of pleasure, then we should not be confused. Our children are like all the rest of the world in their attitude about God (Eph. 2:1-3). They run from the light, just as Jesus said (Jn. 3:19-21).

Why must we assume that every great youth group has to be large and fun, when Jesus himself demonstrated that truth alienates and godly fellowship makes the unregenerate uncomfortable? Isn't John 15:19 just as true of youth groups as it is of the missionaries in Muslim countries? "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

If you are inclined to be angry at someone in leadership of your church because your child does not have fun in church, then first consider if the source of the problem is in the heart of your child. Please don't make the criteria for judging the success of a church's efforts at reaching children and teens the fun-value of the meetings. God did not command the church to provide entertainment for your kids. And if you must speak out about it at all, attempt to increase, rather than to decrease the intensity and effectiveness of prayer and Bible study as a means to reach the hearts of the children. If you chose to do otherwise, you could be working against the Spirit.

Nothing is more appealing, on the other side of this issue, than those young people who are intent upon following God at any cost. The history of revival is filled with stories of such youth and children who demonstrated their faith by their deeds. In some cases, it was the youth who were the first recipients of the grace of God in revival. Somehow I cannot imagine that our emphasis on entertainment for the youth promotes the concept of authentic revival. And, frankly, I am saddened by church leaders who persist in believing otherwise.

~I do not endorse this teacher, but only share his viewpoint.

Beauty: The Brainwashing of American Women

(YouTube link)

"Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that fears the LORD, she shall be praised." Proverbs 31:30

In his commentary, Matthew Henry (1662-1714) wrote:

"This is the description of a virtuous woman of those days, but the general outlines equally suit every age and nation. She is very careful to recommend herself to her husband's esteem and affection, to know his mind, and is willing that he rule over her.

1. She can be trusted, and he will leave such a wife to manage for him. He is happy in her. And she makes it her constant business to do him good. 
2. She is one that takes pains in her duties, and takes pleasure in them. She is careful to fill up time, that none be lost. She rises early. She applies herself to the business proper for her, to women's business. She does what she does, with all her power, and trifles not. 
3. She makes what she does turn to good account by prudent management. Many undo themselves by buying, without considering whether they can afford it. She provides well for her house. She lays up for hereafter. 
4. She looks well to the ways of her household, that she may oblige all to do their duty to God and one another, as well as to her.
5. She is intent upon giving as upon getting, and does it freely and cheerfully.
6. She is discreet and obliging; every word she says, shows she governs herself by the rules of wisdom. She not only takes prudent measures herself, but gives prudent advice to others. The law of love and kindness is written in the heart, and shows itself in the tongue. Her heart is full of another world, even when her hands are most busy about this world. 
7. Above all, she fears the Lord. Beauty recommends none to God, nor is it any proof of wisdom and goodness, but it has deceived many a man who made his choice of a wife by it. But the fear of God reigning in the heart, is the beauty of the soul; it lasts for ever. 
8. She has firmness to bear up under crosses and disappointments. She shall reflect with comfort when she comes to be old, that she was not idle or useless when young. She shall rejoice in a world to come. She is a great blessing to her relations. If the fruit be good, the tree must have our good word. But she leaves it to her own works to praise her. 

Every one ought to desire this honour that cometh from God; and according to this standard we all ought to regulate our judgments. This description let all women daily study, who desire to be truly beloved and respected, useful and honourable."

A great reality check!

Considering Church at Home

Since leaving the organized church about 2 years ago, my husband and I have been having church at home. We decided to spend our Sundays at home because of the compromise within our area churches - and because we are both looking for something completely different in an organized church. Having church at home doesn't offer the ideal situation, but it does offer the devotional time important for all of us.

From the beginning, we opened our home to an Asian couple who were also unable to find a place of worship. This past Sunday, we had another Asian couple join us, along with their beautiful 2-year old son. It was close and wonderful.

What We Do
We have made it a practice to have our meal first. Since we do meet close to lunchtime, we decided that the children would concentrate better on a full stomach. We then open in prayer, and my husband leads a short study - one of which he has chosen directly from the Word. He then closes in prayer, and we fellowship for about another 1/2 hour.

It in no way follows the traditional church format, but early believers didn't have a firm format either. We don't anticipate that our family will grow to be a huge house church. Our goal is to get to know a couple of families well and learn the Bible along with them.

Some Basic Guidelines
In the following video, the speaker helps you form a house church from a biblical perspective. He discusses some legitimate issues.


(YouTube link) (Follow link for remaining 9 parts.)