DIY Mini Greenhouses

I don't know about you but I absolutely growing things.  I love having my hands in dirt and planting seeds - knowing that if I nurture them, they will grow into abundance for me and my family.  No matter if it's veggies for canning or flowers to grace our kitchen table - everything God has made is for us, for our benefit and it makes my heart truly happy to take part in that in gracious gift.

I've learned a lot through trial and error.  First, I just grabbed some seeds and threw them into a pot and covered with soil.  I did nothing else.  Needless to say, I didn't have much luck - only about 25% of the seeds I'd planted germinated.  So, I fired up Google and went searching.

I found a ton of great information and indoor greenhouses but  they were quite expensive.  I knew what I needed so I went on a creative hunt in my house and shed to see what I could come up with and within an hour, I had everything I would need for not one, but several makeshift mini greenhouses that cost me nothing to make.  But, if you don't already have the supplies on hand, it won't cost you much at all to get started.

Here's what you need

1.  Pots

Keep in mind that you can use absolutely anything to start seeds in.  You can use the bottom half of milk jugs or soda bottles, you can use terracotta planters or galvanized washtubs, even plastic buckets will do.  The pots that are in the picture at the top are the kind that can be planted right into the soil.  I'd bought several of these last year on sale.  These are great to use because there's no worry of disturbing the roots for transplanting.  My favorite pot to use for seed starting uses the Do-It-Yourself Plant PotMaker here.  You use strips of newspaper for your pots and can be planted directly into the soil since newspaper is completely biodegradable.

2.  Seeds & Soil

Seeds are important.  If you want to re-plant seeds for another growing season from the flower or vegetable that you are planting, you will need to purchase Heirloom Seeds.  Seeds that are not classified as Heirloom Seeds will not produce seeds that can be replanted.  My favorite Heirloom Seed companies are Baker's Creek, Territorial Seed Co., and High Mowing Organic.
I always use a seed starting soil for seed starting.  The soil is a little lighter and the seeds have an easier time rooting.

3.  Sandwich Bags

These are what I use to tent the top of my little pots.  

4.  Light

Any kind will do.  I use a couple of lamps on my buffet table.  :)

How to begin

Simply put, all you need to do is fill your pots with seed starting soil.  Plant your seeds.  For teeny tiny seeds like carrots, just barely cover with soil.

Spritz with water and top with a sandwich bag.  I place my pots on a big sheet pan and pour a little water on the pan.  The water sucks up through the pot to prepare the soil for germination.  Place this pan with your planted pots under a couple of lamps or drop lights.  You can even use a couple of clamp desk lamps.  Within a couple of hours, you should start to see the humidity building up within the tents.  

I leave mine under lights for about 12 or 16 hours a day until transplanting.  Once the true leaves appear (true leaves are NOT the first leaves to appear on most plants.), start bringing them outside during the day to acclimate to the weather and temp change.

If you find that your seeds need additional warmth while germinating, a quick tip is to get a heating pad - any old heating pad will do - and wrap in a garbage bag.  Place underneath the sheet pan and turn on to medium heat.  This will warm the soil and cause easy germination for warm loving plants.

Banana Bread

Today's Great Thing was not about me, considering I hate (yes, I used the 'H' word) banana bread.  I guess it stems from the fact that from the ages of 4 to 9 all I ate was bananas.  Seriously.  

At any rate, my husband loves banana bread.  He and the kids are off to the hunting cabin this weekend - it's youth hunt weekend in Alabama, and their special prize was a warm loaf of Banana Bread.  They even paid me with a happy dance!

Of course they think I slaved all day preparing this but I didn't.  It was a mix!  You know, one of these mixes...

And the best part:  It was only $1.96 at my local Walmart.  Using my trusty $1 off coupons, I was able to score these mixes for only $0.96 each.  Not too shabby, eh?

Moral of the story:  It doesn't have to cost much OR be homemade to be a really Great thing!

If you need coupons, Leonard at American Consumer Services offers the most helpful and affordable options.  Just contact him here and do me a favor - tell him Heather sent you!  

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Our laundry time is just one of those things I put off until the very last minute.  I hate doing laundry.  I absolutely abhor it.  I would rather vacuum my entire house (with the ugly, thick emerald green carpeting) AND wash every dish in the cabinets than I would doing laundry.  I know, it may be a little overly dramatic - I just can't help it.  

Now, my mother would tell me (in all her infinite wisdom) that I should elicit the help of my children.  "That would take some of the work off of you, love", she would say.  Maybe it would...but (and just keeping it real here) I would rather do it myself than have something go terribly wrong like the time all my husbands khaki shorts came out of the wash a precious pink color.  He didn't think it was as 'precious' as I did.  

Having 4 grown children and a husband that changes clothes more than my 17 year old daughter, I found myself washing 5 or 6 loads of laundry a day.   Our consumption of laundry detergent was beginning to border on crazy!

So, I set out to try and save our family the laundry insanity and found several Homemade Laundry Detergent recipes.  Some were great, some were kooky - but they were all very cheap to make.  There were recipes for grated soap, not grated soap, some with dish washing liquid as a base, while others were a simple powder concoction of Washing Soda and Borax.  

For my family, I wanted something that would get our clothes clean, our whites whiter and a little fragrance. And, I needed a LARGE recipe. After looking at several, I decided to format my own.  Here's what I came up with.

On to the recipe...

2 Cups Borax 
2 Cups Washing Soda 
2 Ivory Bars 
Purex Crystals


Dump 2 cups each of Borax and Washing Soda into a big pail or bucket.  Add one gallon of hot water and stir until the powders have dissolved. 
Grate (or microwave) the soap. *If grating, grate the soap into a saucepan and cover with water.  Heat until soap melts completely, stirring constantly.  This will take about 10 or 15 minutes.

This recipe makes 10 gallons of laundry detergent.  That's right, I said 10 gallons.  And, I have plenty of ingredients left over to make probably 20 more gallons.  By my calculations, a gallon of laundry detergent made with this method will only set you back about $0.75 a gallon.  Now if that doesn't save you money, I don't know what will.  ;)

Clearer Instructions:

2 cups of each into a big bucket or tote.  For smaller recipes (5 gallons, use just one cup each).  

For this recipe, I used 2 bars.  For smaller recipes, just use one.

Now for most recipes, this step requires you grating the soap into a saucepan.  Grating soap is not hard but it's not very easy either.  I'm not very coordinated with small kitchen gadgets, and cut myself regularly trying to peel potatoes, so I had another great idea for this part of the recipe.  I microwaved it.  

Now I don't know if other soaps will perform the way Ivory does in the microwave but in just a few seconds, you're soap will look something like this.

Once you're at this point, the soap can be crushed into a fine powder.   Using your fingers, break the soap apart over a large saucepan.  Cook until all soap bits are completely melted.

Once your soap is completely melted, pour into bucket with Washing Soda and Borax.  (Hopefully by this point, you have already added enough hot water to the powders to dissolve them thoroughly )  Fill to the top with hot water.  

You're almost done!  Now would be the time to decide if you want scent added.  If you choose not to add scent, then you can cover your detergent and let sit.  You're done!  :)

I love this stuff.  Not only is it awesome for your clothes, it makes the house smell great when laundry is being done.

I added a 1/2 cup Purex Crystals to the Laundry liquid after topping off with water.  I also use a tablespoon with each dirty load.

After you've added your scent, cover and put it away.  By the next morning it will be a gel like consistency.  Don't worry - just stir before each use.  I use about a 1/2 cup each load, but you could use more heavier cycles.  

That's it!  I hope you'll love using this as much as I do.  It works great and honestly, I kind of like it better than the name brands.  It's way more cost efficient and cleans like a dream.  

If you use this recipe, come back and let me know how you liked it.  You can leave a comment below if you have another laundry recipe you'd like for our readers to try.