Nov 18, 2011 Posted by Tiffany

{Garden Life} Treat houseplant scales naturally

Over the last 6 or 7 years, we have collected quite a collection of houseplants. Some of them have fared really well, and others I killed pretty quickly (like every beautiful orchid ever brought into our home).It’s not that I intended for the plants to die; I just wasn’t very good at paying attention to them, giving them water regularly or diagnosing any problems they might develop.... read more

Sep 16, 2011 Posted by Tiffany

{Garden Life} Make your own organic fungicide

What?! It’s Friday already? Not that I’m complaining! I have been up to my ears in work as I put together the Refueling Power Moms Giveaway (running October 6-10) and balance my other jobs and home as well. Our garden is kinda doing more of the same right now. Producing, sprouting, getting ready for sunflower seed harvesting, etc. We did pick ALL of our grapes last weekend (about 70 pounds... read more

Aug 22, 2011 Posted by Tiffany

A pantry moth plague – Updated

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you probably remember me talking about these evil, stupid pantry moths back in January. I started battling them last year, and I still have not managed to get rid of them. But I wanted to let you know that a few more things have been added to this point since then — and there has been some great discussion going on as well. I’ve been quite... read more

Aug 17, 2010 Posted by Tiffany

How safe is your home from bed bugs?

A few days ago, as I was browsing through recent tweets from friends, I came across one that really got me freaked out and itching all over. A woman I know (who happens to be expecting) was rather stressed out because she’s going to have to move from her home for at least several weeks due to a bed bug epidemic. One of her former neighbors was apparently not much of a housekeeper and was actually... read more

Apr 7, 2010 Posted by Tiffany

Woof Wednesday: How to Catch a Mouse Humanely

Hello to all my two- and four-legged friends! We’ve had some awesome spring-like weather here in Germany the past few days…and over the four-day Easter weekend this family had lots of good times, including a super long walk up to the horse ranches. It took us about an hour round trip and we haven’t been in forever…I was all worn out afterward but I hope this was the first of many... read more

Mar 4, 2010 Posted by Tiffany

What are those nastly little black things?

I went out into the garden two days ago and wanted to take some photos of the garden to show you how sad it looked. As you’ve probably noticed, I still have not shared those photos because it’s even sadder than I thought. Our raspberry trellis fell over in a big storm we had last week, most of the plastic was ripped loose on our greenhouse as well. Everything in the beds is dead and yucky after... read more

Oct 1, 2009 Posted by Tiffany

Late Blight – a tomato lover’s worst nightmare

We have been neglecting our garden the last few weeks. It’s been so crazy around that we just haven’t been back there to check on things…and as a result the rest of our tomato plants (a fabulous Big Rainbow variety with single tomatoes as big as both palms of my hands together) have gotten late blight and I no longer have to wonder what we’re going to do with all the tomatoes. Next... read more

May 12, 2009 Posted by Ayla the Newfie

Neem oil – a gardener’s best friend

Although our winter was insanely cold, we didn’t have a very hard freeze when it finally started to warm up here. Thus the bugs are out in force because they didn’t get killed off by the cold wave. I’ve often read about using neem oil on plants to combat aphids, scales, spider mites, white flies, locusts and other common pests. It’s also used as a fungicide and helps against powdery... read more

Jan 22, 2009 Posted by Tiffany

The pitter patter of little feet

It all started with a few potatoes disappearing from the mudroom. But I thought maybe my mom had made herself some lunch with them. Then there were the tulip bulbs strewn across the floor. But the bag as on the floor so I figured it was the dog looking for trouble. When there was trash strewn behind the washing machine, I knew we had something more worrisome on our hands. We were standing in the kitchen... read more

Jul 29, 2008 Posted by Tiffany

An update on what’s growing

On Saturday morning, I passed by the thyme plant growing in my herb container garden and saw this! ICK!!!! I don’t know where they came from or how they got to be over an inch so quickly but these little suckers were munching down on my thyme plant. I quickly picked them off and disposed of them and thankfully have not found any more…but why we have so many caterpillars around this year eating... read more