International Shipping Rates to Increase

Another USPS shipping rate increase is coming January 27th.  This one will be most painful for International customers.  US customers will only see a slight increase.  I highly recommend stocking up on products before that time.  Wednesday I will start adjusting the shipping rates in my Etsy shop so that I still have lead time for packing orders.  My shipping calculator on AquarianBath.com is integrated with the US postal service so that will kick in on the 27th. Here is a sampling of the service increases for US, Canada and International.  

The added benefit to buyers and sellers will be added tracking information starting with Canada.  Apparently tracking will roll out to other countries slowly after that.

Photos from McRorie Community Garden in Gainesville

My husband and I took an over night trip to Gainseville over the weekend. Our friend artist, Celino Demitroff pointed us to the McRorie community garden just down the street from his apartment.

The small piece of land is densely packed with small garden plots which are available for free.

Gainesville is a different growing zone (8b) than Daytona (9a), and you can see the difference in the plants.  This tropic lemongrass looks very petite and manageable compared to plants in Daytona that are taller than I am.

The greens were flourishing in the cold.

Red Russian and Siberian Kale.  The Kales looked about like mine, maybe a bit larger.

But their cabbages and corn salad were huge.  Loved this cabbage.

I even saw something new.  The leaves of this plant look like eggplant.  It has thorns on the branches and leaves and fuzzy hairs on the orange fruits.  After a bit of searching I found this page on flickr, and I believe the plant is Naranjilla AKA Quito Orange AKA Golden Fruit of the Andes AKA Bed of Nails. The botanical name is Solanum quitoense.

My Garden Up Close

My daughter and I had a fun photo session with our generic USB webcam microscope yesterday.  We took pictures of Aloe in bloom, Lacinato kale, Blood plant, Cleavers and Chickweed.  I hope you like the images.  This camera is different from the one from Toys R Us that I used to take these photos from 2011.  

A small Lacinato Kale leaf

Blood plant flowers.  I love this plant.  Moira got it at a plant swap and it grows very fast. It does well in sandy soil with full sun.  It is easy to grow from cuttings also.

Chickweed, Stellaria, my girls and I like to eat it raw and feed it by hand to the chickens.

Cleavers, Galium aparine, in bloom.  This is a great tonic for the lymphatic system. I also eat it raw.  

Moira took all the beautiful Aloe photos.  The color is amazing up close. 

New Microwave Flaxseed Facial Pillows

I have beautiful new Microwave Flaxseed facial pillows in stock.  These are the specialty pillows that I make to fit around the forehead, jaw and TMJ.  These are always unscented pillows with plain Organic flax.  These fabric is from local Daytona Beach area designer BJ Lantz.  My goal for 2013 is to have more fabric varieties of these pillows to choose from. 

Lemongrass Has Gone to Seed

My lemongrass has gone to seed.  Check out how tall it has gotten. I planted it here a couple years ago and left it alone.  Comfrey and Lemon Rose Geranium plants also included.

Best of Indie Spotlight: Gifts Teens Will Love

My ecofriendly gift set was featured in Nerd Wallet's Gift's for Teens Blog post.  I love this patchwork cloth wallet too.  Read more here Best of Indie Spotlight: Gifts Teens Will Love

Winter Sowing Container Count - 43

Moira and I scavenged the neighborhood last night.  We found all these soda and water bottles in the recycling for Winter Sowing.  

Here they are cut in half and filled with soil.  Tessa and Moira helped me plant seeds and seal them up.  We planted beans, peas, squash, various herbs, tomatoes, okra.  I can't remember everything we planted, but it is all labeled with a sharpie.

I'm at 43 containers and counting.  If you'd like to join me, please do.  I'm the only one participating from zone 9 in the Seed Traders Winter Sowing Zone wars event!

Best of New Years Day Gardening Photos

Lacinato Kale

I spent new years day gardening I hope you like the photos.  The first set was taken at the Bonner Center Community Garden.  The Komquats are at my Father in Law's house.  It is a tree that my husband and I gave him one year I think for his birthday.  Great harvest this year from such a little tree.

Beds that my friend David and I planted at the Bonner Center Community garden.

Dave and I are taking care of them.  I mulched all around the beds the other day.

My family's favorite vegetable.

Time to take the fairy out of the sun.

Siberian Kale Bed after thinning

Transplanted Siberian Kale

Siberian Kale in the spiral garden

Brocolli and Mint

Shallots

 

Komquats from Leo's Garden

They are very mild and you can eat them whole.. skin and all.

Maybe I should be saving the seeds.

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a blessed, happy and prosperous 2013. We are celebrating the 12 days of Christmas here it seems. The other day I found 3 wrapped gifts on my book shelf, two for my husband, and one for his mother. Some wonderful handmade gifts, I thought something was missing! My mother has been hiding Christmas gifts and forgetting about them for years. Fabulous!  It can be fun when things don't go quite according to plan.  Christmas Day I opened a gift from my Mother in Law with a piece of paper that said "on the way."  Loved it!  She and I get to exchange gifts again tomorrow, the slow to arrive gift for me and the forgotten gift that was on my book shelf.

My mother, her mother and me

These were two of the missing gifts.  The first was a t shirt for my husband from IceCreamTees (he loved it by the way).

These are customized.  His says 2004.  Shipping was very fast from Canada.

One of the other missing gifts was dish clothes from Lupy4You, an Etsy shop that have purchased from multiple times.  All of the training pants that I have purchased for Tessa have been from Lupe's shop. She also has hats for 18 inch dolls, and Moira was very excited to get a hat for her Molly doll from Lupe.

 

Dish clothes from Lupy4you

I'll be posting lots of new items for 2013 soon and maybe a few other handmade favorites from this Christmas.  : )  Enjoy.