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.