v 3 issue 46: Your Little Gardener

This weeks issue is full of fun garden themed items. We also have tips on organic gardening as well as an organic bug spay recipe, so roll up your sleeves put on some old cloths and get ready to explore, learn and educate with your child.

Cover by Kara May










1 Top-knot organic hats, with a stamp of approval by mixed baby greens, grow along with the heads they cover. Speaking of heads, each hat comes with a package of lettuce seeds to grow in your very own garden. We truly love the fruitful colors of these beanies and we love the price too.

2 Veggie Onesies for the "sweet pea", "perfect peach", or the "apple of your eye" are the pick of the crop at Nubius Organics. All 3 delectably adorable onesies come tucked inside one organic cotton produce bag perfect for toting this year's harvest. A snazzy gift for the baby of a gardening enthusiast.

3 Green to Grow bottles are made of PES plastic, which means no phthalates and no bisphenol-A. No ifs, ands, or buts about it...these bottles are safe for heating and safe for drinking. Start your baby off green and they are sure to grow into strong, healthy and earth-friendly little buggers.

4 You will never find a collection of rain/garden boots quite like this. Dll raingear has hundreds of rain boots from matching Mommy and Me boots to matching rain gear- umbrella, coat and boots. Let your child pick out there own style. Starting at size 6 Toddler and up to adult sizes (mens too). Dll Raingear has everything you need to make Puddle jumping fun.

5 The baby gardener is chock full of artist originals, some vintage pieces, and nostalgic design. A great place for babies & tots to pick up some cute reminders of the good old days. Our favorite has just hatched - this sweet birdie bib comes packaged in it's very own bird nest. How cool is that!?!

6 Step over to Lou Lou's Corner and grab yourself an eggling-hatch a plant. Just tap the top of the ceramic egg to reveal the soil and seed pack inside. A drink of water is all you'll need to keep this hatchling growing for up to 5 months in it's shell. Super great craft for those little ones who need a neat, sweet, and speedy project.

7 Now babies (who aren't big enough for solids!) can eat their veggies too. Those fabulous Peruvian artisans who work with the girls at Purl have knitted up some cute and cuddly veggie rattles for your infant's shaking and tasting pleasure. Get a set of five-while they last-for only $28.00.

8 Add a little of nature's harvest to the dinner table by keeping your bean sprout clean and tidy with a bib from Orange Peel Baby. Eight fruits and veggies to pick from at only $8.- each.

This weeks mom tips:
Cleaning Tip: Use white vinegar to get rid of odor- a bowlful of white vinegar left out in any offensive smelling area will eventually absorb a whole lot of that odor. Also great at getting get rid of burnt popcorn odor in the microwave. Leave an open bowl of vinegar in the microwave with the door open and Voila, the odor will disappear.
Green Tip: Save Water- A dripping faucet wastes up to 20 gallons a day, while a running toilet squanders up to 200 gallons a day. A low-flow shower-head generally will pay for itself in energy saved within four months.
Time Saving Tip: When you see a great toy on sale, buy several and sock them away for your child to give to friends at birthday parties throughout the year.
Financial Tip: Dump Expensive Funds-Many people are smart enough to own no-load mutual funds, but many still throw away money by not paying attention to the annual expense ratio. That's something every fund charges you, but it's easy to miss because it doesn't show up on your statements as a line-item fee. Instead it's subtracted from your fund's performance behind the scenes. The return you see on your statement is after the expense ratio has been deducted from the fund's gross return. The average expense ratio for managed stock funds is 1.5 percent. Smart market watchers tell us we'll be lucky if stocks' long-term gains average 8 percent a year. So if your fund has a gross return of 8 percent and it shaves off 1.5 percent for expenses, you're left with just a 6.5 percent return. Fees have swallowed up more than 18 percent of your funds' return! That's why it's smart to buy index funds or exchange traded funds (ETFs). With annual expense ratios of just 0.2 percent or less, you're going to hold on to a lot more of your returns.


Organic Gardening with your children
Organic gardening is a completely natural way to garden. It doesn't involve nasty chemicals or weed killing sprays. Nature takes care of itself, it has a way of dealing with the typical pests without human intervention. Garden crops can produce just as well without the use of fertilizers. Try companion planting, basil helps deter many pests that affect tomatoes and peppers.
Get rid of the garden pests, safely yet effectively with
Pepper Soap:
Blend four jalapeno peppers and three or four cloves of garlic in a blender or food processor with four cups of water. Place this mixture in another container, and stir in one teaspoon of vegetable oil soap. Let this homemade insecticide set for about twenty-four hours, and strain it through cheesecloth or a wire mesh strainer before pouring it into a sprayer and spraying it on bug-ridden garden plants. Be sure and spray the undersides of foliage, and reapply this homemade insecticide after it rains.
Children are natural gardeners. They're curious, like to learn by doing, and love to play in the dirt. So roll up your sleeves put on some old cloths and get ready to explore, learn and educate together.
While gardening, a child can experience the satisfaction that comes from caring for something over time and observe the cycle of life firsthand.
Children as young as two years old are capable of helping with gardening tasks such as digging and watering. Whereas, older child can plan, plant and take care of their own garden area.
Kids like easy, fast and reliability. Here are a few suggestions:
Sunflowers
Sunflowers are an easy flower for kids to grow. They don't require much attention. They just require full sun and protection from high winds. They will need lots of water especially early on.
Lettuce
A quick and reliable crop to give the child fast results, and also a good way to interest kids in salads. Lettuce likes part shade; keep soil moist especially during the first two weeks.
Snow peas
A quick-growing early crop, and fun for kids to eat right off the vine. Peas prefer cooler, partially shaded locations in the garden.
Cherry tomatoes
Plant in full sun and use seedlings rather than planting from seed. Put in a 2' stake alongside each seedling; they need to be tied loosely to stakes as they get taller. Cherry tomatoes can also be grown in containers.
A few tips:
-Garden for short periods of time; changing activities frequently keeps kids engaged.
-Plant vegetables your child likes to eat.
If your child's first experience with gardening is fun and successful, they are likely to develop a green thumb that will stay with them for life.
* Is it worth buying fruits and vegetables that are organic? Check out the list of produce that's heaviest in pesticides here..... www.foodnews.org