Some Great Spring Gardening Tips 2014

Compliments of The helpful gardener

This year I need all the help that I can get to make the most amazing garden in the universe. I WANT to be called the Ninja Gardener heee.. 

Great Spring Gardening Tips 

Pruning For early blooming shrubs such as forsythia and viburnum,  prune them as soon as blooms have passed. Early  spring is also an ideal time to prune your roses. Deadheading Remove spent flowers from bulbs,  but leave the rest of the plant as is for the time being. Weeding Pull weeds from your beds and borders  before they have a chance to take hold and spread. Composting Tend to your compost if it has been neglected  over the winter. If you do not have a compost bin,  spring is a great time to start one. Tools Spring is a good time to prepare your tools  for the oncoming gardening season and to make  any necessary repairs or new purchases. You will  be happy you have done so when summer sets in. Plant Spring is a great time to add new  plants to your garden. Be sure, however, that  all threat of frost has past. Plant such things trees,  shrubs, hardy annuals, and summer blooming bulbs. Fertilize & Mulch Fertilize and mulch beds and borders.  Spring is also a good time to fertilize fruit trees.  If you applied heavy winter mulch for protection from  the cold, you will need to clear it away. Staking Stake plants that may be prone to wind damage  during the unpredictable spring weather. Lawn Care Spring is the best time to start a new lawn from  seed. For established lawns, you should start  mowing in the spring, but don’t initially cut the grass very short for the first few times. Of course, whether you start these  chores in early, mid, or late spring depends  on the climate where you live, taking in to  account such factors as when the threat of frost  has past or when the ground is thawed enough to  dig. I hope these tips will give you a good idea as to  where to focus your attention in your garden this spring. Enjoy!

25 Tips for making camping easier by One good thing by Jilliee

These are awesome tips and tricks for camping 

Onegoodthingbyjilliee.com

Home Got Vinegar? You Have A Cheap and Easy Weed Killer!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

25 Tips For Making Camping Easier & More Fun!

This is one of those posts that really has no rhyme or reason to it….other than it interested me! Maybe it’s the fact that my nephew Nate just bought a camper, or maybe it’s just that time of year, but for some reason I’ve had camping on the brain and I’ve seen a few very cool ideas recently that I thought if I WERE to go camping…I would probably take advantage of! :-)
We actually don’t do much camping…but we love being outdoors and having bonfires in the backyard. Maybe we just need to take it to the next level. I think some of these ideas might just help us do that!

Tips For Making Camping Easier & More Fun!

Tacos in a Bag  -  Camping With Gus
A quick camp meal with almost no clean-up, but lots of novelty, that your kids will be talking about long after the camping trip is over.

Reading Lamp  -  Flickr.com
A simple system that is easy on the eyes. A gallon milk jug filled with water with a headlamp pointing into the water.



Campfire Cones  -  Kids Activities Blog
These “S’more Cones” are yummy and super easy to make!

Solar-Powered Lights  -  Field and Stream
Put solar-powered garden lights near tent stakes, so you don’t trip over the lines at night.



Camping Scavenger Hunt  -  The Creative Homemaker
A scavenger hunt list with pictures even little kids can understand.



Campfire Orange Blueberry Muffins  -  Tasty Kitchen
An easy, fun family favorite Campfire Dessert that you throw right into the fire!



Cordless Water Pump  -  Harriett Carter
Cordless water pump dispenses bottled water without lifting or spilling. Specially designed pump snaps onto a 5 or 6 gallon bottle.

Clever Camp Kitchen Organizer –  Starling Travel
Use a shoe organizer to help with camp kitchen set-up.



Orajel For Mosquito Bites  -  Thrifty Fun
Use Orajel or any toothache gel medicine to stops the itching from mosquito bites.



Eggs In A Mason Jar  -  The Pomegranate Chronicles
Empty a dozen eggs into a mason jar for easy travel. They fit perfect in the cooler without the worry of breaking. Just pour them out as you need.



Camping Donuts  -  Aloha Knitter
These “donuts” are made from canned biscuits. Poke a big hole in the center and fry in a skillet. Dust them liberally with sugar and cinnamon, and you have Camping Donuts!

Keeping Your Camp Toilet Paper Fresh and DRY!  -  Alaska Outdoor Journal
Coffee cans are wonderful for keeping your “important papers” dry and ready for use under any outdoors weather condition. The plastic Folgers can has a built-in handle for easy carrying to the campground outhouse or out in the woods.



Take The Stings Out Of Bites  -  Alaska Outdoor Journal
For any kind of bite, sting, itch or minor skin irritation, carry a Zilactin Toothache Swab. It provides instant numbing and cooling of any skin problem. Safe, clean, portable.

Banana Boats  -  Lick My Spoon
This no-fuss dessert is absurdly easy, and sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.



Recycled PB Jar Camping Lantern  -  Made By Cynthia Rae
Turn it on and watch it flicker and glow!



Easy Camping Pancakes  -  A Mum ‘n The Oven
When preparing to leave home, fill baggies with pancake batter, tie off the end and when you are ready, just snip the small ends to use as a piping bag and you are ready to cook!

Tin Foil Dinners  -  Simple Bites
An ideal dinner if you don’t want to spend much time cooking, yet want to serve a meal that’s wholesome and satisfying. The best part? No dishes to wash up!



DIY Firestarters  -  Mommy Savers
An easy DIY firestarter you can make with stuff you normally throw away.  Wad up your old dryer lint and stick it inside a toilet paper tube.



Toasted Starbursts  -  Life As We Know It
Sounds crazy enough that it just might be good! :-)



Portable Camping Organizer  -  Kamp Kadi
Clamps conveniently on a table/grill or stakes in the ground. Has a Hands-Free Flex-Light, Radio/lantern holder, paper towel holder, adjustable condiment rack, movable utensil hooks, waste bag hoop, durable carry and storage bag.



Luggable Loo  -  Little Vintage Trailer
A 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat attached to the top. Add some kitty litter in a plastic garbage bag and it makes a great portable toilet so you don’t have to go to campground bathrooms for those late night potty runs.



Campfire Pizza  -  What’s Cooking America
Surprise your family with pizza on your camping trip! Using pre-made pizza crust that comes in a tube makes it a snap to prepare. Remember, any type of pizza that you can make at home, you can make in a Dutch Oven!

Carry Duct Tape Minus the Bulky Roll  -  Field and Stream
Duct tape can be a lifesaver. But carrying an entire roll takes up valuable space inside a backpack—and you probably won’t need that much tape. Wrap a couple feet around a Bic lighter, so you always have a short supply inside your pocket.

Another Camp Kitchen Organizer  -  Prepared Not Scared
A great way to organize EVERYTHING you will need to cook and prepare meals OUTDOORS using a tool organizer!

Laundry Detergent Water Dispenser  -  Great Wild Outdoors
Recycle that old detergent bottle and take it camping with you as a portable hand-washing station. Perfect for kids and adults to wash up before meals.

 .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

So….what do you think?  Have you been bitten by the camping bug too?

Almost makes you want to pack up the car, van or RV right now and hit the open road doesn’t it!?!?  Almost??  :-)

How do YOU make camping more fun and less stressful?

Delicious & easy camping meals to make summer fun

Get your cast iron ready. 
Weeze about to go camping!

I am going camping and I needed to find some simple camping meals. I found these amazing, delectable, easy to prepare meals on some fabulous blogs. Time to start shopping for ingredients.

DUTCH OVEN BLUEBERRY CINNAMON ROLLS

 Dutch oven madness Recipe 

Campfire Breakfast Potatoes 

Dirty Gourmet Recipe

Dutch oven bacon cheese pull apart

Rhodes recipe

Lumberjack campfire breakfast

Echos of laughter recipe

Darn good cinnamon donuts 

Sassy Susan creates recipe

Don't forget the must have french toast

 RV Camping Recipe

Next on to Lunch

(we never can leave onegoodthingbyjilliee.com out) 

Found this on her site but it actually was given by camping with Gus. 

Tacos in a bag 

Camping with Gus recipe

Can not forget the campfire Yummy Hobos

Cheftessbakeress recipe

Campfire Quesadillas 

The Dirty Gourmet recipe

Summer sausage campfire packets ooo boy! 

 Taste of home recipe

It's been a long day of summer fun. Time to wind down and make some fab dinner to fill our tummy's...

Campfire Mac and Cheese Ooo My! 

 Spoonful Recipe

Chili Lime Roasted Corn

 

Viv Magazine Recipe

I am not a fan of aluminum in my system but these camping recipes looks too yummy to resist 

Potato Boat

Echos of Laughter recipe

Pigs in a blanket (easy as pie) Is pie really that easy?

Recipe:

Skewer

All beef hot dogs

I package of crescent  rolls

Wrap dogs in crescent roll/attached to skewer 

cook over a warm and toasty fire

YEA!

Lastly we must address the most serious issue! Dessert HA! 

GOOEY ALMOND CHEX MIX (great for make ahead snack)

Six Sisters Recipe

Butter my butt and call me a buscuit 

Pineapple upside down cake WhoA! 

 Echoes of laughter recipe

Campfire banana boats (Quick & Easy)

Taste of Home recipe

Have fun camping although these are great anytime of the year recipes. ENJOY!

Instagram Tuesday Photography Buff

FINALLY SPRING

BEHIND CULVERS

BIRD LOVE

COOL IMAGING PROGRAM I FOUND

Family Your Way gives 102 ways to embrace summer

Summer is right around the corner and kids are getting extra antsy. Sometimes, summer flies by in the wink of an eye. Sometimes, spring has barely ended and summer is wrapping up. I found this awesome article to inspire you to live summer to its fullest. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

101 Ways to Embrace Summer 

{The 2013 List}

Christians; how can you test your fruit? Fruit of the spirit! What fruit are you producing? Part 1 Love

Galatians 5:21-23 (KJV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
You want to be checking yourself to see if you are walking in God's ways. How do I do that? A great way to do that is to see whether or not you have fruit, and what your tree is actually producing?

A Tree Is Known by Its Fruit Luke 6:43-45(KJV) 

“For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Imagine looking out into your yard to see the most amazing tree. Beautiful and glorious to look at. It is a pear tree. It will yield the most succulent, juicy pears. Nothing like you have ever seen. The problem is that you need to feed your family from this tree and as you look at the tree you notice that it only bore 1 pear. 1 pear to feed your entire family! The most delicious pear you have ever eaten. Now you need to share that with your family.

A great place to start is to measure your heart by the fruit it is producing. Are you producing many fruits of the spirit or are those fruits you are bearing rotten and inedible. You need to be looking at the motives and intentions of your heart. We will start with the fruit of Love. 

First we want to examine our lives, our thoughts and motives, our actions and intentions to see if our life is bearing the fruit of love? 

The bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (KJV)
Charity (love) suffereth long, and is kind; charity (love) envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.Charity(love)never faileth.

Now let us look at what that scripture means if  you break it down. 

Do you Suffereth long; to be of long spirit; not to lose heart, preserves patiently and bravely in enduring misfortunes and troubles. Bearing offense and injury of others. To be mild and slow in avenging, slow to anger and slow to punish.
Are you kind?;To show one's self mild, to be kind and use kindness. Act benevolently
Do you envieth not?; To burn with zeal. To be heated or to boil with envy, hatred, anger.
Do you vaunteth yourself?; To boast one's self, to display, employing rhetorical embellishments in extolling (Praise enthusiastically) one's self excessively. Strongs (middle voice)
Are you puffed up?;To make natural, pass into nature, puff up and make PROUD? To bear one's self loftily. Proud.
Do you behave unseemingly?; to act unbecomingly
Do you seek to have your own way?;
Are you easily provoked?; To make sharp, sharpen, to stimulate, spur on, urge. To irritate, provoke, arouse or anger, to scorn or despise. Make angry or exasperate. To burn with anger.
Do you think evil things?; Think; to reckon, count or compute, count over. To take into account or make account of. To weigh the reasons, to deliberate. To consider.
Evil; of a bad nature, not such as it ought to be. Of a mode of thinking, feeling and acting. Base, wrong, wicked, troublesome, injurious, pernicious destructive and baneful.
Do you rejoice in Iniquity?; Iniquity is injustice, unrighteousness of heart and life. A deed violating law and justice. To act unrighteous.

Keep in mind that if you behave unseemingly around your buddies and then Godly around your Christian friends at church, you are still behaving unseemingly. If you are patient with your coworkers and out of control with your children. You do not carry the fruit of patience.


If you can honestly say, " I posses and exhibit the fruit of love" then great. Otherwise you can use God's example of what love is and start asking Him to produce this fruit in your life. You can repent and ask God to start working in that area and rest assured our loving, gracious, full of mercy Father will be more than happy. That is after you come in true remorse and repentance letting him know how truly sorry you are for not walking in His ways. God already knows your heart and whether you mean what you say or not. Once true repentance takes place you will being to see true change. You will begin to see Christ formed in you in these areas. 

Keep in mind that any time we produced fruit, it is not for our benefit, but for the Father's Glory and Honor. Isaiah 43:7 “Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” (KJV) 

Jeremiah 9:23-24
“Thus says the LORD:
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the LORD, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight,” says the LORD. ” (NKJV)