We have warm weather this weekend here in Brooklyn. The snow is melting and the sun is shining. Through my opened windows, I hear my windchimes tinkling. I got up early today and walked to the laundromat to wash sheets and blankets and I'm washing the smaller things in my hand-cranked WonderWasher" hand-cranked machine. Starting this spring, I'll have plots in two community gardens in my neighborhood. The first one is four blocks away behind a Brooklyn Public Library branch, where two gardeners created six plots out of a small unused lawn area. Here, in this 4'x8' plot, I'll grow vegetables. I have all of my seeds--some new and some left from last year. I plan to grow Roma tomatoes, garlic chives, parsley, carrots, zucchini, squash, and corn. In my plot in the community garden that's three blocks away, my plot is a bit smaller (3'x6'). There, I'll grow Yarrow, Calendula, Cosmos, Coreopsis, Canterbury Bells, Asters, Nigella, Cornflower, Chinese Lantern, and Kiss-Me-Over-the-Garden-Gate. I'll use this bed as my flower nursery. When the plants are big enough to transplant, I'll move many of them to the Cottage Garden I've started at the garden's main entrance and I'll put a few in the Perennial section. I plan to buy all of the other vegies I need plus fruit from either a CSA or from Greenmarkets. This way, I can get fresh, organic vegies every week. My other big project this spring is to get ready to exhibit at the Green Festival in New York City the weekend of April 26-27. My business, Anna's Potions and Lotions, will have a booth. I hope to reach some 30,000 people through exhibiting at this festival. I hope you can visit if you're in the New York City area. For more information, go to GreenFestivals.org. When you're there, stop by my booth in the Organic Body Care section.

I've been thinking about living a greener life and what I can do to be "greener." Do I have to be as extreme as people believe Ed Bedley, Jr. to be? Actually, I don't find Ed to be extreme. If I owned a house, I'd have more opportunities to be green than I do now as an apartment renter. But, would I still compost? Yes. (I compost now at my local community garden.) Would I still wash clothes by hand as much as possible? I would. (I have a hand-cranking little washing machine.) And, I'd hang them outside to dry, instead of inside my apartment, as I do now. Would I recycle? Yes, the same as I do now. Would I take short showers? Yes, as I do now. If I had a house, I'd have a rain barrel to catch rain water to use in my garden, if I had my own garden. Truth is, I've been doing green things for many years. In recent years, I've added a number of things to the list of "don't use" list, focusing on electric things. I don't have a microwave oven. No electric nail dryer. I don't have an electric blow dryer, electric curling iron, or electric rollers. I wash my hair in the shower, and let it air dry. I don't have an electric can opener. My electric appliances are limited to the electric stove, oven, and refrigerator that came with my apartment, one blender that I use for making moisturizing creams, a laptop computer, and a printer. I have a tv that's sitting in the closet. I haven't watched it since I moved into this apartment in June this year. I don't even know if I would have tv reception if I plugged it in. I went on a tv "fast" from 2006 until 2011 and I'm on one again now. I have a stereo receiver/amplifier, CD player, and pair of speakers in the living room. And, a small radio/CD player in my bedroom. Of course, I have a battery charger for my laptop and one for my cell phone. But, that's it. No electric carving knife, no electric skillet, no electric grill, no electric rice cooker. No electric shaver or electric paper shredder. No vacuum cleaner or electric rug shampooer (I have wood floors.) No electric mixer or food processor. No electric coffee bean grinder or electric Expresso maker (I'm a tea drinker). No electric hedge clippers, leaf blower, or weed whacker. (If I owned a house, I would still not have these things.) If I had a garden, I'd get some of those little solar lights that light up at night.

Today's Harvest

I harvested some stuff from my community garden plot today:  peppers, curled parsley, pink coreopsis, fennel, lemon verbena, and squash. I give the peppers to my friend Mike, since I can't eat them.  I use the lemon verbena and fennel for tea and I cook with the parsley, after I dry it.

I also picked a lot of marigolds from the Cottage Garden I tend (see photo). After I pluck the petals, I let them dry, and then make a tea for coloring my hair. Sometimes, I use Calendula (Pot Marigold) petals, but I didn't grow any Calendula this year. I've used dried Chamomile tea, too. You can also mix the tea with henna powder and a bit of olive oil to make a paste for coloring your hair (and nails). Henna is great for strengthening nails.

I've never used commercial hair coloring and do "natural" coloring about four times a year, usually when I cut my hair (which I did last week).  So, all in all, with making my own shampoo, my hair care expenses amount to pennies.

Here's a pic of the marigold petals before drying.

In my other community garden plot, behind my neighborhood's public library, I grow Borage, a couple of tomato plants, and a little lavender.  I dry the lavender buds and use them for potpourri.

Of course, I garden only organically and in both plots, use compost. In the end, it doesn't really matter what you grow, as long as it's something you like!

Today's Harvest

I did a little harvesting today at my community garden plot. Picked me some peppers, fennel, coreopsis, curled parsley, and squash.

Links

Welcome! Here are some links for Anna's Potions and Lotions: Honest Products from Nature®

Our website:   www.AnnasPotionsandLotions.com
Our etsy store:    http://AnnasPotions.etsy.com
Twitter.com/AnnasPotions
Facebook.com/pages/Annas-Potions-and-Lotions/223477227707416

Radio Interview:  greenisgoodradio.com/2014/05/annas-potions-lotions-debbie-miller-organic-all-natural-products

Recent article in NYCLens.com that mentions me:   http://nycitylens.com/2014/05//clothes-and-cosmetics-can-be-vegan-too

Organic Spa Magazine blog that features our Sweet Rose Cream:   http://blog.organicspamagazine.com/mothers-day-top-10-green-gift-guide/

Our listing in the National Green Pages:  http://greenpages.org/listing/annas-potions-and-lotions-honest-products-from-nature.html

Summer Gardening in Brooklyn

July 15, 2014

      It's been a fairly mild summer here in Brooklyn, New York so far with plenty of rain falling on my community garden plots. My chili peppers, squash, corn, and parsley are doing well and my Cottage Garden has taken off.

      I garden a 4x6 plot at the Windsor Terrace branch of the Brooklyn Public Library--a small community garden of five plots behind the building. Two active local gardeners received a grant to start the garden, picked up recycled lumber to build the raised beds, and got mulch from the City of New York for the area around the plots. Gardeners take turns watering on days the library is open. We garden organically and start plants from seeds. The library is 4 blocks from my apartment.

     My second plot is in the East Fourth Street Community Garden, located a block from the library, a Green Thumb garden on land owned by the New York City Parks and Recreation Department. The garden has close to 70 members and around 40 individual plots, as well as community areas that are maintained by member work groups. Garden members who maintain individual plots are required to pay yearly dues, put in hours in work groups, host garden "open hours," attend membership meetings, and work during garden maintenance days. We garden organically--no pesticides or herbicides.  I was on the waiting list two years before I got my own 3x5 plot.

     Last year, I proposed creating a Cottage Garden near the garden entrance. The garden's steering committee agreed with my plan and gave me a budget to buy plants. Work group members turned over the soil, added compost, and purchased flowers from a local nursery. The Cottage Garden contains Astilbe, Scabiosa (Pincushion Flower), Cranesbill, Black-Eyed Susan, Columbine, Asters, Purple Coneflower, Gayfeather ((Liatris), Daylilies, Cinquefoil, and Coreopsis, among other things.

     As I have no garden space of my own (I rent a second-floor walk-up apartment in a private home), the opportunity to garden within walking distance of my apartment is a delight!

       

Green Living Tip: Make your own laundry detergent! You can use either liquid Castille soap or a combination of washing soda/baking soda/borax/essential oils. I often wash small articles of clothing in my little hand-cranked washing machine, on my kitchen sink. I can do everything that way, except towels and sheets. For that, I go to the laundromat and then bring home the wet towels and sheets and hang them up in my apartment. Extreme? Well, I do live alone and don't have that many clothes.