Centerpieces

This will be an ongoing feature that we will update as we get ideas and ideas are sent in! Check back!

So far, we came up with a few ideas for great centerpieces.

Centerpieces for All Occasions

For Christmas: Decorate a mini Christmas tree with silver or gold bows and beads for an elegant look. If your party is more homey decorate the tree with a string of mini pretzels, dried fruit, lifesavors, or tiny cookies. Use your imagination.

Instead of throwing away those broken ornaments…start putting them in a clear glass container and display as a center piece. You can place greenery around it or keep it plain if the container has an pretty shape. Every year you can add more broken ornaments to it.. It’s also a great conversation piece.

For Hanukkah: Put a Mennorah in the center of the table and place greenery around the base with golden colored beads intwined in the greenery.

Do you have a tip? Send it in!

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5 Steps to avoiding heartburn

1- Watch out for trouble foods that cause heartburn; alcohol, chocolate, fatty foods, mints, citris, coffee, and sodas. If you must have them take an antacid before you eat the trouble food.

2- Eating large meals can increase pressure on the stomach, which can cause acid to creep back up the esophagus. Try eating small, frequent meals.

3- Do not wear tight clothing around your abdomen.

4- Try not to bend over right after eating.

5- Wait a couple of hours after eating before you lie down.

Copyright © Lara Velez, All Rights Reserved

About the Author: Lara Velez is a homeschooling Mom of two, wife, business owner and published writer. She runs a large website for Christian Mothers, Moms of Faith and an encouraging blog for wives, Becoming a Wife that Pleases the Lord. She enjoys cooking, reading, scrapbooking, and being a wife and mom.

5 Secrets To Growing Beautiful Roses

BY: Abigail Baker

A rose is a rose is rose - and there are few things in the garden more beautiful. There are 5 secrets I want to share that will help you to grow healthy roses.

1. Sunshine: Plan to put your rose bush in a spot where it will get as much sun at least 6 hours of sunshine a day.

2. Water: Drops of water on the leaves can cause burning, and lead to black spot disease so always water from underneath, soaking the earth until it is damp but not soggy. It is better to water thoroughly once a week than lightly several times in the same period.

Beware if your Roses get too much water, they’ll drown. Water in the morning or at least four or five hours before dusk so that any excess moisture can be absorbed by the heat of the day.

3. Planting & Soil: As soon as the ground can be worked in the Spring, turn the soil to the depth of the spade. To the loosened soil add 1/3 to 1/2 as much again of composted humus like leaf mold, peat moss, or composted manure, together with coarse sand. Make sure to work the soil at least a month before planting.

4. Tidy, Tidy: Keep Roses healthy, it is important to gather up withered petals and leaves and pick off any live leaves with black spots. Prevent black spot – mix 1 tbs of baking soda with 1 tbs of liquid dish soap and 1 gallon of water together and spray your Rose leaves.

5. Prune: Always prune 1/4″ above an outward facing bud. Always use a sharp knife or hand pruners. Never prune in fall. Always cut off the suckers, they grow just below the bud union; follow them down to where they begin and carefully remove them to encourage strong new growth.

Roses are classified into types according to ancestry, bush type, and flower form and size – ask at your local nursery for the type you prefer.

About the author: Abigail Baker is webmaster and contributing editor for Country Mall Place at http://www.acplace.com/

Growing Tomatoes, etc. in Early Spring…

BY: Jim Kennard, President – Food For Everyone Foundation

Q. I’ve heard about so many ways to grow tomato and other tender plants early – from using Wall-O-Water’s to taking the bottom out of wastebaskets, and they all seem to be a lot of work, with no guarantee of success. What do you suggest for someone who’s serious about growing the high-value crops like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants?

A. If you are only growing a few plants the methods you use may not be all that important. However, if you are wanting to grow a sizable garden or maximize your production, you should pay careful attention to the following procedures as taught by the Garden Doctor, Jacob Mittleider. Dr. Mittleider’s methods have been extensively tested and proven highly effective in 30 countries around the world. If these instructions seem difficult or too much work, just consider that you are learning “The Poor Man’s Hydroponic System” that will give you yields of tasty and healthy vegetables between 3 and 10 times what your neighbors get.

Here is a summary of the procedures:

1. Plant your tomato, pepper, or eggplant seeds 8 to 12 weeks before the average last spring frost date – 8 weeks for 8-10″ plants in 4″ pots, and 12 weeks for 12-14″ plants in gallon pots. Peppers and eggplant will take a little longer than tomatoes.

2. Prepare growing mix by combining 25-35% sand and 65-75% sawdust (or other clean material such as peat moss or perlite, etc.), and adding the Mittleider Pre-Plant Mix at the rate of 1 1/2 ounces per 18″ X 18″ X 2 3/4″ seedling flat. You can make your own natural mineral nutrient mixes by looking in the Fertilizer pages of the Learn section on the website at www.foodforeveryone.org/soil_bed_fertilizing/49/how-do-i-mix-t he-pre-plant-formula.

3. Using plain water, thoroughly wet the mixed materials, let sit overnight, then plant about 100 seeds in each of 6 or 7 very shallow rows in the flat and sprinkle sand over the top, just sufficient to cover the seeds.

4. Place burlap over the flat, water gently so as not to move the seeds, and keep the soil moist, but not soaking wet in temperatures between 75 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. No light is needed, but cold temperatures will kill germinating seeds, so pay particular attention to maintaining temperatures in this range if possible.

5. As soon as sprouts emerge, water through the burlap, then remove the burlap and place the flat in full light all day long. Waiting even a few hours will cause your plants to “stretch” looking for sunlight, and will create long, skinny, weak stems, from which your plants will never fully recover. Temperatures can now be cooler than for germination, but remember that your plants will go dormant if temperatures go much below 60 degrees for any length of time.

6. Begin watering daily or as needed to maintain soil moisture, with the Constant Feed solution of 1 ounce Weekly Feed mix in 3 gallons of water (16 ounces in a 55 gallon barrel). Continue with the Constant Feed watering until plants are placed in the garden.

7. When your plants have at least one set of true leaves (not the seed leaves), but before they crowd each other and begin to stretch, transplant at least 2″ apart in flats or 2″ pots.

8. When plant leaves begin overlapping, prune 2 or 3 leaves from each plant. This will shock the plant briefly, and it will make a thicker stem, then after a few days it will again extend the growing tip and produce new leaves. This procedure can be done twice without harming the plant.

9. As soon as leaves begin to overlap the third time, transplant into 4″ or gallon pots, depending on your time schedule for planting in the garden and the amount of space in your greenhouse or growing area. When leaves overlap again, separate the pots to provide unrestricted light to all plants. These procedures will give you plants with short, stocky and sturdy stems, very capable of handling the rigors of growing outdoors.

10. If your plants begin producing sucker stems, prune them all off, leaving only one main stem on each plant. And when the plants approach 12″ in height push a small stick or dowel into the soil near the stem and tie the stem loosely, protecting it from falling over.

11. When the danger of frost is past, transplant your seedlings into the garden. Harden off outside for 2 days first, and then immediately after transplanting, apply 8 ounces of ammonium nitrate to a 30′ row of seedlings – at a distance of 4″ from the plant stems, and water it in thoroughly. Three days later, begin applying the Weekly Feed mix in the same manner.

If you have limited space and cannot accommodate 4″ or gallon pots, or you just want to put your plants into the ground sooner than the ideal time, you may have success using the Mittleider “Mini-Greenhouses.” Cut 4′ lengths of 3/4″ Schedule 200 PVC pipe, then bend them into a capital A shape, with a 4″ flat top, 9″ sides and 13″ legs. Put both legs into the ground at the top of the ridges to a depth of 5-6″. Place a 4′-wide X 33′-long piece of 6 mil clear greenhouse plastic over the bed and bury the edges with dirt on all sides.

Open the ends during the day for air circulation, and on warm days, remove the dirt from one side and lay the plastic in the aisle. Failure to do this may cause your plants to cook, as the mini greenhouses will heat up quickly with sunlight. On nights when frost is expected, put an extension cord with a couple of 100 watt bulbs near the ends of your beds, and for a hard frost use a small heater (be careful you don’t melt your plastic cover).

Complete instructions and excellent illustrations are in Dr. Mittleider’s books at www.foodforeveryone.org/garden_books/.

About the author: Jim is a Master Mittleider Gardening Instructor, and has taught classes and worked one-on-one with Dr. Jacob Mittleider on several gardening projects in the USA and abroad. In the past three years Jim has conducted intensive food production training projects in Armenia, Madagascar, and Turkey. The Foundation website www.foodforeveryone.org provides free materials and information including an ebook, greenhouse plans, Gardening Group, and large FAQ section.

Spring Cleaning Tips For Your Kitchen

By: Lara Velez

The words “spring cleaning” can make the neatest person cringe. They mean more work. As if cleaning all year long wasn’t enough. Spring cleaning is more than just cleaning…it is deep cleaning. Something that most people do not have time for all year long. Since my expertise is cooking, I have decided to focus on spring cleaning and dirt build up prevention tips for the kitchen….

Baking soda or club soda will clean and shine stainless steel sinks easily. Simply apply directly to surface and scrub a dub dub.

To Remove stubborn water spots from a stainless sink scrub with a cloth dampened with rubbing alcohol or vinegar.

To freshen up your “white” porcelain sinks, place paper towels across the bottom of your sink and saturate with bleach. Let sit over night and rinse.

After you’ve cleaned your refrigerator and freezer place an open box of baking soda in the back of each to help absorb odors for about a month.

A few drops vanilla extract on a piece of cotton placed in the refrigerator will also help eliminate odors.

Wipe refrigerator with vinegar after cleaning to help prevent mildew.

Change your refrigerator light bulbs…that way you never have to worry about them burning out during the year.

To clean baked-on food from a cooking pan, put a dryer sheet in the pan, fill with water, let sit overnight then sponge clean. The anti-static agents help weaken the bond between the food and the pan and the fabric softeners will soften the baked-on food.

To clean burnt or scorched pans, sprinkle pans liberally with baking soda, adding just enough water to moisten. Let stand over night.

To get those stubborn stains off of the inside of you microwave; spray liberally with two parts water and one part bleach, heat on high for 20 seconds and let stand for about an hour. The stains should come right off. For really stubborn stains heat for 30 seconds and let sit for 2 – 3 hours.

Copyright © Lara Velez, All Rights Reserved

About the Author: Lara Velez is a homeschooling Mom of two, wife, business owner and published writer. She runs a large website for Christian Mothers, Moms of Faith and an encouraging blog for wives, Becoming a Wife that Pleases the Lord. She enjoys cooking, reading, scrapbooking, and being a wife and mom.

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