~Friendship Garden~

Friendships mean so much to all of us! What does friendship mean to you? The best part of friendship for me is meeting and learning about someone for the first time and then nurturing that friendship. I love making new friends! Which leads me to my latest adventure.

Each new year, My children and I work on a project that helps to benifit others. Since most of my family participates in the gardening season, we though to do a project that involves gardening.

This year we are planning a Friendship Garden! Our Friendship Garden will connect us with seniors in our community. Our thought is this: We will grow a seperate garden in our yard named The Friendship Garden!

We will try to grow as much as we can and donate all the veggies from that garden to seniors in our area! Doesnt that sound Fabulous! We have 17 seniors on board so far to recieve 3 to 4 harvest of fresh veggies throught the summer growing season. Hopefully more if all goes well. The seniors we have chosen are on limited incomes and may not have the extra money to purchase nutritional veggies on their own.

As our Friendship Garden starts to take off and grow, I will post pictures and updates here on my blog. I will be updating you on the progress we are making and show you pictures of the food we will be giving to the seniors. As time goes on, my kids will be talking and meeting with the seniors. Also, we are going to feature the seniors we meet and introduce them to you. As we get to know them we will share our experiences with you. Hopefully we will change their lives by providing healthy foods and our friendship. As I know, they will change our lives by allowing us into theres .

Most of you know how expensive it is to start a garden. We are seeking a little help. Do you have extra seed you would like to donate to our Friendship Garden. We would greatly appreciate any help you can give!  Part of why we decided to name it a Friendship Garden, was all the support from my friends in real life, Twitter, Facebook and the Blogging world. Many of you that I talked to, thought this is a super idea and a great way to get kids involved in gardening and giving!

I have had a few Friends donate to my project so far:

My good friend Miss Nessa whom I met through Twitter & talk alot to on Facebook, Donated  a $25 gift card from  Johnny's Selected Seeds http://www.johnnyseeds.com/ Which I used to buy French Fingerling Potatos (which will be here in March) Fino Verde Basil and Black Cherry Tomato's.(The Potatos took a good bulk of that gift card!) She is Launching a wonderful new blog for gardeners and you can find her here: http://horticulturemadness.blogspot.com/ She has many other blogs too! But lets help her kick off her latest!

I also recieved seeds from another Twitter Pal @Cityslipper who recently was giving away seeds on his wonderful blog that you can find here: http://www.smallkitchengarden.net/

He donated, Blue Hubbard Squash & Neck Pumpkins!

Thanks Miss Nessa and @Cityslipper for your help in getting The Friendship Garden started!

My family and I have donated:

Yellow Pear Tomatos

Scallions

Black Beauty Egg Plant

Zucchini

Okra

The Sheltons, Friends of the family have donated the Harvest from there Plum tree in the late summer months!

If you are intrested in donating seeds, please send me an email to 4bratz2luv@gmail.com

I will then give you the information you need to send us your seeds!

If you have any thoughts or ideas that may help us out, let us know!

We hope you will join us on our journey!

 The Friendship Garden is going to be Awesome and great fun!

Im also looking for somone who is computer savy, to make me a small header that says Friendship Garden! That way I can post that header everytime I blog about the friendship garden. In advance, Thanks for your help in kicking of this project!

Happy Gardening!

Honest Scrap meets my Honest Crap!

Hello Friends! It seems I am the latest victim to be hit with the Honest Scrap Award!
I am honered, I think, lol.

My pal Daniel ( @cityslipper) from Twitter has bestowed this joyous piece of scrap my way! He has a great and very useful blog called Your Small Kitchen Garden http://www.smallkitchengarden.net/ Check it out! He has a great Love affair for Squash!

Recipients of the Honest Scrap award are supposed to reveal ten truths about themselves, and then extend the award to seven other bloggers. Of course I have to except this challenge and share with all my friends!

Most of you already know I love to Garden, Preserve and Cook my own foods from my Garden! So let me share what you may not know! Are you ready to dive into the mind of a Mom who wears many hats! My story goes as follows...........

I have lived in California all my life and in the same general area since birth. Recently my hubby has said we will be making a move to West Virginia in the next few years! I hear its cold there and it snows! Should be intresting! My first question was, how long is the growing season, lol.

I had my first child when I was 18, my second at 20 and a third at 21. I was 29 when I had my fourth child after being told I would never have children again. Miracles do happen! My hubby and I have 3 girls and 1 boy. There names are Lindsey(17), Hannah(15), David(14)& Kyla(6). I was a very young mom and learned everything the hard way! I wouldnt change it for the world, they are my life and bring me inspiration in some form or another on a daily basis. Ive been married 15 years and we have known each other for 21 years. We have been in each others life more then half our lives. The best part we still like each other and love each other deeply.

After my third child I went back and graduated High School and then went to college! I got a degree in nursing and worked in Labor and Delivery and Surgery. I assisted the Dr in surgical procedures and I never had a dull day at work. Blood and guts are always intresting and the Human Body is a wonderous thing to learn about! My ultimate goal was to do Pathology and autopsys. I like gross and morbid. I liked the mystery of learning how the body failed or learning how a person lost life. How the human body works and adapts just fascinates me.

As my career got started I became pregnant with my miracle. She was 4 pounds when she was born. She fought hard for her place in this world and continues to fight. At 9 months old she was at failure to thrive. She wasnt growing or gaining weight and the Dr's started searching for answers. When she was 2, we recieved answers after she had a stroke and developed 3 blood clots in the Thalmus of her brain. They resesitated her twice. We almost lost her!They said they didnt think she would ever walk again! A week later she walked! Her body chemistry didnt turn out so well. She doesnt retain Iron or Protien, has Celiac Disease and a small case of Khrones Disease. For a year we injected meds into her twice a day and the clots went away. She has Brain scans 2 times a year. She has made a full recovery and folks cant even tell she ever struggled! She is my Miracle!
After my daughter became ill I started caring more about what went into my families bodys and looking for ways for them to be healthier and eat better. Celiac disease is tricky and a special diet helps them tolerate food better. We try very hard to eat Gluton free. This started my path into growing and preserving my own food and eating grass fed beef etc.I have researched so many things to help her be healthy and it has also helped the rest of my family.

Here is some intresting factoids about me: I love Rock music and some metal. Im very big into the 80's hairbands era. Motley Crue and Poison were my favorite bands. Im also a huge fan of The Grateful Dead. The Greatful Dead was my first concert at 7. I recently saw them on mothers day without Jerry Garcia obviosly, they are now just called The Dead! I have seen 13 shows throughout my life. I have 22 records of the grateful dead that I will never get rid of and collect anything related to The Grateful Dead. I love listening to them while gardening!

My father was a Gold Miner and mined for gold in Forrest Hill area. Him and my Uncle had a claim and I spent every summer until High school there with him. He taught me to live of the land, build shelter, fish, garden and pan for gold. He also taught me how to shoot a shotgun for hunting. The first time I shot a shotgun, I dislocated my shoulder. I didnt hold it properly and it was a lesson I only needed to learn once, lol...

I Garden before I clean my house. My house is never clean, its definitly lived in! I dont do laundry, hubby does it all and I put it away! Im one of those people who will hide all the crap in a spare room to make the one part of the house clean. I never put things where they belong! The cleaniest place in my house is my kitchen, because im in it 3 times a day!

I love movies!!! I am a big Horror movie Fanatic, I watch them all! I am a big fan of Rob Zombie Movies and his music. I like twisted! Im also a big Tim Burton fan. Love all his movies. I also like Black and Whites and subtitles! Im a big sucker for musicals. Rocky Horror Picture show Is my ultimate musical. I used to watch it when I was a kid, My mom and my aunt took me to see it at the theater when i was about 12 and it was amazing. We threw rice, toast, shot water guns for rain scenes and did the time warp in the aisles.As a kid it was amazing watching people dressed up on the stage copying the movie and all the props of the audiance. As a kid I had no idea of what the movie really was all about, As an young adult I got it, lol.

I love to be crafty and make things and Recycle stuff into useful things! I love making cards and scrapbooking. Although I havent finished any of my kids books yet, someday I will! I like being creative and I love to teach others what I am doing! I think thats why I started a blog! I have really enjoyed my blog and reading back over the year. I am greatful to all the friends and people I have met from blogging and twitter. The sharing of recipes and Garden tips that I have learned from all my bloggiful friends and I appreciate you and who you are!

I am currently awaiting surgery! A year ago I had a partial Hysterectomy. I kept my ovaries, so I wouldnt need Hormones. Recently They have found a mass on one of my ovaries. They will now remove my ovaries and put mesh in my stomach to push the 7 Hernias I have back in to place. After my Hysterectomy I didnt take time to heal, I resumed life like normal which caused all the Hernias! The upside is I will get a tummy tuck, due to the destruction happening in my tummy. They have caught this mass and destruction early and we are very optimistic! I am anxious, yet excitied to be better and start healing. After all Summer Gardening is vastly approaching, so I must be better!

Now it is time for me to toss the Honest Scrap award to 7 lucky folks! I have picked these seven people because in some way they have brought great Happiness, Inspiration and Friendship through blogging.

Trina http://gardenmom29.blogspot.com/

MangoCheeks http://allotment2kitchen.blogspot.com/

Jenn http://cheeseheadgarden.blogspot.com/

Bill & Venus http://sacramentogardening.blogspot.com/

Bangchik http://mylittlevegetablegarden.blogspot.com/

Sue http://acornergarden.blogspot.com/

Diane http://blog.yardfairy.com/