Healthy living

Apartment Gardening

Posted on by Jean Campbell

Just because you don't have an inch of earth where you live doesn't mean you can't have a productive and yummy garden. There is always the glass jar sprouting method described early in March. But I've learned a new way to make a garden happen indoors, and FAST! I took some pint-sized plastic to-go food containers and poked a knife through the bottoms in several places. I filled them with potting soil and watered well first so as not to upset the seeds. I added a pretty thick layer of... Continue reading

Mindfully putting away the cigarettes

Posted on by Richard Kirby

As of this writing, I am a non-smoker for a month-and-a-week-plus, after smoking a pack of cigarettes each and every day for almost 30 years. Ridding myself of cigarettes is a wonderful feeling, and I am certain I will be smoke-free for the rest of my life. That certainty -- knowing that I will succeed in my effort -- is new to me. I cannot say how many times I have tried to quit before and failed; all I know is that there have been too many. In the past, my success rate varied before I... Continue reading

Windowsill Salad Garden

Posted on by Jean Campbell

I'm ready for a big, hearty salad out of my own garden -- NOW! But my lettuces, although lovely and green, are still rather small. If I picked them all I could come up with one good chef's salad, but that would be it, and I'm impatient! What's a girl to do? Sprouts to the rescue! Sprouts of edible plants are packed full of goodness. In order to ensure the plants-to-be get a good start, sprouts begin life overloaded with nutrients. They contain significant amounts of vitamins A, C, and D,... Continue reading

Beekeeping in the ‘burbs

Posted on by Jean Campbell

I'd seen an ad for a meeting about beekeeping in the Homewood Star, a paper and online publication for news and entertainment in Homewood, our little community. The talk would be held at the new Sims Ecoscape site, a plot of land donated to the city of Homewood for ecological efforts by Catherine Sims for the use as a community park and outdoor classroom. It was a very chilly day, but the sun was shining and the information was interesting enough to almost not notice how cold it... Continue reading