Pawpaw Holler Home

Are you just getting started in gardening?

Here are some resources that might help you out:

Free Garden Plan: Beginner Garden in a Day –great for beginners, easy to follow instructions and diagrams

Beginner Gardening Advice & Free Gardening Ebook –beginning gardening questions answered

The Old Farmer’s Almanac: A Beginner’s Vegetable Garden –the basics

BH&G Beginner Perennial Flower Garden for Full Sun –register for free detailed planting guide which includes layout diagram, plant list plus alternatives and complete instructions.

Related posts:

• Gardening Freebies: Printable Garden Journals, Beginners Preserving Guide And 101 Garden Recipes

Happy gardening,

Denese

Here are a couple more resources for helping your children learn about gardening:

Muncha, Muncha, Muncha Lapbook –for preschoolers

My Garden Lapbook –also includes some garden journal/notebooking  pages

Related Posts:

• Gardening Freebies: Printable Garden Journals, Beginners Preserving Guide And 101 Garden Recipes
• More Free Online Children’s Gardening Resources
• A Gardening Conversation And Some Free Online Resources For Gardening With Children
• Buy a Can of Campbell’s Soup and Get Free Tomato Seeds
• Homeschool/Education Freebies: Flowers and Wildflowers
• Neat Links: Nature and Spring

Happy gardening,

Denese

Keep track of your gardening with one of these free printable garden journals –plus learn how to preserve your harvest and get some free garden recipes.

• Free Printable Garden Journal Pages –good format for children, from Frugal Family Fun Blog
• D&G Gardens and Crafts: Garden Journals –individual pages, many different designs, complete design sets, 2009 calendar with and without images.
• Eat Your Yard: Free Garden Journal –9 pages, beautiful background images.
• Free 2009 Garden Journal from Arbico Organics
• Flower and Garden Tips Free Garden Journal –(scroll down), calendar style.
• Gardening Quick and Easy: This Garden Journal –includes favorite garden quotes.
• Homestead Harvest –free downloads of “Original Garden Journal” and “The Beginner’s Guide to Preserving” (scroll down). Sign up for the “Preserving the Garden” newsletter and receive  “101 Fresh Garden Recipes”.

Related Posts:

• More Free Online Children’s Gardening Resources
• A Gardening Conversation And Some Free Online Resources For Gardening With Children
• Buy a Can of Campbell’s Soup and Get Free Tomato Seeds
• Homeschool/Education Freebies: Flowers and Wildflowers
• Neat Links: Nature and Spring

Happy gardening,

Denese

Green Thumb Family -Family and children’s gardening ideas, videos and projects.

Grow a Vegetable in a Bottle

The Great Plant Escape –interactive, unlock the amazing mysteries of plant life with Detective LePlant and his partners, Bud and Sprout.

The Adventures of Herman –the autobiography of Squirmin’ Herman the worm.

Composting with Willie the Worm

Start a pond or bog garden –create mini-ponds and a mini-bog garden. Teachers notes, curriculum and activity sheets.

The Butterfly Website: Butterfly Gardening

Related Posts:

A Gardening Conversation And Some Free Online Resources For Gardening With Children

Buy a Can of Campbell’s Soup and Get Free Tomato Seeds

Homeschool/Education Freebies: Flowers and Wildflowers

Neat Links: Nature and Spring

 

Happy gardening,

Denese

A Gardening Conversation With My Children

Me: “Do you like to garden?”

Abby: “Yes!”

Daniel: “No.”

Me: “You don’t like anything about gardening, Daniel?”

Daniel: “Just eatin’ the stuff you grow and tillin’ up the bed and hoein’ –it’s fun.”

Me: “What do you like about gardening, Abby?”

Abby: “I like planting the seeds and watching them grow –it’s fun! I like harvesting vegetables because we can eat them. If we didn’t harvest them, they’d just go to seed.”

Me: “Do you like everything about gardening?”

Abby: “Almost. I don’t like hoeing and I definitely don’t like pulling weeds, I don’t like harvesting peppers –they smell and make my fingers sting, and I don’t like picking tomatoes –I think they stink! Eeeuw.”

Me: “What do you like to grow?”

Abby: “I like to grow flowers because they’re pretty. I like to grow carrots because I like to eat them! I also like to grow cauliflower, the colorful vegetables and the viney vegetables (the ones that climb). I don’t like onions but I plant them for Dad. I like apples –we planted some of them this year!”

Daniel: “More peas.”

Me: “Is there something new you’d like to grow this year?

Abby: “Yes, cotton and red and blue potatoes –fresh potatoes,yum!”

Daniel: “No.”

Me: “Is there  a gardening project you’d like to do?

Daniel: “No.”

Abby: “I’d like to make a scarecrow for our garden!”

Me: “Would you like to make a scarecrow for the garden, Daniel?”

Daniel: “Yeah!”

Guess what we’re going to do today.

Children’s Gardening Resources

Need some ideas for gardening with your children?

Gardening With Small Children – a good article on gardening with your little ones.

Indoor Gardening Projects For Children –simple indoor gardening ideas for children.

Denver Master Gardener’s: Gardening With Children –gardening fun, projects, “All About Honeybees” and more.

KidsGardening.com –from the National Gardening Association. Includes a Classroom Projects Library and Parent’s Primer with info on; plants kids love, structures, projects, theme gardens and gardening safety.

Gardening With Children -Ohio Master Gardeners Resource Guide for beginning or expanding children’s gardening programs with tips on designing gardens for kids and planning children’s programs, downloadable pdf format.

My First Garden -website from the University of Illinois for 4th grade students to learn the beauty, the care involved in planning, nurturing and enjoying the benefits of gardens.

Composting For Kids -slide presentation from the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, also available in pdf format.

Gardening Projects for Children –make mini hothouses, make photographic image cards and make a barometer.

Kid’s Garden Crafts –paint flower pots, make garden markers, wind chimes and more.

Sunflower House & Bean Teepee

Winter Garden Project For Kids: Make A Hanging Carrot Basket

Something we’ve done that’s fun:

Go through the kitchen and plant a little of everything…

• grains -rice, beans, whole wheat, barley
• herbs –poppy seed, celery seed, peppercorns
• seeds and tops from fresh vegetables and fruits -avocado, pomegranate, and lemon seeds, carrot tops, onion bottoms

…then see what grows!

Happy gardening,

Denese

Do you love to garden? Would you like to share the joy of gardening with your children?

The Greenthumb Family Toolkit

Our friends the Erskines, of Homeschool Radio Shows and Homeschool Freebie of the Day, have a super deal on their Greenthumb Family Toolkit -only $5.95 through April 6th!

The Green Thumb Family Toolkit is designed to encourage and inspire your family to learn together, work together and grow together and includes:

• Great garden ideas, tips & projects
• Tried & True Advice from Homeschool Families
• Practical Character building resources
• Homeschool Unit Studies
• Vintage Living Books
• Classic Audio Stories

There’s a total of 19 wonderful resources to help grow your Garden AND your Family…all Spring and Summer long!

Remember, this super deal is only good through April 6th!

Denese

Would you like to grow the same kind of tomatoes used in Campbell’s Tomato Soup?

Through June 21, buy any kind of Campbell’s condensed soup, enter the code on the can at HelpGrowYourSoup.com and request a free packet of Campbell’s tomato seeds.

Grow your own tomato soup!

Denese

Free E-books on Herbs

Herbs for Health and Happiness -42 page e-book covering growing, harvesting, using medicinal herbs, herbal lore and more. From Homeschool Freebie of the Day, available today only.

Culinary Herbs; Their Cultivation, Harvesting, Curing and Uses -all about the herbs we cook with. Originally published in 1912, free e-book from Internet Archive.

Herbal Tea Mini Recipe E-Book -sign up for access (scroll down for more recipes), from Crazy for Tea.

7 Everyday Herbs Made Simple Mini E-book -sign up for the free e-zine of herb tips and get this free e-book with ideas for using seven different culinary herbs and their reported health benefits. From Mad About Herbs.

Websites About Herbs

The Herb Society of America -definitions of herbs, herbal profiles and guides, Family Herb Corner with projects and activities.

LearningHerbs.com -free 7-day video herbal e-course "Supermarket Herbalism", sign up for newsletter and get a monthly herb lesson plus video e-book "Home Remedy Secrets -Building Your Herbal Medicine Chest".

The Herbal Collective -offers free newsletter with health tips, gardening ideas, cooking tips and more.

Wild Healing Herbs -sign up for their free newsletter that shows you how to integrate herbal healing into your life with ideas for simple projects, seasonal recipes and other herb news, plus recommendations for books and other resources.

The Herb Society UK -increasing the understanding, use and appreciation of herbs and their benefits to health.

Lingle’s Herbs -visit their Learning Center for growing guide, quick gardening tips and newsletters packed with neat stuff about herb gardening, cooking, and more.

United States Government Websites

National Institutes of Health: Herbal Medicine

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Related Posts:

Home Remedies/Folk Medicine

Denese

Some Summer flowers to brighten the day.

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; Song of Solomon 2:12

Denese

Good morning everyone! It’s a beautiful sunny day in the holler,just a little cold, hope it’s nice where you’re at.

Warm weather spells, wildflowers coming up, budding trees, baby animals soon, planting season is starting…I’ve got spring fever!

Spring Fever Links

Wonders: A Nature Table Gathering -a wonderful idea for displaying your nature collection. Thank you Renae for passing this along.

No-Till Potato Method -it’s time to plant potatoes. This works if you can get enough straw.

Discover Life in America: Hands on Activities and Lessons for Natural Science -nature lessons and activities for exploring biodiversity in nature from The Great Smoky Mountains National Park All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory.

Exploring Nature Educational Resource -natural science content and materials for educators, students, and parents. Free and paid content.

Celebrating Wildflowers: A Catalog of Images -wildflower coloring book, 300 line drawings.

Great Smoky Mountains national Park 59th Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage -April 22-26, 2009

Forest Wander -”Free Nature Picture Photography of waterfalls, creeks, forests, trees, flowers,wildlife, mountains and other beautiful wonders of God’s creation.”

Colors of Seasons: Spring -beautiful photos of Spring flowers.

Denese