Friday Favorite: Seedling Heating Mat
A week or two ago I pulled my seedling heating mat out of storage. When I first got into seed starting, my mom gave me her old one that was 9″ x 19-1/2″ (the size of one seed tray). My warm soil loving seeds were much happier; they germinated quicker and at a much higher percentage rate. After that first season, I knew I needed a larger one.
The next winter, I bit the bullet and ordered a large heating mat, one that will fit 4 trays of seeds.
It’s probably the best money I’ve spend when it comes to starting seeds, worth every single penny. Since all my seeds are started in the cold basement, the soil temperature never goes above 55 degrees or so. As a result, many seeds were slow to germinate, especially my favorite – ONIONS! I could probably rotate seedling trays around our wood burner, the air is so dry I’d have to monitor them more closely. Let’s not even talk about the annoyance of having 10 flats of seeds in the kitchen or the chiots who loves to eating potting soil.
When using a heating mat, you have to be watchful of soil moisture levels as the soil dries out much more quickly. Plastic domes over the flats are a must to help retain moisture. I turn off the heating mat when about 25% of the seeds have germinated because it’s no longer needed.
I haven’t noticed an increase in my electric bill when using a heating mat, it doesn’t draw that much power. The higher germination rate of seeds would more than make up for the cost. If you’re new to seed starting, I’d highly recommend considering a heating mat for your seeds, it will make your seed starting experience so much better!
Do you use heat when starting seeds?
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Friday Favorite: Graph Paper
Growing up in South America gave me a love of graph or quadrille paper. For some reason, it’s the paper of choice there, ruled paper is not easy to find. Since I possess a slightly obsessive side, this plays right into my love of straight lines and tidiness. I don’t use graph paper much anymore since most of my work is done on the computer, it is still my paper of choice when it comes to garden planning.
Since my garden is much bigger now, I was thinking about taping a few sheets of graph paper together, then I stumbled upon 27 x34, 1″ Square Easel sized graph paper – SCORE! This gives me more than enough room to plan out the big main edible garden down to the square foot. I also purchased a pad of 11″ x 17″ quardille paper paper for planning purposes – my small sheets weren’t large enough to plan out an entire year.
Graph paper bring me much joy and happiness, I love nothing more than to sit down with a fine point pen or pencil and a piece of graph paper. Even though I spent much of my day writing and planning on the computer, I find deep satisfaction in writing with a nice pen on good paper.
Do you have a favorite kind of paper or textile for writing/planning?
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Friday Favorite: The Cold
It’s a bit frigid around here. Nighttime temps have been down to around -5, daytime temps in the single digits. The wind is fierce, making it feel 20 degrees colder than it is. I don’t mind the cold, I bundle up a few times a day to head out to feed the chickens, water the ducks and check on the garage cat. We also bundle up and walk down to get the mail. To me, living in a place where I can experience temperatures below zero and up in the 80’s is perfect, just what I want; I really enjoy the variety!
This cold weather will make the warmth of summer that much sweeter. And the heat of the summer makes this cold snap something to enjoy. I must admit, whenever the temperatures get so cold I think about the people that came long before us that didn’t have cars with heaters and all the warm mod cons we have. The Long Winter definitely comes to mind, perhaps I’ll curl up with that this weekend.
What’s the weather like outside your window?
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Friday Favorite: Beautiful Days
Yesterday was a lovely morning. We happened to wake up before the sunrise and enjoyed our coffee while we watched the sun come up over the horizon. Wednesday, a winter storm rolled through and a fresh dusting of snow blanketed the ground. After putting in a few hours of office work, we headed out for some late morning chores, Mr Chiots plowed the drive and I tended to all the animals and worked on cleaning the garage.
Next up came the roasting of the coffee for the next couple weeks, meanwhile the ducks played in the snow. These guys are too funny, they definitely make us laugh. They’re just starting to get their wings and they love to run around on their tip-toes flapping them. A couple days ago one of the females made a short flight from the garage down to the house. Our duckies are growing up.
While we stood by the garage eyeing the fresh snow, thoughts of childhood sledding filled our minds. We grabbed a sled from the garage and took a few quick runs down the hill. Notice the ducks watching us, I was waiting for them to grab the sled and ride on down. They seem to enjoy days like today as much as we do.
I don’t think either of us have been sledding since college, you certainly notice how hard the bumps are (of course there wasn’t quit enough snow on the ground). On days like yesterday we’ll spend every moment we can outside enjoying the day!
What’s your favorite way to enjoy a beautiful January day?
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Friday Favorite and a Giveaway
There’s nothing I love more than helping people out, especially friends. I’ve known Beth for many years, we used to be facilitators at a high ropes course together many years ago. She’s the one I got my ducklings from.
Beth has a little boy and another baby on the way. Earlier this year, she started selling Flexi-clips. Now, I know Beth and know she wouldn’t be selling something she didn’t love. When she asked to do a giveaway on my blog I said SURE. She mentioned that these clips would be perfect for gardeners who want to keep their hair out of their eyes when working. She should know, she’s got a small farm with all kind of lovely animals and a nice big garden.
What is a flexi-clip? it’s like a ponytail holder, only better. I’m one to always have my hair pulled back, in fact I keep it long enough just to pull it back, it’s a rare sight to see my hair down. After wearing the flexi-clip for one day I was amazed at it’s staying power. Normally, my hair falls out of it’s ponytail or bun several time a day and I have to redo it. Not the case with this clip, it stayed in all day and there was no tight pony tail headache and no hair snags or knots. It’s so gentle, it has to be much easier on your hair than one of those rubber band ponytail holders which tend to cause breakage and split ends.
If only you knew how hard it was to take a photo in a handheld mirror of my hair in the bathroom mirror. Today we’re doing a giveaway for one of these lovely clips, which you’re sure to love as much as I do. Head on over to Beth’s website and check them out. Use the “go shopping” link in the upper right hand corner to check out what variety of flexi-clips and other things there are. Since I’m a no-frills kind of person, I chose a medium Simple design. They do have ones that are more adorned if you like that sort of thing.
The flexi-clips also look GREAT – more put together than my usual ponytail holder, something I could definitely use! I think I’ll have to head on over and order a few different sizes for ponytails and buns. I might have to take advantage of her buy three get one free sale (details below). If you’d like to see more about her and her family, head on over to her business facebook page. Beth kindly offered to give one flexi-clip away to one of you, simply comment below for your chance to win. Congrats to Lisa at The Cutting Edge of Ordinary for winning.
How would you describe yourself when it comes to hairstyles?
Buy 3 items get 1 free (free item up to $16 value). Buy 3 items through my website, then email me the item you would like for free and I’ll send in the certificate for the free item.
