SPROUTS!

Yeah, I'm excited about sprouts. But they're so cute! They're cute little baby plants! These are going to grow into arugula, and I shall have lovely salads. mmmmmm.

The weather here is still a bit schizophrenic with the warm and sunny one day and cold and drowning the next; so I'd doing a lot of my sprouting in a tray made from an old egg carton. All you have to do is tear off the lid, and use it as a tray, and poke drainage holes in the bottom of the egg cups; fill with dirt, plant seeds, keep watered someplace sunny.

This will the be the first time where I'm actually growing something by myself completely from seeds. I do have to send out yet another huge "THANK YOU!!" to Ms. Marsha of Amazing Porcelain of etsy for generously donating me some spare seeds! She's made me a very happy little Izile!

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Speaking of gardens and gardening. . . .

Wow, over 2,000 pages on etsy. Yes, I will not be going over every single page like normal. So, I'll do it in layers, I guess. I'll post a few "gardening" sellers/items every time I post an update on my sprouts. Wow, my blog will be as exciting as watching grass grow! (almost, I'm growing edibles, so that's somewhat more interesting than grass.)

For seeds, I'm going with My Victory Garden today. They caught my attention over some of the other seed providers for a few reasons:
1. TONS of Heirloom varieties
2. a Cherry Tomato variety, which I found after last year that 1 cherry tomato plant will out produce 5 regular beefsteak and roma varieties up here.
3. Rattlesnake beans! My Mom has told me many times about how she had never heard of Rattlesnake greenbeans until she moved to the little town where I was raised. She's also said she's never really found them anywhere else outside of that little town, and how they have been, hands down, the best greenbeans she's ever grown or eaten. I have no place to grow beans, but there's a nod for Mom!

And all the stuff up on etsy, kinda makes me miss my Finger Gnomes. But maybe your garden already has fairies or gnomes? Maybe more than a little friend, they'd appreciate some furniture or a nice place to live?

Rachel's Fairy Houses, a fellow member from FAE (Fantasy Artists of Etsy) has got some of the best pieces for this. Plus, she just won Froud's Artist of the Month (January 2009) for her works. Now, I will say, they aren't the most practical, or inexpensive of items. A full house can run you up to $400.00; but once you see these, the detail, the craftsmanship, the time, effort and love literally POURED into each piece, you'll see why. And if you can't get the whole house together, her furniture pieces are just as amazing and start at $10.00!

Now, the houses should really be viewed at full resolution so you can actually take the time to look at all the individual parts and components. So I'm just going to picture one of her simpler pieces of furniture, a throne with sceptor.