Let The Party Begin!

It's been a while since I've added a posting to our blog, seems that my computer modem died and access to the internet became null and void! But things are back on track now and we here at Boola Boola Land have tons of fun, new stuff to share.

First on our list of coolness is our new greenhouse. Well, our new boxed and unassembled greenhouse. We're waiting for a few days of warm loving weather to get out there and dig our foundation and get the ball rolling. We are so mucho excited about this! With the greenhouse set up we'll be able to grow tons of seedlings just itching to find a happy garden to grow big and healthy.

Seedlings in mind, it has been total fun looking through seed catalogs to determine what kind of organic, open pollinated, and diverse seeds we're going to get for this year. We like the unusual and rare so if you're looking to start a garden of your own this year, here are just a few of our favorite sites to get seed from:

Seeds of Change
www.seedsofchange.com

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
www.rareseeds.com

Horizon Herbs
www.horizonherbs.com

Also, a nice link to other green and eco-friendly garden/seed site is:
http://www.greenpeople.org/seeds.htm


As far as favorites here at Boola Boola Land, Julia is expanding her collection of basil seeds, a purple variegated variety has really tickled her fancy this year. She's got a collection of at least 12 varieties so far and it keeps growing! Jen is excited about a new tomato called The Furry Yellow Hog... the reason being, she just likes saying the name... FURRY YELLOW HOG!!! And Barbara, ever so easy on what seeds to buy, is up for anything and everything.

And so as the winter weather continues to grip our little farm here in Virginia, we are planning and getting ready for a season of fantastic gardening. Yeehaw!

Comfrey Cream and Big JIM

The weather has turned cold here in Virginia, and with the cold comes dry hands and skin. Several years ago I was introduced to Nature's Common Scents, a small business located in Front Royal Virginia. What I found was a very knowledgeable women who started working with herbs to create lotions and potions for own family. What I liked the most about her products was that she created things that didn't just look and smell good, they were also good for you. An example? She calls her bars of soap "therapy bars" due to their therapeutic properties. She mentions that if her soaps smell nice, that's great, but the scent is a biproduct of her real goal, and that is to produce high quality bars that have healing properties. Our family has tried several of her Therapy Bars, Creams, and Oils over the years, but the favorites are her Comfrey Cream which has been a blessing for cracked, dry garden hands, sunburns, and feet. Her Big Jims Cream leaves a wonderful warm feeling behind that is great on cold winter days and my grandmother (who is 93 and taken care of by our aunt) uses the Skin Replenishing/Anti-wrinkle Oil daily and has soft smooth skin because of it.

If you have a skin ailment her website is chock full of great products to help and she also has a newsletter you can sign up for that is generally loaded with the latest in skin and health discoveries.

Lastly, every time I have called with a skin problem a friend has had, she has been wonderful at recommending something. At my last job, one of the ladies in the office had a dog who had developed open sores all over its body that vets had no idea how to heal... no drugs or medicines helped. She bought some cream from NCS and a couple of weeks later came in an informed me that the sores had all healed up and gone away. Now? She uses the cream on her own skin!

Check out the website at:
www.naturescommonscents.com

A New Addition!

4 cats were already living on our farm when we first moved here... Sugarfoot, Duncan, Goldie & Belle. We brought several more from our previous homes (all strays in the neighborhoods)... Mel, Piggy, Junebug, Jack, & Hank. Sometime later we were discovered by a stray named Harley. Harley showed up just in time to have two babies of her own, Muggs and Lucy Lu. Now on our recent visit to Georgia to see our Aunt, Uncle, Grandmother, and Cousin we found a little kitten malnourished and barely alive. So..... he is now a new resident of Boola Boola Land! Max Monkey Man Barny Huddleston. Trust us, his personality is as big as his name. In the past week he's gone from barely being able to stay awake and stand to being able to climb up my leg as I sit here and type this. He's cute, he's furry, and he's sweet as cherry pie. So far only Lucy Lu and Junebug have been even slightly receptive to the newcomer, but in time we're sure the rest of the clan (the McCleoud Clan) will reluctantly welcome him to the crew as they have everyone else.... Ooops, please excuse me again! Monkey Man is hitting all of the buttons on the printer.....