Make Your Own Chemical-Free Mosquito Repellent

If you have gutters on your house, then your flowerbeds, backyard garden, lawn, and potted plants would benefit from a rain barrel!

My garage door has definitely seen better days. Every time I pull my car into the garage, I look at my poor banged-up garage door and sigh a little bit. But I haven’t actually done anything about it until recently, because I was convinced that my only option was to replace the garage door entirely, and I wasn’t quite ready to commit to such a financial investment. A week or so ago, I had just about had it with my garage door, and was almost ready to start calling around for quotes, when I saw this post featuring a garage door makeover on Pinterest Addict.

My son Erik is always looking for ways to attract more birds to our shared yard (he and my daughter-in-law Kaitlyn live in our basement apartment), which is great because I get to reap the benefits! There’s nothing I love more than sitting out in the backyard and listening to them sing in the morning (the birds, not my kids).

Do you have a green thumb when it comes to houseplant care, or are you just trying hard and hoping for the best? I feel pretty confident in my outdoor gardening skills, but houseplants have always been more difficult for me to take care of.

My daughter Britta has definitely emerged as the gardening guru in our family. Today she’s sharing with us her homemade organic fungicide that is just as effective and much cheaper than the commercial alternatives and won’t hurt the environment, our pets, or our families. Way to go Britta!

We spent a lot of time in the backyard this summer! With our new fire pit and all the bird feeders we added, the patio was a main attraction. Unfortunately, those cute little birds left their droppings all over the place, and the patio umbrella was looking pretty dingy! There was also lots of dirt, dust, and pollen on the umbrella that I didn’t even notice until I started moving it around.

Every summer, for as long as I can remember, my mother has planted a vegetable garden. Even when we lived in Southern California and there wasn’t a lot of room to plant, my mother always had a garden plot in our local community garden. Every Saturday she would drag us kids to weed and water the garden, something we definitely did not appreciate back then. I wish I could turn back time and experience that all over again, because this time I would definitely enjoy it more! :-)

Depending on where you live, you may have already begun digging in your garden this year! We are ALMOST there…but not quite. I can’t wait! I’m itching to get my fingers back in the dirt! Of course with the fun of digging in the dirt comes the related chores, but today we’re sharing a super easy project that will make at least one of those chores easier!

Yesterday was the first honest-to-goodness SPRING-LIKE day we’ve had thus far this year! I seriously wanted to find a meadow filled with wildflowers and run through it singing “Walking On Sunshine!” OK, not really….but you get the idea. :-) It. Was. A. Picture. Perfect. Day. The kind of day when our minds (and hearts) turn towards getting out in the garden again! So today’s post couldn’t have been more perfectly timed! Britta is going to share another garden idea (the girl is OBSESSED I tell ya!) that’s not only extremely PRACTICAL, but BEAUTIFUL too!

I love that my son Erik and daughter-in-law Kaitlyn live in the basement apartment of our house! Especially because I get to benefit from his obsessions/hobbies! Today Erik is sharing his latest with us. :-)  Erik writes……..   This year, I have taken great interest in feeding the wild birds in my neighborhood. I love animals, and was eager to put out some bird seed to see what kind of nature I could attract to my doorstep. It started with a standard, inexpensive, seed blend from the grocery store and slowly but surely the birds made their way to our backyard feeder. But it didn’t take an expert to see that some ingredients in the mix were MUCH more preferred than others.

I love the scents of the season! Spices, herbs, citrus, evergreens, cranberries… they mix and mingle to create the cosy and comforting aroma of the holidays. I’ve done a post or two in the past on how to recreate that scent in your home, but today’s idea is a bit different.   Read More: My Favorite Simmering Potpourri Recipes

My son Erik installed some bird feeders for us a few years ago, and every summer we’ve really enjoyed seeing all the feathered visitors that the feeders attract to the yard! We’ve been able to see several species of finches, hummingbirds, and doves that live in the northern Utah area.