A good friend of mine actually sent me these seeds, telling me to get a move on I suppose haha. I was lucky enough to find this miniature "greenhouse" on sale at Home Depot. It normally sells for about 8 dollars but if you're lucky you should be able to find it for about 3-4 dollars. I have to admit it's one of the cleanest and most effective ways to start seeds I've tried so far.


I filled the drawers with about 1/3 rocky topsoil, 1/3 potting soil, and 1/3 peat from the peat pods from the greenhouse.
Ideadly you would also have some sort of compost and perlite, but since I didn't have either, I just made sure I used more rocks from the top soil and I mixed in a few bits of decaying cut grass.
We actually left our topsoil outside for a period of time so that a few earthworms had found their way into the soil, fertilizing it. I found a couple of them wriggling around when I was digging through.

I know a lot of people trying to create their own creative/functional herb gardens. While this isn't really a perfect way to do it, it might help show that their isn't any one way to do it. And that sometimes the best things to use are the things you already have laying around, like those drawers. (Just make sure you have enough drainage!)

I've been driving by this place on my way to visit my friend at work about every week. And we finally decided we would stop in to have a look and have one more place to shop locally. The Akron Nutrition Center is located in an old school house so merely walking inside is a cultural experience. They sell a lot of natural/organic foods and supplements (with a lot of options for dietary restrictions), natural beauty products, Green cleaning products, and even natural pet care. If you're looking to make a significant lifestay change, and you've got the money to spend, this place is the way to go.




My parents have been really into smoothies lately so I wanted to check out the supplements they could put into the drinks that might provide nutrients that just the veggies and fruits might not provide.


Something that I used to do because I had really terrible allergies was eat local bee pollen. There are a lot of other nutritional benefits to bee pollen that I haven't really paid attention to, but I really do think that it improved my allergies. I used to have such bad allergies that my sinuses and eyes would swell up so much that it would look like I was crying all day. Things are better now so something must've helped. About 10 grains a day did the trick for me.


Ah, bone broth, the new health trend. Haven't hopped on that wagon yet, but it's really only a matter of time. Chances are I've already been drinking something similar in myour mom's Asian cooking.

Also local cheeses.... local wine... fill in the blanks.


If you're not into the whole been pollen thing, local honey can do the trick as well! Luckily Lancaster has a good few aviaries in the area. I learned a tip today from a nice man at the farmer's market about shopping for local honey. You always want to look for a local phone number on the product because then you know that it's truly local and you can contact the aviary at any time if the product isn't satisfactory.


I never really got into the açai trend. Of course, I never turned it down if it was in a smoothie, but I just don't think I was ever fully convinced by anyone who used it.


Dairy free Mac and cheese, when I finally accept my fate and knock the bad habit of eating dairy, this is what I'll be reaching for... ugh fortunately I keep falling off the wagon, and my skin has been suffering.... rashes and dry spots... bad, Mia.


Dairy free milk options.... sigh.


Looking at my dairy free protein options, if I ever do get serious about weight training again.


A truly magnificent organic tea selection.


They also have a little (tiny, really) library of health books for you to read up on different healthy lifestyle options and cookbooks. These are the two I was most interested in.


Organic and free trade coffees.



I picked this up from the sale section. It was meant to be really, I had been looking to buy some baobab powder online. I was so glad to find this raw, organic variation at a fraction of the price. The powder is made from the fruit of the baobab tree, which is that African tree that looks like it's growing upside down with its roots up in the air. I like to use it in smoothies, oatmeal, and baking. It has a fruity, sweet/tart taste.
You can read the benefits on the label in the picture but the reason why it's so good isn't simply that it contains these nutrients, but it contains a very high amount of each of them, making it a lot more 'nutritious' that a lot of other foods such as salmon and pistachios (in levels of potassium).


Well, I hope this might encourage you to look further into shopping locally in your area. Investing in the local economy is one of the best things you can do for the greater community with the added benefits of quality and knowledge of the products!

I've had these pictures tucked away, gathering technical dust in my tablet's photo gallery. I so enjoyed this class in papermaking but I didn't quite have the words to pair with the pictures. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves though, so here they are!