#ReaDrea review

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Pool Daze | Vitchelo Waterproof Backpack

Explorer girls need something to keep their stuff dry on aquatic adventures. I am always up for trying something new, especially if it's complimentary from my friends at www.Tomoson.com. 

This water proof backpack will definitely get some life next season, when the snow melts, maybe even before the snow melts. It has comfortable straps with chest and waist cross supports. Watch the video below to see all the space this bag has to offer. Outside, there is a zippered front pocket. The seams are waterproof. And on each side there are mesh pockets for a waterbottle or small equiptment. Inside, there are three seperate spaces. The back wall has a half pocket that velcros and a full back wall pocket with a covered overlap to keep items secure. 

It will keep gear dry from rain, drips, and splashes. As you see in the video, it's not for full submersion. When I jumped in the pool and swam on my back, the big zipper leaked at the closure and one end seam. But face it, it's a million times better than your canvas backpack at keeping things dry!The rain flap that covers the big zipper would prevent most water situations from spoiling your trip. The waterproof material will be much more helpful than any canvas backpack. 

Mine came from here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073D4SJS1

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Grow Your Own Food

Indoor gardening should be something we all do. Greenery inside boosts our mood. It helps clean the air in our homes. It can provide a focus and a purpose for your day. It could produce food, feed your body, and decrease your grocery bill. And that, if everyone participated, could change the way our culture handles food, nutrition, and the economies and ecology of those larger processes. Wow. All that from a little seed in a window.

Maybe it's too soon to think that big. Maybe it's just a fun project for a couple of months. I started the Nature's Blossom Microgreens Kit eight days ago. They have already sprouted!

I'm holding onto the tomato kit for a couple of months. I'm going to start them inside in late winter. Hopefully they get nice and big before the last frost and I will be able to transplant them outside in the spring. 

The variety available still gets me. I thought I knew food because my dad worked at the grocery store. But I didn't have a clue. When I was in my early twenties, I learned that carrots aren't always orange. What?! That's right, purple, red, yellow, white are all common carrot colors. Same thing with tomatoes. I only knew about big romas and hothouse. Tomas can be vary from grape size to the size of a human brain! They can be green, pink, yellow, red, purple, almost black. Some have uniform segments inside like an orange, and some look like a squiggly brain when you slice it. 

I'm going to be growing Black Cherry, Red Delicous, Green Zebra, and Yellow Pear tomatoes. I'm excited that the Nature’s Blossom kits are about exploring the diversity. I picked two kits that would work for me. I encourage you to look at their whole line-up. Exotic veggies (including those purple carrots!), edible flowers, salad kits, and cold weather veggies. 

I got a decent discount on the kits in exchange for this post. But the labor and the fruits of my effort (see what I did there?) are all my own. To start growing your food, look at the tomato kit on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XJWQ8FM Good luck and happy growing! 

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We have a food disconnect. Where did your meal come from? How did it get to that processed state? Who knows. When I started questioning the food process, I felt a huge disconnect. I realized I couldn't even identify the original food/plant in my chips, sauces, or candy. I really started questioning what I was eating.

There has been a resurgence of interest in farm-to-table food chains and I for one am so glad. Start looking around the perimeter of the store (that's where the least processed food is.) Do you even shop there? What do those raw ingredients even taste like? Those foods are where we need to start. Fruits, veggies, raw meat, whole grains, these are easiest to recognize where they came from. You want to shorten the distance your food takes to get to you? The shortest chain is from your own garden to your plate. Don't worry, you don't need a lot of space to get started. 

I picked up two Nature’s Blossom Sow & Grow Seed Starter Kits on Amazon. I’m going to start the Microgreens kit now in the upstairs window. It's late summer, so my plants will be moving indoors very soon. Microgreens are the baby forms of what could grow into larger veggies. Since this is a window garden, I'm going to make them into a salad when the plant is still young. 

The kit is easy an comes with simple instructions. The peet soil comes compressed and you will add water to expand it to fill the compostable pot. *Note: The only issue I found was the instructions said heat 1-2 liters of water. You will NOT pour all of that on ONE peet disc. One liter was enough for 3 peet soil discs!*

The instructions tell how to germinate each seed, what depth to plant it at, and the best coverage for the pot until the seeds sprout. Hopefully in two weeks I have greens sprouting and I’ll get to eat them about a week later. This is a great project for families too. Kids love playing in dirt and sneaking their bountiful snacks right off the bush. 

I can't get over my fascination with growing my own food. And when you start looking you will see the variety available. No more iceberg salads for this lady! Chard, Arugula, Beets, and Basil all make great delicate greenery for salads. The fully mature veggies are great too! Rainbow chard broiled with cheese is my favorite wilted green. And it's hard to pass up roasted beets and turnips on a crisp fall day. 

This post was sponsored and I got a discount on my kits. The preparation was my own effort and any resulting food is mine to eat. If I don't harvest everything, I could take the plants through to full maturity and collect seeds to do it all again. Get yours here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071CV6KNV