Ready? Set. PLANT! It's almost garden time in NC!

It's almost garden time in North Carolina!

This is our second year of gardening at our home. Really, it's the first "official" year as last year was just an 8x6 raised bed with a few veggies.

This year I have stepped up to the plate and have actually dug up ground. Probably about 30x10 in size.

I just purchased some head lettuce seeds, carrot seeds, winter peas, and onion sets. We can start planting these vegetables starting February 1 according to the internet articles I've read. I'm a month behind because I haven't been willing to brave the "cold". Of course, it doesn't get too cold in this part of NC, but 30 degrees is a show-stopper for the most part.

I also bought my very first blueberry bushes. I got three of them from the local hardware/seed store. I'm very excited about these bushes. I know they will not start producing for a year or so, but once they do....fresh blueberries!!

I gleened most of my very limited gardening expertise from my father. He was raised on garden goods and carried that through and tought his children. Of course, it wasn't anything like classroom or internet teaching. It was get out there and get to work on those weeds learning. We learned to plant, weed, water, weed, pick, week, pick, week, harvest, weed....seems like we weeded alot.

My dad would plan a HUGE garden each year because he had "his boys to work it". One brave day, my brother suggested (with a hint of apprehension) that Dad plant only as much as HE could handle. My father responded with extra weed pullin' for my brother. I learned from his mistakes. I kept my mouth shut!

Now my dad is my first point of contact if I have any kind of gardening question. He's just a phone call away. I'm sure I'll be keeping the phones hot when I start planting and fertilizing. He loves it though.

I also try to use the internet and books as resources.

I found this great OLD book about vegetable gardening. It's from 1947 but is chock full of useful information. Gardening hasn't changed much since those days, other than the myriad of resources, chemicals, equipment, and technology available. But the basic how-to grow a vegetable or fruit is pretty much the same.

This book, entitled Vegetable Crops by Homer Thompson is for sale, along with many many others, at my online bookstore http://jklbooksupply.ecrater.com/. You can find all kinds of books at this site or one of the others featured at the top of this blog page.

While you're at it, look around the blog and feel free to comment or take the poll.

Happy blogging and have fun gardening!!!

Homeschool Resources and other books and Videos

http://jklbooksupply.ecrater.com

We just listed several more items in our eCrater.com store! One of them is the book called Taking Charge Through Home Schooling by Larry and Susan Kaseman.

It has a 1990 copyright but it also has a lot of useful, and surprisingly, up to date information about homeschooling.

There is information about when you are deciding to home school or not, setting goals, curriculum, alternative approaches to learning and teaching....just a lot of great information for anyone considering to home school their children or maybe needing some direction and encouragement.

We've home schooled our triplets for 5 years and it was the best decision we could have ever made. You have to come to grips with what the Lord wants you to do and then just trust Him and do it, no questions asked. Once we decided, we never looked back. We are planning on our children graduating from home school. Think about it, why would you let someone that doesn't know your children, doesn't love your children, why would you let them raise and teach your children. Home schooling allows you to instill your values and your direction into their lives.

Anyway, take a look at the book and the other resources we have at any of our stores.

JKL Book Supply

So....How do you Recycle? Or Do You?

Just wondering how you recycle around your home, work, or where ever you're at in any given time?

I would consider our family "moderate" recyclers. We have the standard blue recycle bin at our home and we do a pretty good job of filling that up each week for the trash collectors to pick up. Of course, in our location there are rules as to what exactly you can throw in that bin.

The kids have boarded the band wagon with us and do a pretty good job of reminding us when we accidentally throw something in the regular garbage bag. Sometimes it just feels "easier" to no recycle.

Then I think of all of the trash in the world....and where are we going to put it all if we can't make the recyclable stuff into something useful, and recyclable again?

Of course, at work (a large corporation) we have stations throughout the building where we can separate paper, aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles, cardboard and boxes, and then just basic trash. It makes it easier when it's laid out for you like that. Kudos to companies that are trying to give back to the community and the environment.

I'm sure if some of my friends or family were to read this they would say..."Wow, he's gone granola!" because I'm not real vocal about things like this. I usually try to follow the rules of what makes sense and be a good example. I don't consider myself what others would call a tree hugger, just a Dad that would like to help ensure there are some trees and parks around for his kids and hopefully someday, grand kids.

So...back to my question in the title....How do you recycle? Or do you? Comment on this post. I also have a poll on this page where you can vote. I'm interested in your comments.

Oh yea! Another way I recycle is I reuse envelopes and boxes for mailing. I'm sure you've read on here that I have on-line stores selling all kinds of books and other things as they come available. Well, I gather used envelopes and the perfect sized boxes and reuse them. Just another way to "save a tree" I guess. I also (now this is a stretch) recycle by finding used and vintage books and provide them to people to either buy or I donate a lot to Goodwill and other charities.

Happy blogging! I hope to here from you in some comments.

While you're at it, check out one of our stores. Links are at the top of the page and there's a scroll bar at the bottom with some great books you should consider.

W

Visit our eCrater Store Today!

We are up and running on eCrater. We have several books listed and we just added a very cool NASCAR Dale Earnhardt Sr. windbreaker jacket. We've also just listed a very nice United States of America Flag. This thing is HUGE at 6ft long! You need to take a look.

We will be listing more books each week. Follow our links above or go to

WISH LIST !

Are you looking for something that is not in any of our stores? Please let us know by commmunicating via the store or just reply to this blog with your wish list.

We are ALWAYS looking and can most likely find what you're searching for.

In your wish list, if you would include the title, author, version/copyright year if applicable and we'll do our best to find it for you.

We look forward to partnering with you to increase your library.

JKL Book Supply Team

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog. We're excited to have a way to communicate all we have to offer on our 3 online stores. Follow the links on this page to get to one of the stores.

We primarily offer books of any age and venue. Our selections range from parenting, psychology, text books, home school curriculum, chapter books, elementary school readers, High School Annuals, cook books, science, fiction, non-fiction, novels, love stories, romance novels, and the list goes on and on.

We hope to be able to notify you of new offerings on each site so you can come here to check us out and then link directly to our store.

We accept paypal at each store and also accept returns if we make a mistake in describing something.

Again, we're glad you stopped by. Providing GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE is very important to us. So shop confidently.

The JKL Book Supply Team