Quote of the Week

"Never underestimate the healing power of a quiet moment in the garden."

                                         --Unknown 

Quote of the Week

"We gardeners are healthy, joyous, natural creatures. We are practical, patient, optimistic. We declare our optimism every year, every season, with every act of planting."

                                 --Carol Deppe

Vlogmas First Timer

I'm participating in Vlogmas on YouTube, and I'm doing it on the fly since I decided to do this at the last minute. Oh, if you don't know what vlogmas is, let me explain, vlogmas is when YouTubers daily post videos for the whole month of December, or post for 12 or 25 days straight. Some people might record videos all week-long, but only post one weekly post for the 4weeks in the month. 

So far, I'm keeping up, but honestly I don't know what else I'm gonna record for the rest of the time, lol. I'm sure I'll find some ideas--vlogmas has really allowed me to get creative and also has me just doing the "thing" and not worrying about perfection. When I overthink, with my work, most of my work ends up being deleted, and I have nothing to show for my time.

I actually might do vlogmas next year, it's really fun and I'm learning a lot about myself, filming(not the best at it,yet) and YouTube.

Come hangout with me at greenatlmom .

❤️

Shelly

Garden Quote

                           photo by me (Shelly)

"More grows in the garden than the gardener knows he has planted."

                                       --Spanish Proverb

It's A New Month, Let's Go!

First off, it's been way to long! I've been away trying to find my footing in other creative spaces like, YouTube, Medium, a bit of dabbling in the podcast world and also helping my oldest daughter build her business Facebook page. I also took on a job opportunity,but quickly left  because of total incompetence---I completely understand way the turnover rate is so high with this company and many others like it. 

Now that December's here and my creative juices have been piqued--blogging is back on the agenda and doing things on my own terms is front and center once again. 

So welcome to December and welcome back to my blog! 

❤️

Shelly

P.S. check my YouTube channel @greenatlmom @greenatlmom and check my daughter's shop @ The Jade Collection

Welcome to Fall!

Harvesting More Watermelons

As fall nears, I'm harvesting some of the last sugarbaby watermelons from the garden; I believe I might have three or four more left to harvest before my watermelon season comes to an end. All of the melons, except one, were perfectly sweet!

Look at that color.....beautiful! I'm really gonna miss being able to harvest this refreshing summertime treat.

Until next year, old friend...until next year!

Quote of the Week

"Hope is one of the essential tools of a farmer or gardener."

                                   -Amy Stewart 

Quote of the Week

"In this garden, every man may be his own artist without apology or explanation." 

                                            --Louise Beebe Wilder

Happy Labor Day!

Quote of the Week

 "When the flower blooms, the bees come uninvited."

                         -Ramakrishna

Quote of the Week

"You have to get up and plant the seed and see of it grows, but you can't just wait around, you have to water it and take care of it."

                                     --Bootsy Collins

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Monday, Y'all!!

Always Grateful

Been spending a lot of my time on YouTube, lately, sorry I've been neglecting this space, I want to do better, however, sometimes I don't feel like I'm bringing any value to this page. Then there are other times where I just want to share pictures and talk about the process of growing something.

Today, I share with you a picture from the garden of a hefty tomato (might be brandywine), grown by moi---I really need to find the name of these babies, I'm sure I have it written in my planner somewhere. 

Even though you can't tell, there's two plants in this garden area. These two plants (there were three) were grown inside/ on top of a bag of soil on the other side of my front yard. In the soil bag, jalapeño, eggplant and carrot seeds were planted-but nothing but the tomatoes survived. 

After the tomatoes grew to a height I was comfortable transplanting them into their permanent home for the growing season, all three did very well in the beginning, but unfortunately one didn't make it.  

After all the crazy weather my area has experienced during this growing season, I'm very grateful for all that has grown in the garden.

Sincerely, 

Shelly aka greenatlmom 

P.S. check me out over at YouTube....type in greenatlmom and you'll find me, thanks!

Wordless Wednesday

Quote of the Week

Gardening is learning, learning, learning. That's the fun of them.  You're always learning.

                                 - Helen Mirren

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Stopping in to say, hi and Happy Fourth! Also wanted to share that I have harvested another squash from the garden, today. Whoo!! I have two beautiful veggies and more are on the way! 

Quote of the Week

                     photo by: Markus Spiske

A garden is not a place. It's a journey. 

                                 

                                   - Monty Don

Oh so Minty

The oldest daughter and I spent a little bit of time in the garden today, she harvested all of this mint while I did some filming over in the raised bed area. 

Whenever I see this much mint or any amount of mint, my mind instantly goes to tea. Tea is amazing anytime of the year, but there's something about iced tea in the summer, and that's the first thing to be made with some of this batch.  

Wordless Wednesday

Quote of the Week

The garden year has no beginning and no end. 

                                       --Elizabeth Lawrence 

Wordless Wednesday

Need Advice on Elephant Ears

Went outside briefly to dig up two small elephant ears to transplant in another part of my yard, unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the full plant because the greenery broke off from the bulb or tubers? Which one is it? Tuber or bulb? I really want to say it's a tuber, but I honestly don't know. I've never grown Elephant Ears, from seed/tuber/bulb before. However, I know how to keep them alive and how to get them a pretty decent size....well that's what I've been told.

Since my plans didn't workout, the stems and leaves went to the compost and the bulbs went into a bucket of water. I'm going to clean the bulbs and transplant them in the other area of the yard where I eventually want to have sunflowers and a few artichoke plants all planted together. 

The design look I'm going for is something funky and colorful. Landscaping isn't my thing but, I'm up for a challenge. Not really expecting anything really bold and beautiful this year. I seriously, hopes this works out, but if it doesn't, I've learned something new along the way. 

Please leave me any comments down below with any advice about transplanting elephant ears. 

Quote of the Week

                          photo found on Pexels

How lovely is the silence of growing things.

                                       --Evan Dicken

Wordless Wednesday

Welcome to May!

Quote of the Day

                      photo by: Gustavo Fring

"A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them."

                                         --Liberty Hyde Bailey

Frustrated with Tech

I feel so frustrated right now, I get into a rhythm with my YouTube videos or other social media accounts, like my Medium account and it never fails---something holds me back with posting or writing. Either I can't upload a picture/video or my phone isn't allowing me to free up space, for some odd reason.....seriously, sometimes Tech really sucks! 

Looks like I'll be spending the rest of my weekend trying to figure out my tech issues---I really have something to share and I don't want to get off of my routine, last year I was trying to build a following and then.....Poof....I ghosted the small number of viewers I had! 

Well----I'm determined to do things differently this time to continue to build a community, make money while doing/sharing things I love. 

How Today Starts

Good Thursday morning! Spending this morning starting some seeds and re-potting plants. 

Got to get some of my leggy plants into new homes before I lose them. The piece of wood in the background will be used to start some lettuce in. I'll keep you posted about the lettuce and how it turns out on the board.

Stay Safe

Hope everyone in these lines of storms, stay safe. Atlanta has been a rain filled day and it continues through the night. The Hailstorm that came through tonight was pretty intense---and now we're on a flash flood watch until 4 a.m., again stay safe and see you guys in the garden.

Wordless Wednesday

Quote of the Week

             photo by Cottonbro Studio

I like gardening, it's a place where I find myself when I need to lose myself.

                                        -Alice Sebold

                        photo by Alena Koval

Wordless Wednesday

BAIA: A Place to Experience

Finally took the opportunity to explore BAIA, which stands for Black Art In America, over the weekend with my oldest two children this weekend, and it didn't disappoint! 

Upon entering the facility patrons get a slight glimpse of the garden area, but honestly you might not pay much attention to the area because the mind and excitement is on the inside. 

What will I see and hear?  Is there a gift shop and will it be affordable? 

The day we attended, a poetry event was going on, and it was beautiful.  Already this place is winning me over with art and poetry all wrapped up in one day----yeah!

After the show, all the attendees had the opportunity to mingle, shop and of course browse the gallery. 

Wished I had some really long money to buy some of these pieces.

Maybe one day, I'll have the funds to buy some really great art out of a gallery without worrying about the price. 

After walking around the gallery, we headed outside to checkout the garden area. 

The garden area is abundant with different sitting areas, artwork and plants. It's a great place to sit and read a book or write. 

If you're ever in the Atlanta area and looking for something to do/experience. BAIA is a great place to go.

Address: 

1802 Connally Drive                 

East Point, GA 30344

Hours of Operations:

Mon-Wed (by appt)

Thurs-Sat (11a.m.-6p.m.)

Sunday (closed)

Quote of the Week

Poverty is a very complicated issue, but feeding a child isn't.

                               --Jeff Bridges

The Great Grow Along

 This event starts today, every skill level is welcomed! Come over and hang out---let's build community! 

https://greatgrowalong.com.

Wordless Wednesday

No Deals

Yesterday, afternoon my husband wanted to go pickup "some deals" from a particular Kroger grocery store--located in an upscale area of Atlanta. Even though there's three stores within resonable driving distance of our home, at least twice a month we were willing to expand our travel distance for some amazing price cuts. Getting a cart full of whole, nutritious foods, well under the price, in our area, was always the highlight for my husband and me. 

Y'all.....yesterday, we didn't find any deals at all. No, I take that back, we found a block of cheese in the deli area marked 1/2 off. Yup! That was a good deal, but that was the only item we found. 

Remember we're not only shopping for items under a regular sales price, we're looking for the price cut on top of the sale or the closeout price. Not being able to find those deals was very shocking and only motivates my garden expansion, even more. 

Quote of the Week

Real food doesn't have ingredients, real food is ingredients.

                                  -Jamie Oliver

A Bit Different

Good Saturday morning! Hope all is well with everyone! I'm just trying out this business referral link to Morning Brew, a business/finance newsletter that breaks down financial news in a fun an entertaining way, I didn't know where to post it, since I'm taking a break from Twitter---I don't even know if I'll ever go back to Twitter, but yeah, I thought maybe I'd drop the link over here since I'm thinking about the blog also have a financial aspect to it, since food is political and costly. Why can't we grow greens both ways? So, if you're interested go over and check them out over at Morning Brew .

Wordless Wednesday

Quote of the Week

                  Picture by Th G from Pixabay

"For all things produced in a garden, whether of salads or fruits, a poor man will eat better that has one of his own, than a rich man that has none."  

                          -- J.C. Loudown

The Viability is on Point

Whenever a gardener can save money on seeds, its a great thing, but seriously many of us still buy seeds anyway--cause why not, experiment with something new or even try to test growing fruit or veggies not usually grown in year planting zone. Come on, I can't be the only one who does this from time to time. 

Last week, I was frantically looking for my seed bag. The seed bag had some unopened seed packets that I never got around to planting last year, and saved seeds from previous years. So, to finally find it, the elation that went through my body was a ten. 

Finding the bag didn't mean, no seed purchases for me because I'd still need to know if the seeds are still viable. 

One easy way to check a seeds viability is to place the seeds on a small plate and lightly water the seeds and cover the seeds with plastic wrap or you could place the seeds in a napkin-wet the napkin and place the napkin on a plate and allow it to get some sunlight, and depending on the seed and warm conditions you create for the seeds you should see some progress within 4 days, if not give it a full week. 

Hope this bit of information helped someone, now I've got to get back to more gardening prep, I have a few more seeds to checkout. 

In the meantime, keep growing!

Shelly 😊

Wordless Wednesday

Lavender in the Pot: Finally

Finally got the lavender seeds settled in their home, yesterday. Supposedly lavender takes some time to germinate - the instructions on the box said, could take 14 days, so I'm looking at March 6th for any signs of growth. 

Growing anything inside my home takes a lot of patience and ingenuity since my home doesn't receive a lot of natural light in areas of my home that I'm used to growing in: my kitchen and living room areas are very much on the dark side which sucks as a gardener trying to use natural light, but as a homeowner, I enjoy the lower energy bills in the summer months, so see, there's pros and cons with my home situation. 

Right now the lavender pot sits on top of my refrigerator---to give it a bit of warmth and sprinkle of sunlight. I don't see this as a long term home for the plant, but until then...the top of the fridge will have to do. 

Quote of the Week

In a way, winter is the real spring -- the time when the inner things happen, the resurgence of nature.

                            --Edna O'Brein

CPI Is Still Hot: Grow A Garden

Well... well...well that CPI report still came in pretty hot at 6.4% even though, some consumer goods showed some cooling off, but the main staples for everyday life continue to go up. Here's a little snapshot:

Eggs - 70.1%, Butter - 32.5%, Lettuce - 17.6%, Frozen Vegetables - 18.6%, Motor Vehicle Insurance - 14.7%, Motor Vehicle Repair - 23.1%, Energy - 11.9%, and Public Transportation - 17.1%

As a nation, inflation is still high, and as a gardener and CFO of my household:I'm ready for this challenge of growing and saving. 

Growing more in the garden- especially more lettuce, greens, and potatoes. Salads are main staples over here, and the plan is to grow more in containers to utilize more growing space along with growing potatoes, usually we only grow a small amount to make one large meal from, but with limited space the garden/garden area might not be able to supply the household with a larger abundance, but it doesn't hurt to try. 

The greens I want to grow more of this year are the two for one greats like: turnips, beets, and radishes - they give you edible seed pods, so you actually get three things from them. This group makes an occasional appearance in my garden, but I plan to make them a bigger part of the garden this year because of the abundance of food my family will get from a seed packet. 

 

What are your plans for this season of your life? 

Keeping growing :)

Wordless Wednesday

Consumer Price Index Report: Will Our Economy Hold Steady

Sitting here waiting for this CPI Report(The Consumer Price Index)....will this report be good or bad, will inflation continue to go up, down or will our economy stay steady? We'll find out soon....report comes out at 8:30a.m.

Quote of the Week

     photo by: Sarah Chai from Pexels

Food is National Security. Food is economy. It is employment, energy, history. Food is everything.

                                   -Chef Jose Andres

The Best Decade Ever Still Continues

Last month I wrote a blog post called, 'Joy Came in the Morning,' the post was about me quitting a job that made me miserable and feeling like I was trapped in my own home. I don't want to rehash all of those feelings, but if you want to read the post, please go read it, and if it can help one person choose themselves rather than a paycheck, then I've done a good thing by sharing my story.

So, I'm in job hunting mode right now; I use one day to send out my resume and the following day is used to do assessments and/or attend webinars, and I continue this system Monday thru Friday and take weekends off, to delve into things I love and enjoy throughout the day/weekend. It could be listening to podcasts, listening to/watching YouTube videos, and/or listening to music while I do household chores. 

Not having a job right now, actually hasn't been real stressful for me, yet--I've only been looking for a week, but maybe I'll never feel stressed about this moment in time, and just take everyday in stride.   

Be happy that I have my health, a roof over my head, food on the table, and most of all, my sanity(cause I almost lost it, with the last job).

Besides having my husband's support, I'd like to thank some online communities (YouTube channels)for their support. Stephanie Perry and the crew, I absolutely love the fellowship we have on  Saturday mornings, and our weekday co-working sessions over at Stephanie Perry Media----the space is truly phenomenal! I've been doubling my time learning French. Even though my co-working time is usually spent with French lessons, I've become inspired to be more intentional about getting organized with my creative adventures, as well. 

Other YouTubers I would like to thank are: Alecia Renece The Artist for her calm soothing unique perspective on life. 

Life After Layoff shout out to you for using your experience in HR to show us job hunters how to act as a free agent.

Finally, I would like to thank PT Pop for all of his hilarious call center videos....all I have to say is, you'll never have to work in another call center again, PT Pop, and you've found your niche. 

Now it's my time to find that next job that'll help me finance my dream of buying a daycare franchise(I've been in chidcare before, loved it!)buying more stocks and other investments, and making plans for a house my sister and I inherited. Seems like a lot, but I'm only in year three of the best decade ever, time is still on my side. 

Here's to The Greeks!

When your daughter has a Greek Salad for the first time(last month) and  now wants them readily available. Our household has always been a fan of pepperoncinis and I like Feta, 

but, never bought it as a household staple, so apparently my daughter has never had Feta before. But ever since our lunch date at our local pizzeria, she's hooked on the Greek Salad, for sure! 

Seeing how large of a jar of pepperoncinis she bought, I think I'll give growing pepperoncinis a try this year---don't know why I never gave it a thought before since its something we often buy, but that doesn't matter...all that matters is, I'm going to grow something new this season. 

Now to the garden catalogs and maybe Amazon in search of some seeds. Let's get growing!!

Wordless Wednesday

Quote of the Week

Local and Regional food systems are about opportunity.

                                --Tom Vilsack

#agreenhaven #growfood #Tom Vilsack #garden quotes

Wordless Wednesday

Quote of the Week

Our food system belongs in the hands of many family farmers, not under the control of a handful of corporations.

                      -Willie Nelson

#agreenhaven, #food systems #food quotes, #Willie Nelson

Joy Came in the Morning

 Thursday morning, I sat in my driveway, waiting to take my eldest daughter to a job; my mind and fingers were cobbling together my words for a text to my team lead, to quit! Leaving this job has crossed my mind throughout my training, but I kept trying to swim against the current, and the exhaustion kicked in, immediately, but I kept going when I should've left earlier when the loss of appetite set in, but no, I kept pushing on, and in turn, my appetite came back, but I began having severe headaches every time I was near or at my computer and desk(also, I worked from home), after work, I had no energy to do anything else afterwards.

I would clock out and head to my bedroom to wind down with a list of tv shows or movies to watch, but I never got the chance to watch them because I would always fall asleep. The only way I could stay up after work was whenever, I got the chance to talk to my sister on the phone. We would stay on the phone for hours and just laugh and enjoy each others company. But the falling asleep immediately after work was real and seemed so weird because the job was a customer service job for a large well known Insurance Company( I worked as a third party rep), so actually I was employed by the third party company, but anyways, I didn't feel like I had an easy comfortable work at home job; I actually felt like I ran a marathon everyday and unload a tractor trailer load of large boxes. 

I've worked at two other customer service jobs in my lifetime and neither one of them made me feel this exhausted and physically sick, either. However, both of them actually gave me some type of confidence in my ability to do the job during training. We all know that the actual learning and knowledge of the job comes when you start taking calls, and for me the training was lacking with this company---many technical issues and the majority of the training environment(where we had to practice writing policies) didn't work---that's a big problem. 

So, the unpreparedness and tiredness just compounded, but I continued on, hoping and praying that it'll get better the more I do it. But how long can I continue to not really live? Is a decent paycheck really worth my physical/mental health? Even though I did one day of taking phone calls, in nesting, I continued fighting with myself about the job and giving it one more chance because the members were great, and I got great feedback about my interactions with the callers, but----I didn't feel good about my experience on the job. So, at 9:50 a.m.(10 minutes before my shift started) on Thursday morning, I sent my resignation text, and just like that, my headache was gone, and joy suddenly came to me that morning.

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday was a Good Day

Sunday was the only day I had to myself to do what I want which could've been binge watching any one of the streaming services: Hulu, Prime, Disney+ or Netflix, in which my day would be filled with unique storytelling, classics or a wacky reality TV show---which I don't watch as much as I used to, I can't stand the drama, which comes across as fake with some of these shows. When it comes to reality TV, I still have favorites, just not so many.

Where I'm at in my life right now, is surrounding myself with peace, opportunities to learn or expand on skills, slowing down to enjoy the little things in life, setting and meeting financial goals for myself, and Sunday was the perfect day to hit many of those targets while in the garden.

The two hours spent in the garden spreading out cardboard, emptying compost bins and dumping bins of leaves on a mild winter afternoon was so peaceful. Whenever I start to feel like, life is just happening and I'm just going through the motions, the garden always seems to allow me the time to stop, reflect, find myself and truly live.

-Shelly

#agreenhaven #gardening #peace #slow living #backyardgardener

Quote of the Week

photo by Eva Bronzini, found on Pexels 

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.

-May Sarton

#agreenhaven #gardenquotes #May Sarton #Eva Bronzini #gardening #patience

Re-connecting with Self

Last week, my girlfriends and I were suppose to get together for brunch, everything was set for a great day to re-connect at, Milk and Honey, however, one of my friends got sick and our meet up has to happen another time when everyone's schedules lines up.

Hopefully we can see each other soon! In the meantime it's time for me to re-connect with my garden/lawn. Don't have much time during the week to work in the yard like I used to, since the new job. Sometimes, I give myself 40 minutes to an hour in the garden during the week before I start work at 10 a.m., however, I want a day where I can spend two or three hours working the land.

I say, two to three hours, but once I start working in the yard, I honestly lose track of time and can spend countless hours nurturing the soil, the environment, my body and mind. It's a way for me to wind down and connect with myself.

With today being Sunday, and the last day of my weekend, so I think it's a great day to get lost in my thoughts!

P.S. I have a podcast over at  Anchor, I'd love to see you over there. I'm known as greenatlmom at Anchor and over at YouTube, if you didn't know. 

#agreenhaven #nature #gardening  #reconnecting, #Anchor

Re-connecting in 2023

Welcome to Monday, in the New Year, everyone! Sorry, no quote for the week, I took time out over the holiday to take time to plan meet up with friends I haven't seen since last March. So I'm really excited to get together with them this coming Sunday for brunch.

Connecting with them immediately brought back memories of us sitting, laughing, dancing and talking about life, being band moms in the stands. Oh you guys just don't know how much this meet up means to me, I can't wait to connect with my band mom friends, and so many other friends that the pandemic, my budget, or transportation issues hasn't afforded the chance to see.

Here's to 2023 and re-connecting!

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a healthy and abundant 2023, and as always, keep growing!

-Shelly