Happy Herbalist Day! Free Cards to Share

©Herbal Academy

HAPPY HERBALIST DAY! I am so grateful to each of my herbal friends, teachers, and students. I am also so very blessed to be a part of the herbal community. The wonderful things I have learned and have been taught throughout the years have been amazing! Thank you all so very much for being there for my experience.

©Herbal Academy

Please take a moment to thank a special herbalist in your life. The Herbal Academy, International School of Herbal Arts and Sciences, has made these beautiful graphics and thank you cards to share and brighten someone's day. Go to the link and download the PDF file to save them and be able to print them out.

What I Learned At Soil School 2016

Did you know that:

• There are 1 billion organisms in every pinch of soil?
• There are 22 thousand different soil types?
• Mollisols are the most productive soil on the planet? 
• Legumes like fava beans are nitrogen fixing for the soil and are a great cover crop if you need that nutrient? 
• Like your veggie garden you should rotate cover crops too? 
• Some slugs and snails pollinate some plants? 
• Slug/snail slime absorbs 40-100 times its volume in water and therefore the best way to get it off your skin is actually using dirt? 
• 90% of flowering plant reproduction depends upon pollinators?
• There are over 4000 different species of native bees, 600-800 live in Oregon? 
• 70% native bees nest in the ground and need bare dirt? 
• Native plants are 4 times more likely to attract pollinators? 
• The best worms to use for vermicompost and a worm bin is the red wiggler or Eisenia fetida? 
• The ideal conditions for the worms in vermiculture is keeping them in a shallow bin with air holes and drainage holes in 59-77 degree temperature, 75% moisture, slightly acid PH, lots of oxygen, grit for their digestion, and their favorite compostable foods added?

I learned all this and more at Soil School, which is offered every year in Portland Oregon for farmers with small farms, landscapers, gardeners, grounds managers and anyone else who wants to improve their soil. I learned about it through my Master Gardeners Program. It is a jam packed learning day with a complimentary breakfast, snacks, and lunch. It costs $30 for a single person and $50 for two people.

This year it was held at the Portland Community College Rock Creek Event Center on April 16th, 2016 from 8am-3:30pm. My husband and I signed up. We all where treated to the "not to be missed" key note speaker, James "Dr. Soil" Cassidy who taught all about, yes you guessed it, SOIL! Then we broke up into our various classes of which we had to pick 4 each out of the 12 offered.

I took Using Cover Crops, Slugs & Snails, Planting for Pollinators, and Vermiculture. My husband, Brian, took Soil Testing & Analysis, Irrigation, Invasive Weed I.D. and Organic Weed Control. Then after we compared notes and I brought home a lot of printed information, a lawn sign and some other cool swag. We had a lot of fun and learned a bunch! Brian also won a door prize at the end which was a boot brush and scraper combo! We can definitely use that on our farm!

Classes and Speakers: 

• Key Note, Soil Structure/Composition/Test Analysis: James "Dr. Soil" Cassidy (OSU Soil Instructor)
• Soil Testing & Analysis, Landscaping with Native Plants: Weston Miller (OSU Extension)
• Using Cover Crops: Kim Galland (NRCS)
• Organic Weed Control, Lawn Conversion: Mary Logalbo (West Multnomah  SWCD)
• Stormwater Management: Clair Klock (Clackamas SWCD)
• Composting/Organic Matter: Dave Alba, PNW Organic Land Care Coalition
• Slugs & Snails: Claudia Groth, OSU Master Gardener
• Planting For Pollinators: Kammy Kern-Korot, West Multnomah  SWCD
• Irrigation: Dean Moberg  (NRCS)
• Vermiculture: Glen Andresen (Metro Area Master Gardener)
• Invasive Weed I.D.: Rob Emanuel, (Clean Water Services)

Sponsors:

• East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District  
• Tualatin Soil & Water Conservation District 
• West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District  
• Oregon Tilth 
• OSU Small Farms Program
• OSU (Oregon) Master Gardener Program 
• Metro Master Gardeners

ZOOB Glow Dinos: The Moving Mind Building Modeling System Review

I received ZOOB Glow Dinos free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

ZOOB, from Alex Brands, is a fantastic toy that is based on a natural and living system. It lets your child or inner child create neat jointed 3D structures, geodesic shapes, and organic formations. This toy is so versatile that you can construct unlimited designs and make them able to move. There are 5 separate pieces that snap, click or pop together 20 different ways to form joints that rotate, axles that spin, limbs that extend, and so much more! It is truly an interactive engineering experience. Sets are recommended for ages 6 and up. Let your imagination run wild!

The ZOOB Glow Dinos Kit has instructions with it to build 6 distinct dinosaurs. It comes with 250 pieces total, 239 classic colored ZOOB pieces and 11 glow-in-the-dark ZOOB pieces. Learn to put together Baby Raptor, Mega Raptor, Z-Rex, ZOOBasaurus, ZOOB-Dactyl, and Stegosaurus. It has a cardboard carrying case with a handle and Velcro closures that stores all the pieces neatly within it.

Teela playing with the ZOOB Glow Dinos.

When I got this out for my children to play with they were excited, as was I. We had seen this toy on the shelves on display at the store, but never before seen it in action. My daughter Teela, who is eight on the 15th of April, (this is an early birthday gift for her) started building a Baby Raptor. She had a bit of trouble on the very last section where the head and neck pieces came together, but up until that point the instructions were very clear to her.

My kids playing with the ZOOB Glow Dinos.

After she made her first dinosaur my other kids joined in the fun and started creating their own ideas. My boys have awesome engineering expertise that they have acquired from their father who is going to school right now for mechanical engineering and all my kids love building and construction toys. They were fascinated by this toy, played with the set for hours, and just kept building these really fantastical things. My husband also played with the ZOOB Glow Dinos pieces and gave the toy a huge thumbs up which is something amazing from him because he likes to be a critic.

You can build all kinds of extraordinary things with this set because of the amount of pieces that comes with it. Also, we absolutely love that some of the pieces glow-in-the-dark. It makes things like the Dino eyes so much more eerie when they are looking at you. I think this set would look so cool under a black-light. Even though this set is all about dinosaurs you can make just about anything you can imagine with it. The possibilities are limitless.

BUY IT
Right now you can purchase this toy for only $34.45 on Amazon.com! That is more than half the retail price of $79.99 that Alex Brands has it listed for!




Zoob Glow Dinos are also available at Discoverystores for $44.95.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this product for free to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

8 Simple Tools for Raising Great Kids Book Review #8SimpleTools #FlyBy

I received 8 Simple Tools for Raising Great Kids free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

8 Simple Tools for Raising Great Kids by Dr. Todd Cartmell is a practical guide to strengthening your relationship with your children. It features 8 tools: talking, listening, influencing, connecting, teaching, encouraging, correcting and leading. Each tool has 5 tips that delve deeper into it, with each tip section having roughly 3 pages that show how to develop this tool in your own parenting strategy. At the end, this book also has a helpful Summary of Tips and Notes that cross-reference with scripture and other texts.

This book is easy to read and has wonderful advice on the parenting front. I loved how short and simple each chapter was to read and even in the busiest of schedules I was able to squeak in a chapter or two since they are only 3 pages long. This advice is very solid and useful. In our everyday busy schedules nowadays we get caught up in so many other things and don't actually take the time to listen to our children. Their thoughts and feelings are just as important, if not more so, than our own and we need to set aside time for them. We need to connect with them in a good way and not only talk to them, but listen intently to them too. With positive behavior, good example and respect you can create good habits for both you and your children that will stay with them for years to come. This book has tools to show you how to be a better parent. By adding these 8 Simple Tools to your parenting toolbox I believe your parenting journey will be more successful. I know that these simple tools have already helped me!

SOCIAL • CORNER
Official Website - www.8simpletools.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Dr-Todd-Cartmell-193405444025914/
Hashtags - #8SimpleTools #FlyBy

BUY IT


50% Discount Code which is GREATKIDS16. This code is only good from April 15th to May 15th.

Free access to the HEARTS AT HOME "ESSENTIAL WORKSHOP COLLECTION FOR PARENTS" with every purchase: http://www.8simpletools.com/purchase-with-offer You not only get 50% off with the coupon code at moodypublishers.com, but also get access to a slew of freebies!!

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER:  (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC / Flyby Promotions for providing a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. This post contains affiliate links which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and make a purchase. Thank you for supporting my blog!