Your Questions About Gardening

GardenersCardiff answers:

Actually, you started the day he was born! There is no golden moment, or golden method. By the time your child turns 5 he will have made the most important learning accomplishments of his life in the most natural manner. Interaction with you, family and friends will teach him important social skills. You will hold his finger and he will walk. You will ask him to say Mom (and he might say Dad) and he will learn important language skills. Formal education? Well, why not just follow the same pattern. When he says, “Mom, bug.” Say, “Yes, lady bug. They eat the pests in the garden so we can have good vegetables.” When he says, “Why is the grass green?” Tell him because the blades have chlorophyll. If he has asks what chlorphyll is, just keep going. If he asks something you don’t know, teach him the most important thing of all, how to find the answer to his question.

At some point you may or may not transition to a school like setting. Many homeschoolers “unschool.” This is basically just continuing to educate in the natural manner we did before the government said our children were of age to educate by professionals. To avoid the 1st year jitters that most homeschool parents suffer, contact your local homeschool group now. Tell them you plan to homeschool and you really want to interact with the community since homeschooling is a lifestyle so you can learn from the veterans before you actually get into formal schoolwork. They usually have book fairs, field trips and other meetings that it would be easy to participate in. You can get great information without having to do the total immersion at age 6 – which seems to be exactly what you are thinking! I applaud you for that.

In the meantime, enjoy him and keep up the research. There are as many ways to homeschool as there are children. That is the beauty of it all . If I might add to your reading list, check out Raymond Moore’s “Better Late than Early” and John Taylor Gatto’s “Dumbing Us Down” (actually, read everything Gatto, it will help you develop an idea of what your unique educational model should be by debunking the myths of our current publc education model). Here is online Gatto: http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/ I find that just as important as the actual education process is a firm foundation in your belief of what education is and its purpose.

Best to you and your son! Congratulations and wishing you great decisions.

GardenersCardiff answers:

Depending on the size of the pot all you need is a water ball and dispenser.
Water ball – This can be a liter bottle or larger, so long as it holds water, that all you need to worry about.
Dispenser – This could be a straw with hole poked into it, piece of garden hose, a wooden, plastic, ceraminc cone. Anything that will get the water from the ball to the root, while bypassing the top soil.
The water ball will connect with the dispenser so that water will travel from the ball directly to the root. If you want the easy way, go to a local hardware store and grab one from them. If you would like to do it yourself, it’s all about creativity. I’ve seen them made from an old old squirter (Think Tin Man and Wizard of Oz) with the bottom cut off.
You could use a bottle that has hole poked in the lid end, the bottom cut off, and bury it so that the holes are near the roots, while the bottom is above the soil. Then you can pour water into the bottle and it will disperse through the soil, roots first.

GardenersCardiff answers:

Hi Glass House!

Any question about litter and litter boxes is one that cat people can answer and discuss for hours on end.

I sure can ID with your problem. I used to have tons of litter outside my boxes until I found the best litter boxes that I have ever used. I am not a spokesperson for either the litter or the type of box that I switched to years ago, so this is not an “infokittymercial”.

Many cats like to dig to “the bottom of the planet” in their boxes, and kick out a lot of litter from the box to begin with. As they jump out of the box, litter sticks to their paws. We found that the Clevercat box, ( which you can get for a very reasonable cost at Amazon.com) works great. The box is very high sided, and has a cover which is specially textured to catch a lot of that litter. There is no way they can kick litter outside this box, trust me. It also is great for neutered males who like to stand up to “pee”, as no urine can get over the top of the box. They are easy to clean as well.
Http://www.amazon.com/Clevercat-Top-Entry-Litter-Box/dp/B0009YSAZO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1208878296&sr=8-1

I do not recommend plastic liners in any boxes because kitties just put holes in them with their claws, making a further mess.

We use World’s Best Litter. It is made of corn. It is clumpable, flushable and septic safe. You can find dealers if you go to their website: http://www.worldsbestcatlitter.com/Products/WBCL/default.aspx

It is extremely dust free and lasts a long time,and prevents odors from accumulating, if you scoop regularly, just needing to add fresh litter to keep the box pristine. In fact there is no scent of kitty box in our home. We have three boxes for two kitties and everyone is very happy.

Hope this helps. I know you are going to get tons of opinions. After much experimentation, we have solved our litter box problems totally.

Troublesniffer
Owned by cats for over 40 years

http://frequentlyfeline.blogspot.com/