A Perfect Cup of Tea

As a woman who habitually wakes up at 4:30 a.m. with my husband, I am a coffee and tea lover. It gets me going in the morning when there is no sunshine to boost my mood. So, with a couple of dollars and inspiration from Pinterest, I set out to do a new project. I created a small tea garden, and it can be done with as little as $10.00 (Or less, using other products). Being thrifty while starting these projects is the ultimate goal. Why spend a ton of money to grow tea when you can buy it at the grocery store?

 

So, here was the beginning of the works. A man down the lane I travel often has many items sitting out for sale. For both of the crates, I paid $4.00. Good luck finding a deal like that. These things are a fortune at a craft or garden store. Most of the other supplies I had on hand. The small pots I got for 50% off at Hobby Lobby, which cost me another $3.00. You’ll see in later pictures that I have two more items added, which is a small bonsai tree and two succulents in a bowl. Their place indoors wasn’t the best, so I added them for decoration.

Organic potting soil is the best option for this type of garden, especially when you plan on ingesting parts of plants. This is fairly cheap, especially bought in bulk. I also got some discounts on seeds for using my loyalty card at a local gardening center.

So here is a later look at the project:

Here’s what I’ve got planted

 

– Thyme

– German Chamomile

– Lemon Balm

– Sweet Marjoram

There are lots of herbs you can plant for a versatile tea selection, which I will go into detail later, but the variety I chose can be planted spring to late fall in a mild climate.

Another thought is to make this project sturdy. I used sticky tack to hold down the pots. Its easy and temporary. A couple nails in the crates and you’re good to go! Wire can also be used if you don’t want the crates to forever remain attached.

Want to be thrifty? Goodwill, other second hand shops, and yard sales normally have an amazing amount of pots, crates, and other goodies. Recycling old, unwanted coffee cups, bowls, and other items can be very helpful. I like to buy things in bulk or on a major discount. I won’t pay over $2.00 for a pot, unless it can hold a tree, like an oriental peach tree. It just takes a lot of searching. Anyway, there was a little look at my day! Oh, and this project was something I accomplished in between stirring noodles and frying zucchini for dinner and it took about 10 minutes.

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Our Little Enouragements…

 

Daisy our Ancona Duckling(upper) and Daffy our Swedish Duckling(Lower).

 

    These are our two little additions to the Homestead. They provide free entertainment, eat lots of food, and will hopefully provide us with eggs come this winter! Although these little ducklings are quite small in this photo, they were purchased back in the beginning of July, which means they grew, and grew, and grew! They’ve been transferred from 3 different indoor cages to now a more permanent housing outdoors! Though, I feel like there may be more ducks in the future for us, so I cannot guarantee they will be staying in their coop forever.

     I will share the story of how I became interested in self-sufficiency later this week, but Daisy and Daffy have a large role in pushing us toward a lovely lifestyle of homesteading on our property. Though we have started out small, I do believe a larger project is in the near future.