Why Vertical Farming?

When the pandemic first started, Goran and I did a bit of research and came across the Tower Garden. I’ve always had a green thumb, so the idea of vertical farming was appealing to me. We watched a few YouTube videos and we were sold. The Tower Garden was out of stock, but we were able to order it with a ship date of eight weeks. We ended up getting a call from the company after about four weeks saying they were able to ship it out!

So why vertical farming? Mainly its a space saver. You also don’t need to use soil, just fertilizer and water. And my favorite thing about the Tower Garden’s system is that you can utilize it indoors or outdoors depending on your climate and needs (Tower Garden FLEX does both).

How to Set up Tower Garden

Tower Garden is super easy to set up. It’s easier if you have two people. If you watch the video above, you will get many tips and tricks for setting up your Tower Garden and the Tower Garden grow lights.

What Grows Best in Tower Garden?

After using the Tower Garden all summer, I have determined that lettuce is the best crop for this system. This winter, I am growing three different types of lettuce: Bibb, Prizehead, and Sylva. One of the great things about Tower Garden is there is no need for pesticides. You are growing the lettuce indoors, so you can just clip a few leaves and eat them right off the tower. After spending four dollars for five ounces of lettuce in the store, it’s really nice to have it growing in my kitchen for the just the cost of startup. The Tower Garden will pay for itself within a year.

Costs

Speaking of costs, I wouldn’t consider Tower Garden vertical farms to be cheap as far as price is concerned. Building one from scratch would be a lot cheaper. But purchasing the Tower Garden will be the easier solution. Here are the costs:

Tower Garden Flex: $620.00, split into 12 payments of $51.67. The kit includes the following items (this list is taken directly from the Tower Garden website):

• Vertical, aeroponics Tower Garden
• A variety of starter seeds
• Seed starting supplies, including germination tray, 20 rockwool cubes, vermiculite and net pots
• Pump, timer and drain tube
• Tower Garden Mineral Blend plant food (1 qt. each) and measuring cup
• pH test kit and one bottle each of pH adjusters
• Dedicated customer support and comprehensive growing resources to help at every stage of your Tower Garden experience

There are a few other items you can purchase for the Tower Garden. The LED grow light kit is essential if you are going to be using the Tower Garden indoors. It costs $300. In addition, you can purchase an extension kit to add more levels to the garden, a rolling dolly so you can move the garden around more easily, and larger bottles of fertilizer.

I am not sponsored by Tower Garden, nor do I have any affiliate links with them. I just love this product and it has worked really well for me. Below I have listed links to their website so you can get a Tower Garden for yourself.

https://www.towergarden.com/shop

https://www.towergarden.com/shop/indoor-grow-lights

https://www.towergarden.com/shop/mineral-blend

The post How to Set up Tower Garden Flex Indoors first appeared on Adventures in Jennyland.

The post How to Set up Tower Garden Flex Indoors appeared first on Adventures in Jennyland.

Thanksgiving always gets the short end of the stick when it comes to outdoor holiday décor. Yes, there are giant inflatable turkeys, but I wanted something with a bit more CLASS. So this year, I decided to build my own outdoor Halloween decorations. Here is how to build a giant outdoor cornucopia for your yard! This blog post lays out everything you will need. But, it may be easier to watch the video linked above first so you can see all of these steps illustrated for you. Be sure to like and subscribe if you enjoy the video and if you build a giant cornucopia for yourself, be sure to let me know in the comments!

Materials Needed

• 1 roll of 2ft by 50 ft chicken wire
• 1 pair of wire snips
• Reserve the wire that was wrapped around the chicken wire, you will be using this
• Small zip ties
• 4 yards of brown burlap (usually 46 inches wide)
• 2 Hawaiian door curtains
• Glue gun
• Lots of extra glue sticks
• Fake Floral stems
• Plastic pumpkins and gourds
• Plastic fruits, veggies, bread, and cheeses (Craft stores have a ton of fake plastic food)
• A basket
• Plastic leafy garland and greenery
• 2 bags of Raffia
• Grapevine
• Pavers or something heavy to weigh down the chicken wire while shaping
• Pair of scissors
• Pair of work gloves

Time Commitment and Skills Needed

This project will take anywhere from 10-15 hours of work. You will need to be able to use wire cutters and a glue gun. There is also a lot of standing and squatting involved.

Step by Step Instructions

The timestamp at the beginning of each step is referring to the video linked above. Feel free to jump back and forth from the video and the written instructions if there is a part that isn’t clear.

• 2:11 Making the Square:
  • First, cut four 8 foot long pieces of chicken wire. Lay them next to each other. Weight the pieces down by using concreate pavers or something heavy. Next, take the reserved wire that was wrapped around the original roll of chicken wire. Cut a piece about 6 inches long. Use these pieces of wire to secure the four lengths of chicken wire together. Refer to the video if you get stuck here. Once all four pieces are wired together, you will be left with an 8×8 foot square. It is very important that it is a square so be pretty precise with your measurements.
• 3:13 Cornucopia Rolling Tutorial:
  • Cut out an 8×8 inch square out of printer paper and practice rolling the cornucopia.
• 3:47 Rolling the Cornucopia:
  • Start in one corner and roll diagonally until you achieve desired shape. Zip tie into place.
• 4:01 Securing the Basic Shape
  • Continue zip tying the chicken wire into the shape of a basket.
• 6:09 Bending the End of the Basket
• 8:31 Covering with Burlap
• 11:24 Covering in Raffia/Hawaiian door curtains
• 13:09 Attaching Garland around the Mouth of Cornucopia
• 13:53 Finishing Touches
• 14:20 Moving Cornucopia Outside!
• 14:56 Final Reveal of Outdoor Thanksgiving Cornucopia

The post How to Build a Giant Cornucopia first appeared on Adventures in Jennyland.

The post How to Build a Giant Cornucopia appeared first on Adventures in Jennyland.

Today I wanted to talk about the easiest meal prep you will ever do for camping: Foil packs! Foil packs or grill packs are a great way to save time when you’re camping. Just prepare them before you go and store them on ice. When you are ready to eat, just throw them on a bed of hot coals!

We make grill packs whenever we go camping so we don’t have to mess around with food prep while at the campsite. Here is a list of the ingredients we use. You can use any veggies, meats, and herbs that you prefer.

Ingredients

• Small potatoes, cut into pieces
• Brussel sprouts, cut in half
• White onion
• Green onion
• Bell peppers
• Whole jalapeno, one per pack
• Garlic cloves
• Fresh rosemary
• Fresh thyme
• Butter
• Avocado oil
• Spices such as salt, pepper, and garlic powder
• Beef stew meat
• Fajita meat (beef)
• Spicy sausage
• Ground beef, grass fed

We have also used cut up pork chops, kielbasa, and chunks of chicken.

Prepping the Foil Packs

Be sure to use heavy duty aluminum foil. Pull out about 2 feets worth. Pile all of the ingredients you want to use in the middle of the piece of foil. Add cut up pieces of butter and about 2 tablespoons of avocado oil. Then, add your spices.

Now it is time to fold the grill packs! Check out the above video for tips and tricks on how to fold your pack so it doesn’t leak. After you are done folding the aluminum foil, wrap each pack very tightly in plastic wrap. I like to put 2-3 into a plastic grocery bag afterwards to make sure they are water tight. Then, the grill packs go into the cooler! Make sure to keep them cold. The worst thing that could happen was for your freshly prepped grill packs to spoil because they aren’t kept on ice!

Make sure to check out my YouTube video linked above. We prepped grill packs at the hotel the day before we headed into Yellowstone for camping! It was a different experience prepping our foil packs in the hotel, but it worked out great. Let me know what ingredients you like to use in your foil packs in the comments below!

This is the BEST aluminum foil for the job: https://amzn.to/3iJM5LT

We like this steak seasoning because it is delicious and the container is camping friendly: https://amzn.to/2ZEcX8q

The post Foil Packs for Camping: How to Prep Grill Packs first appeared on Adventures in Jennyland.

The post Foil Packs for Camping: How to Prep Grill Packs appeared first on Adventures in Jennyland.