starla – Page 2 – Starla Parkin

Swiss chard is by far one of the natural powerhouse vegetables of the garden. It is packed full of vitamin K, A and C, as well is packed full of magnesium, potassium, iron and dietary fibers. It is easy to grow from seed, transplants well and loves cooler weather. Which means you can grow it from early spring to late fall in the garden’s soil. Swiss chard is a low light loving plant and dose best grown in rich soil. Planting Swiss chard along other plants that are taller such as cabbage, peas or bush beans lightly shades the plant and helps to prevent the plant from bolting on the hot summer days.

Swiss Chard in the Garden, left to overwinter to be utilized as seed plants in the future.

Through the winter months it is harder to grow fresh greens to add to the meals. That is why we like to transfer our Swiss chard from the garden’s soil into the greenhouse and into pots. If you don’t have a greenhouse, you can overwinter the chard in the garden soil if the temperature doesn’t drop below -9. Overwintering in the garden soil means it will be slower growing so you will not be able to maximize the harvestable yield from the plant. Typically, I will leave a few strong plants in the garden to act as my seed plants. Swiss chard is a biennial plant, needing two years to produce seed.

Swiss Chard transferred into a pot. It can be brought into the house or left in the greenhouse.

When daylight is getting shorter, and the fear of frost is right around the corner I dig up the Swiss chard and transplant into a wicking bed in the greenhouse and pots that I can move around. The Swiss chard dose better in the wicking bed then being planted directly into the ground in the greenhouse. When planting in pots I plant them close together as they do not need a large space and over time you are harvesting the leaves which keeps space between each plant. You can bring the potted Swiss chard into the house for the winter months, just make sure they are getting as much sunlight as possible or place under a grow light for 6 hours per day.

Swiss Chard transferred into the wicking bed in the greenhouse, in amongst other potted plants and herbs.

Using Swiss Chard:

The leaves are great eaten raw or cooked.

We like to chop up the leaves and add it to our winter salads. You can also add it to stir fry, grilled over the open fire, or even just serve steamed with butter and garlic with a dash of salt and pepper. As the stalks are a bit harder, when steaming it is best to cut the stalks out and steam them first before adding the green leaves.

The smell, touch and energy surrounding you in your everyday living has a great effect on the way you feel, how you are inspired and what motivates you throughout the day. Everything you hear and see, the atmosphere that we create that is surrounding us in our day-to-day life, our home environment.

As large or small the things around us, the way our things are presented and displayed have a certain about of energy that rings off them creating the energy that we wake up to, the energy that we come home from work to, and the energy that we fall asleep to at night. The home environment is all around us throughout the day, so we may as well use it to create inspiration and motivation. By changing even just a few things on a center piece or countertop it can set off an energy of a season or spark a memory of a great achievement. It can be as simple as placing fresh flowers in the center of the table or a single flower bloom on a countertop in the bathroom. Lighting candles can give the room a warm glow and fill the air with fresh scents.

When creating the home environment think of what you want to feel from it. It may be motivating you to the holiday season where you can pull in some holiday décor like a few springs of holly a few tealights and a crystal vase of ornaments.

It may be celebrating an afternoon gathering where you can pull in some color with doilies, table cloths and fill the counter top with fresh baked goods at different levels. Setting off a warm inviting atmosphere with the fresh smell of baked goods. Even baking cookies fill the room with an inviting aroma that reminds you of home, and once baked you may as well display them on a nice plate or cake dish with a glass dome celebrating the moment.

It quite often comes down to the little things that are around the home that makes the home feel warm, inviting, and motivational. There are three things that I believe are important in the home environment that everyone should have.

Motivation
Accomplishment
Past

The first one is motivation. I often say to try and incorporate a little token that reminds you of a goal that you are trying to achieve, it may be is a book on the side table you have been wanting to read, or a little symbol of a structure of a place you want to travel to. It can even be a photo to symbolize something you are striving towards. What this does is it sparks a little reminder each time our eyes glance over it. Having little reminders of our goals that we are striving for is a great motivation of that goal and quite often will bring you a little closer to achieving it. If it is a book that you are wanting to read you may glance over it, pick it up and read a few pages. It may be a gardening book that you flip through the pages as you are thinking of the up-and-coming season.

The second is the most important, it is an accomplishment. Yes, you need to have your accomplishments in your home environment, your celebrations of the success you have achieved throughout your life. It can be a treasure from an adventure you went on, a photo or even just a small token. If you have a fond memory of a special night with your partner it could be lighting a few candles, or even just having a few tealights around. It could be a small jar of sand from a beach you hiked to or a painting on the wall that reminds you of a great memory. Celebrating our small and large success reminds us that we can achieve goal and motivates you to reach for more. It creates a sense of peace in ourselves.

And the third is our past. There is a lot of lessons that we have all learned from our past and it is important to have those close to us. I often think of this part of the home environment as the people of our past, the ones that influenced us, assisted in molding us to who we have become today, the people that we hold close to our hearts with everything that we do. Bring in the past can be in the form of a vase that your grandma had in her kitchen when you were growing up, it could be a tea set or a small token of the people. It could be a blanket someone made for you draped over one arm of the couch, or a throw pillow in the corner. It can be as simple as a photo on the wall, bringing in the memory of the positive influencers of the past allows us to be motivated to be great positive influencer in the present and the future.

Creating and what is in your home environment will change over time and throughout the years and that is the best part. We are humans that evolve, and our home environment gets to evolve with us. The best part of the home environment is there are no rules. We are not all the same people, and neither is our homes. Embrace your home and your home environment, change the décor, and play with the little things that you have. Most importantly is to have fun with it!

Overwinter Swiss Chard

The Home Environment