Moonstone Jewelry Winner Announced!

Thanks to Moonstone Jewelry today's winner will get their choice of item up to $50 or $50 off any item of their choice!  With so many gorgeous pieces to choose from, I almost feel a little sorry for the winner having to narrow it down to one, lol!

Garden Update Week 3

Week three of planting, and things are coming along swimmingly (just like NJ, as we are getting another inch and a half of rain! Blech!).  Here's where we are at this week:

One of the biggest excitements for me this year is the 72 calendula plants!  I have big plans for tinctures and salves with these babies!  They are really taking off and will need to go in little pots soon.

Mr. B. has also been whipping up some compost tea for the garden!  What's compost tea, you ask?  Well, it's compost (we make our own) soaked in water to make a nutrient rich, organic fertilizer and pesticide for your garden - with no chemicals!

Mr. B. was kind enough to write out some instructions for anyone who might be interested:

Brewed Tea (the "I don't mind paying for it" way)

Stuff you need:

• 1 fish tank air pump = $10 - $12
• 6' plastic tubing = $2
• 1 bubble stone = $5
• 1 five gallon bucket = free (Note: Restaurants get food in 4 and 5 gallon bucket; if you can't get one from the diner, hardware stores have them for about $4. DO NOT use a bucket that had building materials or chemicals in them.)
• 1 old sock, stocking or cheese cloth = free
• Compost = free
• Molasses = $4 ( but you get more than one use from it)

(Fish tank air pump, plastic tubing, bubble stone)

Total if you have to pay for everything = $25

   * A one time purchase of fertilizer and pesticide would also cost about $25. The brewing kit will last for many seasons if  cared for.

Brewing Instructions:

1.  Fill bucket 3/4 to the top with water

2.  Connect bubble stone to air pump with tubing and place in water

3.  Leave for one hour to bubble off chlorine

4.  Place a sock full of compost in bucket

5.  Add  2 oz of molasses

6.  When tea is foamy and smells"earthy", its ready ( 24-36 hours )

7.  Apply immediately as a soil  drench and spray on leaves

Steeped Tea ( the "I don't want to pay for any thing way")

Stuff  you need:

• 1 five gallon bucket ( see above) = free
• 1 old sock, stocking or cheese cloth = free
• 1 sock full of compost = free

Steeping Instructions:

1. Fill 5 gallon bucket 3/4 with water

2. Let stand 24 hours to in sun to cook of chlorine

3. Toss in compost tea bag

4. Let steep 12-24 hours

5. Apply immediately as a soil  drench and spray on leaves

It's cheap, easy and organic. It is a substitute for pesticide and fertilizer. 

(PS brewed is a lot better!)

If you'd like to see more about compost tea, here's a great video about it!  (If you want to skip the giant veggie part and get right to the tea, fast forward to about 3:41 in the video.)

Monday Mutterings, March 29, 2010

Lots of things happened this past week.  We went to see a great show in NY called The 39 Steps.  It was totally funny and the lighting and effects were just brilliant (mostly because Mr. B.'s friend is doing them, lol!)   It was great to go into the city, even though it was cold and sprinkling on and off!  We ate at Vinyl, a little cafe type place that is covered in music memorabilia.  They have unisex bathrooms with themes - Dolly Parton, Elvis, Nelly and Cher!  You go in, their music is playing and it's decorated really cute!  For dinner I got their Chicken Pad Thai (they have a lot of Asian dishes!) and it was THE best Pad Thai I've ever had!


In sadder family news, our bunny, Igby passed over the weekend.  He'd lived to the exceptionally old-for-a-rabbit age of almost 12.  We'll miss him dearly.  RIP, Igby.

In blog news, there's still a couple of days to enter to win your choice (up to $50 or $50 off any item) from Moonstone Jewelry.  Don't miss out, they have some great stuff!

This past week, the Horde visited a great little blog called You, Me & Religion.  Check it out if you haven't visited yet!  It's a blog based on interviews with individuals of different religious choices.  A great way to get to know more about different religions in a respectful, open way.

In other news:
On facebook, we discussed people's opinions on what kind of training makes a Pagan Minister, the new "Wiccan" fashions on the runways (pig head apparently optional), took some action against misinformation coming out of a news story, and had a few laughs.

And that's all I've got for today!  The roofer is coming today, and it's the kid's first day of spring break (and rain!).  Hope you guys are having a wonderful Monday!

It's Friday, you know what that means!

(Click pic for details!)

Yes, it means that I'm a day late for riling up the Horde, lol!  Woops!  But I think you'll forgive me when I share where we are invading today.  This is not the average blog.  It's not about one person's life or their garden.  It doesn't have recipes or pictures of cute kids.  Not a cat picture to be found!

I actually found  this blog (okay it found me, lol) when the writer emailed me to see if I'd participate.  So I trotted off to check out what the blog was about.  I was totally absorbed in reading through it.  So what sort of blog is it?

This blog, called is full of interviews with people of different religions.  The interviews are full of great questions, the answers are fascinating.  You may not agree with everyone's beliefs, but you'll probably learn something new - if only a bit more tolerance.

So  grab your torches and follow the horde over to You, Me & Religion!

Where the Hell is Tanner: Hey! Aren't you thirsty? edition

"Sooner or later, someone is going to stick their hand in here..... muaaahhhaaahahahahaa!"

For more Where the Hell is Tanner, click here.  For a really cute book about cats, click here.

Moonstone Jewelry Review and Giveaway! (Ends March 31)

Recently I got a ring that has become one of my very favorite pieces of jewelry.  If you know me, you know I have a passion for spirals.  They show up in my art work, I doodle them constantly, I have a collection metalwork candle holders handing in my bedroom that all contain swirls and spirals.

So when I saw this ring from Moonstone Jewelry:

I knew I had to have it.  Not only was it extremely well priced, it very well made - just gorgeous!  I wear it as a sign of the Goddess and had it on for my first coven sabbat at Ostara!  Love, love, love this ring!

Of course before I found this ring, as I browsed through their online store, there were a ton of others things I considered, like these:

Oh, how I love the Green Man!






What can I say... I've loved this since my Buffy days.  Sue me.





But I definitely found the ring that was just perfect for me.  Aaaaaand, Moonstone Jewelry was kind enough to sponsor a giveaway for this week!  The winner of this giveaway will get either their choice of any item that is $50 or less OR a coupon code for $50 off any item!  Here's what you need to do to enter:

Requirements to enter:

• Have an blog accessible through your user name or leave an email address with each entry.
• Visit Moonstone Jewelry, come back here, and leave a comment about your favorite item.

For extra chances to win (required post must be made for these to count!), you may do any one or more of the following (leave a separate comment for each):

• 1 entry each (for a total of three possible) - Write about this giveaway on your blog, Myspace or LiveJournal. Leave a separate comment for each and include the URL to this post.  (Due to facebook TOS, it may not be used as an entry)
•  1 entry - Be or become a follower of @Moonstone_Jewel on Twitter
• 1 entry per day (leave a post for each!) Post this message to Twitter: RT @MrsBsConfession: Enter at silvermoonwitch.blogspot.com to win a $50 #coupon (good for any item!) from @Moonstone_Jewel! #giveaway #in (please note you'll have to delete the end of the message if you cut and paste - I have a content stealing code :O)
• 1 entry - Sign up for the mailing list at Moonstone Jewelry

The winner will be selected at noon, EST on March 31 and announced soon after.  Good luck!

You can also find Moonstone Jewelry on Facebook!

PLEASE NOTE: 

• If your blogger profile is set to private, I will be unable to find your blog or email via your profile.  If you don't leave an email address in your comments, and your profile is private, the entries DO NOT count.
• Entries that are not on separate posts will be counted as one entry. 
• Entries that contain links not related to the giveaway (capital "s", rhymes with "ham") will be deleted, and those entries will not count.
• Entries must be in English.

Garden Update Week 2

Despite the cold, rainy beginning of this week, our little seedlings are still nice and warm under the grow light.  Though we have things that will eventually be sewn right in the garden, for now, everything that can be started in a pot is coming right along.  Well, almost everything.

We have finally got a white sage sprout.

 Out of 8 seeds planted, only one has sprouted; he seems to be coming along well, though.  Got my fingers crossed that the others are just late bloomers.

Mr. B. has planted over 40 calendula plants for me this year, and they are all doing beautifully!

Can't wait to have these plants all blooming away!

The tomatoes are really taking off.

 Let me tell you, there is nothing - nothing! - like biting into a tomato that's come right out of your garden.  You'll never look at those pale, tasteless things that we are forced to eat out of the grocery store in winter the same way again!

And here are a few other things I'd like to share with you this week:

A couple of people had asked how Mr. B. had built our grow light rig.  He was good enough to go back and search for the original plans that he used when he first built it.  You can find them here.

The second thing I'd like to share is this column by my friend, Bobbi Rightmyer.  You might know her from one of her blogs (Rightmyer Rants is one of my faves),  but did you know she also writes a gardening column?  There are tons and tons of amazing articles here, including how to grow lettuce in an egg shell (I am so doing this!), how to grow various veggies, how to get your yard ready to be a registered wildlife habitat and way more.  If you are interested in gardening, you'll love her articles!

And if you are just starting out gardening and growing in your area, think about checking out your local county extension office!  Every state/county has a system of offices that educates the public on agriculture and growing for your area (among other things).  A lot of it might be geared more toward farmers, but there should be great information on plants, growing seasons, the local weather and you might be lucky enough to have a "lawn and garden" (sometimes this will be through a local college) section added in as well.  Every county will also have a "Master Gardener" program as well, where you can ask trained gardeners questions about plants.  These extension offices are great sources of information!

Happy Gardening!!

Monday Mutterings March 22, 2010

Wow, it's been a heck of a week!  Let's see, what can I tell you about?

First up, I had the most marvelous Ostara!  The wonderful ladies that I met through Witchvox and I did our first sabbat together!  The sun was shining, it was warm and sunny and gorgeous out (I ended up with my first sunburn of the season, lol!).  We had a great little ritual and a nice lunch together. It was just the perfect way to spend the first day of spring!

Today the insurance adjuster comes to check out our roof and damaged walls (finally!) from the big storm that happened weekend before last.  Hopefully it will all be dealt with quickly now that we finally got him coming.  Fingers crossed.

My middle guy is doing pretty well with his hearing aids.  He's basically only wearing them for school for right now, to get used to them.  After 2 weeks we go back to the audiologist, and he starts wearing them full time after any adjustments that need done.

In writing news, my little article on the NJ BOE voting to add the Pagan/Wiccan sabbats to their calendar for the 2010-2011 school year was a pretty big hit.  I'd like to thank those that helped spread the link around.  On the down side, many, many sites were posting the whole article (mostly sites where I don't know anyone). That doesn't sound like a big deal at first until you realize that not only is that a copyright infringement (it's illegal to post the whole thing, it's legal to post a short bit then link to the original article), I only get paid by the examiner site when my article is read on their site - pay per page views - so by posting the whole article, every time someone read it somewhere else, these sites actually took money out of my pocket.  I emailed a ton of them and asked them to either take it down or shorten it.  I got called all sorts of names and got all kinds of crap for it.  Except from this nice bunch of people, who both understood and welcomed me so nicely to their group!

Well, that's about it for today!  Hope you all had a gorgeous first day of spring and are having a wonderful Monday morning!!

Auntie Di-Lites Winner Announcement!

Thank you, Auntie Di for donating!!  The winner of their choice of 8 oz candle from Auntie Di's shop is.....   Iannasstar! Congrats!  Please use the contact button to send me your shipping info!



(And if you're looking for another chance at a great giveaway, check out Ramblings of a Newbie Witch's giveaway for hitting 50 followers!  She's giving away some awesome Green Man goodies!!)

The Real Brains Behind Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom

Grab Your Torches and Follow the Horde!

It's Thursday, so it's time for another invasion by our Horde of Angry Pagans!!

This week we'll be visiting one of my new favorite blogs.  It comes with articles with subjects like these:

"Today I thought I'd tell you about my hatred of horses.  The goddamn horses."

"Prank Ninja"

And then there are the biographies on his grandma, Ohio bloggers, puppies and the 5 month updates he does on what's going on in his life (relationship news, college, jobs, family).  Did I mention how he blogs about his grandma?  Now that's a guy you need to know.  Read a couple of these and I guarantee you'll be as hooked as I am!

Without further ado, we invade... Me vs. College!

New Jersey State Board of Education Approves Pagan/Wiccan Holidays for the 2010-2011 School Year

This morning, the New Jersey Board of Education voted to approve their list of religious holidays permitting pupil absence from school for the 2010-2011 school year. Included for the first time on this list are the eight Pagan/Wiccan holidays, or sabbats.  This marks the first time any state has approved Pagan holidays to a state calendar, and will set a precedence for other districts and states across the country.

This story starts with a mother sending in a note to get her daughter excused from school for Yule, 2009. Rev. Elena Ottinger's daughter attends Pennsville High School in the Salem County School District, located in Pennsville, NJ. Brianna Ottinger had recently finished her "Year and a Day", a traditional time of study for many Wiccan initiates. Rev. Ottinger, who has a doctorate in metaphysics, wrote a note to her daughter's school, letting them know that she would be taking Yule off from school to celebrate. When Brianna came home that day, it was with the list of approved religious holidays for NJ schools and a note from the vice principal that stated while they would give Brianna an excused absence, it would not be an excused absence based on a religious holiday.

Looking at that list, which includes a variety of approved days (including the birthday of author and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard), Rev. Ottinger decided that it was not enough just to get an excused absence for her daughter, she wanted her daughter and others like her to have the same religious freedoms at school that others did.

When she phoned the Pennsville High School's vice principal to discuss the matter, Rev. Ottinger was told to call the State Board of Education, who explained to her that even though the state puts out a calendar, it's up to each township whether to allow and excuse religious holidays for students. At that point Rev. Ottinger states that she tried to get an appointment with the district's superintendent to discuss the matter, only to be told that she would be dealing with his secretary, who asked for three days to look into the matter. After four days, Rev. Ottinger says she called back only to be told by the secretary that they were "looking into it" and would get back to her.

Seeming to not be getting any help from her daughter's school district, Ottinger went online to ask for ideas and support in Pagan forums that she frequented. Many responded back to her that it was "not my problem" as they didn't have kids. New Jersey Pagan Amie Tolomeo suggested that Rev. Ottinger call the ACLU and eventually called them on her behalf . The ACLU then put Ottinger in touch with a lawyer who was instrumental in helping to get Wiccan prisoners their religious rights in New Jersey, who Rev. Ottinger retained.

Rev. Ottinger's lawyer contacted her daughter's school and gave them 24 hours to give a religious excuse for Yule or the Ottingers would take the district to court on the matter. Though Rev. Ottinger reports that the ultimatum was at first rejected by the district, eventually the school board's lawyer did call to report that Brianna would et the Yule sabbat off as a religious holiday.

Not wanting to stop at just her district, Rev. Ottinger called the state and requested that the Wiccan holidays be added to the state calendar. The NJ BOE requested that Rev. Ottinger send in any information that she could on Wicca as a religion, such as when it was established and when the holidays fell during the year. Rev. Ottinger at that point contacted other Pagans in the community and requested that they, too, send in information about Wicca to the board, to show that there was more than just one individual interested in adding the holidays to the calendar.

One of those asked to write in was the Rev. Matthew Bartky, Pastor and President of the Board for Sacred Wind Sanctuary, and  a Local Coordinator ad Secretary of the Board for Central New Jersey Pagan Pride Project, Inc. Rev. Bartky helped organize a letter writing campaign to the BOE, and posted about the topic in Facebook, Myspace, Witchvox, and several Yahoo groups, that Rev. Bartky considers "the main sources of information for the NJ Pagan Community".

And it wasn't just New Jersey Pagans who wrote in. Brianna Ottinger's grandmother, herself a Christian, wrote to the state BOE to ask that they give Pagans the "religious freedoms that are afforded to everyone." Many of Brianna's school friends also wrote letters of support as well. Rev. Ottinger, along with her lawyer and the personal friends who had supported her every step of the way, sent in multiple packets of information on Wicca.

Rev. Ottinger not only hopes to  get the Wiccan sabbats on the calendar for New Jersey, but also to change the policy of giving individual school districts the discretion whether to allow the holidays to be excused. The holidays, Rev. Ottinger believes, should be automatically excused as a religious holiday for students who supply the necessary parent approval.

For more information, contact the New Jersey Department of Education Public Information Office at 609-292-1126 or visit the website.  You can view the agenda for this meeting by clicking on this link, then clicking on "Item B".  You can read the minutes of the meeting here.

This is post copyright to the author. It may not be reposted, reprinted or distributed  without express written permission of the author.

Garden Starting Tips

A few people contacted me yesterday about the peat pellets we had started our seeds in.  We've used a couple of methods for starting seeds, and this one seems to be the one that stuck.  However,  there are some great (some cheaper, some not!) ways to start seeds, and Mr. B. pointed me to some of his favorite videos so I could share!

The first one is basically free,  especially if you compost and have your own dirt already.  It uses your old newspapers and an old soup can and it's easy enough to get the young kids involved with!  Just make sure your can doesn't have any sharp edges:




Next up is one that is just a tad more complicated, but the video is very easy to follow.  It's an origami-style way to fold the  newspaper. A little more time consuming that the soup can method, but the pots are sturdier and fit better in the flats.



This video shows you how to use the peat pellets, or as Mr. B. called it, the "I don't mind paying for it" method.




Last comes a version that costs more than the rest, but it's a purchase you'll only have to make once.  I think this is super cool, especially if you are really starting a lot of seeds!  The video features someone from Johnny's Selected Seeds, where we bought all our seeds this year!




Hope you enjoyed the videos!

Garden Update

I've decided that from here on out, most Tuesdays are going to be devoted to gardening updates.  Ask Mrs.B. will be going to a once a month format.  Feel free to leave questions here to be answered the first week in April!

And on to the planting updates!

Mr. B. has been busy starting seeds under the fluorescent grow light rig that he built.  It's in the girl cave, so I get to watch the seeds sprouting!  It's pretty darn cool.

Here is a little look at what's going on seed-wise so far:

Thyme and basil are coming up quite nicely.

As are the rue and rosemary plants.

And bee balm and mugwort!  These are first timers in our garden this year, so we'll see how they go!

The tomato seeds have just got put in, as did the tomatillas and jalapenos.

And tons of more herbs are on the way - chives, cilantro, oregano, dill, lavender, parsley... we'll be rolling in 'em soon!

I am also very excited to be doing pumpkins this year!  We're doing two kinds.  One is a sort of squash really, that looks like pumpkins growing on a bush.  I just had to have a pumpkin bush!!  We're also doing little pumpkins on a vine.  I wish we had enough room to grow some full sized ones!  Maybe next year we'll figure out how to squeeze them into our tiny growing space, lol!

Also going in is tons and tons of calendula!  I'm determined to learn how to make salves this year from them!

So that's what is going on so far!  Are you growing anything this year?  In a pot, a window box, a garden, a farm?  I'd love to know what you have in the dirt!!

UPDATE TO ADD:  Since a couple of people asked what we are starting our seeds in, I thought that I'd add the info on here.  We (and by "we" I mean Mr. B.) start the seeds in peet pellets.  They look like this when you buy them:

You can generally get about 50 of them for $10 or less, depending on where you buy them.  You simply throw them in your container, add warm water, and let them expand.  Add your seeds in, and grow!  When the plants are big enough to transplant, you just put the whole thing into your bigger container or right into the garden.  Just one way to start the seeds that is easy and convenient for us, given our limited space and time!