Hi I’m Sammy!
Posted by Sprouts Staff
Hi Everyone! I’m Sammy, the new girl here at Sprouts. When you call and here a new voice on the phone that would be me. Working here has been a blast, and it’s only been a week and a day. Sharon and the girls have really made me feel at home since I started here. I’m still learning the ropes, but I’m catching on pretty quick; already I am working on new designs for various projects! Things here are super and I love working with the Sprouts Team.
Sprouts is Growing
Posted by Sharon
New Team Member Sprouts UP!
Just like with our sprouting stationary, Sprouts is growing! Recently we added a new team member to our creative staff to help with our demanding work flow. We are pleased to introduce Sammy. Sammy is a veteran of the printing industry working in both production as well as graphic design. She is a talented artist with a fun sensibility who has grown much in only her first week. As time passes we’re sure she will blossom even further with all of us here at Sprouts.
The Clothing Exchange Project; Sponsored by Office Depot Foundation
Posted by Kelly
Over the weekend, Sprouts volunteered with the Office Depot Foundation at the Clothing Exchange Project in City Place. To participate, attendees dropped off slightly used clothing at participating venues in the area in exchange for a voucher. This voucher entitled one to 20 items in exchange the day of the event. A great way to expand your wardrobe and recycle old outfits! The Office Depot Foundation was a main sponsor of the event, and was attended by their president, Mary Wong. Sprouts got involved through donations to the event as well as volunteer aid from our very own Sharon Quercioli and Nikki Parks.
Check out all of our photos from the event on the Sprouts Facebook page, here. And if you would like to learn more about this event, go to www.theclothingexchangeproject.com for more information.
Causes Sprouts Believes In: Healing Touch Buddies
Posted by Kelly
What is Healing Touch?
“Healing Touch is for the person who wants to enhance wellness in themselves and the lives of people they care about by using the gift of energetic touch. “
Healing Touch Buddies, Inc., started by Betty Ann Baker, is a local to South Florida non-profit health and education organization, dedicated to improving the quality of life of those challenged with breast cancer; providing patients with Healing Touch and volunteer practitioners with instruction and support. Our additional intention is to gather data on the impact of HT on specific symptoms associated with breast cancer and its treatment.
Healing Touch courses are open to all nurses, massage therapists, body therapists, counselors, psychotherapists, physicians other allied health care professionals as well as individuals who desire an in-depth understanding and practice of healing work using energy based concepts and principles.
Janet Mentgen, the Founder of Healing Touch, believed that anyone could learn how to facilitate healing in others. As she observed thousands of students doing Healing Touch, she noticed that there was no difference in the outcomes of well prepared non-nurses to those of well prepared nurses.
Janet believed that anyone with a compassionate heart and a desire to be of service to others could become a practitioner of energy healing. All that was needed was a commitment to learn and to grow.
The goal of Healing Touch is to restore balance and harmony in the energy system placing the client in a position to self heal.
Healing Touch is an energy therapy in which practitioners consciously use their hands in a heart-centered and intentional way to support and facilitate physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. Healing Touch is a biofield (the magnetic field around the body) therapy that is an energy-based approach to health and healing.
Healing Touch uses touch and massage techniques to influence the human energy system, specifically the energy field that surrounds the body, and the energy centers that control the energy flow from the energy field to the physical body.
These non-invasive techniques utilize the hands to clear, energize, and balance the human and environmental energy fields, thus affecting physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health and healing. It is based on a “heart centered caring relationship in which the practitioner and client come together energetically to facilitate the client’s health and healing.”
To learn more about Healing Touch buddies, and the care they bring to their community, please visit their website at www.healingtouchbuddies.org.
Sprouts very own Sharon Quercioli is very active with Healing Touch buddies, and it is a charity that is very close to her heart. They are in need of volunteers and donations to keep their operations running. Find out more about oppurtunities to give back to Healing Touch Buddies, click here.
Anyone Can Garden with Urban Gardening: What to Plant
Posted by Kelly
For our next installment in our Urban Gardening series, lets talk about what to grow; what works and what doesn’t. For a detailed list, check out urbangardening.com and containergardeningtips.com, they have a categorized listing of great plants to grow. These are just tried and tested, but feel free to experiment with plants you love.
- Choosing Plants
You can grow a variety of plants, veggies, fruits and herbs and have much success indoors. You’ll want to examine the space that your growing in for sunlight, and choose plants accordingly. Another factor is space. Most herbs and flowers take very well to smaller containers, while larger vegetables - like tomatoes for example- need more room, and sometimes require support. Cherry tomatoes are a good choice. They will continue to grow for a very long time as you continue to pick off the little tomatoes. They are a very pretty plant, and can be grown with or without stakes to hold them up, depending on your preference. Herbs are another favorite for indoor gardeners. They are perfect for container gardening. Many of them are very attractive and will spill over the containers. Most also have a very fragrant odor. Mint, rosemary, chives and cilantro grow best in the cooler months. They can be grown from cuttings, seed or transplants. Hanging baskets are also a great way to grow herbs, and other plants do well in baskets too, like pole beans. Also try radishes; they grow quickly and at shallow depths. Miniature varieties of carrots like ‘Kinko’ and ‘Oxheart’ do well in small spaces and are also easy to grow. And aloe is easy to grow and adapts well indoors and out.
- Preparing Soil
Soil is a very important component, and depending on the needs of the plant, the soil make up can vary. This is another area where experimentation is welcome. Different gardeners will tell you different ingredients to prepare the best soil. The soil should always be lightweight and drain well. A successful mix is equal amount (by volume) of silica, sand, perlite and forest mulch. Or try another favorite of equal parts of sharp coarse sand, native soil and compost or peat moss. If your vegetables are growing in hanging containers, you will need a light mix of equal parts of perlite, black peat moss and vermiculite. All nurseries also have premixed soil, but you will pay a little more for convenience.
- Water Requirements
One factor to keep in mind while indoor gardening is the watering. Plants grown in containers need more care and more attention than plants grown outside. Outside you can use timers and irrigate with drip systems. Indoor gardeners need to water by hand and more frequently because plants dry out faster in containers. And plastic versus ceramic pots makes a difference, plastic is cheaper but tends to dry out faster. If you are patio gardening, this is especially important. Sometimes new, small plants have to be watered more than once a day.
Container Gardening has a great blog post about water bottle container gardening, as well as a step by step how to. Also, make sure you read the first post in this series, Anyone can Garden with Urban Gardening: Getting Started.
Women in Business Luncheon
Posted by Kelly
Last week Sharon sponsored the Women in Business luncheon and invited Mary Wong, president of the Office Depot Foundation as a guest speaker.
Mary gave a great speech on diversity and what it means for a business to be diverse. She gave some great examples from her own experiences with the Office Depot foundation and in her own life with her Bee Mary charity. She spoke about learning through trial and error and how to make things work when your resources are limited.
The event took place at the beautiful Jupiter Beach Resort in Jupiter, Florida with a fabulous lunch and an opportunity to mingle with some local business women (and men!). It was a great opportunity to meet some new faces. Click here to see our photos on the Sprouts Facebook page.
Sprouts was there as a sponsor and gifted all the attendants with one of our Bloomin’ Box garden kits, customized for this event (image below) . Each plantable seed paper heart box contained a pot, soil pellet and some plantable seed paper and instructions. Click here to view this and other plantable boxes on our website.
Anyone can Garden with Urban Gardening: Getting Started
Posted by Kelly
These days, everyone is talking about going green. There is constant chatter about the benefits for the environment, and more recently, your wallet. This conversation usually involves organic foods, which are not always cost friendly. Organic fruits and vegetables grown without harmful chemicals and pesticides are better for our bodies and the environment. Many people are turning to their own back yards to provide them with an alternative to grocery store organics. It doesn’t get any more ‘locally grown’ than this! Starting a garden is a great reason to get outside, grow your own food and start composting all your organic waste material, much better than sending it to your local landfill.
So maybe you don’t have a backyard. Maybe you’re in an urban environment surrounded by concrete or in a rental apartment. What now? Well, we’ve gathered plenty of tips and resources, so dig in! Plenty of people grow their own edibles in their homes, from a windowsill herb garden (a great place to start if this sounds at all intimidating) to small hybrid fruit trees, perfect for indoor environments.
Let’s talk about how to get started.
Creating the right environment is key, lighting and water are vital.
Here are some great tips from sheknows.com on lighting and watering indoors.
- Cover walls with reflective Mylar or white paint in order to allow light to reflect onto your plants so they can absorb more energy.
- Turn on an oscillating fan to create air and humidly flow around your plants because if an air supply fixes directly on your plants for too long, it can dry them out.
- Protect your household surfaces by putting drop cloths or plastic trays underneath your plants in order to prevent water damage.
- If using artificial light, it’s suggested you utilize HID (high intensity discharge) lights, which hang down from the ceiling and converts electricity into usable energy for plants.
- Ensure your plant has an adequate drainage system. Skip this step and your roots will rot and you’ll have a muddy mess on your hands.
- Fully hydrate the soil, but be careful to not over-water it.
- Use room temperature water so as not to shock the plant with scalding or freezing water.
Your garden’s new home, should be a happy one.
In an article posted by suite101.com, Bob Ewing suggests recycling old containers for potting.
- Use old ice cream or margarine tubs for planting. Punch a couple of holes in the bottom and use the lid as an overflow tray and you are set. This recycles and saves you money.
- Potting soil plays a very important role in the success of your garden, adding a little bone meal to the mix can help enrich the soil.
Getting your seedlings started is the first step to a great (and organic!) indoor garden and these steps should get you growing. You can plant anything from herbs to tomatoes to salad green, start experimenting with foods you like! Gardening on any scale is an ongoing project, so stay tuned for more tips and tricks. And as always, let us know what you think. We’ll take any great advice from your own experiences.
