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On today's episode, we're talking about falling in love with the garden this spring. Almost every day, Carla of @gardenplot.57 treats us to vibrant photos of her cut flower garden, homemade skincare products, and dozens of veggies she's growing in her backyard garden in Cornwall, England.
In this episode, Carla gives tips on how to start (and maintain) a garden in a small space, and shares tips on DIY gardening projects we can do right now to get a jump on the season. Carla and I bonded over the amazing book "Floret Farm's A Year in Flowers: Designing Gorgeous Arrangements for Every Season" by Erin Benzakein, an amazing resource that'll inspire you to step up your flower arranging (and flower growing) game. Carla also shares the secret to getting kids interested in gardening and how to lure them away from the X-Box and towards the garden box.
Carla's guide to gardening in a small space:
More gardening resources recommended by Carla and Brionna:
If you're new to Bri Books, leave a review of Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, and listen to Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and SoundCloud! Please tell me what you're growing by using #bribooks on Instagram, and subscribe to the Bri Books newsletter at bribookspod.com/newsletter. Follow @theBriGarden on Instagram for garden tours, growing hacks, and gardening secrets.
In today's episode, we're talking about all things organic gardening, and how to grow your own food with Misilla of 'Learn to Grow.'
Whether you're starting your own garden or you haven't given it much thought, after this episode you'll be yearning to get your hands on some seeds. Misilla is the host of 'Learn to Grow,' a channel on YouTube with over 114,000 subscribers. She's a crafty mom of 4 living and working in the Pacific Northwest. Her videos and social posts consist of garden how-to's, growing hacks, healthy living ideas, science experiments, DIY projects, and gardening inspo. Misilla's family has been growing food and farming for generations. She's passionate about inspiring others to grow their own food, and she's passionate about getting kids involved in the garden.
Follow Misilla on Instagram @learntogrow
Follow Misilla on YouTube at Learn to Grow
In this episode, I'm sharing my garden starter hacks, including a gardening method I created myself! This method has taken my gardening and succession planting to the next level when it comes to growing my own food. Follow @theBriGarden on Instagram for garden tours, growing hacks, and gardening secrets.
I call this my "theBriGarden Breakfast Gardening Method." I created and coined it myself for @theBriGarden. It revolves around repurposing food waste to create a food bounty. Who would've thought breakfast is so ripe for gardening!?
3:45 - Hack #1: Reuse egg water! Hard-bouled eggs release a trace amount of calcium into the water, and calcium is a mineral all plants need. It's a great idea to use hard-boiled egg water for your plants. Plants can benefit from calcium boost in hard-boiled egg water
4:15 - Hack #2: Eggshell planters! If you take your eggshells and break out the top, leaving ¾ of eggshell intact, that's a great container for starting seeds. You can begin so many seeds in eggshells, which are rich in calcium. Using eggshells whole can help recycle your breakfast food scraps.
5:00 - Hack #3: Eggshell fertilizer! Crushed eggshells are a great way to inject calcium into your garden and help deter slugs and garden pests. I created a fun TikTok of how to use eggshells in your garden.
5:40 - Hack #4: Coffee! Put your used coffee grounds in the soil to boost nitrogen in the soil and provide an acidity boost. It's the next best thing to organic fertilizer. Make sure you grind it up very fine so that the plants can receive the nutrients.
6:30 - Hack #5: Sprinkle of cinnamon! Cinnamon helps to fight off bacteria and fungus that causes damping, a disease that waterlogs the stem of the plant and stalls out the seedlings before they can grow. Cinnamon helps to deter this disease, so add a tiny pinch to your potting soil to keep your seedlings growing strong.
7:30 - Hack #6: Egg cartons! Use egg cartons as seed starters to start seeds indoors on a regular basis. If a dozen eggs run out in 2 weeks in your house, that's enough time to get another succession planting round going in that empty carton without having to buy any supplies. Fill the empty eggshells with soil, plant a seed inside it, and place the seeded eggshell the egg carton on a window sill.
8:00 - Hack #7: Fruit boxes! Containers that your produce comes in is great to reuse as transplant containers. Before the seeds go into container gardens or into the ground, use these fruit boxes to help your plants mature is a great way to make your morning fruit snacking pay off.
8:55 - Hack #8: Coffee filters! Re-use coffee filters to line the bottoms of your pots and containers. Voila, leak-free gardening!
Want to see the garden in action? Follow @theBriGarden on Instagram for garden tours, growing hacks, and gardening secrets for first-time growers.
Leave a review of Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, and listen to Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and SoundCloud! Please tell me what you're sipping by using #bribooks on Instagram, and subscribe to the Bri Books newsletter at bribookspod.com/newsletter. Follow @theBriGarden on Instagram for garden tours, growing hacks, and gardening secrets.
In this episode, I'm sharing the tips first-time gardeners need to know, and how to start a vegetable garden, raised bed garden, herb garden, or kitchen garden without breaking the bank. These easy gardening tips and gardening hacks that'll make your life easier. Follow theBriGarden on Instagram, and listen to Bri Books on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and SoundCloud. Show me your garden by using #bribooks on Instagram, and subscribe to the Bri Books newsletter at bribookspod.com/newsletter.
3:00 - #1: Identify your USDA hardiness zone. (Psst...I'll include maps for San Francisco, NYC, DC, Houston, Philadelphia, Columbus, Chicago, San Diego, Detroit, and Atlanta gardening zones on the Bri Books Instagram and newsletter.)
4:30 - #2: Find your sunspots. Here's how to identify North, South, East, and West: First, point your left arm towards the sun in the morning. Now, take your right hand and point it toward the west (stretch arms like you're giving a hug.) You're now facing south, and your back is facing north. Mind blown!
6:30 - #3: Find out your frost date. What's important to know is how many weeks you have until your frost date is upon you. Find the frost dates at almanac.com, and then count backward how many weeks you have remaining until that day. That's essentially the number of weeks you have left in your traditional summer-autumn season.
8:30 - #4: How to pick good soil and seeds. I recommend beginning with a seedling mix like Black Gold from Sun Gro, or Epsoma Seed Starting Potting Mix. My favorite seed company is Botanical Interests, a company I've been celebrating for over 5 years now. The second resource I love for seeds is CaliKim Garden and Home. She has a great selection mix. A lof the mixes are good if you want to place one order and get a half dozen crops at your doorstep. I'd also recommend Uncle Jim's Worm Farm! They sell all the worms that are great for composting and adding overall health to your garden.12:30 - #5: Pick the best short-term and long-term containers for your plants. Keep vertical growing in mind when it comes to space. Here's a growing tower/ multi-tiered planter that I like for growing green leafys, roots, and flowers. A great beginning seed container is an egg carton, and also fruit cartons.
BREAK
16:00 - Gardening Q&A #1: How do you harvest herbs to keep them growing?
Gardening Q&A #2: Do herbs grow better on a balcony or indoors?
Gardening Q&A #3: My gardening story/ what inspired me to start a garden?
Gardening Q&A #4: How do I become a good plant mom?
4:00 - #2: Bath bombs from Lush Cosmetics, especially Rose Jam, which is perfect for sensitive skin. It includes rose oil, rose absolute, lemon oil, geranium oil, and shea butter. My second favorite bath bomb from Lush is the Lemon Crumble bubbleroon which has an uplifting citrus-y scent and is packed with fair-trade cocoa butter, Sicilian lemon oil, and a shea butter center that conditions and softens dry skin.
7:00 - #3: The 'Be Well' set from Thirteen Lune comes with a candle, bath/body oil, and a luxe bath salt. I use the full set to create the ultimate pampering experience through this edit of products. As part of the set, you get a Satya + Sage meditation candle infused with amber and clove. It also comes with the Senteurs du' Orient bath salts and the Elixa Bath + Body serum. The body serum leaves behind a luscious, dewy texture without feeling greasy on the skin. Thirteen Lune is an eCommerce destination designed to inspire the discovery of beauty brands created by Black and brown founders. They do a great job giving each brand a platform to engage a wider audience, and I adore the company so much.
9:40 - #4: Babo Botanicals 3-in-1 Eucalyptus Remedy bubble bath! I keep a family-size bottle of this stuff in my bathroom at all times. It does triple duty as a bubble bath, body wash, AND shampoo. Babo has a lot of fragrance-free products, which are perfect for children with sensitive skin. The eucalypics remedy helps to soothe and calm my skin. For everyday comfort, the Babo Botanicals Eucalyptus Remedy is something I can't imagine going without.
11:25 - #5: Alaffia Everyday Shea Bubble Bath! It serves ups a creamy, moisturizing bath full of bubbles. Founded in 2003, Alaffia continues to redefine hte natural products industry through its values in beauty, empowerment, and equality. The brand boasts dozens of products from body washes to cleaners, lotions for babies, calming balms, everything. In 2018, Alaffia increased access to its products by adding 2,500 stores nationwide. I like to buy my Alaffia via the Allure Store in New York City.
LINKS TO PRODUCTS AND EPISODES MENTIONED:
Happy 2022 from Brionna at Bri Books! In this episode, I'll be sharing a few uplifting tips that'll help you upgrade your wellness routine this year. I want to use this episode to bring optimism and hope to you as you build out your wellness routine for the months and years to come.
SHOW NOTES
2:15 - #1: Self-care activities! I take my self-care very seriously (here's a link to an episode about how to create a relaxation routine!) Self-care isn't limited to skincare masks and bubble baths. In my opinion, self-care activities include moments spent on things like daily prayer and meditation, journaling, massage, acupuncture, and other soothing practices--anything that helps to connect you to your internal self.
3:40 - #2: Sleep care! Raise your hand if you've fallen asleep with your personal tech within reach at least once this week. As you know, this isn't the best thing for our bodies--you don't want to see bright lights right before bed. Creating (and sticking to!) A sleep care routine is a great way to upgrade your wellness practice. Removing as many stimuli as possible, as early in the night as possible, you're able to maintain a sleep routine and sleep more soundly, increasing the likelihood of waking up refreshed. Another option: reading a lighthearted book before bed and building bedtime rituals like closing your window shades, lighting a bedside candle, brewing a cup of tea, or misting a pillow or your room with your favorite aromatherapy spray.
6:15 - #3: Build a consistent workout routine that boosts confidence! By reframing your workout practice with the intention of being confident, you're more likely to be consistent with your progress. My favorite fitness queens are Yoga with Adrienne, Move with Nicole, and Body Fit by Amy
7:45 - These are the products I've been introducing into my wellness routine
13:30 - #4: Creating a meal plan and hydration plan! I can't tell you what to eat, but planning what to eat makes life a lot less stressful. I like to plan my meals for 2-3 days at a time so that at all times I know what I'm having for the next two lunches, dinners, and breakfasts. I'm able to shop at the farmer's market with these meals in mind. In terms of a hydration plan, I recommend you grab a 64 oz jug, 32 oz jug, or 16 oz glass jar, determine how much water you'll drink each hour, up to 64 oz in the day. Finishing one glass of water after the next creates a feedback loop of completion and consistency, inspiring you to finish the next.
15:30 - #5: Daily dance! Acupuncture and wellness practitioner Jessica Parks of 'Growing Space' recommended the practice of indulging in a carefree 3 minutes of dancing at least once a day. It's a fun way to inject joy and a playful attitude into the day as early as possible. You can find more about Jessica Parks here.
How are you updating your routine in the new year? Share it with me on Instagram at @bribookspod.
PRODUCTS MENTIONED:
Transitioning to Natural Hair: 9 Things I Wish I Knew Before Transitioning to Natural Hair
I'm recording this episode inspired by an article I wrote at Glamour.com about transitioning to natural hair. In this episode, I'm sharing the 9 things I wish I knew before transitioning to the natural hair world.
Welcome to the Bri Books 'Career Crash Course' mini-series! I'm sharing all the tips needed to help recent grads navigate the confusing yet exciting 'real world' after college. Join me as I discuss career topics that most students don't learn in college--like how to actually land a job--and go deep on lessons learned from my own career across tech, social media, and journalism. For job search coaching questions and partnerships, email at [email protected].
In this episode, we sit down with Amelia Duffy, a junior and Research Associate attending the School of Information at the University of Michigan School of Information. Amelia and Brionna chat about how to leverage interests and hobbies in order to build a portfolio career for yourself postgrad, and the power of having multiple interests when it comes to the working world. For job search coaching questions and partnerships, email at [email protected], and follow @bribookspod on Instagram and Twitter.
SHOW NOTES
0:00-2:20 - Intro
2:45 - Meet Amelia Duffy, a junior at the School of Information at the University of Michigan, class of 2023.
4:00 - Amelia walks us through her thought process surrounding selecting courses, and how she's using her college courses to help her make a more informed decision about her career path.
7:00 - "When you stop trying to force something on yourself, what you're meant to do will come naturally." - Brionna Jimerson
8:20 - Brionna's podcast recommendation, "Side Hustle Pro" podcast by Nicaila Matthews Okome, a University of Michigan Ross School of Business graduate who pivoted her entrepreneurial passions into a full-grown career.
12:00 - On moving from company to company: "One of the things I've been trying to avoid is feeling pigeonholed into one space. It's nice to hear about someone who has comfortably switched between roles and companies."
13:00 - Brionna's advice on how to switch jobs as a recent grad: "Once you're on the boat, you can always change decks." Find a company that has other business arms that interest you, where you can expand and grow into. Set up informational interviews with people who have the skillsets you're trying to develop."
20:30 - Amelia's career advice: "You want to go into a career that goes on your strengths instead of one that just makes money, because 1.) You'll enjoy it because it'll come easier to you and 2.) You'll constantly be trying to catch up because the career won't ride on your strengths but will ride on the strengths of others.
22:30 - What Amelia wishes she knew about the job search and wants undergraduates to know now: "You don't need a big name company right out of college. You can grow so much more in other areas of companies. Not every single person in the US from the top college is competing for the same jobs. Take a step back. You have to understand you can grow in other places."
26:00 - How to pursue interests and extracurriculars as part of your career DNA
29:00 - Brionna's #BriBooks recommendations for Amelia: "Data Science from Scratch: The First Principles of Python" published by O'Reilly, and "Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence" by Vicky Robin and Joe Dominguez.
SECRETS TO FINDING A JOB AS A RECENT GRAD
Welcome to the Bri Books 'Career Crash Course' mini-series! I'm sharing all the tips needed to help recent grads navigate the confusing yet exciting 'real world' after college. Join me as I discuss career topics that most students don't learn in college--like how to actually land a job--and go deep on lessons learned from my own career across tech, social media, and journalism. In this episode, we sit down with Ameenah Rashid, an Associate Analyst at eCommerce startup Profitero, and Tufts class of 2021. Ameenah and Brionna chat about navigating post-grad life and how to make those first crucial career decisions after college. For job search coaching questions and partnerships, email at [email protected], and follow @bribookspod on Instagram and Twitter.
SHOW NOTES
2:45 - Meet Ameenah Rashid, 21, Associate Analyst at Profitero, an eCommerce startup in Boston. Here's the story of how Ameenah navigated those first decisions post-college by leaning on her interdisciplinary interests.
3:45 - How Ameenah spent almost the entirety of her senior year of college applying for jobs, ranging from analyst to finance to tech roles. Now that she has some stability, she's ready to think about the next steps and play her cards more wisely. She'd been on the job search treadmill for a year, and now that she has a chance to stop, she's working on being intentional about the next phase of her career.
5:20 - On the importance of cultivating interests outside of work. "I've always been left-brained and right-brained in my professional interests and hobbies. Career-wise, I've done a lot of marketing because there are so many marketing positions. I've done marketing, strategy, social media, some consulting, digital work, and I currently work as an analyst. My current role as an analyst is more technical than any role I've had before, so I'm leaning into that side of things."
6:30 - Why it's important to focus on getting the skill sets you need in order to set yourself up for success, and how to mine your own life's experiences for ways you can incorporate your own knowledge into your professional life. "In my undergrad life, I'm proud of exploring internships in a diverse range of industries--from engineering education to the Olympics to marketing the editorial--it's taught me that it doesn't matter if you don't know everything about the experience. You can pick things up on the fly.
9:30 - The dangers of trying to put yourself into a 'box' professionally, and how to leverage your college activities as part of your job search process
16:00 - How Ameenah is making the most of her first job post-college, and Ameenah's advice for soon-to-be graduates/ what she wishes she knew six months ago. . "The whole time I was applying for jobs I was irrationally stressed when in reality if I didn't have a job it'd be fine."
18:00 - Brionna's #Bribooks read: "Consumed" by Aja Barber
20:00 - Brionna's #Bribooks recommendation for Ameenah: "Your Money Life: Your 20s" by Peter Dunn.
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