Making a basil dog waterer

After my last post, I had people wanting specific instructions on how I was going to make my dog waterer. I didn’t have time to make it before my last post because of farm related busyness that made it so that while I was researching what I wanted to do, I hadn’t had time to do it yet. So, here is how I made this, now that I finally found time to make this waterer.

First, get a pot and a water dish that fits nicely inside your planting pot with room to spare around the sides. Keep in mind how big or small your dog is when choosing the height of your planting pot.

Partially block the drainage hole in your pot with rocks or pebbles to prevent dirt from escaping too badly.

Partially fill your planting pot with potting soil. Keep in mind that the bowl will have to still fit in the pot once it has been planted.

Next, add compost soil or dirt from your garden or yard. This adds a few more vitamins to the pot for your plant.

In my case, the plant I picked, as mentioned in my last post, was basil. There are three ways to plant basil. The first, obviously is from seed. Second, is transplanting. That is what I chose to do. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures from the transplanting. Make sure that your roots are covered over if you use basil. The third method is to essentially create cuttings from basil from the store. If you get some stems that are 4-6 inches long and make sure you have a fresh cut on the bottom of the stem. Stick them in water like a bouquet and keep them in a sunny window. They will root in about a week.

My sister made Baran’s sister a similar waterer, but she used Arabian Jasmine. Any herb that isn’t poisonous to dogs and can be grown in a pot can work. You’ll want to check before you start your project so that you know how deep to plant your chosen herb.

Once the waterer is finished, your dog will quickly figure out how to access the water dish, and you will have fresh herbs year round that your dog is helping you keep watered.

The finished dog waterer with potted basil.

Pixie, the rat terrier, has figured out my dog waterer and is getting a drink from between the fragrant basil plants.

 

A plant buried with the dead

I was recently trying to find an herb that could be grown indoors in a pot with my dogs’ water bowl in it. I have a boxer and a terrier so it was important that not only did I come up with something to cut back on the amount of water on my floor from my boxer Baran’s exuberant style of drinking, but also try to make it a useful pot that Baran could simply water with his mess. Then too, there was the fact that it obviously needed to be dog safe. After some research, I came up with basil.

The professional water dish slosher himself! This is Baran. He’s a 2 year old boxer.

 

I found out that basil can be grown in pots, and it is well suited to my sunny home. It likes the warmer temperatures that I like, and needs rich, moist soil. It’s a delicious herb with a rich history. It was buried with the dead in India, Greece, and Egypt to speed their way into the afterlife. It was also used as a healing herb in India. It is used to treat stress and to treat the flu. I was amazed at the quantity of things that the basil is good for. I’ve actually wondered if basil might not have been an inspiration for athelas in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series. I’m a little skeptical without seeing research backing all of the things that basil is supposed to be good for, but I know that just on nutrition level alone, it’s good stuff.

The first picture in this post was of a basil plant with flowers. This picture is a side view of another basil plant.

If you want to read more on the plant, here are some great sources to go check out:

https://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-basil/

https://www.munch.zone/herbs-and-spices-for-dogs-the-good-and-the-bad/

http://naturalsociety.com/sweet-basil-growing-your-own-medicine/

http://www.thekitchn.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-growing-basil-221272

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1101-holy%20basil.aspx?activeingredientid=1101

Home grown tea plant

It has been a crazy last few weeks. Hopefully, I should be able to post more often now. In Mexico, when I was growing up there, we used a particular plant for both a cold drink and a hot drink. That plant is called Jamaica in Mexico and is a type of hibiscus called Rosselle for English speakers.

 

Interestingly, when I was looking at more information on the plant, since my family grows Roselle to use for tea, I learned that medicinally, Roselle was used for fever, cough as well as high blood pressure. I knew about willow bark for fever but had no idea that Roselle could be used that way too. Apparently, some people eat hibiscus as a snack. I hadn’t heard of that before. You can hop on over to https://waterdogfarms.com/our-favorite-recipes/roselle-hibiscus-recipes/ to see some different recipes that they posted about. I though it was pretty cool.

This plant does get pretty tall. Rosselle is also called Hibiscus.  Here is George with a Hibiscus plant in the garden.

 

If you would like to read more on this plant, here are some articles that I had found very interesting when I was learning about the plant myself.

http://www.exotic-hibiscus.com/misc/history.htm

http://www.trop-hibiscus.com/agnlinfo.html