Home & Garden

07/08/2011

Keep Your Garden Green Even While Away

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While you're enjoying that well deserved summer vacation, don't forget your garden will be home working hard - and hopefully offer up a bouty of fresh veggies upon your return! Here are some simple tips to keep your garden going strong while you're on the go this summer season.

A Good Soak – Give flower and vegetable gardens a good final soak before flying the coop. This is especially important if rainfall has been inadequate, or sparse precipitation is predicted. The good news is that further watering may not be a worry no matter what the weather. Established annuals can last for ten days without supplemental water. Most perennials can weather two weeks of dry conditions. Trees and shrubs won't feel the pinch for about a month. Lawns are the camels of the garden. A healthy lawn can go six weeks without extra water.  

Don't Feed and Leave – Don't fertilize plants before leaving. Slower growth is what you want while you are away.

Protect Containers – Container plants need water more often than border plants. If you ask a friend for a watering favor, group containers in a protected area with indirect sun, but access to rainfall.  This makes it easier to water and harder to miss a pot.  This lessens stress on plants and your watering chum.

Harvest Produce – Harvest produce before you leave. If you can't take it with you, or just have too much, donate to a food pantry or share with friends or family. If you'll be gone for more than two weeks, ask a friend to harvest produce. If you stop harvesting vegetables some stop producing.

Apply a Pre-emergent Garden Weed Preventer – Most people associate pre-emergent garden weed preventers with early spring, but mid-summer is another smart time to apply it. A second application atop mulch or soil stops weed seeds from sprouting while you're away and well into the fall. Remember that mulch and and a garden weed preventer prevent new weeds from happening, they don't kill the existing ones!

Source: www.preen.com

07/06/2011

Scary Food Facts and Tricks to Stay Healthy

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Food Could the food in your fridge be the stuff of nightmares? If you’re not paying close attention to the products you buy—and consume—there’s a chance that you’re overlooking the ugly truth when it comes to your grocery store haul.

While spinach, egg and peanut butter contaminations have all made the headlines recently, there’s plenty more scary stuff that doesn’t make the network news cut. Take, for instance, insect parts and toxic chemicals, which is actually allowed in some foods—um, yuck.

To ensure that your next trip to the market is as green, clean and safe as possible, ShopSmart shares the following tips:

Bugs in your food – It’s simply not possible to grow, harvest, and process food without a few tiny creepy-crawlies hitchhiking along, so the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sets tolerance levels for what are termed "naturally occurring defects." For example a 24-ounce container of cornmeal can have up to 13 insects, 745 insect fragments, and 27 rodent hairs.

If you discover unwanted visitors in a newly purchased product, return it to the store or the manufacturer for a refund. If you're not sure whether a food is infested, freeze it for four days or heat it in the oven at 140-degree for an hour to kill insects and eggs.

Consuming clones - The FDA does not require labeling on most products that contain genetically engineered plant material or on meat and milk from cloned animals. Genetically modified versions of corn, soybeans, canola, and cotton are widely sold in the U.S.

If you'd prefer to avoid milk and meat from cloned cows and genetically modified plant ingredients, buy organic. Unfortunately, there's no way to avoid consuming some genetically modified ingredients

Carnivore chicken - Livestock feed can include things like cow meat and bones, which might be fed to chickens, pigs, and even farmed fish. And cows might be fed processed feathers and waste from the floors of chicken coops. 

Look for beef or chicken certified organic by the USDA. Claims of "no additives," "no antibiotics," "no hormones," and "no steroids" are less reliable since they can't be verified.

Labels lie - Some labels can outsmart even careful shoppers. "Natural" products might contain high-fructose corn syrup; a food "made with" an ingredient often includes just a smidgen; and a "whole-grain" cereal could lack substantial fiber.

If you want the whole story, you still have to flip to the back label and scan the nutrition facts. Check not just the calories but also serving sizes. And scan the percent of daily values.

Fresh meat - Many supermarkets sell ground beef and steaks packaged with gas that keeps them looking fresh and red for a month or more, even if the meat has spoiled. In that process, used in factory-wrapped (or case-ready) meat, most of the oxygen in the package is replaced with other gases, including tiny amounts of carbon monoxide that react with pigment and keep the meat red.

Ask whether your grocer sells meat packed with carbon monoxide. For fruits, buy locally or at least what's in season. (Frozen fruits and veggies are a good option any time of year because they're usually flash frozen immediately after harvest.)

SOURCE ShopSmart Magazine

06/30/2011

How to Redesign a Room More Earth Friendly

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Want to freshen up a room in your home by infusing a seasonal summery vibe? It’s a weekend project that’s both easy and eco-friendly, when you do it right. Recently, I spent some time perking up my bedroom with a fresh coat of paint, a bit of rearranging and some creative re-using of furniture I already had on hand. The result? A pretty boudoir for a pretty penny!


If you’re eager to energize a space in your home, take a moment to jot down a list of what you’d like to see, then sketch it out to scale on a sheet of paper, just in case you need to rethink any particular pieces.

Brighten walls with a fresh coat of low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paint to avoid the more than 10,000 chemicals found in typical interior paint cans. (Read more on choosing low-VOC here.) By choosing a paint and primer in one, you’ll save yourself a can of paint, but you’ll likely shell out a few dollars more to start.

Instead of buying new a fancy, new headboard for a bedroom consider painting a faux headboard—like I did—and dressing it up with a stack of organic fabric pillows. It will save you time and money, and promises a truly custom solution. Unique paint treatments can be used all through the house, behind a bunch of framed photos in your hallway or living room, or even as a faux rug on your patio floor.

Reuse old furniture by giving it new life with a coat of paint. Remove old drawers from a chest and replace with baskets or replace the legs on a nightstand to create a new place for plants in a sunroom.

Spicen up a room with new linens—natural jute rugs or organic cotton pillows—or recycle some of your existing fabrics by turning them into new pieces. A fabric shower curtain that you love but that doesn’t match your bathroom? Try turning the durable fabric into new, outdoor pillows.

Switch your lights to whiter compact fluorescent lighting, which offers a brighter glow and cheaper electricity bills. Or, take down stuffy, dusty drapes and let the light shine in. Hello, Vitamin D!

With only a few simple changes, you can have a cool, clean space in your home that better reflects you, your lifestyle and your commitment to the environment.

06/29/2011

Staycation: Picnic at the Park

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It's a beautiful, summer day and luckily, you have the entire day to yourself. What to do? Why not turn your one-off holiday into a staycation by packing up and heading to a local state park you've never visited. Better yet, pack a picnic - a sustainable picnic, naturally - and plan for a day-long event. 


If you're not a categorical picnicer, we'll help you out with some of the basics. To begin, you'll need a basket (like this cool, red option from ReUseIt) or big bag for toting all of your goodies, and a blanket big enough for however many people you'll invite (I dig this PVC-free blanket with carry strap). Yes, many parks have picnic tables, but I'm of the mindset that it's simply not a picnic if a blanket isn't involved. Once you have these two items, gather up some reusable or corn-based and biodegradable plates and utensils like those made by Trellis (most grocery stores now carry paper alternative options).

You won't want to make any stressful grocery store stops on the way, if you can avoid it, so use what you have in  your home already to pack up a nutritious variety of foods and snacks. Some of the staples include: fresh fruit salad; raw, organic vegetables; crackers and cheese; and simple sandwiches.

Top it all of with a bottle of specialty organic juice or hey, why not indulge in a bottle of biodyamic wine if the day calls for relaxing? For dessert, bring along some healthy granola or all-natural cookies - finger foods are always appreciated outdoors! 

Lastly, kick back and soak up some sun. A lazy day at the park truly is one of life's greatest pleasures and surely makes for an awesome staycation. 

06/23/2011

What's Old is New: The Green, Money-Saving Amish Lifestyle

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Skd283890sdc We sometimes think that going green, making our lifestyle more environmentally conscious, requires spending: buying compact fluorescent bulbs or even solar panels, maybe even trading in the old gas guzzler for a new hybrid or electric car. In our consumer culture, our default mode is to think we have to buy something in order to do something.
The truth is, you don’t have to spend the green to go green. In fact, if you start with the intent of being thrifty, you’ll probably end up making “green” choices that actually help the environment. One of the best examples of "un-consumer lifestyle" can be seen in today's Amish families, who save money—and are gloriously green—but incidentally so, with frugality a common thread in the Amish community.
 
Every product that we buy new not only costs us money, but it also has a carbon footprint: the fuel used in manufacturing it, getting it to the store, getting us to the store to buy it, and so on. Every time you decide to reuse something you already have—even if it is a yogurt container—you’re not just helping your budget, you’re helping the planet.

When it comes to greening up, why not take a cue from the Amish lifestyle? 
 
Repurpose: Find a new use for an old thing, rather than just throwing it away, to keep it out of a landfill and also cut costs. Save empty glass jars for storage, use the good fabric in worn clothing in craft projects, be creative!
 
Recycle: If your town has a recycling program, participate! But also consider recycling yourself: clean out plastic containers to reuse for food storage, swap tired-of children's toys with friends or neighbors, donate old books to the local library.
 
Garden: Like the Amish, plant a garden and put a dent in your summer grocery bill, reduce your carbon footprint, and make the world a little greener—literally. If you don’t have a green thumb, but still want to be green, buy from a local farm or farmer’s market.
 
Hand-Down: Small children don’t stay small for long, so they typically outgrow their clothes before they wear them out so consider reusing them for the next child. Most Amish families have at least half a dozen kids, so they naturally clothe the younger ones with hand-me-downs.  If your family is slightly smaller, find other families you can trade with, or at the very least, donate used clothing to charity instead of them hitting the landfill.
The Amish often say, “use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without,” to describe their thrifty lifestyle. Who knew that doing just that would also help the environment?  

Source: Money Secrets of the Amish

 

06/21/2011

Green Cleaning with Garage Sales

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78457784 (1) When it comes to cleaning house, there's no more eco-friendly way to pare down than with a garage sale. The "reduce, reuse, recycle" mantra really rings true here, and allows you to get rid of some of your own self-declared junk while snagging a few extra bucks along the way. What could be better?

If you're feeling pinched under the amount of "stuff" in your home, consider organizing a summer weekend garage sale - or team up with your neighbors to peddle your unwantables in a block sale. (The more the merrier!) 


For a lesson in Garage Sales 101, we turned to pro-marketer and garage-sale diva Ava Seavey, author of Ava's Guide to Garage Sale Gold, who offered up the following easy tips:

  • Have clear, simple signs. They should be double-sided, have arrows and clearly state the date and time.
  • Put an ad in your local paper.
  • Write everything down. (Just like dieting.) Do this before, during and after the sale. 
  • Tag everything, unless they're grouped with other things likely to sell at a set price. (You want to be focused on exchanging money during hte sale, not haggling.)
  • Put everyting on tables, laid out neatly, if possible.
  • Categorize like items together.
  • Feel empowered when you negotiate - don't be afraid to say no. Don't feel intimidated; maintain prices that reflect a product's real worth.

06/15/2011

Getting Your Daily Dose of Fruits & Veggies

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What's on your plate for dinner? If it's not half-full of fruits and veggies, you're not following the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) newest dietary recommendations, which suggest devoting at least 50 percent of every meal - or your daily food intake - to nature's produce. 

"This science-based government recommendation to make half your plate fruits and vegetables is a significant and positive step in the battle to fight obesity and related health issues in America. [It's] a simple, memorable way to show Americans the proportion of fruits and vegetables they should be eating at every meal occasion," says Dr. Elizabeth Pivonka, president and CEO of Produce for Better Health Foundation.

How can you add fruits and veggies in ways that won't make you feel 100 percent vegetarian (if you aren't already, that is):

 Source: Fruits & Veggies - More Matters

  • Start your morning with a glass of 100 percent fruit juice
  • Stock up on frozen and canned fruits and vegetables for those times when fresh varieties aren't handy
  • Mix dried plums, mango and banana chips with almonds for a healthy mid-day snack
  • Keep pre-cut veggies at eye-level in your refrigerator for grab-and-go snacking
  • Pack celery sticks topped with peanut butter for a healthy, but filling, lunch time treat 

06/09/2011

How to Make Your Greens Even Healthier

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Produce It’s picnic season! When you’re packing up your bounty of healthy (and hopefully organic!) fruits and veggies for an afternoon snack or side dish, you’ll want to abide by these simple rules to avoid prevent eating contaminated food. It’s hard to believe, but Federal health officials estimate that nearly 48 million people are sickened by harmful germs each year!

Health eating starts at the supermarket. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends picking produce that isn’t bruised or damaged—and making sure that any pre-cut items (like lettuce or apple slices) are either refrigerated or on ice.

When you get home and into your own kitchen, take extra precautions by following the below rules.

  • Wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap and warm water before and after touching produce
  • Cut away damaged or bruised areas before preparing or eating
  • Gently rub produce while holding under running water (there’s no need to use soap or a produce wash)
  • Wash produce before you peel it, so dirt and bacteria aren’t transferred from the knife onto the fruit or vegetable
  • Use a clean vegetable brush to scrub firm produce, such as melons and cucumbers
  • Dry produce with a clean cloth or paper towel to further reduce bacteria that may be present
  • Throw away the outermost leaves of a head of lettuce or cabbage

Once you’ve sliced and diced, you’re all set to prepare your food. Stumped on healthy ideas? Scour your favorite cookbook for all-natural options or visit sites like the Food Network’s Healthy Eating recipe section or the Eating Well website.

(Source: FDA) Also, visit Earth Tones on Road & Travel Magazine.

05/27/2011

Greener Grasses the Eco Way

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By Melinda Myers

Electric mower 2011 You can have your grass and be kind to the environment too.  It’s just a matter of changing your lawn care practices.

Proper mowing, watering, and fertilization can be the difference between a healthy lawn and a weed patch. Raise the mowing height of your lawn, if haven’t already done so. Grow cool season grasses like bluegrass, fescue and ryegrass 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 inches tall. Warm season grasses like bermudagrass, carpetgrass, centipedegrass and zoysia should be grown at 1 to 2 inches tall, while St. Augustine should a bit higher, 2 to 3 inches, for best results. Taller grass is better able to compete with weeds. 

Mow often, removing no more than one third the total height, in order to reduce stress on the grass.  Leave the clippings on the lawn.  A season’s worth of clippings equals one fertilizer application. And make sure the blade is sharp for a better look and quicker recovery of the grass.  Consider using a push or electric mower. It’s good for the waistline and the environment. 

Proper watering helps keep your lawn healthy and better able to fend off pests and out compete the weeds. But recent droughts, increased water rates, and efforts to conserve water may mean a change of habit. Allow your lawn to go dormant during drought. Minimize foot traffic and play on dormant lawns. Don’t apply herbicides or fertilizer to dormant lawns. The fertilizer will feed the weeds and both can damage the dormant grass.

Those starting a new lawn may want to select a more drought tolerant grass suited to their climate.  Rhizomatous (turf-type) tall fescue uses less water and needs less fertilizer than traditional lawn grasses. The native buffalo grass is a more drought tolerant slow growing warm season grass. It is slow to germinate and establishes and thrives in hot weather. And those with very limited annual rainfall should consider drought tolerant native groundcovers and plantings.

Before fertilizing always start with a soil test so you apply the right type and amount of fertilizer for your lawn. Use a low nitrogen slow release fertilizer like Milorganite. This organic nitrogen fertilizer is only available to the lawn when needed and won’t damage your lawn when hot dry weather arrives

Always sweep grass clippings and fertilizer residue off your walks and drives. This simple step keeps unwanted nutrients out of our waterways and eventually drinking water.

For more earth-friendly tips, visit our Road & Travel Magazine partner site - Earth Tones.

05/23/2011

Smart Shopping Tips for a Greener Lifestyle

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Grocery Shopping When it comes to green lifestyles, it’s true that the little efforts add up. While buying an electric car or carbon offsets for your vacation are admirable actions, there are also a million, tinier tasks you can easily add to your existing schedule – and budget – that will make a difference. Below, we’ve provided a checklist for you to serve as a remind during your next shopping trip!


  • Buy Fresh, Organic and Close to Home: Not only are fresh fruits and vegetables better for you, you eliminate the manufacturing, packaging and shipping, all of which strains the environment.  By seeking out fresh, organic, local produce you are doing both your body and local economy a favor.
  • Shop in Season:  If you are choosing an exotic fruit or vegetable in the dead of winter you know it comes at a high cost.  Think about the environmental price tag to fly that food to your doorstep and choose fruits and vegetables in season instead.
  • Eliminate Bottled Water:  According to the New York Times, Americans consume 30 billion single-serving containers of bottled water each year – plastic containers that will never biodegrade.
  • Shop Online – Instead of expending fuel and energy driving all around town take advantage of online sites that allow you to make multiple purchases and combine shipping costs.
  • Buy in Bulk:  Buying in bulk is smart on multiple levels.  You save money, time, energy and packaging. What could be smarter than that?
  • Go Vintage:  Rather than rushing out and buying the latest fads consider going vintage. Vintage boutiques are springing up all across the country. Not only can you be fashionable but environmentally conscious as well.
  • Ditch those Plastic Bags:  Opt for recyclable shopping bags whenever possible. Many stores now offer special discounts when you use recyclable bags for your purchases. According to recent estimates, 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used each year. Again, plastic will never biodegrade.
  • Reduce, Reuse, Recycle:  This mantra should be ingrained in every consumer's head.  If every American would recycle just one out of every ten #2 plastic bottles we could keep 200 million pounds of plastic out of our nation's landfills each year.

Source: MXEnergy. For more green shopping tips, visit Earth Tones.