Water Heaters

Heating water accounts for approximately 17% of the average family's yearly energy usage, reports the US Department of Energy. Therefore, finding the most efficient way of heating your home's water is an important quest.

Excitingly, Energy Star has recently set standards for rating water heaters. And starting in 2009, you'll be able to find a few Energy Star certified water heaters. You can read a little more on this development here or here. For now, however, you'll have to do the research on your own.

Currently, you have two categories of water heaters to consider for energy efficiency:

Tankless: Also known as "on-demand" water heaters, they produce hot water near the location you'll need it (under the sink, under the shower, etc.) You save energy by not having a huge tank of hot water just sitting there day and night, week after week. Currently, only available for homes with natural gas available, though electric options are coming within a few years. Read about them at www.tanklesswaterheaterguide.com.

Solar: Better for the environment than tankless systems because it uses no energy from the "grid" (whether electricity or natural gas), relying instead on the sun's power. Still uses large storage tanks though, but this inefficiency is nullified by the renewability of the solar energy. Read about them at EERE Consumer's Guide.

If you can't afford a major system change in your home right now, at least make sure that your current storage tank is insulated. Newer tanks are typically already insulated, but older tanks, those that are warm to the touch, should be wrapped in an insulating blanket immediately. A cheap and easy fix with a fast energy pay-off.

Shampoo

We've been having a bit of a hard time finding a good hair cleaning solution around here. Up until a week ago, we were living off all the various shampoos that ended up in our bathroom when our two apartments came together when we got married. Now, suddenly, we have to make some decisions.

A few weeks back when Wild Oats here in West Melbourne, FL, was going out of business, I picked up, more or less randomly, a couple of the different shampoos that were on sale. So last week we tried one of them, a Kiss My Face product called "Whenever Shampoo," which smells like green tea and lime. My husband complained that it was the first shampoo that he could smell on himself all day after using it. [I did not take the opportunity to point out that it was probably his first time with a scented shampoo after growing his hair out quite a bit...] And, indeed, it does smell very strong. I also didn't like the way it made my hair look and feel afterward; it seemed like it made my hair look oilier.

So we put our "Whenever Shampoo" aside and tried the other bottle I'd picked up: Nature's Gate Herbal Daily Cleansing Shampoo. While I am happy with it utility, it smells like an overdose of incense. I can deal with it, but it is certainly not working for Ben.

Of course, there are lots of natural, organic choices you can buy at the nearest natural food store. But any store-bought shampoo you get comes with the unfortunate addition of plastic waste. [Yes, you can recycle it, but recycling is much less efficient than reducing.] Making your own shampoo can eliminate the need for the plastics entirely and can reduce the amount of total packaging needed by allowing you to buy your ingredients in bulk.

Just today the Planet Green website posted a recipe for homemade shampoo and conditioner. Many devoted greens suggest just using a baking soda paste, which actually works really well.

Check out Crunchy Chicken's blog if you want to read about another green's shampoo journey.

Image from http://www.kissmyfacewebstore.com/imagesEdp/p80324.jpg

Moles

In the sandy soils of Florida and many other coastal areas, moles can be a big annoyance. They love the loose soil of my flower beds, frequently weaving their intricate web of tunnels for meter after meter. But when they decided to check out my vegetable garden and knocked over one of my squash plants, moles moved from my "annoyance" category to "threat." While we will by no means have enough vegetable growth to meet our dietary needs this year, we do hope that eventually our garden will be able to feed us a large amount of our daily food.

Of course, poisons were not an option for us in our quest for mole control. At the local home improvement store, however, we found a few different mole repelling poles. These work by sending vibrations through the soil that really annoy the moles and make digging in the area unpleasant for them. Easy to install, the mole repellers are simply pushed down into the dirt in the center of the area you want to be mole-free. The poles then send out pulses every few seconds that vibrate the ground around it, effecting up to 7,500 square feet. At Lowes, they have solar powered models for $20 each.

So far, so good.

Image from http://images.aandhmarketing.com/pics/P3International/p7909.jpg

Need a book?

Next time you're in need of a book, consider searching for it at BetterWorld.com.

I came across BetterWorld.com when I was searching for some textbooks on campusi.com. BetterWorld has consistently competitive prices and a huge selection of both new and used books. The best part? Their environmental and social commitments.

Environmentally, they offer "an e-commerce first: the Carbon Neutral Shopping Cart. Working with Carbonfund.org, the leading non-profit provider of carbon offsets, we collect a few cents from every customer at checkout. And since we sell a lot of books, it’s enough to offset our shipping as well as the shipping of our literacy partners, keeping tons of carbon out of the atmosphere in the fight against global warming." [Quoted from here.]

They also support over 80 literacy foundations, a pretty applicable thing for a bookseller to do. Their primary programs are Room to Read, Books for Africa, Worldfund, and National Center for Family Literacy.

Image from lib.ugent.be

Meat Labeling

Tonight we were in Publix and noticed that they now offer fresh cuts of "Green Wise" meats of chicken, pork, and beef. [Of course, this may well have been the case for a long, long time now, but I must admit, as a quasi-vegetarian, I never even glance at the fresh raw meat section of a grocery store.] My husband, poor guy, his eyes lit up; he could just about taste the meat being prepared in our house, I'm sure. But not so fast.

Publix's website says, "Our Meat department offers a wide array of fresh all-natural meats and poultry with no additives or preservatives. That includes many varieties of Publix GreenWise Market brand beef, pork, and chicken, which are raised humanely with no antibiotics or added hormones—ever—on a 100% vegetarian diet." What it doesn't say is "organic" or "biodynamic."

Why is this important? Because many companies attach meaningless, uncertified claims to their products. Mostly, doubt everything you read on a package unless you see a certification you recognize and trust.

What are some of the term, seals, and certifications you should look for when buying meats? Below are a few suggestions, quoted nearly verbatum from Renee Loux's Easy Green Living:

-Certified Humane Raised and Handled: means the animals were treated humanely in a safe, healthy living environment; verified and enforced by third party inspectors
-Antibiotic Free (ABF) Process Verified: animals were not given antibiotics as a preventive measure, only for real illnesses; USDA certified, through annual on-site inspection and evaluation
-Free Range: animal had outdoor access at least once a day; USDA certified; poultry is the only animal product that can be labeled Free Range -- this label has no meaning on eggs or meat
-No Hormones Administered (beef): USDA certified
-Organic: as clean and good as it gets; certified by the USDA to be grown or raised without chemical pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, hormones, or genetically modified organisms
-Demeter Certified Biodynamic: beyond organic; no synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, growth regulators, or genetically engineered substances may be used, ever; no chlorinated or fluoridated water can be used for irrigation

Paper Products

Remember your green quest when you're buying paper towels, toilet paper, and tissues, too! You want to look for products that are made from recycled materials, specifically those with very high levels of post-consumer content. Also, make sure it was made with chlorine-free processing.

We mostly use the Green Wise line from Publix. You can also choose 365 brand, which is found at Whole Foods and Wild Oats. We even got some recycled toilet paper from Walmart (don't ask me what I was doing there in the first place), which was a "green" White Cloud.

Other brands you can check out:
-April soft, Fiesta, Cascades, Pert, Marcal, Sofpac, Fluff Out, Hankies (all can be found at your local grocery stores)
-CVS brand toilet paper (at CVS pharmacies, naturally)
-Eart First, Earth Friendly Products, Green Forest, Natural Value, Seventh Generation, Green Forest (found at various natural markets, some at Paradise Health and Nutrition)

New Book

The last time I was at the library, I picked up one of the influx of environmentally-focused books the Brevard County Library system has ordered: Renee Loux's Easy Green Living.

Let me tell you, this is a thorough book. I normally can peruse a book like this, take a page or two of notes, and get on with life. This book, however, is so full of specific and useful information, you basically have to own it to take advantage of even a fraction of its helpfulness.

It has chapters on green cleaning basics, green kitchens/bathrooms/bedrooms, "eco-fresh" laundry, energy-efficient lighting, "sustainable, ecological home furnishing and materials," and natural beauty products. For each topic, the book offers an overview, in-depth details, and detailed product information. Need to know where to find green cleaning supply brands? This book tells you. Need to know how to trust in the building industry? Likewise. A veritable treasure trove of information.

Next time you're in your public library or in the market for a good book, consider picking up Easy Green Living. Not an entertaining read per se, but an excellent book to have as you're "learning the ropes" of green living.

Replacing Paper Towels

With nearly zero effort, you can phase paper towels out of your home almost entirely.

At our home, we use rags and cloths for most of our daily needs. I had an old shirt with stains on it that I cut into eight good-sized squares (or rectangles or maybe "blobs" is a better way to put my cutting skills). We use these rags to wipe up spills, clean mirrors and windows (which actually leaves your mirrors and windows much less streaky than paper towels), dust (when the rags are slightly moistened), clean our counters and glass-topped stove, etc.

We got 12 natural linen napkins for our wedding and use them a lot in our daily lives. Of course, we use them with meals. Most of the time, our napkin will last each of us for the better part of a week. If you have children, you may need to change the meal napkins more often. We also use our cloth napkins to wipe up glass condensation or water spills around the sink. They are also perfect for covering dishes in the microwave. When we bring our lunches to work, we bring a napkin with us, which is also a useful way to keep your silverware together in your lunch bag.

We still occasionally use paper towels for the really gross stuff like cleaning our pet mouse's cage. But even with this type of use, we only use 1.5 or 2 rolls of paper towels a year.

When we've gotten all the cleaning we can out of our rags or napkins respectively, we just throw them in the wash. They hardly make a dent in the load, effectively nullifying their on-going water or carbon footprints.

So go ahead, chop up that holey, stained shirt at the bottom of your drawer and put it to use as rags. Treat yourself to some strong cloth napkins. Get them at a thrift store for an extra boost of reuse credit and divert them from a landfill.

Greening your Cleaning

Previously, we wrote about greening your dish soaps. In today's post, we'll be discussing greening your cleaning supplies. However, the same greening philosophy should be used. You can take it slowly, easing into green cleaning products as your old ones need replacing.

There are seven main points about green cleaning you should memorize. You want to look for is a product with the following attributes:
1. Bio-degradable
2. Phosphate-free
3. Plant based
4. Chlorine free
5. Ammonia free
6. Solvent free
7. No synthetic fragrances or dyes

It's wonderful if you can find a product that is also made with organic ingredients and is animal cruelty free.

There are some good products that are affordable and easily available. Seventh Generation, one of my favorite lines, (found at Publix, Paradise Health and Nutrition) offers a full line of cleaning products.

Method brand (found at Target, Paradise Health and Nutrition) also makes just about anything you could need to clean your home. Some of their products contain dyes and perfumes, so choose "Go Naked" varieties if you can.

Clorox now makes a line called "Green Works" that you can find at your local grocery store or even Walmart. Call it "greenwashing" all you want; this product is at least biodegradable and plant-based. Besides, its availability everywhere and its association with the Clorox brand means that consumers will try these products who might otherwise not.

Other good brands for general cleaners to look into: Biokleen, Caldrea, Citra-Solv, Earth Friendly Products, Ecolever, Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day, Planet, and Bon Ami.

Of course, with basic household ingredients, you can make your own cleaners. The following is an article written by the venerable No Impact Man. It gives you specific instructions on how to make your own.

Make Your Own Househould Cleaners and Avoid Health Risks

Here's a no-brainer: One way to stay healthy is to stay away from poison.

For years environmentalists worried about the effect on aquatic wildlife and our drinking water of the toxins that go down our drains in the form of household products. The funny thing is, no one spoke much about the fact that if it was poison to the fish who swam in the tainted water, it was probably poison to the people who used them, too--another no-brainer.

Well, there was a story in the New York Times on Thursday about how Women's Voices for the Earth is both publicizing the health concerns of using conventional cleaners and promoting a way around using them. Women's Voices is organizing house parties all over the country to teach people how to homemake cleaners from products like Borax, baking soda, Dr. Brommer's and vinegar.

You can read about how certain chemicals in common cleaning products have been associated with increased prevalence of asthma, exacerbations of asthma symptoms, and respiratory ailments here. You can also read about how chemicals used in common cleaning products have been associated with reproductive harm such as alterations in sexual behavior, decreases in fertility, menstrual changes, changes in the onset of puberty, cancers of reproductive organs, miscarriage, premature birth and other effects here.

There are, of course, "green" brands on the market but Women's Voices' rationale is: Why pay $5 for a bottle of cleaner from a "green" brand that won't tell you the ingredients when you can make your own for pennies and now exactly what's in it (if you're a business person trying to be eco, you now see why transparency is important).

As you may know, we began making our own household products during the No Impact project, both to avoid the toxicity to both people and the environment but also to avoid buying the same throwaway plastic bottles over and over again. You can find my recipes here and here, but I thought it would be fun to list Women's Voices' recipes.

But first, if you want to join in their countrywide house-party promotion of homemade household products, go here. I've cut and pasted their recipes from here.

All-Purpose Cleaner
suggested uses: hard surfaces like countertops and kitchen floors, windows and mirrors

2 cups white distilled vinegar
2 cups water
20-30 or more drops of essential oil (optional)

Tip: Warming in microwave until barely hot will boost cleaning power for tough jobs. Only microwave in a glass container.

Creamy Soft Scrub
suggested uses: Use this creamy soft scrub on kitchen counters, stoves, bathroom sinks, etc.

2 cups baking soda
½ cup liquid castile soap*
4 teaspoons vegetable glycerin (acts as a preservative)
5 drops antibacterial essential oil such as lavender, tea tree, rosemary or any scent you prefer (optional)

Mix together and store in a sealed glass jar, shelf life of 2 years.

Tips: For exceptionally tough jobs spray with vinegar first—full strength or diluted, scented—let sit and follow with scrub.

Dry soft scrubs can be made with baking soda or salt (or combination of both) with 10-15 drops essential oil to scent

Furniture Polish
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
20-30 drops lemon essential oil

Shake well before using
(2 teaspoons lemon juice may be substituted for lemon oil but then must be stored in refrigerator)

Dip a clean, dry cloth into the polish and rub wood in the direction of the grain. Use a soft brush to work the polish into corners or tight places.

Tips: To remove water spots rub well with toothpaste. To remove scratches use 1 part lemon juice and 1 part oil, rub with soft cloth.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner

Option 1

Sprinkle toilet bowl with baking soda, drizzle with vinegar, let soak for at least 30 minutes and scrub with toilet brush.

Option 2

Put ¼ cup borax in toilet bowl and let sit for at least 30 minutes. Swish with a toilet brush and then scrub. A few drops of pine oil can be added for increased disinfecting. (Note: some people are allergic to pine oil.)

Tip: Let ingredients soak for a while to make for easy scrubbing, especially on persistent stains like toilet bowl rings

Drain Opener

½ cup baking soda
½ cup vinegar

Pour baking soda down the drain and follow with vinegar. Cover and let sit for at least 30 minutes. Flush with boiling water.

Tip: Prevent your shower form clogging by using a drain trap to catch hairs.

Laundry Detergent

1 cup soap flakes
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup Borax

Soap flakes can be made by grating your favorite pure vegetable soap with a cheese grater. Mix ingredients together and store in a glass container. Use 1 tablespoon per load (2 for heavily soiled laundry), wash in warm or cold water.

This standard recipe can be adjusted for soft water by using 1 cup soap flakes, 1/4 cup washing soda and 1/2 cup borax. For hard water, use 1 cup soap flakes, 1 cup washing soda, and 1 cup borax.

Note: Borax should not be ingested.

Tips: Add 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar to rinse as a fabric softener. For a whitener, use hydrogen peroxide rather than bleach. Soak your dingy white clothes for 30 minutes in the washer with 1/2 cup 20% peroxide. Launder as usual.

For more great recipes, visit care2.com

Some great recipes (pdf) from the Association of Vermont Recyclers

Diapers

An important question all environmentally-aware parents face is what type of diapers to use for their children. You have two primary options: disposable or cloth. The first thing the anti-cloth crowd will argue is that, in a study done by Procter and Gamble in 2000 claimed that cloth diapers had similar environmental impacts to disposable diapers after you take laundering them into consideration. Right... Procter and Gamble who *gasp* makes disposable diapers! Trust this study completely, don't we?

But let's pretend for a moment we do believe this study. If there is any validity in this study, it is nonetheless a quite flawed study. First of all, if you are already using environmentally responsible laundering methods, laundering your cloth diapers should not make nearly as big an environmental impact as the study supposed. Secondly, if you choose organic cloth for your diapers, the impact of creating the diapers plummets once more. Third, many children who wear cloth diapers learn to potty train earlier than their disposable-wearing counterparts because they can feel the moisture against their skin. Thus, you'll be laundering your diapers even fewer times than the study supposed. Overall, you can see, the Procter and Gamble (cough, cough) study had the chips stacked against cloth diapers.

Read what the revered No Impact Man has to say about his experience with cloth diapers and his daughter here.

And for some darn cute cloth diapers, check out Blueberry's website.

Update: Green Is Sexy has an amazing post on diapers. Please check it out for excellent analysis, tips, and recommendations.

Image from http://ecofabulous.blogs.com

Meat and the Placebo Effect

Eating meal is a terribly inefficient way to get your calories and nutrients.

Raising animals for food requires very large amounts of water and vegetation input. Over half the grain produced in the US is used to feed livestock, and thousands of gallons of water goes into each ounce of beef. Then, of course, consider all the extra fossil fuels burned and energy expended transporting the feed to the animals and in the actual slaughtering. For more detailed information, check out the pages here or here.

Really, it is hard to justify all the waste inherent in the system, especially in a world of rising food prices, increasingly privatized water, and peak oil.

And, as it turns out, you may not even be able to justify your meat-eating guilty habits by your "taste" for meat. Check out this article from Live Science about a new study, reproduced below:

Meat Eaters Live a Lie

While a big, juicy steak may indeed be culinary nirvana for many, your taste for beef could be based in part on expectation rather than reality.

On the assumption that meat is associated with social power in some peoples' minds, researchers rated study participants on what they call a Social Power Value Endorsement measure, to determine their preferences for meat and their cultural perceptions of it. Participants were then told they would taste either a beef sausage roll or a vegetarian roll. You can guess where this is headed.

Of course the researchers used one of the oldest tricks in the social scientist's toolbox: They lied.

Some participants got what they were told was coming, and others unknowingly ate the other type of roll. Then they all filled out questionnaires about how they like the food.

"Participants who ate the vegetarian alternative did not rate the taste and aroma less favorably than those who ate the beef product," the researchers report in August issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. "Instead, what influenced taste evaluation was what they thought they had eaten and whether that food symbolized values that they personally supported."

The study was done by Michael W. Allen at the University of Sydney, Richa Gupta from the University of Nashville, and Arnaud Monnier of the National Engineer School for Food Industries and Management, France. A second test done with a popular, status-heavy soft drink and a dime-store brand yielded similar results.

Cardboard vs. Newspaper

Mulching is a great way to help keep moisture in our sandy Southern soil during hot seasons (ok, ok, all year long). It also reduces the number of weeds in your garden where the compete with your plants for water and nutrients. In that vein, we've been trying both cardboard and newspaper in our garden as mulch.

So far, the cardboard totally wins. It's thicker, so weeds can't break through it. It's also heavier, which helps keep it in place while competing with our constant coastal winds. [Even so, we still have rocks placed on top of each sheet of cardboard to help hold it down.] Cardboard is also nice because it is more or less a uniformed brown color, so you can use it in the front yard as well. Because cardboard goes down in large slabs and stays most intact, it is easier than newspaper to deal with when you change out crops between seasons. You have the options of either removing the cardboard (and re-laying it after you've planted your next batch of seeds) or turning it under into the soil to compost.

If you're going to use newspaper though, make sure you use whole sections at a time, so that it is plenty thick. A thin one- or two-ply distribution of newspaper mulch actually just makes my weeds happier. "Thank you," they say, reaching heavenward, "for helping us grow by shielding us from the harsh Southern sun." I don't like my weeds being thankful.

One caution about using any mulch: I've found that having the cardboard down makes me subconsciously think it's ok to step on my garden bed. You'll compact the soil, regardless of whether or not you can see the soil. Be careful!

Manure

Manure, another non-chemical fertilizer, can be a great help in your yard or garden, too. If you want to use straight manure though, you must be very careful and knowledgeable about how to use it.

A few things to consider about manure:

1. Improper distribution of manure in your garden can actually harm your plants. It is a very concentrated fertilizer and can accidentally burn your plants. Compost, on the other hand, is a more diffuse way of delivering nutrients to the plants. Use straight manure with care, and do a little bit of research.

2. Actually, do a lot of research. Different animal manures have different proportions of different necessary macronutrients for your soil. Each plant has its own special needs in terms of soil fertilization also. You have to know some chemistry and a good bit about each plant you're growing to really take advantage of the power of manure and to prevent over fertilizing "light feeders." Although compost is less crop-specific in its nutrition, it is thoroughly universal.

3. Remember to be aware of the source of your manure. You want no manure from cats or dogs and no manure that may carry diseases. Also, if possible, find out what the diet of the animal donors in question is like. Many horse manures contain lots of weed seeds that happily spring to life in your garden.

From a sustainability standpoint, composting is a must. It is the most environmentally responsible way to dispose of your organic waste. Do not use manure in your garden in place of creating your own compost. Of course, (minding #3 above) consider putting manure into your compost pile/bin. Combined with your regular yard waste and kitchen scraps, manure can help build your compost into a wonderful asset for your lawn or garden.

Our first edibles!

I pulled up some carrots from our garden this weekend. Although they were only bite-sized, they were edible nonetheless!

Not without a teachable moment though. This lesson is called "this is why you thin your seedlings." [Cue the one-armed man.]

The old-school style of planting involves scattering seeds in little groups of five or more, using an entire packet of seeds every season. Then, when the seedlings break the soil, you have to pull up most of them to allow space for the others to grow.

More recently (well, as of the 1970s), small scale home gardeners have figured out that you could save a lot of time (and quite a lot of seed) if you plant just one seed deliberately per spot. And you can go ahead and space out the seeds to the ideal growing spacing from the get-go. If you don't trust your seeds, you can always plant two seeds per spot and reduce it to one seedling after they've sprouted. Even using two seeds per spot, you save many, many seeds and lots of time in thinning.

[Why do you want extra seeds? You can keep them in the refrigerator for quite a while. Many years for some types.]

Of course, now we know enough to plant our seeds (even the tiny carrot seeds), one-by-one, so we don't have to thin seedlings or deal with overcrowded plants. But, hey, even our tiny carrots were extremely gratifying and kind of yummy.

Garden update

Here's an updated picture of my garden.

I've finally pulled out all the broccoli and lettuce plants which I was growing out and season (and, thus, were not edible).

Between crops (after you've pulled up one crop and before you plant one for the next season), give the soil a week or two off. If you've compacted your bed by walking on it or otherwise putting weight on it, use this time to cultivate the soil by stirring it up a bit. This allows the all-so-essential oxygen to get into the spaces between the soil particles again.

Also, always, always, always add some sort of fertilizer to the soil between crops. The vegetables you've been eating contain a lot of the nutrients that were previously in the soil. You can't continually take from the soil without giving back, or else you will end up with poor soil quite quickly. The best fertilizer you can add is fresh compost (that you're making yourself now, right?)

After loosening your soil and adding some fertilizer, you're ready to plant next season's edibles!

Conversely, if you are not going to plant another crop for a few months, consider using a "green manure." Green manures are basically cover crops, like clovers or vetches, that give you two advantages. First, they block weeds from growing, which helps to keep your bed in great shape between crops. Second, green manure is a type of fertilizer. You simply turn it under before it flowers and it adds all its rich nutrients back into the soil.

Funny looking lettuce

So, this is what happens when you plant cool weather crops during the hot and humid Southern summer. It has grown tall and gaunt and is about to flower (which is not what you want from your lettuce).

The tiny bit of research you need to do will save many pitiful looking plants. The back of the seed packets will lead you to believe you can plant anything in any climate zone... not quite true. Remember that in the deep South, we do not have four seasons. Kinda have two. So the "spring" lettuce really needs to be winter lettuce here!

All (Green) Thumbs?

A lot of you have huge doubts about starting gardening, saying, "Everything I try to grow dies." Of course, there is no such thing as having (or lacking) a "green thumb." There are, however, the all-important elements of luck, knowledge, and practice.

And, after all, sometimes it's best to start small.

In that vein, let me urge you plant-phobic readers to try a little experiment: growing pet grass. Only Natural Pet Store, an online and catalog-based business, has an excellent pet grass kit. Including rye, barley, oat, and wheat grass, this kit contains lots of seeds, peat moss to grow them in (so you don't have to bring any dirt or soil into your house), a two-layered black plastic growing container, an attractive wooden box to house the growing container, and really thorough growing instructions. Best of all, the seeds and the growing method are organic, so you are not only helping the digestion of your pet, you're encouraging environmentally-friendly farming and seed production. Only Natural Pet Store also offers refill packages that have more seeds and peat moss if you want to continue growing grass with the same kit for a long time. Check it out here.

Growing pet grass indoors is a simple, more or less fool-proof project. With this little bit of experience and, consequently, confidence under your belt, perhaps you will consider yourself just a little bit of a gardener, too.

Image from http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/

Junk Mail

It's the daily routine. You go to the mailbox. You pull out your one actual piece of mail (if you're lucky) and five pieces of junk mail. All that paper, day after day, going into the recycling bin. (It is being recycled, isn't it?) But recycling is an imperfect and inefficient solution to the flood of unwanted paper.

How do you make it all stop?

First of all, you should follow the advice you'll find on most "green" blogs (as well as sources concerned with identity protection). Contact these two important allies in your fight against junk mail if you have not already: the Direct Marketing Association and OptOutPrescreen.com. Fast, simple, centralized.

But that doesn't stop all the junk mail. Every afternoon after checking the mail, I get online for two minutes and send "please take my address off your mailing list" emails. It's easy to do. Start by googling the company and going to their official website. [On every good company site, there should be a "Contact Us" link. Most of the time, this link is in an obvious place. Try the small print on the top of the page, or scroll all the way down to the footer.] I've had lots of affirmative responses from this process and have gotten off many lists quickly and painlessly.

If you can't stand to do it everyday, keep all your junk mail from the whole week and type out all your emails all at once. If you're smart, you'll just copy and paste your little message into each company's form. It'll only take you ten minutes, maximum, and you'll feel empowered by the directness of this method.

To go the extra step, consider contacting the organizations you previously wanted mail from. All your statements from financial institutions can and should be delivered online. Also email the catalogues you once requested and tell them to take you off their list because you now do all your business with them online. They really like that one. It saves them some money, and many recognize it's helping the environment, too.

For just minutes a day, you'll quickly see the benefits of slowing your deluge of junk mail into a trickle.

Update (8-6-08): An excellent post about junk mail from Low Impact Living today. It encourages you to check out 41pounds.org, GreenDimes, and Stopthejunkmail.com.

Image from http://www.noambizman.com/2007_12_01_archive.html

More Mower

I think it's hilarious that our reel mower has spurred so much discussion.

I love our reel mower! I, for one, wouldn't have it any other way. Why on earth would a person want to spend time outside pushing around a noisy machine spewing pollution right in their face?

Our mower is really easy to use. I'd never mowed a lawn before we got our house, but I've done a full 50% of our mowing since we got our reel mower. It's so light I can pick it up completely off the ground with no problems at all to pull it out of the garage or into a different spot in the yard. In the cool weather when the grass isn't growing so rapidly, mowing is just a weekly stroll around the yard, preceded by your mower, of course. It's really that easy! In the summer, the grass is growing like crazy, so the lawn could really probably use mowing a bit more often. But we still just do it once a week. Even so, it is just an easy workout. I'd rather mow than go for a jog or something any day!

In a few months (when it's not so ungodly hot outside), we're having everyone over to our house for a lawn mower party (along with pizza or something, rest assured!) so that everyone can feel how light and easy it is to mow with a reel mower!

Ants

Ants. My sworn enemy. Specifically, fire ants. Evil little things that apparently like to build mounds wherever I'll want to stand.

In spring, when I first started my garden, the war began. I gardened, and they bit my hands. Ten white, swollen welts at a time. So I gardened with gloves, and they bit my feet. Darn sandals. I bought Wellies that come up to my knees. So I gardened with gloves and Wellies, and, I swear to god, they bit me in the butt. No more wearing shorts while working the land, huh?

As you can see, this war is justified.

We wanted to control these blasted fire ants, but we didn't want to use harmful chemicals, especially next to the vegetable garden. A little poking around online and you know what we found? Baking soda is the ant control you've been looking for! Just pour some of it all over the mound, and, in a day, all the ants will be in the big ant farm in the sky (or hopefully down below!). Sometimes it takes a second application if the mound is particularly huge, which Southern ant piles can often be.

It's worked quickly and effectively for us every time. If you are ever cursed with these creatures, give it a try!

Photo from http://entomology.lsu.edu/faculty/hooper_files/RedImportedFireAnt.jpg

How to Green Your Smile (in a Good Way!)

Some steps in greening your lifestyle do not have to be difficult or monumental. Sometimes it's as easy as replacing your empty tube of toothpaste with a natural, biodegradable alternative.

Ben and I use Tom's of Maine toothpaste. We like this brand of natural toothpaste because it is affordable, is easy to find (a couple of flavors at Publix, lots at Paradise Health and Nutrition), and comes in many flavor options. You can choose from a host of mint and fruit flavors (ok, so the fruit flavors tend to be the children's toothpaste, but we've used it anyway!). To find out more about this particular line of toothpaste, check out their website.

With some natural products, be prepared to choose what you actually need. You'll have options that do not include some of the active ingredients most mainstream products do. For example, do you want/need fluoride in your toothpaste? You no longer have to consume every chemical or additive some big corporation wants you to use. However, you will have the responsibility, along with the freedom, to make decisions about your health and body for yourself.

This is an easy way to move toward sustainability in general. When you run out of something, whether it's a toothpaste, dish soap, or toilet bowl cleaner, choose something natural and biodegradable as a replacement. No extra money spent; none of your current products wasted. Slowly but surely your hygiene and cleaning arsenals will turn green.

Photo from http://www.tomsofmaine.com/

Indoor Gardening

If you would like to do some indoor gardening (in the northern hemisphere), here are some tips:

-Place your plants in South- or West-facing windows if possible. The light you get at these windows is generally good enough to grow just about anything.
-East-facing windows typically get enough light to grow "shade tolerant" plants. These are mostly root vegetables (like carrots, potatoes, radishes, etc.) or leaf vegetables (lettuce, broccoli, etc.) What won't grow well there are fruiting vegetables like squash, peppers, or eggplant.
-North-facing windows generally do not get enough light per day to successfully grow food crops.

If you don't have any South- or West-facing windows that would be good candidates for a few pots of growing plants, you can always consider using fluorescent lighting as an alternative. Not as hard as it sounds either!

Growing seasons in the South

Growing seasons in Central Florida are honestly a little crazy. The average last spring frost is on January 30th, and the average first fall frost is Dec. 20. That means that planting recommendations for season extension can run right into each other. For example, if you can plant broccoli 6 weeks before the last spring frost, that runs you right up to BEFORE the first fall frost.

Not that I'm complaining. We have one of the shortest frost danger seasons in the nation (except for South Florida, for which the books literally read "no frost" instead of a date)! For some parts of the country, the last spring frost date is in May or June. What a short growing season that is!

Why, then, do we Southerners need to pay any attention to season-extension recommendations? While we have a super-long season, the majority of it is too hot to grow "cool season" vegetables. Let's take broccoli again as an example. If we wait until spring to plant it, the weather will heat up to temperatures outside of broccoli's growing range far before it's ready to harvest. If it's too hot for broccoli, the plant will never form a "head," which is a problem since that's the part we eat. Similarly, if the weather is too warm for lettuce, it will get really bitter (we can testify to that!) and will produce flowers and seeds instead of edible leaves.

Don't let your long growing season go to your head! You, too, need to look into season extension methods and be on the ball if you want to grow any true "spring" (cool weather) crops.

Note: Readers may be interested in skimming back through earlier posts, as I've recently added links (especially notable for the composting post) and pictures.

Book used for above research: The Backyard Vegetable Factory (Duane Newcomb)

Push Reel Lawn Mowers

So here's my first attempt at a post on this blog. Hope it's at some quality level close to Hannah's.

Mowing the lawn, in my view, has got to be one of the more pointless uses of energy. It's such a Sisyphean task. Let's face it, no matter how hard we try, we're not going to win - the grass is going to keep growing. But, unfortunately, most fascists homeowners associations have rules about this and most of us living in the vast suburban wasteland are required to mow our lawns.

And to make this even worse - gas powered lawn mowers are horrible for the environment as evidenced by the following EPA facts:

• One hour of mowing is the equivalent of driving 350 miles in terms of volatile organic compounds.
• One gas mower spews 87 lbs. of the greenhouse gas CO2, and 54 lbs. of other pollutants into the air every year.
• Over 17 million gallons of gas are spilled each year refueling lawn and garden equipment – more oil than was spilled by the Exxon Valdez.

The only sustainable method of submitting to the lawn mowing requirement is to use a push reel lawn mower.

My initial research showed that there seem to be basically two options for push reel lawn mowers. The American made Scott's Classic Reel Mower - which you can find just about anywhere (Lowes, Home Depot, etc) for about $130 and the German made Brill Luxus mower which you'll have to order and tends to be more expensive (around $230).

The Scott's mower is bigger, heavier, and the blades will need to be sharpened more often (something about the blades making contact with the "cutter bar"?). Also, there seem to be quite a few more quality complaints about this one. The advantage of the Scotts is (in addition to price/availability) that since it's designed for American lawns, it is wider and the blade height is more adjustable.

The Brill on the other hand has non-contact blades that are supposed to almost never need sharpening. This also makes it quieter than the Scotts. The downside of the Brill is size and blade height. German lawns are smaller and are usually cut shorter than you are supposed to cut American lawns.

The lawn mower we eventually ended up purchasing is from a company called Sunlawn which I believe to be a kind of an American version of the Brill Luxus. It's slightly wider than the Brill (still smaller than Scotts) and has a higher max blade height (still lower than Scotts) which is better suited to American lawns while still having a quiet non-contact blade system. Sort of a middle ground.

So far we've been very pleased with it. Florida is pretty ideal for a push reel mower because it is so flat and most suburban yards here are not very large. During the winter months it is extremely easy to use. In summer the grass grows much faster and it is more of a workout to push through some of the tough patches but it is still very usable overall.

If you're going to purchase a push reel mower there are a few factors that most web sites recommend you take into account...

• Width - The thinner the mower - the longer it's going to take to mow.
  
• Cutting Height - The type of grass you have can probably only be cut to a certain height and push reel mowers vary greatly in adjustability.
• Grass Type - I have read in some places that push reel mowers may struggle with certain types of grass (seems zoyshia & Bermuda are typically mentioned.) I have a variant of St. Augustine and have not had any issues.
• Yard Size - More than a half-acre may be too large and time consuming for a basic push reel mower. There are hybrid-electric push reel mowers that may mitigate this.
• Geography - The flatter the better for a push reel mower - if you live on the side of a mountain, it's going to be much more difficult.
  

As I mentioned above - we ended up going with the Sunlawn LM-40. We've had good luck with it so far and I would recommend it.

Dishes

Remember to take care of the water when you're doing housework, too!

We use "Seventh Generation" liquid dish soap for when we wash dishes by hand. It comes in a fragrance-free version or a handful of soft, natural scents. We're currently using the "Lavender Floral and Mint" scented soap. I love the light, fresh scent of the mint in it.

For the dishwasher (which can be just as water-efficient or even more so than washing by hand if you run only full loads and use basic settings), we also currently use Seventh Generation, namely the "Lemon" scented automatic dishwasher gel.

It's important that you choose your next cleaners and soaps to be completely biodegradable. Many cleaning products on the market contain phosphates, which get into surface water and causes imbalances in aquatic plant life-cycles. For a fairly thorough scientific article about phosphates, read this.

We like Seventh Generation brand because it is affordable and really easy to find. Here in Melbourne, FL, you can find Seventh Generation brand soaps and cleaners at any Publix grocery store, as well as Paradise Health and Nutrition (at the intersection of Minton and Palm Bay Road).

The story behind the name of the Seventh Generation brand is really sweet, too. The name comes from the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy, part of which states, "In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations." Most of us can think only as far as grandkids (and that may well be stretching it!), so thinking about the impact of our actions and choices on the next seven generations is a real challenge. However, it is a challenge we should all take upon ourselves on a daily basis.

To learn more about Seventh Generation and score some coupons, check out their website.

We have recently picked up some other phosphate-free cleaners and soaps lately and will let you know how those compare to Seventh Generation.

Image from www.seventhgeneration.com

More on Water

My mom had another couple suggestions about how to use shower water to reduce your water needs:

- You could also use the water to wash your car! For starters, using a bucket full of water and a sponge is a much more water-efficient way to wash vehicles than using a hose. So why not use water you already have sitting around...in a bucket no less!

- You can keep your bucket in the shower to collect extra water as you shower, too. If you plan to use your water on plants (indoors or out), make sure you are using 100% biodegradable soap and shampoo to keep your plants safe and healthy.

...and what is that pink thing?

In France, my host family used an intricate system of pulleys, hangers, and clothes pins to dry clothes in over their only bathtub. I was really impressed with the whole get-up. But my favorite part was a circular, collapsible, clothes pin hanger. Perfect for socks, underwear, and bras.

Imagine my surprise when, in little ol' West Melbourne, Florida, I found a hanger similar hanger. Where? At the flea market! For how much? $1.50. And the best part? It came in pink (or blue or green or yellow...but I like the pink one!)

I would highly recommend everybody has one. Even if you don't air dry all your clothing, it's perfect for the occasional lingerie or even daily bras that can't be put through the dryer.

We apparently hate bathtubs...

Where do we do our air drying of our clothes? In an unused bathtub, of course! Specifically, the rarely used guest bathroom tub.

If you don't have an free tub, foldaway drying racks can go practically anywhere easily. Try placing yours at the foot of your bed, in the middle of your home office, or in your (come on, admit it) mostly unused formal dining room.

Back porches are also excellent drying locations, as are backyards. We choose to dry our clothes inside because of the frequency of thunder storms here in Florida. Our clothes, if hung outside, would never get a chance to dry before getting rained on again!

We don't need no stinkin' dryer!

When we moved into our new house, we had to make some appliance decisions. It didn't come with a washer and/or dryer, so we got to do our own research and make purchases that were good for our lifestyle and the environment.

After reading lots of Consumer Report articles and online reviews, we chose to buy a Frigidaire Gallery series FTFB2940F washer. It was one of the best washers in our price range (under $700) and was highly water and energy efficient. The first few times we ran it, we went to go check on it multiple times to make sure it was still running because it was so quiet.

When we purchased the washer, we decided to have a short trial of life without a dryer. I, for one, felt confident that I didn't want or need a dryer in my life. I have studied abroad in Europe multiple times and, each time, witnessed how my roommates in Italy or my host family in France do not use and never need a dryer. I mean, millions of people the world over live just fine without dryers. Yet, when we told Ben's mom we weren't going to get a dryer, she was highly concerned. To so many suburban Americans, especially baby boomers, the thought of living without a household machine (even one that had become a staple just one generation ago) was nearly unfathomable.

Exacerbating many baby boomers' reservations about living sans dryer is their experience with washing machines. The majority of baby boomers still use top loading machines that produce clothing that is soaking wet at the end of the cycle. Today's front loaders, on the other hand, have excellent spin features at the end of the wash that leave your laundry all but dry. Just hanging your underwear for a couple of hours leaves it dry enough to wear. Thicker items like jeans only require over-night airing. Not a tragedy by a long shot.

Yes, your clothes do feel a little stiffer. But after one load, you won't notice it. At first, Ben was unhappy with the way his shirts were wrinkling after being washed. We experimented and quickly found that putting his wet shirts on hanger to dry, instead of using a drying rack, resulted in no–iron-needed clothing once again. To be honest, it is a little bit of a trick to figure out where you can air-dry a full load of sheets, but one drying rack and the shower rod perform just fine for us.

As you may have guessed, our short dryer-less trial quickly turned into a whole-hearted decision not to own a dryer. And I don't think we ever will.

No garden? No problem!

Not everyone in suburbia has the good fortune of having some land to grow on. Whether you live in a condo, townhouse, or apartment, you too can grow some of your own food and reduce your carbon footprint!

Our master bathroom features a nice corner bathtub that we would never, ever use. We're just not "bath" people. So we decided to put it to some use and turn it into a mini container garden.

Currently we have squash, broccoli, lettuce, and pet grass growing there. The squash especially looks great. We are trying the broccoli and lettuce in the tub because it's out of season to grow in the garden. Note, of course, that we're reusing like crazy too. Although I did buy four new pots, I also reused three from plants I bought months ago at a nursery. We are using an overturned laundry basket to add some height to our indoor "garden" and make watering easier. Also, instead of purchasing official plant water collectors, we brought out my husband's old plastic dishes, "borrowed" from the college cafeteria and never quite returned.

You don't need an outdoor garden to enjoy a harvest, especially in the sunny South. You just need a couple of small bare spots in front of a window somewhere!