Ziploc bags

I haven’t bought Ziploc bags since 2008.  Know why?

Changing the oil in your car—a greener way

We change our own oil.

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Homemade business cards

I thought business cards for the blog would be a great way to advertise and circulate these great, green ideas.  I watched a segment on the Sunday Morning show that business cards should give people an idea of who you are. They said a good one costs at least $7 a card.

I laughed.

Seven dollars? Really? In this economy?

I can do better than that.

Matt did the letters for me with the stamp.

Happy 4th of July

Today my man  was actually off work! Can you believe it? He’s NEVER off work. Ever, ever, ever. Ever.
Okay, he did have to go in from 5:00-7:30 a.m., but I was awake when he got home. (Which is a rarity, me up early,  eyes not propped open by toothpicks.) When he came in the door, I jumped at him, and he gave a little scream. Just kidding. But I did scare him.

“Let’s go to the beach! Right now before it gets muggy and sunny.” I’m not a big fan of sunny. I like it when it rains, and it’s cloudy. When it snows or storms blow through knocking over small trees. I didn’t eat breakfast or wash my face. I brushed my teeth and we flew out the door.

The water was perfect.

Gardens around the U.S.

In celebration of the response I received from my gardening post, I asked fellow gardeners to share their knowledge with me.  Wonderful, innovative, amateur and seasoned gardeners around the U.S. sent me pictures of their gardens along with gardening tips they’ve learned along the way.

Roma tomatoes in GA

Packaged food

Packaged food

I’m most surprised by how much packaging we use, especially with food. We compost almost all food waste and paper. We recycle everything else, but the small amount of trash we generate is plastic from packaged foods that cannot be recycled. Not in this area, anyway.

Trash for the week....granola wrapper, cereal liner, dental floss case, bacon packaging

Buying Organic

Buying Organic

Honestly, I have a difficult time buying fruits that are twice as expensive just because it says “organic” on the labeling. Is it really organic? How do I know? Is it an investment in my health or a marketing ploy to get my money?

Making your own food

Making your own food

What we recycle and how to reduce it.

Trying to rid ourselves of the glass jars and cans that we bring into the house, I’m attempting to make as much food as possible rather than purchase it. I’m now making my own peanut butter, bread, hummus, soups, juices, Greek yogurt, muffins, pesto, cappuccino, beans, nut mix, and salsa. I shall next attempt marinara sauce. If I could figure out how to make my own cheese, I would. I’d like to figure out how to make crackers! Besides cutting back on packaging, we’re getting less preservatives, sugar and other goop in our systems we don’t  need.

My man wants to learn how to brew his own beer. Think of the glass bottles we’d save! A friend of his gave us a tour of a self-brewery in his basement and showed us how it was done. The beer, however, hmmm…how could I say it in a nice way? It tasted like lukewarm yeast. But that was years ago. I’m sure he’s perfected it by now!

Gardening

Gardening.

Zucchini for zucchini bread!

Our first garden together was last year. As children we watched our parents garden, but neither of us had ever tried a garden ourselves.

When you rent, you must ask permission. Some owners are more open than others. We’ve been lucky. Not wanting to destroy the yard, however, we took up only a small space. We bought two raised bed sets  so that we could break them down and take them with us when we moved. We didn’t harvest much food. The cherry tomatoes did okay. We had cucumbers out our ears. We had one tiny cantaloupe and a few jalapeno peppers. We planted the seedlings in the peat pots, which didn’t break down and caused the plants to grow root bound. And apparently, you need two of most plants to cross-pollinate. Now we know.

Composting

Composting.

Grubs from last summer!

We compost absolutely everything—food scrapes, grass clippings, leaves and yard waste, coffee grinds, dust and dirt from the vacuum, fingernail clippings, my husband’s hair from his haircuts. We shred all paper in the house and dump it in, and recently learned entire pizza boxes can be added. You don’t even need to break them down! After dinner this week, we looked at our plates and my man asked, “We can’t compost fish remains?” I jumped online and though some advised against it, others said to bury them deep within the middle of the bin. So it looks like fish heads, scales, fish skin and bones are compostable too. So far, it doesn’t smell bad. This is only recommended, however, if you have an enclosed bin because it can attract animals. If you know of anything we’re missing, by all means, comment on the post and let us know!

My husband’s all-time favorite line is, “Throw it in the compost.” His hobby and passion is making dirt. He’s had a compost pile every place he’s ever lived.