Taking a walk in the woods. Singing show tunes. Loving the green.
QTIP.

Rain Barrel Compost

This is our second compost. The first is a pile and this one is more of a bin. One of our rain barrels broke so I drilled holes in it and set it near the old pile. It has holes in the bottom for worms and it has a lid. At the moment there happens to be a cantelop sprout growin out of one of the holes.

Creepy Crawler

This little fellow has been hanging out on our back fence all summer long. It is as big as a bannana spider, but doesn't have the typical markings I'm used to seeing.

Garden Pic's

This is one of our squash blossoms. This is our butternut squash plant, one of many. They have been growing like crazy. Within the last 2 days they have bloomed beautiful yellow flowers in abundance. I was a little worried that the bed was over crowded, still am; however, today I noticed the first few squashes growing! I will get a pic soon!

Rain

It rained today! so that means more water for the rain barrels. We are currently using two rain barrels to water our gardens. We also have two drip systems set up to water two of the larger three beds. I need to set up a third, but I need to first figure out how to rig the system to a rain barrel. Thats a future goal.

Can't beat a beet!

Momma's first Beets. I really like the color of this plant. I actually ate fresh beets for the first time a week ago, so I am very happy I took a chance and planted these. Only two of the sprouts survived. Hopefully we will get a side dish out of these.

Compost Squash

Here is our compost pile. Beware what you throw in your compost. We now have a gaggle of butternut squash growing. We have a second compost that we are building up this winter and will transfer here in the spring, so we are letting this grow. I want to see if they will bare fruit.

Fall Garden

This is my fall garden. This is our first attempt at growing any winter veggies. We live in Florida, so its not really all that cold yet, 86' today. We typically get three growing seasons because of our long summers. We can plant earlier and continue planting longer.

This garden bed is something I threw together as an experiment. We found a guy who was cutting down around 70 trees from his property. We salvaged some of the larger discs he'd cut and used them to make a bed. We added potting soil and lots of our own compost.

Planted: Acorn squash, butternut squash, broccoli, red leaf lettuce, strawberries, basil, beets, and carrots. Off to the side, in pots, I have: tomatoes, chives, spinach, and lavender.

Our pumpkins

These are the pumpkins that made it to our house this year!

What we are using

This product is from Method (image from drugstore.com). This is the eco friendly daily shower cleaner we are using. It smells like ylang ylang and cuts down on soap scum.

Been a while

I've been trying to figure out what to do with this blog. Is it just about living green? Should I start a new blog about gardening? Can I keep up with this? Well, i've decided to make it a truly green blog..that means gardening also. So, I will discuss living a green life and gardening. Same format...more varied content. So..more to come.

Household odds and ends.

An easy way to go green, learn a simple single crochet stitch and make your dish rags out of organic cotton yarn! Takes a little practice but you will find within a few days you can have color coordinated, enviro-friendly dish cloths that cost less than buying them. AND you can brag to all your friends about how hippie-savy you are. Creating instead of paying...how very green of you!

Here is my fav Utube video for crocheting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqhaQQajt0U

A while

Ok, its been a while since I've posted but sometimes summer happens. My newest tip for you pet owners...add a little distilled white vinegar to your pets drinking water, this will help to deter fleas. Also, when you bath your pets, add the juice of half a lemon to their coat during the rinse cycle. Fleas dislike this.

Composting

Ok, I promised more on composting. We started our first compost very simply. We hardly knew what went into the pile, other than veggie food stuffs. We bought a roll of chicken wire and four metal stakes. We took a rake to an area in the back yard that gets a decent amount of sun. We cleared the area of grass and roots. We got down to the good, dark brown soil. If you don't have good dark brown soil that's ok, just expose the soil you do have. Our compost butts up against a wooden fence. This isn't the best of ideas because the compost will rot the fence over time. We put the stakes in four corners forming a square, then we wrapped the wire meshing around the stakes. It took a little manipulating to get the wire the way we wanted it.

After the bin was formed we had to fill it. We didn't start out with any special compost starters. We simply added a bag of manure to the ground we had turned up. Then, we added raked leaves, we had plenty of them. The key is to alternate browns and greens. Browns= coffee grinds, card board, leaves, I think of them as the more fibrous material. Greens= kitchen veggie scraps, egg shells. The key is no grease and no meat by products. But the list of things you can compost is insane. Here is a list of the things that go in our compost pile weekly:

Veggie and fruit scraps (no citrus)
Egg shells
cardboard
dryer lint
leaves
garden trimmings
Qtips
paper towels
coffee grinds and filters
left over coffee

The key is to make sure the pile is moist and you turn it once or twice a week. This mix of yummy goodness will practically call out to the worms. If you compost it, they will come. We now I have neighbors raiding our bin because they've never had success before until they used our compost. So beware with whom you share : )

I will post pictures of the first bin later, when I explain the second bin :)
Happy composting.
Oh..and a list of 163 things you can compost http://www.plantea.com/compost-materials.htm

If you live in the Northeast Florida area, you need to know about Maggies. Maggie's Herb Farm is located in St. Augustine Florida. It's acres of yummy, planty goodness. Prices are very fair, and the employee's are wonderfully knowledgeable and incredibly nice. Check them out.
http://www.maggiesherbfarm.com/

Our Garden

Here is a mostly complete list of what we are growing in our garden that is edible:
Tomato
Basil
Cilantro
Rosemary
CHives
Echinacea
Arugula
Nasturium
Bell Pepper
Cuccumber
Mug Wart
Lemon Verbena
Oregano
Marjoram
Aloe
Letuce
Malabar lettuce
Anyse Hyssop
Bay
St. John's Wort
Bee Balm
Borage

CFL recycling

CFL light bulbs need a little more love and attention when they are done illuminating our lives. Please don't throw them out, recycle them. Home Depot now has recycling for CDLs!
http://www6.homedepot.com/ecooptions/index.html?cm_mmc=Thd_marketing-_-Eco_Options_Site_07-_-Vanity-_-Home

10 Steps I'm taking towards a greener life

As my dashboard states, this blog is about building a greener life at home. This first blog is about the 10 steps we are taking at home to live a greener life. The changes we are making in our lives are based on personal research, a reverence for the environment, and a need to simplify our lives while preserving the future. Later blogs will include more details about the steps we are taking.

10 Steps to a Greener Life

1. Buy organics. Be smart about your choices. Not all foods have to be bought organic. Save money by knowing which fruits and veggies are must buys. To find a printable, portable list of which organics to purchase go here http://www.foodnews.org/ We downloaded and laminated this list and take with us to the grocery store. Now we only buy essential organics, saving money and watching out for our health as well as the environment.

2. Gardening. Plant a garden, grow veggies and herbs to use in cooking. For tips and tricks and to learn about the $25 Dollar Victory Garden you can start check out http://www.joegardener.com/ This year we are growing a dozen different herbs, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, and key limes.

3.Composting. Composting helps to cut down on kitchen waste that goes to landfills. (More on composting to come)

4. Rain barrels. Gardens need water and water is precious. We have installed 2 rain barrels to help off set water usage in the garden and water cost, keeping that water bill down saves $$$
http://www.fiskars.com/content/garden_en_us/Garden/Home?CMP=BAC-joegardener&ATT=sponsorlink

5. Metal water bottles. We have stopped using plastic water bottles. First, water bottles end up in land fills, taking years to break down. Second, plastic water bottles (all plastics) can contain BPA (Bisphenol A) a toxic chemical that off gases into your drinking water. For more information read this http://environment.about.com/od/healthenvironment/a/plastic_bottles.htm Another alternative is a BPA free water bottle with built in filter http://www.fit-fresh.com/products/livpure/

6. Water Filter. Water filters connect to your faucet and save you money. It took me approximately 15 min's to install a filter in our kitchen. Now we have filtered water to drink and to cook with. If you are no longer buying bottles of filtered water and instead using your own water filter, you are saving money, your health and the environment.

7.We are using products in our home that have less chemicals such as fluoride free toothpaste and natural cleaning products. (More to come on this subject)

8)Recycling. This is a no brainer. Recycling has been around for years. Call your local municipality to get recycling bins. In Jax, 630-city call to get your free blue bin.

9)Light bulbs. Everyone has heard about the Compact Florescent Light Bulbs (CFL's). These light bulbs consume 75% less energy and last 10x's as long as traditional light bulbs. Less energy = more money! http://www6.homedepot.com/ecooptions/index.html?cm_mmc=Thd_marketing-_-Eco_Options_Site_07-_-Vanity-_-Home

10) We turn it OFF! When we are not using appliances we unplug them. Do you need 4 appliances in your home to tell you what time it is, 24/7? Microwave...unplug it. Toaster...unplug it. We unplug any electronics not being used, except for the television, refrigerator, stove, and alarm clock. These thing continue to draw power, even in the off position. The first month we did this faithfully our electric bill dropped $50. I'm not saying this will happen to you, but if you save money while saving the earth BONUS!

All these tips are steps towards greener, more sustainable living. There is also a theme here...a lot of these tips also save you money. I'm a big believer that saving green ($$) is living green!

Text blogging, oh my!
QTIP.