RAIN, RECYCLING AND REEPING WHAT YOU SOW

I love dining in my garden.  A walk through the yard is much like a stroll around a salad bar.  A few "overwintered" tomatoes here, carrots there, lettuce and radishes crammed in to a long bed straddling our neighbors yard and Tuscan kale standing tall, bright and green. I love to nibble as I go, mentally preparing todays menu from my seasonal produce.
As I walk (and eat) my way through the garden, I also use the time to observe.  What's doing well, what's not doing well, what needs to be planted, transplanted, thinned, harvested or removed. Weeds?  Pests?  Disease?  How about an empty area, begging for a new tree or plant.  Could that old twisted branch be a garden art project?  I try and carry a pair of garden scissors with me, deadheading some plants and/or picking a bouquet while I walk. I'm never bored in the garden.

We've had rain for 5 days straight.  Yay!!  It was much needed.  It also meant that our current "stay at home" order meant I was literally stuck inside for most of that time.  Recently, I went dumpster diving in my recycling bin and recovered a lot of empty cans.  My husband spray painted them and drilled some drainage holes in the bottom.  Who needs to buy pots??  I quickly filled the pots with potting soil, planted seeds and let the rain give them a thorough soaking.

Painted Coffee Cans

Tomatoes and Peppers 

If all goes well I'll be drowning in salsa and marinara in no time at all!

Something ripped out half of my lettuce bed recently.  I'm not sure what it was, but I came outside and found a gaping hole in the middle of my bed.  UGH!  I ran out of time before the rain came to get it prepped and reseeded so I poked drainage holes in the bottom of a bag of potting soil and placed the whole bag of soil in the bed.  I ripped the top of the bag open and planted Spaghetti Squash directly in to the soil.  I've only planted this way once before and it was a great success. 

Potting Soil Spaghetti Squash

2 days of planting and a well watered garden mean that a well deserved break is due.  It might be time to stop and smell the Sweet Pea's.  

Sweet Pea Pathway

Whatever your plans this weekend, I hope that you spend some of it in the garden.

Be well, stay healthy and happy gardening.

Every seed sown and tree planted is a future meal

REIGNING IN THE HOLIDAY WASTE

I love holidays!!  Whether it's new years eve, the winter solstice, Halloween or Christmas, any holiday is a reason to bring out the decorations, gather with friends and family, and make memories that last a lifetime.  Sadly, along with making those memories, we're making A LOT of trash.  While the amount of "extra" waste seems minimal during most of the months, December has the most holidays, the most consumption, and, the most waste.

According to NEEF (National Environmental Education Foundation), landfill waste increases approximately 25% during the month of December.  Of course, that's not much of a surprise.  More parties, more travel, more food, more presents.  How do we live mindfully in a consumption based month like December.  It's a struggle, to be sure, but it can be done with a little planning and some creativity.

Lets start with the 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

GIFTS: Gift giving is expensive.  The time, money and thought that goes in to it drains our bank accounts and uses up much more energy than it's worth.  I start my holidays with a trip to my "gift" cupboard.  The gifts here are either items I've picked up during the year (usually on sale) or items I've received that I won't be keeping (REgifting).  It's easy to find a usable gift for a party hostess, a gift exchange, or as a last minute gift if you have a designated space for those extras that you've accumulated during the year.

No Peeking

Browse thrift stores.  Whether you're dropping in throughout the year (it's never too early or late to add to your gift cupboard) or at the holidays, you'd be surprised at the amount of new and barely used items that can be lovingly REgifted.

Gifts from the kitchen: Who doesn't love home cooking and baking??  Put on an apron and treat friends and family to homemade cookies, jam, or whatever your specialty happens to be.

Handmade reigns supreme!  I've made many of my gifts over the years, using recycled items, and I'm posting some of the pics below.  As a very "non-crafty" person, if I can make it, it's totally doable! Check out one of the many internet craft and idea sites for great crafting ideas for all of your REusable waste.

Handmade Paper Christmas Cards

with disposal instructions

Potpourri made with Lavender and 

Rose petals from my garden

Gifts from the garden

Homemade cookies in a

decorated thrift store vase

Decorating: How about a happy "natural" holiday?  Leaves, flowers, branches, pinecones, and many other outdoor finds are easy to find and easy to decorate with.  

REpurpose from your Recycling Bin.  Cans, bottles, cardboard, glass jars...just about everything in your recycling bin can be upcycled in to holiday decorations.  How about corks, bottle caps, and wine bottles...there's a holiday decorating tutorial for that, too.  Check out a crafting site and get in touch with your artistic side.

Mr. and Mrs. Snowman-crafted from recycled

items, cherished for over a decade

REuse: Not only will reusing your holiday decorations save you money, you'll get to enjoy the warm and fuzzy feelings associated with past holiday celebrations.

FOOD: December is a great time to start using up the food in your pantry, fridge or freezer.  Do you really want to store all those half used jars in your refrigerator door another year?  Are the "best by" dates on your pantry items looming close?  Get online, or pull out your recipe books and find some meals you can make without heading to the grocery store.

Have an "AFTER" holiday party.  Our  After Christmas party this year is December 27th.  Guests are asked to bring some leftovers for the potluck and to "regift" for the gift exchange.  It's a chance to clean out the pantry, the freezer, or the cookie jar.  It's a chance to reduce our extra stuff, reuse what we have, and make memories with friends and family.

Be Well and Happy Holidays

MILLIONS OF MAGAZINES

I love reading, and I’m a sucker for the magazines at the checkout line of the grocery store.  There’s always something that catches my eye. After all, who doesn’t want to delve deeper into how to lose 10 pounds in a week along with how to make the best chocolate cake ever?  But what do we do with the magazine AFTER we ate the cake and decided not to lose 10 pounds?  We could file it away for future use, referring to these amazing books of knowledge whenever needed, but will you really be able to find what you need, when you need it?  Do you have the room for all of that “extra” information?  I’ve cancelled all the subscriptions relying on my vast collection of magazines to provide new ideas, recipes, and projects for my home and garden.  If I see something I want to remember and keep, I copy it or take a picture of it with my phone and file it away in a labeled folder.  Hopefully I will live long enough to make it through my library and clear the clutter.  My strategy (though somewhat slowed down by my read, copy and file routine) has included the following methods.

Years of magazines to read 

and projects to plan

Read me!!

One of my favorite magazines 

for frugal ideas

1. Bring magazines with you when you know you'll have a wait (doctor, airport, DMV, etc.).  Finished with it?  Tear off the name and address label and leave it for a thankful recipient.
2. Donate to senior homes
3. Swap with neighbors
4. Leave a few in the car for unexpected waits
5. Use for school and art projects
6. Sell (check out online marketplaces)
7. Add to your recycling bin

Be well, be sustainable and happy gardening!!

LEFTOVERS-USED OR LEFT BEHIND?

After my Bunco night, I planned on cooking my husband a romantic steak dinner as a thank you for all the help he gave me, especially the awesome barbeque ribs he made for all of us.  However...
the frugal in me won out and he got a meal of leftovers-pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw and leftover pasta salad from one of my Bunco guests.

Past it's prime cabbage and the last remains of 

 mayonnaise in the jar add crunch to our pulled

pork sandwiches

The pork ribs were "falling off the bone" good.

A quick dice, some additional sauce and about

5 minutes of heat and we had a delicious dinner

The night was still romantic, just the menu changed.  Now we have 2 steaks saved for the next romantic home date.

Anyway, back to the leftover issue.

A memorable quote I heard was "I don't make money off of what people buy, I make money off what they throw away".  The author of that quote might have been addressing the considerable amount of food that we purchase, only to throw it away. Whether it's the jar of fresh salsa that turns before we've had a chance to finish it, or the restaurant leftovers that get thrown away days after you brought them home (probably in a nonbiodegradable container) and are no longer recognizable, American's throw out approximately 40% of the food that they purchase.  That's a staggering amount of food and money for consumers, and a huge environmental footprint for the planet.  Think about it:

1. Growing food=water, fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, farm machinery (if grown in a commercial facility)
2. Harvesting food=farm machinery, fossil fuels
3. Transporting food=fossil fuels
4. Production of processed foods=energy (probably fossil fuel)
5. Storing food=energy (probably fossil fuel)
6. Cooking food=energy (probably fossil fuel)
7. Storing leftovers=energy (probably fossil fuel)
8. Take out container (when applicable)=environmental nightmare
9. Transportation of waste to landfill=energy (probably fossil fuel)
10. Landfill=food waste attracts rodents and other wildlife, decomposing food smells horrible for the residents living nearby, emits methane gas (an extremely potent green house gas)

Let's not forget the hard work it took to earn the money for the food in the first place...

It's important to recognize the footprint behind the food we purchase.  If we throw that food away, we're trashing the planet as well as wasting our time and money.  

Food waste can be found in lots of different places.  The pantry, freezer and refrigerator door all hold the possibility of being future food waste.  From expiration dates to weevils, food that sits too long turns to waste.  Come on, who hasn't pulled an ice incrusted steak out of the freezer that was dated 5 years ago?  Sadly, that was me when I cleaned out and got rid of a garage freezer.  What a waste!  Lets fight for using up leftovers!!

1. Buy Less to encourage eating what's on hand.
2. Take stock of what you have before you go to the market.  You may not need to make that trip after all
3. Have meatless Mondays (using pantry meats or beans) and freezer Fridays (cook up those veggies and meat before they get ice crystals)
4. Reheat (or repurpose) your left overs the following day.  If you don't eat it on day 2, you're even less likely to eat it on day 3.
5. Repurposing (meatloaf=chili, roast chicken=chicken pot pie, etc.) is great for adding variety and using up other "on hand" ingredients.   
6. Freeze for future use 
7. Repurpose the last of your condiments.  Mustard and mayonnaise can both make great salad dressings, right in the bottle.  Ketchup can make barbeque sauce, etc.  
8. Have "buffet" night 2X a week, once on the night before trash day, once 3-4 days later.  You'll start looking forward to all the time you'll save when you don't have to start everything from scratch.
9. Have a seasonal or year end purge of your refrigerator and freezer to use up your older food and condiments.  Let your New Year's resolution be to use up BEFORE it goes bad.
10. Compost it (if possible)
11. Picture yourself throwing away 40% of every dollar of food you purchase.  

Be well, be sustainable and happy gardening

COFFEE

I can’t imagine starting the day without coffee.  In fact, I walk straight to the coffee maker first thing every morning. It’s my favorite way to begin the day and I usually take my last cup outside to enjoy while making my morning gardening rounds.  This means that my first chance of the day to be eco-friendly is with coffee grounds, aka “kitchen scraps”.  I know a few people who flush this wonderful source of garden magic down the garbage disposal, or worse yet, they throw it away (gasp!).  While the debate rages on as to whether coffee is actually healthy or hazardous to us humans, those tiny grains are great to reuse around the house and garden.  

Reusable pods are easy and economical

1.     Add the used grounds, including the paper filter to your compost bin or pile, and let mother nature turn it into compost.

2.      Add to your worm (vermicomposting) bin.  Coffee grounds help worms digest their food.

3.      Scratch or dig used grounds into the soil around any plants that prefer acidic soil conditions such as blueberries, Azaleas and Rhododendrons. Coffee grounds contain many nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium, copper and iron. Yummy!

4.      Use as a mulch around plants that prefer acidic soil.  A coffee ground mulch will help to retain moisture, suppress weeds and deter crawling insects while leaching nutrients that your plants will appreciate.  It’s a win-win-win!!

5.       Use between stepping stones in a pathway garden. Large sources can be obtained from your local coffee house (be sure to bring some buckets).  The dark colored grounds look beautiful, suppress weeds, and smell fantastic.

6.      Coffee grounds repel slugs and snails.  Scatter a thick layer around your plants and you can fertilize and prevent damage without the use of chemical products. 

7.      Keep cats from using your garden as a potty by spreading coffee grounds around your plants.

8.      Ants hate coffee grounds.  Sprinkle used grounds on anthills, around your lawn, or anywhere you see ants forming.

9.      Sow carrot seeds mixed with dry coffee grounds when planting.  Coffee grounds make the small seeds easier to sow and some studies suggest that it may also help to repel root maggots. 

10.  Clean and exfoliate your hands after gardening.  My favorite garden soap and a pinch of used grounds is all that’s needed to remove a morning of caked on soil from wrists and hands, leaving my skin soft and smooth as a baby’s…

11.  Use on indoor plants.  A small amount scratched in to the soil surface can give your plants a bit of a boost. 

12.  Help Fido fight fleas.  Rub used and cooled coffee grounds in to your dogs coat after shampooing, then rinse off completely and let the fur dry.  The coffee grounds also help eliminate dog odors.  Be careful that your dog doesn't lick or consume any grounds.  Coffee can be toxic to dogs. 

13.  Use as an air freshener.  Set out a small bowl on your counter or in your refrigerator.  

14.  Use as a scrub (with soap) after handling smelly items such as garlic and fish, to get rid of the unwanted smell.  While your hands may end up smelling a little like coffee, it’s a whole lot better than smelling a lot like fish.  

Keep the used grounds nearby and you'll 

find ample opportunities to reuse them 

15.  Use to scour pots, pans and baked on dishes.

16.  Use as a natural dye on fabrics. 

17.  Use as a natural hair dye or rinse.  If your color is coffee brown, you are definitely in luck. 

18.  Use coffee grounds (fresh or used) to tenderize meat.  Add to your favorite steak rub and allow the meat to marinate for a bit before cooking.  Your steak will be flavorful on the outside with a slight coffee taste and tender on the inside.  I know eating coffee grounds sounds unusual, but trust me, the flavor is amazing!

19.  Use as a natural stain on dark woods.  Add a small amount of vinegar to used grounds.  Let this sit for a day or two before using on wood.  You may need more than one application. 

20.  Before cleaning the ashes out of the fireplace, sprinkle them with damp grounds.  The ashes will be easier to remove and you won’t stir up as much dust. 

21.  Add the grounds to your curbside green bin and let them go to your local composting facility. 

By the way, if you don’t drink the last bit of coffee in the pot, don’t dump it down the drain-pour it on your plants!  Your blueberries (or Rhododendrons) will enjoy it as much as you did.

DID YOU KNOW???
2.25 BILLION PEOPLE (64%) DRINK COFFEE DAILY. 
Being eco-friendly starts early.  How are you going to reuse your coffee grounds?
Be well and happy gardening!

I'M ALWAYS HAPPY WHEN IT RAINS!!

We don't receive that much rain here in Southern California.  About 16 inches is the annual average.  This year is off to a big start, and what is usually a wonderful situation for a gardener, and for California as a whole, is sadly a tough time in the recent burn areas.  My thoughts and prayers go out to all who are affected by the fires, and to the heroic men and woman who gave of their time to fight the fires this past season.

With rain in the overnight forecast I made sure I was set up to harvest as much rain water as possible.  I couldn't wait for dawn to check my progress.

Ready for round 2

Spreading the wealth

I managed to empty the buckets before the 2nd round started.  I should be able to empty the barrels again before I head out for the day.  

DID YOU KNOW??  Soil does an amazing job of capturing and storing water.  Especially if your soil contains a lot of organic material (compost anyone??).  Find ways to keep this precious natural resource on your property.

Be well and happy gardening!

 By early morning I was syphoning of water into the waiting 5 gallon buckets

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO??

I haven't added a new post to my blog site in ages.  Lest you think that I've stopped gardening (never), living sustainably (never, ever), or, worse yet, somehow set off for the big garden in the sky, I want to let you know that I am alive and well.  We've added more eco friendly elements to our home and garden, including rooftop solar panels that were installed in December.  We've yet to see much of a change in our electric bill, but we hope to make better progress in the longer (and sunnier) summer months.  We've surrounded our 5 downspouts with rain barrels.  Mother nature doesn't give us much precipitation here in Southern California, but a few hours of cooperation from the clouds (and a bit of a soaking to me as I'm syphoning water into 5 gallon buckets) and I can capture approximately 1000 gallons of water for future use.

Empty trash containers can be repurposed

to hold water during a heavy rain.  

Make sure the containers are clean

if you'll be using the water for edible crops.

If you can't contain it, store it in the soil.  

Your soil can hold an amazing amount of rain.

Much of our household waste is recycled via 7 compost bins, 2 compost tumblers, and 3 worm bins, and I use all of it, along with a healthy amount of purchased organic soil in our raised beds.

Compost Alley!!

Compost bins located next to my raised beds

make it easy to convert garden waste to

black gold!!

Future projects include a backyard shed and pergola constructed of salvaged materials and a chicken coop with (of course) chickens!  Unfortunately, I have more ideas than I actually have time, materials and money, so some things on my list will have to wait a bit longer.  Luckily, one thing that doesn't have to wait is my continued commitment to live as close to a  "waste free" life as I can.  Yeah, I know, that's impossible, right?  I get it.  How can anyone live a waste free life?  Well, actually, it was done for years, and it wasn't all that long ago.  In fact, some of the backyards on my street actually have old incinerators for burning trash.  Crazy, but true.  Now days, with our "one and done" mentality, we barely think about what we throw out.  It goes from our hands to the can, and someone whisks it away so we don't have to think about it again.  Did you know that the average American generates 4.4 lbs of trash daily? That's over 1600 lbs of waste per year, with much of that suitable for reuse, recycling or composting.  Think about how much you throw out each and every day.  What if your trash was sitting in your driveway instead of being hauled away? How much trash would you have, and, more importantly, how would you get rid of it?   What a yucky thought.  All your trash sitting in your yard, smelling up your driveway, attracting rodents and animals.  Wow.  Not cool.  But no one wants a landfill in their back yard, so it really is up to all of us to see how much we can keep out of the waste stream. If you'd like to lower your trash footprint, but don't know where to start, your in luck.  I've been working at this for years, and I'm pretty good at this recycling/reusing/upcycling thing.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I don't make 4.4 lbs of trash a week.  Or do I??

I'm setting out to see HOW LOW CAN I GO!!  Yep, I'm reusing, upcycling, recycling, or whatever it is I need to do to NOT throw away my trash.  At the end of the week, I'll be weighing my trash (and recycling, for that matter) to see where I stand on the tree hugger branch.  I hope you'll follow me and see how I'm doing.  But wait!!  That's not all.  After the weigh in, I'm going to see if I can go even lower.  This is going to be tough.  For starters, I'm already doing quite a bit, but that's my week to host 23 ladies for pot luck and Bunco.  How can I keep the trash count low when it's party time?  Good thing it's not my first party rodeo.

Keeping it trash free means skipping 

the paper and plastic 

 Won't you join me in the challenge and see how low you can go? 

Be well and happy gardening!

Garden Hose Door Mat

At a recent composting class I received a great tip on "chopping" garden greens for my compost bin.  To quickly and easily chop your garden greens, and therefore speed up the composting process, simply pile your greens on the soil and stab at them with a shovel or pitchfork.  Every spot that gets torn or pierced by the garden tools will allow bacteria and other decomposing organisms to get to work breaking down your garden waste.  Wow!   What a great idea.  Why didn't I think of that myself.  I couldn't wait for the weekend and a chance to try this tip out for myself. 
With my Cana Lily leaves piled two feet high I start stabbing my way through the pile.  I couldn't believe how easy (and fun) this was.  After dozens of hacks at the stack, I move the shredded leaves to my compost bin, only to reach the bottom of the pile and the sorry sight of my garden hose that had been laying underneath the leaves.  Oops.  There's a mistake I won't make again.  Now I need an upcycle for my ruined hose.  The obvious (and easiest) would be a soaker hose, but I don't need one. I loved the idea of a door mat.  Our furry friend Maryah chewed ours up and I was looking for a recycled replacement.  Wouldn't a garden hose door mat be an indestructible rug for her to deal with?
My 1st attempts were complete failures.  I tried keeping my rug together with fishing line, and then a staple gun, but neither one worked.  Then I saw an AWESOME rug on annesgardenpath.blogspot.com.  This blogger made a great rug out of a garden hose and black zip ties.  Check out her site for this and other great sustainable ideas.  I don't want to use the few zip ties I have (it's not frugal if I'm not recycling something) but this post gives me the idea of using twist ties that I've been saving.  I finally have the missing link to making my garden hose door mat.  

 

I gathered up all of the twist ties that I could find.  It takes a lot of ties even for a small rug.  Longer ties work best for this project.

Start with about a one foot section of hose, bending and wrapping the hose around itself.  Use a twist tie to hold each side of the hose to the piece next to it.  I used one tie on each end, but bigger rugs would need more ties. 

                    My hose wasn't long enough so I had to use more than one piece. 

When the mat reached the size I wanted (actually, I ran out of ties) I finished it off with one last tie at the end. 
While my door mat isn't anywhere near as artistic as rug I found online, my first attempt was a success.  Here's to reducing/recycling and reusing!
Be well and happy gardening.

Follow up 04/27/15:

 

After finding a few more twist ties, and breaking down and using 5 zip ties, I finally used up the last piece of the garden hose.  The zip ties are stronger than the twist ties and a good choice to finish the rug securely.  Actually, they are a better choice overall than the twist ties, but I wanted to keep things frugal. I love my door mat.  It's durable, waterproof and almost 100% upcycled. 

MERRY "ALMOST ZERO WASTE" CHRISTMAS

I love Christmas.  The beautiful holiday decorations, the incredible food, the time spent together and the memories made with family and friends.  This really is the most wonderful time of the year for me.  What I don't like is the waste.  With all of the boxes, paper and packages, it can be a challenge to keep trash cans and recycling bins from overflowing.  But holiday celebrating doesn't have to be a burden on landfills and recycling centers.  With a little forethought, just about everything can be reused and recycled.  Here are some of the ways I keep my Christmas "almost zero waste".

After the Christmas presents are opened and the gifts are put away, I separate the gift wrapping into 6 piles:

Tissue paper that can be reused

and wrapping paper for 

protecting holiday decorations

Gift Bags for next year     

         

Folded bags can be stored underneath

or behind the couch

            Tissue paper is reused for holiday/birthday gift giving and craft projects.

                                 "Crinkled" tissue paper protects fragile holiday decorations.

                                     Larger sheets of paper are folded and saved for next year. 

Small or damaged paper is used for wrapping holiday decorations.

                                       Store ribbon and reuse for craft projects and gift giving.

                                  Gift boxes can be stacked and stored for future gift giving use. 

                                        Larger boxes can be used to store holiday decorations. 

Cardboard can be composted, recycled, or 

used at the bottom of raised beds

A compost bin and box make a great seed starting tray. 

 The heat from the bin warms the soil

and gets my seeds growing quickly

Next Christmas, when I bring out my holiday decorations, I reuse the boxes and wrapping paper to ship Christmas gifts.  Using Christmas wrapping paper gives me one more reuse of the paper, adds a festive touch to the boxes, and eliminates the use of those pesky Styrofoam peanuts that everyone hates. 

   For smaller gifts and boxes, and for craft projects I shred the wrapping paper.

                                                  

No need to waste a good Christmas tree.  When the holidays are over we drag it out (stand and all) and turn it in to a bird feeder.  These are great crafts to do with the kids and grandkids.

In early spring I thin out the branches, shredding them to use as a mulch around acid loving plants.

In the summer I placed the thinned out trunk in one of the raised beds and used it as a green bean trellis. 

In the fall we cut it up our tree, mulching and composting the small branches.  The trunk was cut into logs and left in the wood pile to dry.  Next winter it will warm us when burned in our fireplace. The ashes from the wood will be placed in the compost bin.

                           Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to Everyone.