It's Easy Being Green

A sunflower left for the birds

If you live in a cold climate, you’re garden has probably seen the effects of the first major frost or snow by now.  The dead foliage and flower stalks might look terrible but you should think about leaving them just the way they are until early spring.  That’s because birds that overwinter in your areas could enjoy the dead flowers and plants throughout the harsh winter.  They’ll pick at the flower seeds and maybe even disperse them throughout the garden only to surpise you when things begin to sprout again.  When it starts to warm up and you begin to prepare your garden for the spring and summer months, chop back the dead and throw it onto your compost pile!  The birds will thank you.

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This year a lot of families are undoubtedly struggling with finances and trying to juggle the holidays.  While there are a lot of ideas to avoid the traditional gift giving retailers count on, there are ways to reduce your financial and environmental impacts.  If you are truly set on giving gifts this year consider these bright ideas.

Limit the number of gifts you purchase by drawing family members names for a gift exchange.  Sure one gift isn’t as exciting as receiving multiples but do you really need to spend that much money or receive that many objects?

Recycling or reusing items for a Christmas gift might make you bawk but think again.  Antique stores are often treasure troves of unique gift ideas for just about everyone on your list.  Think about the items finding another life instead of just being tossed into the dumpster.

A lot of retail items come heavily packaged which is a huge environmental waste.  As you consider purchases also consider their packaging and whether or not components can be recycled.  You can also buy items like gift cards or show tickets to reduce the overall impact at the landfill.

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It’s that special time of year where mad shoppers flood retail stores for the best deals and deck the house from top to bottom in holiday cheer.  The envionmental impacts of the holiday season can be astronomical though.  Over the course of the month I will post several tips and ideas on how to reduce your environmental impact and please share your ideas too.  Where it’s a recipe, homemade gift idea or some other way you work to “green” up your Christmas or Hanukkah please share it with me and I’ll post it right here on the blog!

Meanwhile, this weekend we decided to start decking out the house for Christmas.  We put all the fall decorations away and drug out the Christmas decorations and ushered in our seasonal tree.  Most years we do our part to keep our local forests healthy by getting a tree permit and head out into the wilderness to find the perfect one.  Since we’ve moved from Arizona, that tradition is going to have to go by the wayside for awhile so we choose to go with a farm raised Christmas tree.  Some sources say a fake Christmas tree is a much more environmentally friendly way to go but I tend to disagree.

A fresh tree has provided oxygen for our atmosphere and habitat for animals over the several years it has grown.  It’s providing income to a nearby farmer and it’s keeping our landfill from filling up with old fake trees that are simply tossed into the garbage when people are done with them.  A fake tree won’t decompose and break down since it’s made with metal and oil based plastics.  On top of that, there is a lot you can do with your real tree when you’re done with it.  If you need some ideas, just read my blog post from last year on Tree-cycling.

If you happen to live in a climate where you can plant a tree during Winter, you could also consider a living Christmas tree.  These were another popular option in the low deserts of Arizona and just about every home improvement center or hardware store carried them.  After the holiday you take the living tree outside and plant it in your yard or donate it to a park or school for their use.  The only drawback with living trees is that they can usually only survive indoors for a few days because they require a lot of light.

What kind of tree do you like and how do you make sure it’s a sustainable choice for you and your family?

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Now that it’s getting colder outside, we’ve had an influx of fruit flies inside our house.  We’ve always got fresh product around so the little buggers who hitched a ride home constantly find the nourishment they need to reproduce.  We’ve prevented some of the madness by putting produce away in dark cupboards that the flies don’t have access to instead of keeping things in a fruit basket on the counter.  But there are still a pesky few that can breed into dozens of fruit flies and just drive you nuts.

A quick and eco-friendly way to get rid of the fruit flies is to pour red wine into a small container like a bowl or a cup.  Cover the top of the container with saran wrap and then poke a few small holes into the top.  The idea is that the flies will be attracted to the fruity scent of the wine, crawl through the holes in the middle of the saran wrap and not be able to get back out.  My fiance discovered this trick and put it into play and sure enough it works like a charm.  We keep our fruit fly trap by the kitchen sink. So everytime I go to the sink and see some inside, I give the bowl a good swish.  That knocks the fruit flies into the wine where they eventually drown and don’t reproduce.  Also, pour boiling hot water down your drains.  Apparently fruit flies like to lay their eggs and reproduce in the sludge that can buildup in your sink drains.

Do you have a natural and chemical-free way to get rid of pests in your home or garden?

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During the last post, I talked about my neighbors, furiously dealing with the falling leaves here in Indiana.  Again just the other day, the full force of leaf blowers were out moving around piles of dead leaves.  They move them into the street and into their neighbors yards.  Anything to get them out of their way!  But what if they understood the environmental impact of doing all that yard work?

The Environmental Protection Agency broke it down for us and the results are a tad startling.  They estimate 54 million Americans mow their lawns every weekend.  We use 800 million gallons of gasoline to power all those lawn mowers and garden equipment every year.  The EPA estimates mowers are the cause of about 5% of our pollution, spewing Greenhouse Gasses and other emissions into the atmosphere unchecked.  One lawn mower is said to produce the equivalent emissions of driving 43 brand new cars for 12,000 miles.  Just one hour of mowing will produce the same amount of emissions equivalent to a 350 mile drive in your car.  And as we fuel up all our lawn equipment, Americans spill some 17 million gallons of gas each year.  That’s more fuel spilled than the disastrous Exxon Valdez oil tanker!

Those numbers show why we need to change our thinking, especially when it comes to trimming the lawn and cleaning up all the dead leaves around our house.  Convenience changed a lot of people’s thinking for the worse.  Sure it’s relatively easy to walk out to the garage, fire up the gas lawnmower and be done in 15 minutes.  Instead, everyone should be getting some essential exercise by dragging out a new push-reel lawn mower.  That’s right, a push-reel just like this one:

A new push-reel lawn mower

Technology has helped to make some advances with push-reel mowers believe it or not.  They’re much lighter than what your Grandpa might have had sitting around in his shed.  They only need their blades sharpened once every 7 to 10 years and can now cut most varieties of grass to a variety of differnt heights.  They’re quiet, don’t use any gas and give you the benefit of a little added workout.  If you want to reduce the strain even more, some of them even come in electric versions with rechargeable batteries.  It gives you up to an hour and a half of mowing time before having to recharge!  I think it’s great and plan to put one on my list instead of a gas-powered mower which is just as expensive before you even add in the cost of gas.

And for everyone using leaf blowers, I suggest putting on a pair of gloves and using a good old fashioned rake and broom for your cleanup chores.  It willl get your heart rate up, give you some fresh air and reduce the emissions required just to keep your yard looking pretty.

If you’re interested in some clean garden and lawn equipment, check out these two websites:

People Powered Machines or the Clean Air Gardening Supply

If you have ways to maintain your lawn or garden while keeping an eye on your environmental impact, please share your story!

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This weekend I watched oodles of neighbors wrestling with the falling leaves.  Whole lawns have disappeared beneath carpets of red, orange and gold leaves as they tumble from the trees lining our streets.  I think it’s beautiful and shows the changing seasons but it seems most think of it as an annoyance.  This weekend neighbors up and down the block dug out their noisy leaf blowers and moved all the leaves either into the street or onto the lawn for mowing.  Not only is it noisy but it’s also kicking a lot of emissions into the air and for what?  This morning most of the lawns have disappeared again.

I’m taking the wait until the tree is bare approach to leaf raking.  I’ve gone out a couple of times in the last month and created a couple of big piles to compost.  I like that idea instead of piling them into lawn and garden trash bags to be hauled off to the dump.  Then I can use the compost around the garden beds and in the lawn to add beneficial nutrients into the soil.  If you don’t have the room to compost in your own yard, you might want to think about giving the material to a local yard waste recycler.  Usually your local dump or transfer station will know of someone in the area who can help.

Composting isn’t that difficult though.  Even if you’ve got a little corner of your property you can dedicate the process, you can do a lot.  I’ve simply created a large pile of dead leaves in one corner of my yard by the garage.  It originally was well over 4 feet tall but as they have started breaking down, the pile has shrunk down to about 2 feet tall and half as wide.  Once a week, I head out with my pitchfork and turn the inside of the pile outward.  That mixes the dry, whole leaves into the middle where they can begin to break down.  I also keep the pile moist, like a rung out sponge.  So, if it hasn’t rained during the week spray your pile down with the hose.  Over a few weeks you’ll begin to notice the leaves breaking down and turning into black gold, compost!

For tomorrow:  How you can continue your fall cleanup while reducing the environmental impact

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Surround Yourself With Fall

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