It's Easy Being Green

Today is my birthday and my girlfriend bought me one of the best birthday presents ever! She picked up this little device called a Solio. It’s basically an array of 3 solar panels that open up like a flower. The panels have an internal battery and produce enough power to recharge just about an cell phone or mp3 player you might have on the road with you. It’s great because while you’re driving, you can harness the power of the sun right on your dashboard. You can also take these devices out into the field and not have to rely on an wall power or other random outlet to recharge your phone.

I’m super excited because over the last month I started travelling more for my job. It can take me to some really remote, out of the way places and this is one simple way I can make sure I have power for all my portable devices while living a little greener! I can’t wait to take it out with me on the next trip to see just how well it works. If you’d like to learn more about the Solio line of products, head on over to the Solio website.

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Saturday was Arbor Day in case you missed it.  It is always seems like Arbor Day gets a bit overshadowed by Earth Day earlier in the month so I was even surprised when it popped up on my calendar just a day or two before the weekend.  In celebration of Arbor Day, The Arboretum at Flagstaff opened their doors for free on Saturday.  We trucked out there to see what was springing to life on the garden grounds.  It’s still been very cold at night but a lot of their penstemon plants are sprouting up along with various other native perennials right now.  Obviously nothing is in bloom but it was kind of fun to see the garden in that stage of awakening from spring.  Whenever I go out there I sit in awe of the amount of land they have and imagine what we could do if our garden could stretch that big.  Maybe one of these days, wherever we land, I will start an arboretum of my own to pass on to future generations just like Frances McAllister did here in Flagstaff.

On Sunday, our itch for green-thumb domination continued.  We headed to Home Depot and a local plant nursery to pick up lots of flowers, vegetables and seeds.  Some natives and cool weather perennials are okay to go outside in our cold nighttime temps.  But everything else will move in and out of the house for another month until the threat of a late frost has disappeared.  We expanded our herb collection to include chocolate mint, pineapple mint, apple mint, lemon balm and lavender.  All of them smell amazing when you prick a leaf.  We purchased a couple 1 gallon sized tomato plants to shuffle in and out while all of my tomato seedlings catch up to full-size in the window sill.  We picked up some bare root plants too like a concord grape, another hop rhizome for my home-brewing use, elephant garlic and a horseradish rhizome.

We bought some more seeds to plant too.  I have a large box of seeds, some of which are pretty old.  As I’ve been planting them in my starter trays, I’m keeping track of which ones don’t sprout or have a low germination rate.  Then I just toss them into the composter because they’re not going to grow.  So I picked up some pumpkin, sweet corn, rosemary, cilantro, bush bean and cantaloupe seeds.  It’s challenging in the high-mountains of Arizona because our growing season is so short.  It’s only 103 days long!  So, you have to pick varieties of veggies that are often smaller and mature more quickly.

We’re very ready for the gardening season to kick into full swing but we’re finding plenty to do while waiting.  How is your garden growing?  Let us know about what activity you have going with your green thumbs right now!

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While the snow has all but left us here in the mountains of Northern Arizona, the weather has still been pretty cool. That’s how it should be this time of the year. It may warm up into the 60’s during the day but temperatures quickly drop off into the low 20’s overnight. That’s of course too cold for a garden going outside. Despite the fact that I’ve got spring fever and want to get my veggies on their way outside, I have to give them some gentle nudges inside, first.

Two weeks ago I planted two seed starting flats worth of tomatoes and other veggies which will require some time to get themselves established before they actually produce anything. More than likely I won’t be able to get any veggies outside until sometime in May so the few weeks they have to begin sprouting inside and forming root systems will be beneficial. My first flat of tomatoes has sprouted but the seedling are already too leggy. With tomatoes you want to keep replanting them fairly deep, allowing roots to grow off their main stems every time you replant them. This ensures your tomato plants will grow strong and healthy. They’ve already outgrown their little seedling flat so now it’s time to transfer them into small pots so they can continue their growth.

If you happen to save all those little plastic nursery pots you probably don’t have to worry about what you transplant your seedlings into. As it turns out, the last time we moved we through most of those pots littering our potting shed into the recycling bin. So, I turned to some newspaper to form little transplant pots just like the peat pots you could buy at the local nursery. It’s cheap and allows you to put the newspaper to another use, recycling it before it’s demise. Just like the peat pots the newspaper pot is biodegradable and will eventually just disappear into your soil. I found a great video showing how to make some newspaper transplant pots, so take a look below.

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Here’s another interesting toilet upgrade that can help you save water in the long run.  The Sink Positive is a toilet tank lid replacement that could help you use less water and encourage healthy hand washing.  The lid replacement includes a small sink that turns on after you flush the toilet.  As the water runs out of the tap and down the drain, it refills your toilet bowl.  It’s a simple idea that could be effective and essentially refills your toilet using grey water.  Apparently the design has been popular in Japan for some time now but is just now catching on in the U.S.

I personally think the sink would make more sense if you could turn it on whenever you wanted but nonetheless it’s a smart idea.  To find out more about the Sink Positive, visit their website.

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I like to compost my kitchen scraps but haven’t ever thought about composting human waste. That was until I found out there’s a new book out on the subject. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for living in a sustainable environment but I’m not about to start composting my waste to fertilize my vegetable garden. The idea just doesn’t sit well with me. However, some people might have an interest in the subject.

Joseph Jenkins, author of “The Humanure Handbook” will be speaking down in Prescott next week on March 12th, 7:30pm, downstairs at the Crossroads. The book Jenkins wrote talks about how human waste can be recycled using natural processes and not harmful chemicals. If you’d like to buy a copy of his book or read a free online version, you can head to his website for Humanure.

What do you think? Could you compost your own family’s waste and fertilize your vegetable garden with it? Is it a mind over matter situation? Share your thoughts.

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If you live someplace warm like Phoenix, you might already be getting your spring garden into the ground about now, hoping for a harvest before the Summer heat kills off your plants.  If tomatoes are a part of you new garden, remember this fun tip.

You can snip a branch of your tomato plant and put the stem in a cup of water until it roots.  Once the roots develop, put the new tomato plant into a pot and watch it grow.  Many people apparently clone their tomatoes and keep the new plants inside for a winter harvest, long after their garden has been covered in snow and frost.  That’s a great tip I hadn’t heard about!

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At some point in your life you’ve probably encountered a pesky, leaky toilet. You know the one that kicks on all of a sudden to fill it’s leaking tank back up or the one that just makes that continuous noise of water spurting out the little fill valve, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s been estimated that a leaky toilet can waste up to about 80,000 gallons of water over the course of the year. That’s more than enough water to top off that Olympic sized swimming pool you’ve been dreaming about putting in the backyard for the last two summers!

If you do have a leaky toilet, just dive on in and fix it. The repair is pretty simple, doesn’t require a plumber and will only cost you about $10 and a few minutes with your hands in the empty toilet tank. You can either buy the pieces parts to fix your current flush valve assembly or you can just buy a simple kit and replace the whole shebang. Here’s how to do it:

1) Head to your local home repair shop or hardware store and pick up a “toilet tank fill valve replacement”. Just ask for a little assistance once you get to the plumbing department and they’ll for sure know what you’re looking for.

2) Once you’re ready for the repair, turn off the water to the toilet. This is usually done on a little valve underneath the toilet by the wall.

3) Try reaching into the tank and re-seating the tank stopper in the flush valve. The flush valve is the tall assembly with the float attached to it.

4) Bend the float arm down or away from the tank wall and replace the float ball which may have filled up with water.

5) Now, drain the tank and replace or clean the flush valve seat.

6) Check to see if the tank-fill tube is cracked, then oil the trip lever and replace any faulty washers.

7) Fill up your toilet by turning on the water valve again and marvel at the fact that it doesn’t run constantly anymore!

Not only should you feel better not letting more than 80,000 gallons of precious water simply disappear down the drain but your water bill should reflect some improvements too. It doesn’t seem like a lot of water while that leaky toilet is running but it really adds up over time.

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