Carrotmob

via Good Magazine.

I love this. Carrotmob works on the premise that rewarding businesses for going green may be more motivating than boycotting them. Hilarious and inspiring video. I'm hoping it's not something that could only happen in San Francisco.... Read more!

Better Drainage for Container Gardens and Beds

In case you're planting up a storm these days, I thought I would pass along a tip a kindly, more experienced gardener shared with me. Most pots and containers have lousy drainage. And many people overwater when they're starting out. If you have soggy plants, they may rot. So grab a drill like I did this morning (CBoy was so thrilled! Trucks, heavy equipment, mud puddles, and power tools in one morning?!) and get started.

If you're smart, you will do this before you fill up your planter, but if you're like me and can only get to things when a certain tiny person will allow them to happen, don't worry, you can still do it. Plastic pots take a regular drill bit. Ceramic pots need a special drill bit, so don't head outside unless you've got one. Aim for about 6-8 holes, evenly spaced around the bottom of your pot. If you've already planted, this one is too late, but next time throw a bunch of gravel or rocks at the bottom of the planter as well to improve drainage.

If you have a garden bed that's flooded (like our sad, sad, formerly hoped-for peas-broccoli-and-arugula lake), a guy in the community garden this morning suggested the following: separate those perfectly-joined boards at the edge of the plot to allow for better drainage. Sometimes, you just need a stranger to point out the obvious! Nice guy that he was, he tactfully suggested this path when I inquired about which plants might thrive in rice-paddy conditions.

For water retention, a tip on the package of my new upside-down tomato planter (cool, huh? for our deck) made me smile: water it with soapy water to help the soil and roots retain water. Sounds like a case for graywatering if I've ever heard one!

Hope you're having lots of rain as well for your gardens, and that your plants are sprouting! And any and all gardening advice is welcome here.




Works for Me Wednesday post
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Make It From Scratch Carnival

Welcome to the Make It From Scratch Carnival! What great fun it was hosting this week. The English major in me had to go read every last post. So I can say with authority that there are some helpful, creative, and delicious-looking entries in today's roundup of frugal, eco-friendly, do-it-yourself ideas.

Gardening:
Putting some seeds or seedlings in the ground and wondering how to keep costs down in your garden plot? Melanie Rimmer presents Recycled Plant Markers posted at Bean-Sprouts.

Laura Williams presents Plantin' Season around the Ol' Homestead posted at Laura Williams' Musings. It's a snapshot into the garden tasks of an established vegetable gardener as spring emerges.

Decorating/Crafts/Gifts:
Silvia presents Gourd Basket from Mother Daughter Weekend posted at Po Moyemu--In My Opinion. It's a step-by-step description of how she uses her home-grown gourds to make baskets from them with pine needles. Sylvia says, "This can be a fun and easy first basket project for kids and adults!"

Cindy presents Recycled Plastic Hobo Handbag at MyRecycledBags.com. Cindy comments, "It's a crocheted handbag that is a variation of the knockoff hobo bag from Dao. But this one is done with plastic bag yarn or plarn. This project has a free pattern and I hope crafters out there have as much fun as I did making it. It's a great summer handbag."

Rosemary Rugnetta presents Creative Interior Painting posted at Her Home Blog. She suggests we use varying shades of one color to lead from one room into the next, and to vary the curtains to easily change the look of a room. Since she's got a whole section on her blog called Going Green
I'm betting she wants you to use low-VOC paints. ;)

Kellie presents Patchwork butterfly card with tutorial(ish) posted at Greenhab: The Browns Go Green. It's a thorough look at a DIY craft project to make your own greeting cards from repurposed scrap paper.

Eco 'Burban Mom presents Best. 40th. Birthday. Gift. Ever. right here! She says: "I made from scratch one felt envelope using scrap halloween costume felt and some leftover scrapbook paper. Inside the envelope contained 40 handwritten wishes for my husband from each of my 4 boys and myself. Some were very silly, such as "I wish you a home run at wiffle ball", while others very insightful "I wish you no stress at work". My boys had to think hard about their Dad and he loved reading every one of them. Twice! Homemade and worth every penny!" Check out her blog at Eco 'Burban: Going green in the suburbs, one plastic bag at a time. She's got lots of local food tips and waxes nostalgic about cute glass bottles of organic cream.

MamaBird presents Nature Art Bag at Surely You Nest. An easy sewing project for a beginner, this bag made out of old pants will allow your child to sketch, paint, and collect acorns to his or her heart's content.

Recipes and foodie tips:
Gotta start with the attention-grabber from the minister's wife. christinemoers presents A buttload of hoes posted at welcome to my brain. Now, before you think it's NSFW, head on over to the self-described "ramblings from a pseudo-crunchy woman" 'cause she's right. This (hoecake recipe mmmm) just might be up your alley. Christine comments, "If you have never blessed your home with some hoecakes ... baby, you are really missing something!"

FoodieTots presents At Market: Strawberries posted at FoodieTots...The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree... Mouth-watering-looking recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp. My mom used to make the most unbelievable strawberry-rhubarb pies, and all I can say is that the combo of that tart-and-sweet flavor in an easy recipe I have hopes of throwing on the table is a winner in my book. Unless someone wants to come make my pie crusts, that is....

Cathy presents Chocolate & Zucchini Cake posted at Chief Family Officer. You know I love that she modified the recipe to use fair-trade cocoa!

Lynn presents Stinging Nettles Need a New Name at OrganicMania. Says Lynn, "This post includes a simple way to cook stinging nettles. That's the easy part. The hard part is getitng a kindergartner to eat them!"

Sher presents Lefty Treehugger Granola at wrekehavoc and although she's been blogging since Al Gore invented the internet, thought you'd like to read it right here instead of posting it on her own blog. The sweetness. You should still head on over to her blog, though, since you can see her humor shine through - even in a granola recipe.

heheh, well, you know me to be a granola head lefty treehugger. it stands to reason that i make my own granola. and it's E-Z. i borrowed from a recipe i found on the web and do it MYYYYYY WAYYYYYY.

feel free to steal it.

Yummy Granola That Doesn't Cost $5 billion at Whole Foods
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (preferably the old fashioned kind)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup chopped almonds (or whatever nuts you like. i like almonds. sue me.)
1/3 cup real maple syrup (or i suppose some day i'll try it molasses and see whether it works.)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix it all up. Spread it on an oiled/sprayed cookie sheet. Bake it at 325 for 20 minutes, stirring it a time or two while it bakes. Let it cool. Voila! Granola with the requisite crunchies that I like. You can probably add things, like coconut or dried fruit or, in my case, chocolate chips. Cos I'm evil like that.

Jane presents Home~Made Pumpkin Soup posted at Kidzarama. Jane comments, "This is a totally scrummy recipe that WonderHubby has developed over years of trial and error, with me as the innocent guinea pig."

Joanna presents Chive Flowers posted at Sunflowers in my Kitchen. Her blog is a welcome find, as is her recipe for chive butter (mmmm!) 'cause you know I've been gobbling those purple lovelies up!

Alison presents The Local Connection Saturday Night Dinner at Green Me. Alison notes, "I didn't think I'd have something to contribute, but then we went to the Farmer's Market!" Love that her post shows how easy it can be to make a "locally-based, gourmet dinner."

vh presents Cheap Eats: Delicious Veggie Spaghetti posted at Funny about Money. Mmmm, a sauce made with sage. I just bought some to plant!

Kate presents Easy, Cheesy Potato Chowder posted at Our Red House. Looks like total comfort food, which is good, since poor Kate's got a cold to kick.

Kathy Hester aka GeekyPoet presents Vegan Heirloom Carrot Salad with Seared Oyster Mushrooms posted at Geek, Poet, Housewife Wannabe. Check out her delicious-looking recipe; she cut out her toast rounds with leaf cookie cutters! I personally have never seen an heirloom carrot. Now I want to track some down.

Lisa K presents Beef Pot Pie posted at Lisa's Cookbook. It's a quick and dirty recipe using canned beef stew and biscuit mix for the topping.

Barbra Sundquist presents Edible Creations: How to Make a Fruit Bouquet posted at Edible Creations. Barbra notes, "Fruit Bouquets can be one of the easiest edible creations to make. The trick is to avoid the fancy cutting required by some edible creations design instructions. This article shows you how to make an attractive Fruit Bouquet using small fruit (plums and strawberries) wrapped in cellophane and wired to look like flowers on stems."

Jenny B (aka Mother Hen) presents Squash Eatin' Squid posted at Ship Full O' Pirates. It's a whole wheat-summer squash muffin recipe her 8 year old son loves. He even keeps tabs on the size of the squash in the garden, he loves them so.

Linda presents Cooking : Sébastien's first pizza posted at Mes crazy expériences. Linda notes that this "recipe of home made pizza" is her son "Sebastien's first time at it. Delicious!" Never seen a pizza with eggs on top!

Stephanie presents Keeping Guacamole Fresh & a Recipe posted at Stop the Ride!. She's the creator of the Make It From Scratch Carnival. Thanks, Stephanie! I'm with you, there can never be too much guac in the world.

Mama Bear presents Speedy Triple Decker Clubs posted at I've Got a Little Space to Fill. Quick and dirty club sandwiches, with a side of financial freedom (MamaBear paid off her credit card debt today - congrats).

Meta of food:
valereee presents Time, Money, Recipes: Experience is the answer posted at Cincinnati Locavore. Valeree encourages all of us," Don't be daunted by the challenges of eating locally!"

Health and Beauty:
Stacy presents Non-Petroleum Jelly posted at Teaching Diligently - Homeschool Blogger.

Auto Repair:
Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog presents Repair Your Car With Used Auto Parts which brought me back to the halcyon days of driving my older brother's rolled Honda Civic. He gave it to me for free! All I had to do was use a bungee cord and get a driver's side rear view mirror from the junkyard (and my find was easier than Money Blue Book's 'cause the junkyards I called looked for the parts for me). It really horrifiedimpressed the high school kids (do you really drive that?!) Anyhoo, if you want to read about how to repair your car via used parts aka junkyard scavenging, just jump on down to the 4th paragraph of the hotlink.

Check out next week's Make It From Scratch Carnival over at The Miller Way....

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Make It From Scratch: Nature Art Bag

Check out the Nature Bag I made for EGirl's 5th birthday. She's forever tucking leaves and rocks and flowers into my hand as we walk, so the nature bag should come in handy! I think she's got her grandfather's interest in and love of plants and insects (he's been birdwatching since he was a child and kept a detailed sketchbook of animal drawings as a young boy...later on this morphed into notes on bird sightings which he keeps to this day). EGirl also loves to draw and paint, so much so that when CBoy was born, the way we kept her occupied while I nursed was to set out 2-3 projects every time he napped. They'd consume her interest and keep her rapt for hours. So when I saw the idea for a bag designed to take art supplies outdoors, I knew it was perfect for her.

You know how excited I was about my freecycled sewing machine? This was totally the right project to tackle after the beanbags. Had I actually followed Lori Pickert's instructions (sigh) and measured my existing art supplies before cutting the jeans and whipping the bag out, it's possible that I would not have had to buy anything. 'Cause I had a pair of old pants and a bunch of ribbons hanging around. But I sure do have a weak spot for quality art supplies for kids, as I think it inspires them and makes them feel you're taking their work seriously (in other words, I'm not sorry I got her two spiral bound notebooks just like my dad used, a set of crayons, and a set of colored pencils, all to fit her nature bag!).

Here's a link to the Camp Creek instructions on Making a Field Bag from Recycled Clothing (in our case, a pair of her dad's jeans). They are explicit, step-by-step, and I followed them to the letter. Just in a girlier format, of course. EGirl had shredded one of her favorite butterfly shirts during an ill-fated, scissors-wielding, pushing of the envelope so it was nice to reclaim it on her bag. The ribbons are upcycled from giftwrap. The woven fabric handles I just had lying around (pack ratta!). Now I can't wait to head outdoors and tackle some of Lori's outdoor art lessons.



*Actual photo by MamaBird! Read more!

Stonyfield Yogurts In #6 Plastic?!

Many of you have commented on the Stonyfield Yogurt giveaway post that you agree with me about the #6 plastic used to package the little individual YoMomma and YoBaby yogurts: it's bad news. I'm going to repost the info I received (from a Stonyfield PR person) on the #6 polystyrene used in the containers for the smaller YoBaby products here just in case some readers missed the discussion. The lowdown is that #6 may leach styrene and you're going to want to avoid it:

"First, none of our packaging contains BPA, the chemical currently in the news and which is used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins.

As for our use of polystyrene #6, we hope you'll be reassured to learn that #6 containers are considered safe for food use by the both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Union (EU). The FDA requires the styrene content of the packaging be less than 5,000 parts per million (ppm). The styrene content in Stonyfield Farm's polystyrene packaging does not exceed 400 ppm.

Because the use of any plastic can have an adverse effect on the environment, we continuously search for packaging materials with lower environmental impacts. For now, we believe the best option for our small cups is polystyrene since it allows us to reduce the overall amount of packaging material we use - less packaging means less consumption of resources, less pollution and less solid waste."

I'm (re)posting this here in case someone read only the original post, not subsequent updates.

The mention of BPA is puzzling, since it's not at issue here. But most health info I've seen (Green Guide, Breast Cancer Fund) says to avoid #6 plastic -- even if it's safe to eat out of (which is debatable - see below), it's not recyclable and I'll bet the manufacturing process is no great shakes. I've posted about plastic health concerns before if you want more info about BPA and general guides to safer plastic. Here's the Green Guide info on #6:

"Extruded polystyrene (#6 PS; commonly known as Styrofoam) is used in take-out containers and cups, and non-extruded PS is used in clear disposable takeout containers, disposable plastic cutlery and cups. Both forms of PS can leach styrene into food; styrene is considered a possible human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. It may also disrupt hormones or affect reproduction."

Here's the Breast Cancer Fund on #6: "PLASTIC #6: Polystyrene (PS)
• Common uses: packaging pellets or Styrofoam peanuts, cups, plastic tableware, meat trays, to-go clam shell containers, egg cartons, shipping blocks
• Many shipping/packaging stores will accept polystyrene peanuts and other packaging materials for reuse. Cups, meat trays and other containers used for food are rarely accepted for recycling. Look for alternatives whenever possible."

Guess we all need to get on that making-our-own-yogurt kick. I already called my dad and got his recipe for making my own in the closet (I will post an update to let you know how it goes!). At the very least, we should get yogurt in the big tubs (they're in #5, which is a supposedly safer plastic).

Another takeaway? Most eco-swag is, in fact, junk. And there may be no such thing as a (safe) free lunch.

Yours in toxin fatigue,


*Plastic fruit photo courtesy of Morgan Noguellou at sxc.
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Join the Make It From Scratch Blog Carnival

I'll be hosting the Make It From Scratch blog carnival next week (Tuesday), so if you'd like to submit an entry (note that you don't have to cook! it could be anything you make from the basics, my frugal, environmentally conscious, creative friends), shoot it my way before the weekend's over. Heck, for you readers, I'll take 'em on Monday, too, but you'd have to email it to me directly for me to get them. Here's the carnival guidelines:

Share the things you make from scratch. No strict definition of scratch here, use your own judgment. (Only one post per blog per week please!)

I can't tell what I'm posting yet (it's a secret) but the entries already have my mouth watering.

xo
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Show and Tell: Planting Edible Flowers

I was struck recently by the thought that blogging is a lot like show and tell when my 5 year old lovingly brought her empty seed packet to school. We got an assortment of edible flower seeds in the mail last weekend from my mom (who candied some violas for EGirl's birthday, as you may recall, and in whose honor we've all been crunching down yellow and purple violas and chive flowers over the last few weeks). Let's just say we're enjoying the edible nature of our lovely blooms, adults and children alike.

Chive flowers rock, by the way. They are so spicy! EGirl feeds them to me until my eyes water. They'd be great in a spring salad for those of us who like a little loosening of the tear ducts. The kids (not such big fans of the 'picy) love eating the violas (it makes CBoy giggle at the naughtiness of it). We had a blast planting the edible fleurs (and some non-edible cosmos, marigolds, and sunflowers). Actually, we had a blast planting them once we wrestled the wawa (hose) out of CBoy's viselike grasp. But I digress.

We also released ladybugs into the community garden together at dusk one night, a pretty satisfying way to reduce the number of pests, I'd say.

For our front stoop, we transplanted the birthday cake violas into planters with some shade plants I had languishing inside (Boston ferns and asparagus ferns) a great tip from Scribbit guest poster Like Merchant Ships. The idea being that you should repot your indoor plants and throw them outside for a bit to rejuvenate rather than buying a new annuals.

Of course, I had those specific plants in my kids' rooms because they are supposed to be effective at improving indoor air quality and removing toxins. (Don't forget to check to see if plants you use for this purpose are safe around pets and kids.) Sounds like opening your windows and ventilating may be more effective than keeping plants for this purpose, though, so I think we can go a season without them indoors.

Next up, we want to plant another round of lettuce since we've been so enjoying picking greens for our salads the past couple weeks. Even though it's a cool-weather crop, I am hoping I can sneak in another wave of salad greens. Plus, I really want to grow some pepperoncini and pickle them. Anyone know where I can get seedlings? Or a fresh pepper from which to save the seeds?

Happy Gardening! I'd love to hear the ways in which you've been getting muddy....


*photo courtesy of Woodsy at SXC Read more!