Today is Earth Day

Today we celebrate Earth Day 2010 with activities that are eco-friendly as a reminder that Mother Earth needs our help and to bring an awareness to good earth stewardship practices.  We usually don't do any special activities for Earth Day because we try to take the principles surrounding Earth Day to use daily year round.  Here's a few little extras I will do today:

• spend a little time with my trusty caulk gun - More sealing means less air leakage which translates into less energy usage.
• make up a few cleaning solutions - I'm getting low on cleaners so today will be a good day to replenish my non-toxic, eco-friendly cleaning solutions.
• depending on the weather - I will take a walk around the gardens looking for things that need to be done while taking a lot of pictures.  I may even take a walk over to a near-by pond for more pictures.  Here's hoping the weather is nice.
• make plant starter pots - I will be making more plant starter posts from toilet paper and paper towel rolls. 
• today is recycle day - I will go through the recycle bin to be sure I don't have an alternative use for any of the items before setting them to the road.  My husband will drop off clothes and miscellaneous small items we no longer use to a local charity that helps those in need.  
• dinner - Tonight's dinner will be much the same as most of our meals, home cooked from scratch.  On tonight's menu grilled wild salmon, wild rice melody, fiddleheads and dandelion greens salad.
• evening - If the weather holds we will take in the evening sunset, play a game or two of cribbage then call it an early night.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010

Natura Kitchen Compost Caddy

Natura Kitchen Compost Caddy

Today is Earth Day 2009 so in spirit of doing something extra in celebration of living green, I am sharing one of my green tools. As a gardener I know how valuable compost can be not only for vegetable gardens but for flower beds, as a lawn conditioners and houseplant fertilizer. As someone who enjoys cooking from scratch I also realize that fruit/vegetable peelings, coffee grounds, tea bags and egg shells all represent money spent. You pay for them as part of the cost per kilogram when you buy produce and part of packaging when you buy tea bags and eggs. Throwing kitchen waste away is as good as throwing away money. Worse than that is these items end up in landfills something we can no longer afford.

In some areas of Ontario (Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo, GTA) kitchen waste is put to the curb in special green bags or bins for collection. This is an ideal solution for those living in townhouses and apartments where they don't have the need for a lot of compost. We do not have that luxury here and in fact the recycling efforts in our area are what I consider a token bandage as very few things can be curb side recycled. Some municipalities allow you to take kitchen waste to the dump but the cost of the trip in terms of CO₂ produced by driving to the dump really defeats the effort. Backyard composting is the only eco-friendly way of dealing with kitchen and yard waste in our area. The municipality encourages this but only for those who ask by providing inexpensive ($25) compost bins.

One problem a lot of people have with collecting kitchen waste is getting enough to make the trip to the compost bin. In the cold, wintery months no one wants to make that trip for a cup or so of vegetable peels! The general solution is to use some type of small pail to collect waste until there is enough to empty into the compost bin. The problem with this has been two fold. Decaying fruit/vegetable peels attract flying insects and it smells.

Natura came up with this effective compost caddy that solves both problems. It has a tight fitting lid with a charcoal filter eliminating any odours that might be offensive as well as attract insects. The filters are good for 4 to 6 months. I was extremely surprised at how much this compost caddy holds! It's only 30 cm x 18 cm x 17 cm so it isn't huge. I think it is too big to sit on the counter but the caddy will easily fit in an under the counter cabinet for easy access. I discovered that the food does compact as you add more, something to be expected but as the food decays it packs down further so the caddy only needs emptying about ever week and a half depending on use. It is a sturdy, green plastic that should stand up to a lot of use. I don't know how much the filters are but if they are expensive then a similar filter can be found in pet stores meant for aquariums.

Happy Earth Day!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2009

Today is Earth Day so what better way to celebrate but with an entry for how to save energy on laundry. Saving on laundry tends to be one of the top topics on frugal discussions and for good reason. Let's face it, doing laundry is a fact of life. It can be time consuming, overwhelming and costly. Saving even a little in this area encourages us to save in other ways as well.

We raised a larger family so over the years (almost 30) we have done a lot of laundry. Over the years the energy costs have increased and they will continue to rise. But it is not just the price of energy that continues to rise. I've divided this entry into three sections: appliances, washing and drying. These are simply my tips and what works for me.

Appliances: I posted an entry awhile ago about my new front loading washer and matching dryer. I'm serious, if there is any way you can replace your top loading washer to a front loader do it. You will not regret it! Front loaders save on energy, water, detergent and fabric softener. Loading capacity is about three times that of a top loader so you end up saving even more including time. It is a win-win situation all around.

Washers are either manual or electric. If you are interested in a manual washer, Lehman's is one source. Other sources are yard and estate sales. I've seen plans for adapting wringer washers to solar power but have no experience with this. Driers are powered by: air, solar, electricity or natural gas. Choose the cheapest power source that best suits your needs.

Washing: My first rule of thumb is the washer is never run unless fully loaded. My second rule of thumb is I use cold wash/cold rinse most of the time with the exception being whites where I use hot wash/cold rinse. My list of laundry supplies for washing are:

• unscented laundry detergent (HE now but normal before)
• bluing (whitener)
  
• vinegar (softener)
  
• laundry bar soap (normal stains)
• meat tenderizer (enzymatic stains)
• Simple Green® (greasy stains)
  

Missing from this list but used for years are washing soda and bluing. I'm using all liquids because of the front loader but if you are using a top loader washing soda (20 Mule Team) is an inexpensive way to whiten and brighten your light colours and whites. Bluing is getting increasingly difficult to find locally but is available online from several sources including the link above. In most cases you can use about half of what the manufacturer says to use for both detergent and fabric softener. In general dry detergents may be cheaper but you will need to calculate the cost per load to be sure. Store brands are usually cheaper than brand names but again do the calculations. For greater savings eliminate fabric softener entirely and just use vinegar. If you are using a top loading washer, an extra spin will make your clothes drier resulting in shorter drying times.


Drying: By far the most cost effective way of drying clothes is on a clothes line to the point that some in frugal discussions snub those that do not dry their clothes this way. However, many cannot dry their clothes outdoors due to seasonal allergies, physical restrictions, residential restrictions, geographical location, and time constraints. In my case, for quite some time I was out of the home including a long commute that often resulted in me leaving the house at 5 am and getting home just after 6 pm, sometimes later. With the amount of laundry, hanging it outdoors was not practical. Then we started serious allergy control so no hanging clothes outdoors.

I have a folding laundry rack and at the old house had a built-in laundry line in the utility room. Between the two they might have held a load and a half, simply not practical with the amount of laundry for our size family. Another problem with hanging clothes inside is the increased humidity which actually makes your furnace/AC work harder costing you more money and can cause mould problems. I have seen instructions for building a clothes drying cupboard that involves a series of racks, hangers and an incandescent lighbulb. I cannot say how well this set-up works as I have no experience with it.

For a number of years, the main source for drying our clothes was an electric dryer even though I used an outdoor line when possible and an indoor rack when possible. For the past four years my dryer has been natural gas powered, almost 1/3 the cost of electricity here. If you can, always choose the cheaper source of energy. If you can't, use the double spin tip to dry your clothes more so they dry faster.

I'm not a big fan of fabric softeners. I've heard that dryer sheets can gunk the machine and they are definitely not environmentally friendly. Both liquid and dry fabric softeners leave a residue on the clothes. If you can wash a load and still smell the fabric softener, there's a residue! Vinegar is the more economical choice for fabric softening. It works well and helps to remove detergent residue that will cause that dingy look in clothes.

Image courtesy of Clipart Etc

Garden Gnome
© 2007