More Green Ideas

Words in green are little things to do to be greener.
I discovered a paper recycling collection box at a school not too far from here. I have no school kids, so don't hang around those places much, but while I walking my little doggy in the farther reaches of the neighborhood, I saw it. They have a list of things on it that they accept and among the newspaper & magazines was listed, office waste, boxes and - wait for it....wait for it....JUNK MAIL! Last year I took my name off a bunch of lists to decrease the volume of junk mail I receive and it has diminished, but not disappeared. Now I have a place to put it besides the land fill. I am so happy. If my husband takes a slightly different route to work he can drop it off once a week or so, thus only adding a couple hundred feet to his drive and not wasting gas by making an extra trip. BTW - he goes to work REAL early so won't get involved with the school zone, buses, or minor pedestrian traffic. It has been only 5 days since I started saving the paper waste and already have a 16"X16"X14" box FULL. I will probably need a bigger box when I finally get around to purging my files from last year to make room for 2009's stuff - I know!!!! It is almost February and I have not made a dent in it yet.

I also joined FreeCycle. It is a group online where you can list things you want to get rid of, but don't want to just throw away thus adding to the growing landfills (we call the one closest to us "Stink Mountain"). I have gotten rid of a lot of perfectly good stuff that I was tired of storing and figured I'd never use again (or fit into), and someone else wanted. I reccommend it highly, especially since Spring Cleaning time is rushing at us like Dino the dinosaur on The Flintsones. People list the stuff they don't want to move, the boxes after they are finshed moving, lots and lots of baby stuff. Let's face it - those babies tend to grow out of stuff so quickly it hasn't had a chance to wear out yet. Many people even post things that they NEED that might be in someone's drawer or closet and they hadn't thought of getting rid of it - for instance - that old cell phone charger for the phone you replaced a few years ago and it doesn't fit anything in your house, or the old cell phone itself. Computer cables, monitors, TVs, appliances, small & large, working or not. There are a lot of handy people out there who would love to fix the old washer, or drier, or desk top PC, or refrigerator that you replaced. They might use it or sell it for a few bucks. . . either way they will come take it out of your way and it is no skin off your nose. The main rule is you have to give it away - not try to sell it - that is why it is called FREE Cycle. Many people get stuff on Freecycle to supplement their own stuff for yard sales. I would rather give it away than bother with yard sale, but HEY - I'm lazy, and a little generous, I guess.

I had a box of stuff that I was getting ready to list on Freecycle, but Purple Heart called and said they were going to be on my street and wondered if I had anything I could donate - so I saved it for them. Recycle, repurpose, reuse, reduce - DONATE! Now I get a tax receipt for the stuff I was getting rid of anyway. It's all good.

2009 is 6% gone!

Here is my new low-profile, multi-level worm ranch. I had enough worms for more than 2 habitats, but I just put some in here, and re-did my old one for y sister-in-law. She is getting a fully functioning worm farm that's already densely populated with red wigglers. I have been getting more fertilizer than I knew what to do with from the previous set-up, so I hope Sue gets as much as I did. She has a big lot with lots of plants and vegetable garden plot on which to spread it all around this summer. A few weeks ago I gave away over 4 gallons of worm tea to a couple of Free-Cyclers and I still had too much. I have given a good friend a gallon, and several gallons went to my bother and sister-in-law when they visited the last couple of times. I ended up dowsing all my plants, my hedges, and my front yard today. It may be the middle of winter, but it felt like summer today - it got up into the mid-eighties! I even got a little sun-burned while I was out there fiddling around. You know what? I spread several GALLONS of that stuff all over my front yard and you couldn't even smell it. I was worried it might smell like poop afterward, but not at all...you can't say that about SOME organic fertilizers!

When I made my first worm farm from recycled materials, I wasn't sure if I could make a go of it, so didn't want to invest any money in it. The most expensive part was the worms themselves...the original habitat cost me less than $8 for parts, and the starter bedding (cocoanut coir & peat moss) was about $5. I have gotten at LEAST $150 worth of worm tea fertilizer (Retails for $7.95/Gallon), not counting the composted soil that I have spread around to all my plants. The worms themselves have doubled their population at least 4 times. I used 20 percent less water the last few months - I guess that is from not running the garbage disposal so much - the worms get most of the stuff that used to go down the drain in addition to the rain barrels. I am going to say those little wigglers have paid for themselves several times over since August. My plants sure like what they make - My palm tree is growing a new leaf - in January - and I have a ton of Kolanchoe flowers starting on my patio, and my Impatiens have been blooming, too.