a little about, or have at least noticed the ever-growing trend that has been popping up allover the past few years, 'Going Green' in your home. I'll admit, for a while I thought that "Going Green" was just a fad that might fade away, but now, more than ever, this great concept is gaining momentum, from the articles that I read in my favorite magazines, to my regularly watched HGTV home improvement shows. This made me realize that making 'greener choices' was something that everyone was trying to implement, so I've put together some simple ideas of ways that can help all of us create spaces and homes that are a bit 'greener'.

Green Home Building

I thought I would start with the big one first, going green when building or remodeling. Did you know with the huge upswing in green building it is much easier to find what you may be looking for at your local big box retail store? For example, green flooring like Bamboo (a grass that can grow up to four feet a day) and Cork (the bark of an oak tree) used to be something that was expensive to manufacture and had to be special ordered through a contractor or designer, but now you can walk into your local home improvement store and buy it for as much or less than traditional flooring.

Another green initiative when renovating or building, is low VOC paint. VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compound; these are airborne chemicals that are emitted by paints. Almost every large paint brand is carrying a low VOC paint that doesn't cost you any more and adhere and cover just as well. All you're doing is eliminating the VOC's in the air, so just pay attention to the label or ask when you are purchasing your next gallon, if your paint brand choice has a low VOC rating.

There are lots of other things that, with a little research, can help you in your quest when adding green elements into your projects; like energy efficient windows and appliances.

Re-purposing

If you're decorating a new space or just rearranging an existing one, stop and think: Are there items in storage or from a different area in your home that can be used? Do you have a picture frame, that with a simple coat of paint would create the look you are going for? Would moving big pieces of furniture around or refinishing them help you save from buying new? These ideas can cost very little or even nothing and can instantly give your space a completely different look.

Another idea that might work well for those of us who have lots of older or unused home decor items, is to have a home décor swap party with friends. You could gather up all of your extra, outdated or rarely used home decor and swap items with those who may want to re-purpose or reuse them in their own homes. Again, this is free and also a fun way to de-clutter and possibly add a new piece of home decor to your space, all while 'going green'.

Thrifting/Consignment Shops

Instead of buying new, why not consider buying something that's already made or just needs a new home. I love thrift stores and consignment shops for this reason.

The one thing that can be tricky with this sort of shopping, is that it's a bit tougher to find specific items. I think the best approach when consignment shopping is to go with an open mind. A great tip is to shop at consignment stores often. There are always new things coming in, so to get the best selection of secondhand goods, don't wait too long between trips. Some of my most favorite, unique finds have been from consignment and thrift shops.

Growing Green

Another great way to 'go green' is to literally grow green. This couldn't be any simpler, whether you are in an apartment or home. Plants do much more than provide an element of nature in your home, they literally can clean the air you breathe! If you have a window ledge or open shelf in your kitchen and are wondering how to decorate it, grow some herbs.

What herb(s) do you cook with the most? For us, we love salsa, so having fresh cilantro is a must! By having some growing in our home, we are able to have beautiful home décor, along with a useful plant to cook with. Growing Green, in my opinion, is such a fabulous way to add personality, warmth and a special, functional touch into any space.

We live in such a wonderful time where we are able to jump on a computer, tablet or smartphone and literally in seconds have answers to our questions. Going Green is no exception to this rule. Before diving headfirst into any project, there should always be a bit of planning that goes into it. Use online resources to determine whether or not what you are working on is something that can be green or at least have some elements of green in it.

Going green in your home, doesn't have to be something large, time consuming and extravagant it can just be a small act, like having a plant, or re-purposing a chair. Start simple, start small-just start!

"black gold".

Compost is THE key in adding healthy nutrients to your soil naturally! It's full of life and teeming with beneficial bacteria and organisms that can help keep your soil productive.

But what is the best way to use it once you have it? Here are 5 ways we use compost to keep our plants growing strong and healthy - and keep our soil fertile:

1. When You Plant

Using compost in your planting holes can get your vegetable plants off to a great startThis is number 1 on the list - and for good reason! There is simply no better way to get your plants off to a great start than working in compost at the time of planting. No matter what we are planting - flowers, annuals, perennials, shrubs or vegetables in the garden - we mix in generous amounts of compost to the hole!

For our tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other vegetable plants - we fill each hole with a good shovel-full of compost before we drop in the plants. With our apple trees and grapes - we use a 50 / 50 mix of soil and compost to go back in the hole. It is the single best way to give added nutrients to your new plants. The compost helps hold in moisture, and gives valuable nutrients to the to roots of developing plants.

2. To Make Your Own Incredible Potting Soil

Make your own incredible potting soil from your compost!

If you want to save money and have your hanging baskets and potted plants go crazy with growth - use compost! We make all of our own potting soil with a mix of 4 parts compost, 4 parts topsoil and 1 part sand. It becomes the perfect medium for growing all of your potted planters, hanging baskets. and containers. The best part of all - it can save you loads of money!

What about those commercial bags that contain slow release fertilizers to help? You simply don't need them with good soil. With the added nutrients of the compost in the mix - your plants will grow strong. And when you do want to give a little boost of all natural fertilizer - try the next tip!

3. To Make Compost Tea - The Amazing All-Natural Liquid Fertilizer

You can make your own organic fertilizer "compost tea" - simply by steeping water in fresh compost!

Compost tea or "black liquid gold" is an all organic "miracle-growing" solution to fertilizing the garden – minus the chemicals and high salt content that commercial fertilizers add to your soil. It works its magic in two ways – feeding your plants through the roots (soil zones around plants) and the leaves (foliar zones). Unlike synthetic fertilizers, it won't build up chemicals and salt levels that can slowly destroy your soil structure. Instead, adding nutrients that build it! You can see how we make our's here : Making Compost Tea.

We apply with a watering can or a simple garden sprayer – soaking the area around the root base and the leaves of each plant with the solution. The minerals and nutrients are then absorbed through the leaves (foliar absorption) as well as through the root zone – doubling the effect. As with watering, it is best to apply early in the day before the sun is too hot and the tea can burn the leaves of plants.

4. As A Mulch

1 to 2" of compost as a much around your garden plants can pay huge dividends

Compost is simply incredible to use as a mulch around your plantings!

We mulch all of our annual plantings with an inch or two layer of compost about 6" in diameter around each and every plant. Not only does the compost act as the perfect mulch, keeping moisture in and weeds out - but it also adds valuable nutrients as it breaks down in the soil.

Another benefit - every time it rains or you water - those nutrients are leached out of the compost and into the soil around your plants - feeding them even more. It's the ultimate win-win of composting and mulching.

5. As A Fall Or Spring Top Dressing:

We incorporate 3" of compost into each bed in late fall or early spring each season - keeping our beds productive.

If you make enough compost - you can use it as an excellent top-dressing for your garden beds each year. Every fall or spring, (or both if you have enough) we like to add a 2 to 3" top-dressing of compost to all of our raised row beds. We then will work it in easily with a pitchfork or shovel and incorporate it into the top 6 inches of soil.

Each and every year, our soil becomes easier to work and more fertile with the added compost. Even if you can only make enough to put an inch or so on top of your beds to work in - it will pay huge dividends over time to increase your soil's fertility and vitality.

There you have it - 5 ways to use compost in your garden and landscape this year! Time to get composting! You can find more tips on how to compost here - Composting 101

Happy Gardening - Jim and Mary

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much more can be done to protect our planet and I think we'd all love to do more. But let's face it: all that eco-buzz and eco-options (yes, I'm making up words!) can be overwhelming, even when it comes to decor.

year after year by following a simple and organic three prong approach. We use compost (composting 101) and cover crops (planting cover crops) for building great soil structure and vitality - AND we boost plants during the growing season with a simple homemade natural liquid fertilizer on our plants called compost tea.

Compost tea or "black liquid gold" is the all organic "miracle-growing" solution to fertilizing the garden - minus the chemicals and high salt content that commercial fertilizers add to your soil. It works its magic in two ways - feeding your plants through the roots (soil zones around plants) and the leaves (foliar zones). Unlike synthetic fertilizers, it won't build up chemicals and salt levels that can slowly destroy your soil structure. Instead, adding nutrients that build it!

If you follow along with our blog, you know how important compost is in building healthy soil. We add large amounts of compost to all of our planting beds each year, as well as a good shovel full in every single planting hole. Well, that compost, made from our decomposed vegetable scraps, chicken manure, grass clippings, coffee grounds, and more - is teeming with all-natural, plant-boosting nutrients. By converting those nutrients into a liquid form - we can utilize those nutrients as an organic fertilizer to naturally boost plants growth through the growing season.

How we use it:

Compost Tea can be applied about every two weeks to your garden plants once plants and transplants have become established. By established, we simply mean that they have been in the ground 7 to 10 days and are over the initial shock of transplant.

We apply ours with a watering can or a simple garden sprayer - soaking the area around the root base and the leaves of each plant with the solution. The minerals and nutrients are then absorbed through the leaves (foliar absorption) as well as through the root zone - doubling the effect. As with watering, it is best to apply early in the day before the sun is too hot and the tea can burn the leaves of plants.

We repeat the compost tea applications every two weeks until about mid July. Why stop? Too much of a good thing can also be bad. You want plants to develop strong roots and stems - but too much and the plant will spend all of its energy creating thick foliage and not much fruit. We have found that 4 to 6 total applications seem to be the perfect mix for giving plants the boost they need for good higher yields. The best part - its 100% natural, with no fear of having to use any chemicals in your garden.

How we make it: There are many ways to make compost tea - but we have found this method to be easy, effective, and most importantly, simple!

BASIC COMPOST TEA RECIPE:

You will need a 5 Gallon Bucket, stir stick, water, and a few shovel fulls of finished compost.

Start by filling your bucket about 1/3 full of compost. Use compost from the bottom of your pile, where organic matter has decayed the most and is teeming with life.Next - fill the bucket to the within an inch or two of the top with water. It is best to use well water (we use our rain water) because there will be no chlorine or other chemicals. Chlorine can kill off many of the helpful bacteria and organisms that are alive in compost. If you only have access to city water, no worries - simply fill the bucket a few days in advance and let sit outside. The sun and air will work its magic and within a few days, almost all of the chlorine will be gone.

Stir the compost good with a stick or the end of your garden shovel. Over the course of the next 5 to 7 days, stir the bucket a few times each day. This aeration of the water and the stirring of the compost helps to release more nutrients into the water, much like dunking a tea bag releases more tea into your drink.

At the end of 5 to 7 days, simply strain the mixture through a piece of burlap, mesh screen or a strainer, and you are left with the magical liquid gold fertilizer called compost tea! Store in an air tight container to keep the "liquid gold" at it's best nutrient levels.

Bonus Info:

You can find more pictures on how we make it by going to our blog post. You can get a little more fancy in your compost tea making if you desire. It has been shown that adding a simple aquarium pump to the bucket and letting it run to percolate the mixture will increase the potency of the finished mixture, and can be completed in as little as 2 days. Others also add molasses or sugar to the mixture to increase the absorption of the water and organisms.

However, for us, the simple bucket and stirring method has certainly worked wonders for our garden. Besides, the extra few days we let ours steep in the water is worth not having to go through the trouble of setting up a pump, wires, etc. For us, keeping it simple is the key!So how about trying your own liquid gold this year and get those plants growing big and strong! If you would like to receive our DIY & Gardening Tips every Tuesday – be sure to sign up to follow the blog via email in the right hand column, "like" us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Happy Gardening - Jim and Mary

local Department of Public Works (each department generally has its own website) to find out what materials they process. Items like glass bottles, newspapers and certain plastics are common, but each city has different capabilities and policies. It's important to adhere to local regulations.

More tips: https://brightnest.com/todos/learn-how-to-re...

with your kitchen scraps? Vermicomposting is the answer and , even better,a worm bin is efficient when you're continually adding new material, unlike your outdoor compost pile. Composting at home in a worm tub is most suitable for smaller families and apartment dwellers, or can be used in combination with an outside composting method. A well-tended worm bin shouldn't smell, so some people will keep them in a kitchen cupboard if they're short on space or just want it handy for adding their kitchen waste. The garage or basement are also possible locations for your worm bin. (Note: do not add animal waste, bones, fats or meat to your bins or compost piles. That will make it smell and draw unwanted visitors!)

Follow the easy steps below to set up your own worm bin and begin vermicomposting at home. Set the finished lidded bin on a couple bricks on a tray to collect any drips. You will keep plant matter out of the landfill and have the benefits of compost and compost tea for your houseplants, worms for feeding birds and pet reptiles and going fishing, too!

See my blog post at http://ourfairfieldhomeandgarden.com/diy-pro... for more composting information and worm sources.

#Gardening

lawnmowers.

580,000,000 gallons of gasoline are used for lawnmowers.

$25,000,000,000 is spent for the lawn care industry.

$700,000,000 is spent for pesticides for U.S. lawns.

20,000,000 acres are planted in residential lawns.

Powered mowers contribute to noise pollution and hearing loss."

From my friend Marian Fisher at :https://www.facebook.com/marian.fisher.31

homemade disinfectant spray, homemade soft scrub, homemade glass cleaner, a homemade furniture dusting spray, and a bucket mix for big jobs. Chances are once you start using these cleaners, you'll want to keep using them all year long! You can click on the link below to get the details for all five recipes.

success year after year. However, for many people, finding sources to create that compost can be difficult. Today's post is all about finding endless supplies of cheap (meaning free) materials to build any size compost pile you like!

Every single day, in communities all over the world - millions if not billions of pounds of compostable materials are wasted by heading to a landfill. Although many cities and townships are beginning to have their own composting facilities - most still don't. And among those that have them - only a small portion of those materials actually make it to the facility. So, what does that mean for you? It means that with just a little planning and leg work - you can have all the materials you want for free.

Whether you compost in 5 gallon buckets, fancy bins, barrels or in a huge pile "out back" - finding the resources to fill your pile should never be a problem. A quick word of caution when finding materials - make sure the materials you collect are from a safe source. Wood shavings made from treated lumber, or grass clippings from a chemically treated lawn are not good additions to your compost pile. Just using a little common sense goes a long way when collecting.

The following list is by no means the end-all to finding free material - but it's a great start:

1. Breakfast Diners and Cafes

Diners and cafes can be the mother-load of free composting materials! Most restaurants plow through dozens of eggs and potatoes each day, and left-over egg shells and vegetable peels make fantastic additions to your pile. Once again - it's all about asking - most places are more than glad to give their scraps away. A local cafe here goes through over 12 dozen eggs during a single breakfast rush - not to mention pounds of potato peels and coffee grounds. One single pick up of a few five gallon pails of materials can be the beginning of a great compost pile.

2. The Black Friday Composting Bonanza - Straw, Pumpkins, Gourds & More...

Black Friday - that crazy day after Thanksgiving. Well, we think it should be called "Black Gold Friday". Why? Because all of those people that decorated for Harvest Fests and Thanksgiving suddenly have no use for those straw bales, pumpkins, gourds and corn stalks. They can be yours simply for the asking - and a quick way to get great material for your pile. We scored over 7 bales of free straw and a slew of pumpkins and gourds from friends and family just this past year.

3. Coffee Houses

Coffee grounds are a perfect choice for adding to your pile - and small coffee shops are a great place to find them! In fact, many coffee houses routinely save their grounds for customers. Some bigger chains even create a list of customers to save grounds for - insuring that the by-product of all of their brewing doesn't end up in the local landfill. Many of those same coffee shops serve breakfast and lunch as well, so they might be a good source for additional materials. Either way, you can get a great cup of coffee and get free compost materials!

4. Landscapers & Tree Companies

When you see those tree trimming and landscaping trucks in your neighborhood with the big shredders attached - ask them to drop off a load to your house. You'll be surprised how many are more than happy to accommodate you with tons of shredded goodness for free - many times saving them a costly fee and a trip to go dump them. This is where that dose of common sense comes in handy - it's a good idea to see what will be in the load. Shredded leaves and wood chips are a good source - but you might shy away from a tree company shredding up poison ivy vines :).

5. Grocery Stores & Produce Stands

Small grocery stores and produce stands can be a goldmine for composting materials. You might have luck with large chain stores as well, but smaller mom and pop locations are usually easier to deal with on the local level, and more than happy to help. Simply ask the store manager what is currently done with expired produce - and you might be surprised that they are willing to save it for you. Those rotten tomatoes, potatoes and fruit may be past their prime as a food source - but they make great additions to any compost pile.

6. Local Horse Stables, Hobby Farms and Farmers

Get to know your local farm community. Many local hobby farmers and owners of small horse stables are more than glad to give away their manure to gardeners. And so what if you don't have a truck - keep a couple of five gallon buckets handy (with a lid of course :) ), and take some home to your compost pile. The high nitrogen sources in chicken, cow, horse and rabbit manure really helps to heat your pile to make quick compost. For those that worry about the smell or odor - if you blend manure into your compost pile - little or no odor can be detected.

7. Fall Leaves & Clean Up Time

We talk about this one a lot, but fall is the easiest time to gather free materials for the compost bin! Just take a short trip around a few wooded neighborhoods, and you can have an endless supply of leaves for your pile. Most of the time, they are already bagged at the curbside for easy pick-up. We collect as many as we can each fall and store the extra for use throughout the season. Its a great way for us to have a year-round supply for use in future compost piles or mulching garden plants.

8. Neighbors & Friends

Yes, neighbors. You know the people that live beside and down the street from you? The ones you have never met but wave to every day. They are a great source of composting materials - and this is a great way to get to know them! They eat eggs, they have morning coffee, and they have potato peels and grass clippings. Now if they compost already - you may be out of luck. But you would be surprised how many of them just might save and supply you with more scraps than you can handle. What can it hurt to ask? You might make some new great neighborhood friends!

So there you have it - 8 great tips to finding free compost materials. The list of ways to find free materials could go on and on, and with just a little work on your part, you can have an endless supply of materials to build your pile. Your garden will thank you and reward you with great plants and produce! If you want to know more about composting, you can follow the link here to our post on : Composting 101.

- Jim and Mary

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