4 Steps to an Organic Bed

I am not sure I have ever valued sleep more in my life than I do right now. . . a 9 month old baby can make that happen. I have spent more than 1 early morning laying in bed, staring at the video monitor praying for those wiggly arms and legs to calm down and fall back asleep. And I'm not going to lie . . . I have bartered with god at some very un-godly hour for just 10 more minutes of sleep. There was also one very desperate morning when I offered Lee $100 to get the baby . . . I think he could sense my desperation because he didn't even point out that we are a single income family so, me giving him $100 was essentially, him giving himself $100. ;)

We decided that investing in our sleep at this point in our life would be a very good idea. I searched for organic bedding, mattress pads and pillows. Creating a completely organic bed has been on my wish list for a few years now, and while we haven't taken the plunge with an organic latex mattress, we did take the plunge on an organic latex mattress pad and organic latex pillows

I started with an organic latex mattress topper, after sleeping on it for 4+ months I can honestly say it was so worth the investment. We were planning on eventually investing in an organic latex mattress, but the mattress pad is working out so well for us we've put any plans for a new mattress on hold.

Here's our Organic 100% natural Latex Mattress Topper details:
-It's from Sleeponlatex.com We were really happy with their customer service, they helped us pick out the right firmness for us and shipping was fast.
-No Fillers or synthetic latex, only natural latex.
-It is OKEO standard certified to be free of any harmful chemicals and is certified to only contain latex from organically grown rubber trees.

Lee mentioned that he felt cooler at night, so I looked it up and because these toppers have holes in the latex foam it actually keeps you cooler. That was enough for Lee to hear and ordered up the pillows as well, because nothing is as satisfying as the cool side of the pillow. They are made from the same Natural Latex as the mattress topper, except in a rounder shape (if that makes sense), and they are kind of like sleeping on a cloud! Honestly if you don't need a new mattress topper or it's not in your budget right now, a couple of these pillows will rock your world. They also have different pillows for side sleepers and for back sleepers. I am a side sleeper, and Lee is a back snorer . . . errr I mean sleeper, so we each got our own pillow fit perfectly for us.

So after the mattress topper and pillows were ordered we had the healthy foundation set, on to the fluff . . . organic fluff that is. We chose organic sheets from Target . . . seriously organic sheets for around $50 I am in!
We used the same organic cotton, woven blanket also from Target. And because I need something a little warmer (we live in Canada), we picked up the organic pin tucked duvet cover from West Elm.

And that's all there is. It was a bit of an investment but seriously, sleep is at a premium these days so it was money well spent. We are very happy with our sleeping situation. One thing we weren't expecting but some of Lee's back pain went away. He has always had a bit of back pain (nothing serious) but it's mostly gone now. :) I have recently had some back pain start up but I blame that on our 26 lb 9 month old not our bed. ;)

In conclusion, my 4 Steps to an organic bed are:

1. An Organic Latex Mattress or and Organic Latex Mattress Topper 
2. Organic Latex Pillows
3. Organic Sheets
4. Organic Duvet Cover

*I received a few questions on the second photo, yes that is a zippered mattress pad cover. They are made from 100% Bamboo and are completely washable. I would definitely recommend the covers from Sleep on Latex as well. Then you can just wash away the dust bunnies or dead skin (gross I know but somebody had to say it).

The Nose, knows.

Well at least my nose knows. It knows everything!!
I have terrible eyesight. Like really really bad eyesight. I haven't seen the time on an alarm clock first thing in the morning since I was 10.
But what I lack in the eyesight department I more than make up for in the smell department! I smell everything, cigarette smoke from 4 houses down, fabric softener on the person behind me at the movies, or the perfume on every overly coiffed woman at the mall. 

Home Fragrance is something that I tended to avoid,  I was from the school of thought that NO scent is good scent . . . but that's not entirely true. Cookies, for example, smell amazing . . . as does fresh lemon. It wasn't until I started making my own Soy Candles using essential oils that I realized I missed a light scent around our home. 

I cannot stand the smell of plug-in air fresheners, or aerosol air fresheners. I wanted something really subtle, but more importantly I wanted something NATURAL! Our natural soy candles are great, but they aren't powerful enough to infuse a whole house full of scent.

You've probably seen the recipes for the "William Sonoma Scent" they are all over pinterest (probably because William Sonoma smells amazing). But I decided to try it out for myself . . . it's awesome! LOVE IT!  I let it simmer on low and when the water runs low I just add a bit more. It gives off an amazing subtle scent.

The last party we threw I simmered a pot on the stove and we had more than one comment on how good it smelt! And I also had one Fed Ex delivery driver tell me my house smelt nice. But it was an early delivery and I was wearing some pretty sexy flannel pajamas and no makeup so he might have been hitting on me. ;) just kidding #flannelpajamasaren'tsexy

Greener Way to Water your garden this summer

The more I research ways to be green, and the more I implement green changes around our home. The more I am convinced that green just makes sense, green changes usually save you money, and a lot of the time they save you effort as well.
This is so true of our latest green change. We added a soaker hose to our rain barrel and it's been awesome!

First it saves us money! 

Sprinklers waste a lot of water! While we are careful not to water the sidewalk, or the street, some always ends up there. Sprinklers also loose some water due to evaporation!

Second it saves us time. 

Because sprinklers are a bit of a waste of water, we took to hand watering which ends with us standing in the front yard for 30 minutes watering all the beds, all summer.
Even if we kept using the sprinkler to water our garden beds, we still have to run back outside every 10 minutes to move the sprinkler.

3rd green benefit . . . 

Most soaker hoses are made from recycled rubber!

Soaker hose tips: 

• Soaker or Weeping hoses work best in lengths of 50 feet or less. Any more and it's hard to get the water all the way to the end of the hose (because there is no pressure pushing the water through . . . just gravity from the rain barrel). 
• Don't bury your soaker hose in the dirt . . . lay it on top of the dirt and cover it with mulch instead. The mulch works two ways, one to cover the hose, and two to trap moisture in the soil. 
• Keep the hose approx. 2-4 inches away from the base of the plant. 

Here's how we tackled it . . . 

(please excuse my terrible drawing, graphic designer I am definitely NOT!)
Because we are using our rain barrel for our water source, we attached the hose to our barrel.

We used a regular hose to run from the barrel to the garden bed so we didn't waste water that would seep out over our gravel . . . gravel doesn't need to be watered, silly!
(p.s. ever tried to take an artsy shot of a garden hose??? . . . nailed it ;)

Then we hooked up the regular hose to the soaker hose at the start of our garden bed.

Then we weaved the soaker hose in a big squiggly line between the hydrangeas (since they are the plants that need watering the most in our front yard).  We made sure to keep the hose 2-4 inches from the base of each plant.

Lastly we covered the hose with mulch so now, you can't see it at all. Soaker hose?? What soaker hose?? 

One last tip before I go . . . to promote strong, deep, healthy roots systems on your plants, water longer and more infrequently, instead of short burst of water frequently. Let the water soak deep down your looking for about an 8-12 inch deep soak! It usually takes all the water in our rain barrel to achieve this . . . luckily we live in the Greater Vancouver area, where rain is abundant . . . even when you wish it wasn't.
Here's a link to our Rain Barrel Guide from last year! Our rain barrel is one of my favorite green changes we've made . . . and now with the addition of a soaker hose it might take top billing.

I am also pretty happy with my clothesline from last year!

You can find soaker hoses everywhere, we picked ours up off Amazon for a great price, 50 feet for under $17, and free shipping!

This blew my mind!!!

KA-BOOM!
Maybe as we get older we get more skeptical but I thought there was NO WAY this was going to work. Here's how it went down:

Our new table for Carson had some scratches on it. I thought about picking up one of those stain pens or using a crayon . . . but then I remembered something about rubbing a walnut on the scratch ? ? . . . I was seriously skeptical, I grab a walnut out of the pantry and started rubbing the leg of the table.

I stopped dead, and started screaming for Lee (a little over dramatic in hindsight). Lee came running thinking I had just hurt myself or the house was on fire. Honestly he was a little angry I yelled so loud over nothing but I showed him what I was doing and how well it worked and he was so AMAZED, he forgot all about being mad at me.

We Rubbed the entire table with walnuts and there are NO MORE SCRATCHES at all!!! It was seriously amazing to me!
Here's the before and afters:

Isn't that amazing, we just rubbed it with a piece of walnut! I don't think I have ever impressed Lee more then I did that day! haha
Here's a close up:

There you have it . . . I hope you mind is sufficiently Blown! I'm not kidding I am still amazed! I think it has something to do with the oil in the nut . . . but I just chalk it up to MAGIC!!! Ta Da!

Besides the magical aspect of the walnut, I think I am so excited about this because it is such a natural way to get out scratches, no stain, no VOC's. It's as green as you can get!!!

Saving Money one TV at a time

Last week we were watching TV . . . and POP!!!!

Then everything went dark:

We turned it off then on . . . we waited 10 minutes then tried again . . . nothing. Near the end I thought I caught Lee giving the TV a little smack on the top . . . old school style! haha 

We were super disappointed that we would have to spend some of our savings on a new TV. Lee likes buying new electronics as much as the next man but replacing the TV wasn't something he was excited about either.

Lee is in the Electrical Engineering field and is very comfortable around electronics of all kinds, from small circuit boards to giant industrial machinery panels. While he hadn't fixed a TV before he figured what's the harm in trying . . . it's already broken after all.

Lee did a little research on the internet, typed in the make and model of our TV and was just hoping to find someone else who had the same POP we did. The only lead he really got was that it could be a capacitor (the red arrow is pointing to it on the photo). Lee picked up a capacitor from a local electronics store for $10. Pulled out the panel (which I thought was really cool), took out the old capacitor and soldered in the new one.

He put the TV back together and we waited to see if it would turn on . . . neither of us expected it to work, in fact I was flipping through a Best Buy flyer while he plugged the TV in. Then as fast as the TV popped off . . . it popped back on!

I am super proud of Lee, not only did he fix it, but he completely resisted the urge to replace our TV with a bigger, better, newer model . . . it's like the girl equivalent of walking away from an amazing pair of high heels in a store, that you actually need and could totally justify buying!

And as usual what's good for our pocket book is good for the environment. We saved some cash and kept our TV out of the landfill.

Have a great weekend, we'll see you back here Monday Morning for a BIG announcement! BIG! 

** While we were able to open our TV, fix the problem, put it back together and remain electrocution free . . . we make no guarantees that you will. Please proceed with caution and if you aren't comfortable consult a professional. 

Hang your Pants, Save the Plants!

 That's right, I just started a slogan . . . feel free to share it with your friends!!! ;)

I wish I had done this when we first moved in, but I was convinced that I needed a big yard . . . and we definitely don't have a Big Yard (frankly we barely have a yard).
I had filed away the dream for a laundry line along with my dream of a BIG vegetable garden, a flock of chicken and a goat.
While I would need a bigger yard for my dream vegetable garden and the goat (the jury is still out on backyard chickens), I could definitely work a laundry line into our little homestead.

I found a retractable clothesline on Amazon. It was perfect because of it's swivel, it can swivel back and forth so that you can fold it away when you're not using it!

Why Install a Clothesline:

1. Your dryer accounts for almost 10% of your electricity use each year. 
2. A simple shirt, during all of its years of use, can send up to 9 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere!
3. Drying your clothes on the line saves you money! 
4. It saves your clothes. Dryers are rough on your clothes. 
5. NO ironing!!! Last weekend I hung a bunch of Lee's dress shirts from the work week, I didn't have to iron a single one! 
6. Everything smells amazing after it's been drying in the breeze!  

 

Tips and Tricks:

1. Hang your t-shirts upside down so that the clip marks are on the bottom of the shirts and not at the top where they are more noticeable. 
2. Smooth out your clothes before you hang them and you'll save yourself having to iron them. 
3. Use more than two pins for heavier items. 
4. Fold the top of your towels and sheets over the the line to make sure they don't blow away in the wind! 
5. If you're worried about the sun fading your clothes turn your clothes inside out before you hang them on the line. 
6. Keep an eye on the pollen count! If the pollen count is high, and someone in your family has allergies, skip the line and use the dryer. 

I am LOVING the view from our back door:

 But most of all I am LOVING these little Birdy Clothespins!!!! LOV'EM!

Clothespin Bag

We're installing a clothesline this week and I'm abnormally excited about it! Like the night before Magic Mike excited ;) or should I say the night after Magic Mike excited ;) just kidding.

I picked up my first set of clothespins in anticipation, but I had no where to store them. So I broke out my sewing machine and made up a quick little bag.

I'm not an amazing sewer, I can sew straight lines, the occasional gentle curve but I'm definitely NOT an accomplished sewer. So I went with a tried and true Envelope Pillow case.
I made what was basically a very small envelope pillow cover, tutorial found here. 

The only changes I made were to sew a strip of fabric right on to the white cotton, and a small fabric tab I could use to hang the bag off of the hook we have outside.

I definitely could have bought one of the beautiful clothespin bags on Etsy. But I already had the fabric so this little fella cost me $0.

1 cute little bag + $0 spent is what I would consider a successful project! I can't wait to get that line up and start drying some clothes in the sun!

Homemade Soy Candles for less than $2

You've heard my rant about paraffin candles before (in case you haven't here's the link).  Here's a little re-fresher on the reasons we burn soy candles instead of paraffin ones:

SOY

• Soy wax is made from soybeans and vegetables, both renewable resources.
• Soy wax burns much cleaner and purer as it is all natural, non-toxic, and non-hazardous.
• This wax is biodegradable leading to reduced landfills.
• Soy wax residue can be washed away with warm water and soap.

PARAFFIN

• Derived from petroleum, a limited resource
• The burning of paraffin wax contributes to indoor air contamination by emitting petro-chemicals causing soot deposits and carcinogenic particulate matter.
• This wax contains petroleum by-products and additives that inhibit biodegradability.
• Paraffin wax residue is quite troublesome, often impossible, to remove.
• Purchasing paraffin products not only supports our dependence on this crude oil but also supports an industry riddled with environmental faux pas'.

So for those reasons we try really hard to only burn soy candles inside our home. We do run into a problem when looking for pillar candles, soy wax is a soft wax so it won't work in pillar form. Sometimes you can find soy/paraffin blended candles in pillar shape but they're usually considerably more expensive. Which brings me to today's post.

I started making my own soy candles . . . Soy candles are really expensive! Like insanely expensive, like $10 a candle or more for a teeny tiny candle!  So I found a tutorial on pinterest boasting Soy Survival Candles. It seemed easy enough so I ordered the materials off Amazon and got cracking errr . . . melting.

I know a lot of things on Pinterest look easy and really aren't, but this was SO EASY!

1.     First you order your wax, I ordered off Amazon 10 lbs of wax for $12 plus $10 shipping.  I also bought the wicks from Amazon. I checked Michaels first and even with a 50% off coupon it is way cheaper to buy wax from Amazon. I did buy my double boiler from Michaels with a 50% off coupon and paid just less than $10 for it!

 2.     Next you dump a few handfuls of wax into your double boiler (a double boiler could be another pot or a metal bowl, or even a heat safe glass bowl) I chose this one because it has a spout so I would be able to easily pour it into the jars.

3.     Heat your wax up until it's all melted . . . it will now resemble a jug of pee, seriously!

4.     Add a few drops of essential oils if you want scented candles, or don't add any if you want unscented candles. I make unscented ones and then add a few drops of scented oil later when it's burning on the coffee table!

5.     Place wicks into jars. You can affix them on to the bottom with wax or you can just hook them on a pencil like I did, that pencil kept them centered while the wax cooled.

6.     Pour Wax into glass mason jars.

My mom found these old mason jars for me at a yard sale for 25 cents each. I LOVE them, especially the glass tops!

 7.     Cool you jars of pee, aaaaahhhh I mean WAX.

8.     Once your wax sets it takes about 4 hours or so. Cut the wicks down to size about 1 inch long, screw on lid and you're golden (hehe, last pee joke I swear!).

The whole process took about 45 minutes.

I only used 4 lbs of the 10lbs I bought, and it made 6 HUGE candles that should burn approx 70+ hours each.

 It also made two smaller candles. And I still have 6 lbs left!  I think I might dry some lavender and put it in the next batch!! :)

It was really easy, really affordable and actually kind of fun to make!
I think they would make amazing Christmas gifts, or hostess gifts!! But this first batch is mine all mine!
I love a little homesteading project to start off the week . . . maybe I should change our blog name to "Mini Homesteader" . . .  okay, maybe not! ;)

Rain Barrel Guide

We recycle everything . . . even water. Which has been especially helpful during the water restrictions in the summer months. Our city has a program where it provides rain barrels for $60. We ran down and picked one up. There were added costs, we needed a bit of piping, and some cement blocks for it to sit on but all in, it was less then $80 (+$10 for a very small used water pump, a totally optional add on, you don't need one)!
As I mentioned before where we live we have water restrictions in effect June through September, so having gallons of water for luxuries such as washing your car and watering your grass is very exciting for us.

Some Rain Barrel Facts:

• A 55 Gallon Barrel will collect approx 1300 gallons of water each summer in our area. 
• Rain water is naturally soft and is great for car washing and watering delicate houseplants, as well as your entire garden. 
• Reduces the volume of water flowing into the sewers. 
• Chlorine free water helps maintain a healthy biotic community in the soil. 

Some Rain Barrel tips:

•  Make sure you have a Mesh Screen on top of your rain barrel it keeps not only debris and bugs out but most importantly it keeps the worst bugs of all out . . . Mosquitoes!

• If you are not going to use a pump and instead rely on gravity make sure to prop it up on blocks. 
• If you wanted to make it really low maintenance you could simply attach a soaker hose to the barrel, run it through your garden beds and never worry about watering your garden again! A soaker hose will provide a slow trickle of water consistently. Don't use this method on your trees as it will make the roots grow shallow and close to the surface where the water is. We have trees that need watering in our front yard so we opted for the water pump! 
• If you are as concerned about mosquitoes as I am, drop a tablespoon of olive oil into the barrel every month and they absolutely won't lay eggs in there Although the mesh should do the job of keeping them out, but you can't be too careful when dealing with tiny vampires!
• If you live in a VERY cold climate you might consider disconnecting your barrel and storing it. If you live in a moderately cold climate you can get away with emptying it and storing it upside down outside. Our climate is fairly mild so we'll be storing it outside, although if we get a cold snap we'll definitely empty it and store it upside down.
• Lastly, a bit of a cosmetic tip, if you don't like the color of your barrel you could definitely spray paint it with any paint made for plastic! We're lucky ours came in the exact shade of our trim.

Like everything around our house it's a work in progress, we still have plans for the rain barrel situation on the side, you'll see we have the white PVC piping there (3.), which will connect to a water pump that will make it possible for us to have water pressure and use things like sprinklers and other hose attachments.

 1. Mesh Screen. 2. Hose we're using right now until the water pump system gets hooked up, if your using a gravity feed this hose is all you'll need. 3. The PVC pipe with a hose attachment, it will run under the deck where the water pump is, and will pop out in the front of the house so we're able to water the entire front yard using rain water. Gladly all of the piping will be hidden under the front porch.

We also have plans to add 3 small bushes in front of the barrel so that you don't have to stare at all it's hoses and pipes. But that's going to happen either this fall or next spring we'll see! What ever we plant there will need to be able to withstand some terrible soil conditions and not much light.

Check back this afternoon when we announce the winner of our Stacie Ann Giveaway as well as an incredibly generous Coupon Code for Mini Manor Readers!

Bee-utiful Bee Home

         I received an email from a reader asking how our Mason Bees from last year are doing . . . well they're all dead! But that's a good thing. They've completed their life cycle . . . laid tons of eggs and died!! I had you going though didn't I?

         Our Mason Bees did an amazing job this year! We have a huge amount of apples and more then our fair share of pears. I'm giving full credit to our hard working Mason Bees, they took our fruit trees from flowers, to fruit:

         It was really cool to watch them work, I would spend a few minutes everyday on the back porch watching them fly in and fly out. Lee was so curious one day he popped a ladder up there to get a closer look! Mason Bees are solitary so they don't protect their hive and are commonly referred to as the "gentle bee". They do have the ability to sting but rarely do, Lee was right in front of their hive pulling tubes out and replacing them with new ones and he wasn't even close to stung! They just few right by him and into their home.

How Mason Bees help and why we need them:
         Mason Bees pollinate at an amazing rate thanks to their fuzzy bellies. Regular Honey Bees operate at a 10% efficiency rate of spreading pollen . . . Mason Bees efficiency rate of pollination is over 90%! A single female can land on 2000 blossoms a day!
Our tiny little apple tree is overloaded with apples and our pear tree (which produced no pears last year) has well over 30 this year!

        Mason bees have become more important in recent years due to many factors, the main one being something called "Colony Collapse Disorder" a phenomenon in which worker bees from a bee hive or bee colony abruptly disappear. CCD had a dramatic increase in 2006 and has been attributed to everything from mites to pesticides. Without bees to pollinate our crops we'll see a dramatic decrease in food being harvested. For example, Bees are the main pollinator of Almond crops in California.  In 2000 the crop value was at 15 billion, in 2006 (after CCD) the crop value dropped to 1.5 billion.

We Need Bees! 

         Mason Bees are seriously easy to take care of, really they're no work at all . . . once a year you replace the old cardboard tubes with new ones! No bee suits, no smoke! You don't even need the cardboard tubes. You could just drill holes in wood and they can use that, we choose to use inexpensive cardboard tubes ($10 lasts us 3 years) we just replace them each year. Keeping the hive a bit cleaner then a hive with no cardboard tubes.
You get 4-6 weeks of bee activity starting about half way through March and ending around the beginning of May. Then they die and their eggs hatch and come out next spring!

Mason bees are definitely increasing in popularity, in fact they do the best in Suburban communities where there are lots of flowers and fruit trees!

My hope is that one day you'll see mason bee homes 

in yards as frequently as you see bird feeders! 

 

Dill Weed on my bed!

Yup, You read that right . . . I just titled a post "Dill Weed on my Bed", I should just retire from blogging right now! Hopefully the title caught your attention, in a "gee, I wonder what that's about" way and not in a "I'm going to stop following this chick . . . she's weird" way.
I'm just going to move on and start explaining before "I'm going to stop following this chick . . . she's crazy" seems like a great idea.
We picked up a new duvet and duvet cover. There are a couple of reasons why:
1) We use to have a comforter that didn't have a removable cover and because Max frequently sleeps in the bed I wanted something that was easier to wash regularly.
2) Every time I did go to wash it, I would have to take it to the laundry mat because it wouldn't fit into our washing machine. As much as I love creepy men throwing their laundry into the washing machine with my laundry (seriously that happened to me once when we were renting). I hate taking that time out of my day to trek up to the laundry mat (however, I do enjoy the outdated trashy magazines).

Our bestest friends just picked up a kind size bed and needed all new linens. They were saying that they couldn't find anything they really liked and didn't want to fork out a ton of cash for something they didn't like but had to buy.  I offered them our comforter and after a ton of dirty jokes about what was done on it/under it (we're classy like that), they took it home. I was really happy that they were able to use it, because we only used it in the winter and it was only a year old. Most secondhand stores won't take bed linens so needless to say . . . I was thrilled it wasn't ending up in the dumpster!

Now, on to our new duvet and duvet cover, ta-da:

We picked up the duvet cover from a Swedish store here in Canada called JYSK. The duvet cover with two matching shams cost $45.99. It took me forever to source a duvet cover, that didn't break the bank and wasn't made of synthetic materials. I believe that our beds should be as natural as possible! This set was made of 100% cotton!

I also love the Dill Weed pattern.

p.s. I made that quilt!! :)

But perhaps the clincher was the green dots. Join me for a trip down memory lane, remember when the living room had green and blue accents well now that it's Switzerland (all neutral), I had a few green and blue accents leftover. I was able to move the lamps into the guest room, and I'm hoping to move the rest of the green into the bedroom. 

Also in the works I'm planning to make three Euro Shams (Square pillow cases) for behind the pillows, mostly because I know how much Lee 'LOVES' throw pillows on the bed. haha NOT.
I found a green polka dot fabric, that has exactly the same shade of green as the duvet, so hopefully next week I'll get working on those!

And lastly I should take about our duvet. We went with a feather duvet. I grew up with feather duvets and I loved them. I do have some mild feather allergies, but I've always found that as long as a duvet is Hypoallergenic I'm A OK. We found our feather duvet on Overstock.com. It was a great price at just under $100 for a KING. And most importantly, it's made with an all natural chemical free 100% cotton shell.

I hope you like our Dilly Bed as much as we do! I'm working on a post about the elements of a clean, green Bed. And we just ordered our organic Latex Mattress topper!!! So excited!!! It should arrive next week!

Dealing with Slugs!

I've never been very patient. Lee on the other hand, could be holding a screaming baby,  waiting for a huge document to download, while listening to my grandma talk about her bunions and still have patience to spare. I, however, have no patience at all. It's something I'm working on, but frankly, I'm getting impatient with how long it's taking ;).

Where am I going with this? We have intruders and I have completely LOST my cool when dealing with them . . . I'm talking about SLUGS!
Those slimy little (excuse my french) BASTARDS are eating my hostas!!! I tried the "beer trap" didn't work, apparently they aren't big drinkers.
I tried the upside down grapefruit half, NOTHING! (Apparently slugs will hide under the grapefruit halves to hid from the sun).

I was ready to break my Green promise to my yard and break out the hard chemicals, I wanted to NUKE those little SOBs (again excuse my language).
My mom (her thumb is so green it looks like it belongs to the hulk) suggested Epsom Salt. I was concerned that it would harm the plants but she insisted that it wouldn't, in fact some of the minerals would be good for the soil! I added a ring of salt around the base of each plant,

 and sure enough first thing the next morning I found 3 slugs under the grapefruits, hiding from the salt. We got rid of those three, since then haven't found anymore and the hostas don't look like they've incurred any more damage either.

 Hopefully that will be the end of the All you can Eat Slug Smorgasbord! Victory is Mine! hehe

Organic Lawn Care

We decided when we first moved in, that we were going to keep an Organic Lawn. No pesticides and No Chemicals. We did the scary environment research:

• EPA permits over 200 different pesticides to be used for lawn care, and these are often mixed together and sold as chemical combinations.
• Nearly 80 million pounds of pesticide active ingredients are used on U.S. lawns annually.
• Approximately 35 pesticides are used in over 90 percent of lawn treatments.
•  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported that “homeowners use up to 10 times more chemical pesticides per acre on their lawns than farmers use on crops."

 Then we did the Personal Health Research:

• Pesticides are intentionally toxic substances. Some chemicals commonly used on lawns and gardens have been associated with birth defects, mutations, adverse reproductive effects, and cancer in laboratory animals.
•  Lawn-care pesticides are not tested for their chronic health effects, unless they are also licensed for food uses. The third most heavily used herbicide in the U. S., MCPP, has not been fully tested for chronic health effects since it is not allowed for use on foods. MCPP is commonly found in weed and feed products.
•  Nearly 100,000 accidental pesticide exposures are reported to poison control centers each year. Many of these exposures involve children, and pets. 

At first I thought we might have to sacrifice the lush golf course greens, but after a year and a half of organic lawn care, our lawn has caught up. It takes a little extra time, a little extra energy, but now we can walk barefoot through our lawn without any worry!! (except for Bee's, those little bastards are out to get me, just kidding).

Here's how we do it, in 3 Easy Steps (feel like your about to buy a slap chop?):

1) We De-Thatch the lawn. Thatch is a layer of cut grass, plant stems, roots, leaves and other debris that collects on the soil, below the live blades of grass. Basically it looks like dead grass hanging around the roots of new grass. The thatch acts as a barrier on top of the soil. It blocks fertilizer from getting into the soil and down to the roots.
The picture on the right is how much thatch we pulled out of a small patch of our front yard (about 10 square feet of lawn). I was Shocked at how much, we ended up with almost 4 full yard waste bags FULL.  Be prepared though, your lawn is going to look a bit "rough" for a few weeks while the new grass grows in.

 We have a VERY small lawn, so we do it by hand using a thatch rake. It's a lot of work but our lawn is so small it doesn't make sense to rent a machine.
If you have a mature lawn you should aerate it too (Punch holes in lawn) it helps bring nutrients and air down to the roots. Our lawn isn't old enough yet.

2) Re-Seed. The thicker your lawn is the less room there is for weeds to grow. We use a seed dispenser so that we get a really even coverage.
3) Lastly, in place of traditional fertilizers we spread corn gluten evenly over the lawn. Corn Gluten is an all natural lawn fertilizer, it's 9-0-0 you can find it at most plant nurseries.

Here's the difference in our lawn from last year to this year. I haven't re-touched these photos at all, I didn't even adjust the brightness, so that you could get a really good idea of how our lawn changed:

 A couple of other natural tips to keep a golf course worthy yard:

• When Mowing your lawn, never cut off more then 1/3 of the blade. The grass needs it's length to soak up the sun and stay green. Cutting more then 1/3 of the blade off, traumatizes the grass. 
• When watering (if you have to) water deep, watering for short periods of time, forces the roots to stay near the surface, you want strong roots. But also keeping in mind that grass is suppose to have a dormant season, it will and should brown a bit for some of the summer. But if you must water doing it early in the morning is best. Then the water has time to soak in and isn't evaporated by the sun. Watering late at night can cause and excess of moisture to sit on the soil, and may help the growth of fungus.

Thanks for reading, I hope you were able to pull away a couple of natural tips or tricks you can use on your own lawn.

Tupperware Organization

Tupperware has always been one of the most difficult things to organize. But I think I've figured out an easier way to do it . . . you have to start from Scratch!
I think the reason that tupperware cabinets and drawers are so messy is because we all have a hodge podge of different tupperware, that don't stack up together or nest nicely within each other.  Right before we made the move to the new house (over a year ago) I decided that we should really have just one or two types of tupperware and stick to them. I started piecing together our new tupperware collection, slowly because it's not a super cheap thing to do. A year later I now have all the pieces we need!

I decided on Glasslock tupperware. A lot of Lee's lunches are leftovers that need to be reheated, and with all the concern over heating plastic I thought I'd play it safe and invest in some Glass tupperware.

Honestly, it's totally worth the extra money. The lids always fit perfectly, no matter how many times you wash them and you can store soup in them too! (and NO glasslock hasn't paid me for saying that . . . I really do love them, all on my own).

SO without further ado . . . Our Tupperware cabinet:

Here's what we've got going on:

1. Glasslock Tupperware containers.
2. Glasslock Tupperware Bowls, I swear these things might be the most useful tool I have in the kitchen. Once a week I make a large salad (Greek, Pasta, Tomato/basil) then I pop the lid on and keep it in the fridge so we always have something to snack on. They're also great for taking a dish to a potluck! We found ours at Costco, $19.99 bought you a set of 3.
3. Glass juice jugs, better then plastic, they won't get dyed from fruit juice, and you don't have to worry about leaching plastic (although BPA free plastic is considered safe). We found our glass juice jugs at Target.
4. Water bottles. BPA Free!! And his and hers TO GO coffee mugs.
5. Rubbermaid Produce Tupperware. I like to chop up vegetables and have them ready to eat, it makes it more likely that I'll snack on something healthy (more likely, not guaranteed ;). I find that the produce tupperware keeps it from going soggy, and I do think it keeps vegetables fresher longer.

We also use the back half of the cabinet for misc. party supplies, like:
A. Plastic knives and forks, and paper napkins
and
B. Some Mason Jars . . . You can never have enough Mason Jars!

So there's how I organized my tupperware cabinet. I know it's not the most cost effective way to do it, but it works. All in, I think I spent about $60 in Glass lock Tupperware and maybe another $15 on produce tupperware. Not to bad considering I spaced it out over a year. It doesn't matter what tupperware you use, as long as they all stack up and fit nicely together, it could be super expensive tupperware brand, or super cheap dollar store brands (as long as the plastic is BPA free).

Terrarium Love

I LOVE terrariums! What's not to love, succulents, pretty glass containers . . . air purification.
I've been on the look out for a terrarium for a while now but they are expensive, capital EX, capital SPENSIVE.  So it was becoming clear that I would have to DIY one!
I found the glass container at Homesense for $7.99. I bought the plants from Walmart, I bought three different species (I lost the tags so I have no idea what their names are . . . sorry). The plants cost less than $10 for all 3! I added a couple of decorative rocks we had lying around, I thought I'd turn it into a little mini landscape. 5 minutes later we had a terrarium that looked like this:

Total Cost: under $20.00 not bad compared to the $75+ terrariums I found here.
*Word to the wise . . . double check you can fit your hand in the hole easily . . . this was the 2nd glass jar I bought for a terrarium, the first one was too hard to work with! 

Honestly, It's been my easiest houseplant ever. It lives on my desk most of the time (in front of a South Facing window). I rarely remember to water it! Seriously, SO EASY!