Forever and a day

Yup that's how long it feels like I have waited for this. Although its more like 3 years but at last we finally have it. We worked hard on finishing it last night, placing panels and windows. Now that its up my potting bench and some shelves will be placed inside. We got this from Harbor Freight, originally priced $799 went on sale for $699 and with a 20% off coupon we paid $530. Gotta love saving money.
Have a blessed day!

Looking back

last year I took the Footprint calculator quiz and http://bitofsoil.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-big-is-your-footprint.html was surprised to learn how much I was using. So I took the quiz again this year after changing more of how we live. Our results are as followed

Last year - we needed 3.8 earths to live like we did- NOW - 2010 we need 3.5

Last year - we needed 16.9 global acres to sustain us - NOW 2010 we need 15.8

Of course we are not perfect. But just a little bit of change and being aware of what we buy makes a big difference.

Shed/ greenhouse

With the temps here in the low teens and planting time quickly upon us here we decided to make the shed into a make shift greenhouse. With little time to spare we cleaned it out and are in the process of putting up more shelves. We also was gifted a little Coleman heater that runs for 20 hours on one fill up of Coleman fuel. Surprisingly its perfect for the little shed to stay warm and toasty. And that's even on low. I started the heater on a below zero night and within 1 hour the 9x9 shed was above freezing and around 45 degrees. Should be perfect for the little plants not to freeze on cold nights. Also the lights give off heat so its worth a shot.

Picture post

Above - Peanuts

Pumpkins that ripened too soon

Horse shed that was made out of recycled materials.

Slugs and bugs - eeekks

As i was walking through the garden I discovered that it was time to run in the house and search the web for ways to get rid of potato bugs and cabbage worms.
After weeks of tiring to tempt anyone to pluck the little non beneficial bugs for a penny a piece, i still have had no takers. I'm sure the only reason no one wants the job is because they have watched me sit there for hours plucking the little boogers off the plants. After spending much of my time trying to displace them I am hoping to find a earth friendly- non abrasive- gentle to other beneficial bugs remedy. Thus I found if you sprinkle flour on the cabbage the worms then eat it and POOF. We shall see....
As for the potato bugs it took more then a few minutes to find something that might repel the bugs from eating the leaves off the plants. Which brings me to the hot pepper spray. A few hot peppers in some water. Let cool. Mix more water with the hot pepper juice ( so to speak). Spray the plants when cool. Done... Does it work who knows. Its not supposed to kill them just repel them. I am hoping it works. It would be really nice if it did. Not to mention this is easier on the pocket book.

Windows in - cold air out

Right now its 80 + degrees but the cold weather will be here again one day but we will be ready. We changed all of our windows, 6 of them, with our own hands. We also found new homes for the old windows so they are now being reused. So absolutely no waste at all. Our new windows let in so much more light that we don't have to turn any lights on until about 6 or 7 pm. Awww let the sunshine in!!

Friday night movie

I know its a bit late but for the movie this week we watched the Oprah Earth Day show. Which really opened our eyes to alot. Also it showed a clip of the Dervaes family movie. It was a wonderful show. We learned so very much.
I am also pleased to announce that everyone is helping me out with the recycling. We are only throwing out one bag of garbage every 4 days. Thats a real significant drop. They say everyone throws out 4 1/2 pounds of garbage a day. With a family of 5 we should throw away 22 1/2 pounds PER DAY. We are not. We may be throwing that out every 2 weeks, if that.

Earth Day over?

Well the designated day is past. You recycled all day!! You ate locally yesterday, remembered your reusable bags without forgetting, maybe you planted a tree or picked up garbage along the road, and changed a light bulb. And you also vowed to do it next year on Earth day also. And today you may be going right back to what you are used to do on a daily basis. STOP!!!!!! Remember everyday is Earth day. You live on it everyday why not protect it everyday also. It doesn't take more time to put that can in the recycling bin rather the trash can. Your reusable bags hold 3 times more if not more then the plastic bags. Once you start using them you will be amazed at how much you like them.
Buy locally - use what you have until its worn out.
SO the answer to the question, Earth Day over? NEVER.

Sun drenched thurst quencher

Oh how I long to use you. To taste the sweet tea you make with the power of the sun. To place you on the front porch while the sun beats down and the tea is ready by lunch.

Nothing is better then a glass of tea made by the sunshine in the heat of the day. Although we have had cloudy weather for a while now, I am sure it won't be long before your solar tea will touch my lips once more.

Growing up we always had a glass jug brewing tea on the porch. While living in a small town, knowing all our neighbors, it was funny and might I say a game to find our jug of tea disappear from our porch. Only to discover it on our neighbors porch some time later. I remember my mom laughing when she finally seen our tea was now our neighbors. Then she would tell us kids to go get our tea. While now we have moved to a different state, our tea stays on my porch these days. I still laugh every time I put my jug out to brew.

Adding GREEN to our home

We are busy here. Finishing plans to add on to our home, replacing our mobile home windows with more energy efficient ones, and of course the garden. We have been placing plastic on our windows for years during the winter to keep the cold air out. This winter we vowed that this one would be the last. Our window order came in today and we are very pleased with them. They are double pane, pull out and clean.
We know have one more thing on our list of "things to do" but I believe it is well worth it. This will save some on our energy bills for heating and cooling our home. With any luck we will find that we don't need the heat or air on as early.

How big is your footprint?

I finally found this site with an awesome footprint calculator. http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/


I just did our house and I was amazed that it will take 3.8 planet earths if everyone lived like we do. It will also take 16.9 global acres. We only have 3.6. I now understand that there are other things I need to do. I need to recycle more, buy less, drive less, and get the rest of the family interested in some renewable heat source, maybe solar. I also need to eat less meat. As big meat eaters, this will be hard.

Take the quiz. Leave me a comment on what your score is and how maybe you plan to make it better.