Mother Earth Gift Ideas

Be sure to remember Mother Earth on your shopping list this year!  What do you get the planet that has everything?   Fortunately for all of us, Mother Earth doesn’t have expensive taste.  She just wants all of us to do a little more to show we care.
 
Mother Earth has been working really hard this year to keep up with all of the changes happening in her life.  Give her a break and let her sleep a little longer in the dark these days: always turn off lights in unoccupied rooms around your home and use less lighting for holiday decorations.

She also appreciates the crisp cool air of the holiday season so be sure to keep the thermostat down and instead possibly wear some of the sweaters you received as gifts in past years.

Nothing makes Mother Earth smile like a batch of freshly baked holiday compost soil. Consider giving Mother Earth the gift of starting a compost bin or pile in your yard or where you work or go to school.  Much of your holiday waste could be composted instead of trashed including your tree, food waste, organic decorations, and shredded paper.
 
Another great idea for Mother Earth is to treat her to a facial!  Mother Earth always loves to be pampered with new native gardens and trees naturally landscaped to enhance her beauty.
 
Mother Earth has also been very generous, digging into her savings account the last several years to let us manufacture new things out of natural resources.  So be sure to recycle the stuff we already have and let Mother Earth keep some savings to splurge on herself!

Remember, you can’t go wrong with anything green, organic, efficient, resourceful, or that does less to stress her out. 

If nothing else, Mother Earth always appreciates a hug!

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Edible Compost

My favorite way to teach people about kids about what goes in the compost bin includes a recipe for making edible compost.  After we talk about what goes in the bin, we ‘review’ by making edible compost.  There are several sources online for different recipes, but I thought I would share what I have used in the past.

First we talk about the bin — everyone grabs a cup to use for their ‘bin’.

Next we talk about starting the bin with a little bit of soil.  Add crushed Oreos or Coco Pebbles for soil starter.

Then we talk about what to add to the bin.  First we add brown things.  I ask the kids to list some ideas of what would count as brown stuff.  When the kids come up with twigs we add small pretzel sticks and when the kids say dead leaves we add Wheaties or Corn Flakes.

Next we talk about green things.  I ask the kids to list some things that would be considered green.  We add green colored coconut for grass clippings and dried fruit bits for food scraps.  It may be appropriate to talk about the need for more browns than greens at this point, depending on the age of the kids.

Then we talk about needing air for the compost and we stir or shake the cups up to mix everything together.  I also add that we are not going to add water to our mix because although it is necessary for real compost, it probably wouldn’t taste very good with our recipe.  I tell the kids that when we are all done they can take turns getting a drink from the water fountain.

Last but not least, we talk about the critters that come to your bin and we add a few gummy worms.

I have found that it works best if the kids are sitting in small groups and if all of the items are off to the side and spread out on plates or in bowls.  We talk about an aspect of compost and then a representative of each group comes forward to get the item for their group.  4 to 6 kids per group usually works well.  Also, when a new item comes around I tell the kids how much to take (“Add 1 spoonful of coconut to your bin”) and then if there is any left in their group’s container, kids can take more.  This is especially key when it comes to the gummy worms

I would love to hear from you if you use this activity or if you have done it in the past.  What substitutions have you made?  Do you have any additional tips or tricks?

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Rethinking Paper Use

Paper use is, at times, astounding.  The average American uses 700 pounds of paper per year, which is over 7 trees per person.  There are some very easy things you can do to reduce your paper use.

1. Stop getting junk mail. This probably won’t be much of a burden.  Simply visit Waukesha County’s website to learn how to get off of junk mail lists.  Think this won’t make a difference?  Every person in our country gets about 250 pieces of unsolicited mail every year, and in the course of a lifetime, you’ll spend about 8 months sorting through it!  This easy fix saves time and money.  As a quick reminder: if you do get junk mail it is recyclable.  Even paper envelopes with plastic windows belong in your blue bin, not the trash.
2. Cool as the other side of the paper. Set your printers at work and home to print duplex.  Work printers usually have this option, which is easily set.  At home, you may need to feed your paper through the printer twice.  This post by TechSoup will walk you through the duplexing do-si-do whether you have a duplexing printer or not.  Duplexing just not possible?  Use the other side of the paper for scratch paper.  I like using junk mail envelopes for grocery lists, for example.  I just keep all the coupons for that week in the envelope.
3. Make paper reduction automatic. Set up automatic bill pay through your bank or the companies that send you bills.  Everyone saves postage and paper, and everyone is happy.
4. Give wrapping the axe. Wrapping paper is a huge use of paper products.  Consider using more creative wrapping that is reusable, like wrapping a kitchen gift in towels or use reusable gift boxes.  Need some ideas?  I kept track of gifts & how I wrapped them for the holiday season in 2008 and 2007.
5. Use & Reuse. Whenever possible, use reusable plates, cups, and napkins, and rags for cleaning.  By avoiding single-use paper products you can save yourself a lot of money as well as a lot of paper.

Waukesha County’s sustainability program has a lot of great information about reducing paper use at work.

So why not give it a try?  This week, try to reduce your paper use.  What ideas worked for you?  What other ideas do you have?  I’d love to hear about them!

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Head of the Class

The school year is about to begin.  I always loved back to school shopping (if you have seen the commercial with the girl enthused about having a binder for every day of the week you have a pretty good image of me as a child).  However, now as a certified reducer, reuser, recycler, rotter, and rebuyer (the three r’s are so passe – we’re up to 5 r’s now) I came up with 5 tips to reduce purchases made at the beginning of the school year.

Crazy Crayons will take old crayons and recycle them into new ones like the one pictured above. This company is also located in Wisconsin! Click on the crayon to visit their website.

1. Assess. What will still work from last year?  Some items may have survived the year before and can be used again.  When I was growing up my mom would always wash our backpacks at the end of the school year and repack them with items that were still in usable condition.  If you have items that are not going to make it another year, look into recycling options.  Crayons, glue bottles, and fabric can all be recycled.
2. The Paper Problem. Depending on your student, it may make sense to purchase a binder with tabs  for each class and fill with loose leaf paper rather than individual notebooks or a multi-subject notebook.  This way there is not those left over sheets in the binder at the end of the year.  If your child’s teacher does not already save paper that has been only used on one side, consider saving it at home for scratch paper or first draft paper.
3. Quality Over Quantity. Make sure when you do purchase items that they will last the entire year or beyond.  Consider purchasing a plain colored backpack and decorate it with patches that can be modified as your child’s tastes change rather than a lesser quality backpack that will not be ‘en vogue’ even if it manages to survive to next year.
   

   This is just one type of lunch container that your child could use. Check out Laptop Lunch's website for more information on reducing waste as well as a wide variety of yummy lunch recipes.

4. Munch Much? One of the easiest ways to reduce trash throughout the year is to get your child a lunch box and reusable containers.  This allows you to buy in bulk and avoid one use items like the single servings of applesauce and plastic baggies.  Using a lunch box, reusable containers, and a thermos will save 67 lbs of waste from entering the landfill this school year.  Also, your child’s school is paying for that garbage to be thrown away.  Think of how much money could be saved if most kids in the school reduced lunch waste to this degree!  If you compost at home, also have your child bring home food scraps to add to the pile or bin.  I recently posted a link to a post about vermi-composting which is not only a great way to reduce waste, but it is also educational!
   

   This bag from Terracycle is made from an old pretzel bag. Click on the picture to visit their website.

5. Rebuy. When you do need to purchase an item, make sure there is recycled content when possible.  Tissues, writing paper, rulers, pencil bags: all this and much more can be purchased with recycled content.  Post-consumer content is best because that means it was purchased from a Materials Recycling Facility and your purchase is helping rebuild these commodity markets.

What do you plan to do to reduce waste this year?

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Vermicomposting How To

A bin all ready to go!

Have you ever wondered what worms have to do with recycling?  Vermicomposting or composting with a bin is helping nature recycle food and yard waste into valuable soil additives.  Glue Gun Annie has a fabulous tutorial on how to make your very own vermicompost bin.  These bins (Annie reuses a Styrofoam cooler) take one pound of red wrigglers which can easily eat 3 to 4 lbs. of food waste every week.  These little buggers then supply you with castings, which make a great soil additive.  If you are unsure about making the leap into full scale composting in a bin out back, this is a great and easy way to give it a try.

A few quick tips…

• Worms like cool temperatures.  The best place for your bin may be in the basement, mud room, or other comfortable place.
• Worms don’t like to be bothered, so don’t put their home too near a washer, a dryer, or a rock concert.
• If your worms are trying to escape (i.e. they are all at the top of the bin every time you open it) there is something not quite right about their abode.  Any problem can be attributed to food, air, or water.
  • Too much food.  This can also cause odor problems.  Make sure you are not overfeeding your worms.
  • Too little air.  Fluff the bedding to make sure it is not too compacted and that there are enough air holes drilled in your container.
  • Too much or too little water.  Bedding should be as damp as a wrung out sponge.  Adjust water levels accordingly.  Also, instead of pouring water from a pitcher (how much would you like that if someone did it to you?)  try using a spray bottle set to mist to keep the wrigglers happy.

So why not give the 4th R (Rot) a try?  Have you ever tried vermicomposting?  How did it work for you?

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Tying It All Together

Last week we had a great group of local teachers take a course through the Sally Ride Academy.  It was called Resources In and Outside the Classroom: Differentiating instruction in the environmental education classroom.  Long title, interesting topic.  Needless to say, the week flew by.  Here are a few of the highlights.

Monday:

We introduced natural resources and the importance of covering this topic with students.  If we don’t know where things are coming from and what ecosystems we are damaging by our use of items there is less motivation to reduce and reuse.  Many adults don’t know that bauxite is the ore used to make aluminum and that it is devastating to the Brazilian and Jamaican rainforests.  Also coltan, which mostly comes from the Congo, is endangering the mountain gorillas.  If you don’t care about the gorillas, its also important to note that coltan is usually mined by hand by children under duress.  One teacher said at the end of the day, “Before today I didn’t know where I could fit natural resources into my curriculum, now I don’t know where it wouldn’t fit!”  For a look at global CO2 production, visit breathing earth, which also has a wonderful carbon footprint quiz.

Tuesday:

Field trips to the Waukesha County Materials Recycling Facility and Retzer Nature Center.  Once the importance of natural resources was covered, we looked at recycling as a way to save natural resources, energy, and money.  Many of the teachers had never been to the MRF and it was an eye-opening trip!  If you have a group in Waukesha County that would like to take a free tour of our facility, visit our website to learn more!  Once we saw the impacts of recycling we talked about the amount of food and other biodegradable items that we waste.  Natures way of recycling these items can be sped up through composting.  After visiting the compost demonstration area at Retzer Nature Center everyone realized how easy it is to compost and several teachers are interested in starting their own bins either at home or at school.

Wednesday:

Compost is so important because it is a great way to bolster the overall health of another huge natural resource: the soil.  Everything that is alive on the planet depends on soil.  We had a lot of fun activities to look at soil, including core samples and basic soil testing experiments.  A wide variety of information on soils can be found at the NRCS website or on Waukesha County’s GIS mapping system.  There are several hundred soils just in Waukesha County, each with their benefits and problems.

Thursday:

One of the biggest threats to good soil is erosion.  We have a model that shows erosion as well as point and non-point source pollution that can be checked out for use by Waukesha County teachers once they have been trained on its use.  This activity was a lot of fun and we also showed how compost is the up and coming way to slow erosion and water pollution.  Erosion is bad not only because it quickly washes away good soil that took a very long time to form, but it also pollutes water ways.  This transitioned us onto topics of water pollution and using a groundwater model.

Although it may seem like natural resources, compost, recycling, erosion, soil, and water have very little in common, they all link together to assist us in having a healthy environment.  If you have any questions about presentations, participating in a future workshop, or any other questions related to educational resources for local teachers, please e-mail me!

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UPDATE: Recycling Event for Plastic Flower Pots

Clean up for fall and do a good thing for the environment by bringing your pots to Boerner Botanical Gardens for recycling.

When: September 24-26, 2009; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Place: SE corner of Boerner Botanical Gardens parking lot,

9400 Boerner Drive, Hales Corners, WI 53130

What’s recyclable?
Any color and size of pots with recycling number (the number in a triangle on the bottom of the pot) #2, #5 and #6 pots, polystyrene cell packs and trays, hanging baskets, plastic landscape edging, greenhouse poly film, irrigation drip tape, and plastic fertilizer and mulch bags (empty, of course).  These plastics will be ground, pelletized and used by U.S. manufacturers to create plastic lumber.

What do I do now?

• Knock out all dirt and debris before bringing plastics to Boerner.

• Remove metal hangers, staples and other foreign objects. (Paper & plastic labels are ok.)

• Sort and stack by pot size and recycling number.

• Separate pots with no recycling number and sort by size.

What do I need to do at Boerner?
Please remove your plastics from your vehicle, sort and stack them in the appropriate areas.

What is the cost?
Recycling is free for homeowners, although donations to cover costs are welcome.

For businesses, the cost is $30 for one truckload (any size truck); $60 for unlimited loads.  This charge helps us defray costs for shipping and materials. For businesses and municipalities who bring pots sorted by recycling number, stacked 8 feet high on pallets and shrink wrapped, the fees will be waived.

What if this post doesn’t answer all of my questions?
For more information contact Shirley Dommer Walczak, Gardens Director, 414-525-5603 or Patti Peltier, UW-Extension Horticulture Center at Boerner Botanical Gardens, 414-525-5638.

Volunteers are needed and appreciated! Please help.

Recycling Plastic Flower Pots

If you are unlike me and can keep a plant alive long enough to get it home from a nursery and then transplant it, you may acquire plastic pots or seedling trays.  I often get calls from residents wanting to know how to best dispose of plastic flower pots and trays.

Reduce. Consider purchasing plants from seedlings or seeds if this is possible.

If you start your plants from seedlings, consider reusing a couple of plastic cake boxes to make mini greenhouses.

If you make your own seedlings, cut up toilet paper tubes, newspaper, or paper towel tubes.  This way you can plant the entire seedling with growing container and all!

Reuse. There are a lot of great ideas on the internet.  Some include:

From ehow

• Wipe out fire ants in your yard or on the patio. Place a flowerpot upside down over the anthill where these stinging attackers reside. Pour a kettle full of boiling water through the drain hole.
• Keep your yarn tangle-free while you’re knitting or crocheting. Place the ball of yard under an upturned flowerpot and thread the end through the drain hole. Set it next to your favorite craft spot and purl away.
• Help shallow-rooting plants establish themselves in a new, large container. Rather than fill the container top to bottom with potting soil, set a medium-sized flower pot upside down in the bottom of the container. Add the potting soil, and then repot the new plant.

Hyperdoggie at faq.gardenweb.com showcases an art project with plastic pots. Click the picture to get directions.

Also, check with the nursery you originally purchased your plants or seedlings from.  They may be interested in taking them back so that they don’t have to buy new ones every year.  This option works best with nursery’s that grow their own plants and seedlings from seeds.  Consider purchasing plants only from a nursery that offers this take-back program.

Recycle. Recycling these rigid plastics is currently very difficult, as the commodities markets are suffering from the poor economy.  While Whole Foods has a stable market and collects plastic #5’s, this program does not address other numbered pots.  Occasionally there will be special collections for these pots at Boerner Botanical Gardens, however there is not one scheduled for this year.

As recycling markets are supported by people purchasing items made from post-consumer recycled content, demand for the collection of these products also rises.  Whenever possible, be sure to practice the 5th R and ‘Rebuy’.

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Make a list & check it twice…

Knowing what products to buy is a sometimes confusing venture.  Once you have reduced and reused all you can and the final decision has been made to purchase a product, people are often still left in a quandary about which are the best products to buy.  Over the next few posts, I will be looking at different aspects of purchasing products.

Today, I am particularly interested in websites that can assist people in researching products they may be interested in purchasing.  There are really two types of websites that can assist with  this venture.  The first type of website looks to review an entire company in regards to their quality, environmental responsibility, or other factors.  The second type of website focuses on specific products that are reviewed.

Good Guide is a website that reviews specific products as well as companies for social justice, environmental impact, and health.  Most products that are reviewed are food products, other other personal care products are also reviewed.  There is also a blog on the site.  This site is a for profit company, although they are a certified B Corporation.

Skin Deep is a website that focuses on personal care products.  Products are reviewed based on the toxicity of ingredients.  There is a search option by category of product, company, or ingredient.

Other lists are very specific.  One example I located is from the NRDC (Natural Resource Defense Council).   It looks specifically at toilet paper, napkins, and other paper products.   The NRDC also has a wide variety of fact sheets on a wide range of issues.  The Environmental Defense Fund has a list of which fish are best to eat.  The nice thing about this list is that it has a mobile phone app and a pocket version available for download so memorization is not necessary.  The Environmental Working Group (EWG), who have broad databases of products like Skin Deep, also provide a short list of the fruits and vegetables that have the most pesticides used on them.  The “Dirty Dozen” are the fruits and vegetables that should be purchased organically to avoid pesticides while the “Clean 15″ have less pesticides used in their production.  There is also a mobile phone app.

Also, if you are buying a product that you would like to have for a while, like a grill, sofa, vacuum, or television, be sure to check out the wide range of product review sites like Consumer Reports, Amazon, the Better Business Bureau, or other such site.  A product is only sustainable if it stands the test of time.

Hopefully this list gives you a wide range in options when it comes to picking a product that meets your needs.  Do you have a favorite site I missed?  I would love to hear about it!  How do you make purchasing decisions?

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How do I dispose of railroad ties?

Many companies sell railroad ties to landscapers. Consider the wide variety of uses of railroad ties prior to landfilling them. Image from Diamond K Supply.

I received a phone call this week about railroad tie disposal, and with the nice weather encouraging people to get out in their yards and do some cleanup or landscaping, I can’t say I am surprised.  According to Waste Age, 13 million ties are in need of disposal every year in America.  Over 90% of railroad ties are made of wood and usually treated with preservatives.  The most common preservatives are arsenic or creosote, which looks like a black goo.

Due to the wood preservatives, it is not advisable to burn railroad ties yourself.  There are, however, other disposal options.

Reuse.  Railroad ties can be used in landscaping when they are kept whole. 

Steps are just one landscaping option. Image from Mindful Landscapes.

Check out this article by Jack Stone from ProGarden for a wide variety of other landscaping uses.

 

Railroad ties can also be used to make furniture. Image from Keetsa.

If you don’t need any ties for this purpose, consider asking neighbors or posting a listing online.  

It is important to note that because of the chemicals used on railroad ties they should not be chipped or burned.  Also, they are not best used on soil that comes into direct contact with vegetables you intend to eat.  Use untreated wood beams to surround your vegetable garden.

Disposal.  If left whole, railroad ties can be treated as garbage and can be thrown away in a sanitary landfill.  Check with your municipality to see if they can be picked up on a large pick-up day or if you need to transport them to the landfill yourself.  

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