What's your latest green project?

**SerenaNY** · 03-07-2010, 02:44 AM

Around our house, we've become obsessed with all things dirty apparently. The husband and I are looking into composting (he's got the green thumb--I just kill everything). We're trying to read up on the subject so that we can get our garden really growing this year and the next year and the next. Tips appreciated!

Also, dirt-eliminating. I'm a bit of a germaphobe, so whenever I take my boys to the park to play basketball, I always have a hand sanitizer packed away in my purse. It’s a good idea even if basketball isn’t in the picture. But I'm really picky about the sanitizer because I don't want an alcohol-based one (so rough on the skin and dry, too!). Since promoting LifeLogic, I discovered the Remi-D variety. It’s a spray and doesn’t get all gunky, which the boys appreciate. Now if only I could sanitize the whole playground!

What about you all? What are you doing to green up your household?

~ Serena

**TheRootedNomad** · 03-07-2010, 07:13 AM

I've been saving the food cans to recycle. We've done the soda can get money for them cans forever, but I started rinsing out the other ones too. Even if we can't recycle them for cash, and maybe we can I don't have a clue about that, Hubby can bring them to the scrapyard to be recycled when he makes a run.

We are SLOWLY reducing our garbage output as well. The goal is to sneak it in one step at a time so nobody has a cow over it.

**stinkbug** · 03-07-2010, 11:31 AM

I laid just over 600 bricks for the greenhouse floor yesterday...does that count?

**Grainlady** · 03-08-2010, 07:53 AM

-Over the weekend we cleared away leaves and yard waste, trimmed plants and stuck it in the ComposTumbler. Now we have to wait for the grass to green-up so we can add some wet along with the dry, as well as adding kitchen scraps.

-Installed a solar light on the back door.

-Connected the rain barrels that we use to water the garden. I planted leaf lettuce and spinach and will need a source for watering them. With rain in the forecast for the next few days, the 50-gallon barrels will be full if we get 1/4-inch of rain. We'll eventually get all of them reconnected... We have 1,000-gallon capacity when we have all of our water barrels connected.

SerenaNY--

Compost... The fastest method to produce compost is a ComposTumbler. It takes 4-6 weeks in our small Tumbler, but we need to get some warm weather for it to work. It was emptied last fall and broadcast on the lawn and we're just not starting to put dry "stuff" in it. The large Tumbler will produce compost in 2-weeks.

https://www.compostumbler.com/StoreFront/home

After having a traditional compost pile, I was glad we invested in the Tumbler. Traditional compost piles are a buffet for rodents and other vermin. Nothing like finding a skunk snacking on food in the compost pile to get your attention....

We have a postage stamp size lawn and we apply about 1/2-inch of our compost out of the Tumbler on the lawn. Weeds hate compost, so we get the benefits of feeding the grass that loves compost, and deterring the growth of weeds, just by applying compost.

**ncarr** · 03-08-2010, 12:18 PM

I've been working on eliminating paper towel use. I use dish rags and dish towels in the kitchen and rags made out of old clothes for cleaning. I save the paper towels primarily for cleaning up dog puke.

**IntlMom** · 03-08-2010, 12:22 PM

We installed solar lighting to line our driveway this weekend.
But my "biggie" was getting hubby to sit down and watch the movie "Food, Inc"..... finally, I may have gotten to him to think about what he's eating.........

**shoiji** · 03-10-2010, 07:40 PM

Am finally using vinegar and water to clean the floors!!

**Natalie's Nesters** · 03-16-2010, 02:31 PM

I cleaned out the chicken coops, now I will let it compost, later this summer I'll have black gold!! I'm saving my newspapers to lay in the garden, I'll put old hay over it to stop weeds. I'm excited about spring, in case you didn't notice!

**savvy_sniper** · 03-16-2010, 04:37 PM

I was having problems with hubby putting recyclable paper/cardboard in the regular trash. We now have TWO trash cans in the bathroom - one for regular trash and one for empty toilet paper rolls, cardboard packaging from toothpaste, deodorant, etc. I have a trash can in my office for regular trash and a banana box for paper, cardboard, etc. We have a can in the laundry room for tin cans, plastic, and glass and a can for aluminum only.

We have been into recycling and composting for some time, but the extra cans is helping more recyclables to get in the correct place.

**tlenad** · 03-21-2010, 11:22 AM

I made a rain barrel yesterday to get started for the spring. I just moved into my house so planning out the garden and yard is getting to be the focus.

I will be starting a compost pile as soon as the weather straightens up (we had 3 inches of snow yesterday.) Giving my hand at organic gardening now that I have a place to do so.

Other than that, working on cutting down of the number of paper products I use and switching over to green cleaners which means I 'm always on the look out for recipes to clean with.

I've pretty much always recycled the soda cans my Dad take them in for money. Right now I'm trying to give up the soda beast but we'll see how that works.

I'm also looking at local farms to try and find a new place to get meat from for a couple of reason, the more I read and hear about our food processing plants and feed lots the more grossed out I get. And I believe in supporting local business rather than the big guys.

Thankfully my Dad and Uncle own beef cattle and know a guy who owns hogs that raise them on the land rather than a feed lot so I just need to find a place for chicken, eggs and milk and start going out and fishing with my Dad in the spring to get some fish. Hopefully between the garden and the farmers market in town I will be set for vegies by the end of this growing season.

**AmyJo** · 04-02-2010, 05:47 PM

Wow I love this thread! I am new to Frugal Village and am enjoying learning all the new things offered by everyone.
Late in 2008 we installed a geo-thermal furnance. Our heat bills average $50 a month and in Wisconsin that's as close to free as it gets. I hope to cut that down once our leaky log cabin gets insulated and sided

Being the owner of 2 horses I have this big pile of.....compost, yeah that's it, "compost", out back all the time and the older stuff will be dumped in the new garden this year. I too will be new to gardening. Never had the time til now.
I'll be looking for lots of info on gardening also.

**gottadance** · 04-25-2010, 01:21 AM

Going to pull out all of my cloth napkins and see what I have - I already use them at home and work, but I'm going to start using them to wrap sandwiches in, so no more aluminum foil or plastic baggies.

**leighcat** · 04-25-2010, 07:16 PM

I changed all the lightbulbs to ef bulbs in the "new" house. My bf changed all the outside ones for me. He fixed the leaky sink in the garage. I am going to fill some jugs with rocks to put in the toilets to make them low-flushing. We are trying to get the drips fixed in the bathroom faucets in the bath and my shower. Old plumbing is making that project difficult. I planted 2 bromeliads out front. I re-cycled the old rubber mulch that was there. I pulled it out of there and put it into a box, re-filled the holes with fresh soil and compost that I purchased for $1/bag and then planted the plants and put the rubber mulch back in the holes. They have little cement rock walls around them that were here when I bought the house. The front yard looks better already!
Tomorrow I am going to try to find some inexpensive flannel to make cloth napkins now that I have my beloved serger back. Store-bought cloth napkins are not soft enough and are very expensive!!

**leighcat** · 04-25-2010, 07:18 PM

Forgot to ask a question- for those of you with rainwater buckets, how did you make them and what is the cost? I want to get some set up here. My water company is very expensive. Also, does anyone here have a homemade solar shower set up? I want to try to make one.

**KeithBC** · 04-25-2010, 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by leighcat

Also, does anyone here have a homemade solar shower set up? I want to try to make one.

Friends of ours have a solar shower in their garden. It consists of about 100 feet of black plastic pipe on the south-facing roof of their barn. One end of the pipe connects to the water supply, the other end has a shower head. There is enough water in the pipe for a good long shower before it runs cold. On a sunny summer day, they have to mix it with a lot of cold water so as not to scald themselves.