Garbage

Boy. We are trying to be green but the garbage bags keep piling up. It's the baby. We are trying to use reusable cloth diapers, but let's face it. They don't work all that well. Half the time they leak, and when you are already working on less than 2 hours of sleep at a time for 7 weeks, the last thing you want is to wake up a couple more times because the baby soaked through his diaper and is screaming. So, that means we are only using the cloth diapers about 30 percent of the time, or about 4 a day, on average. That means we're generating a lot of garbage thanks to disposable diapers.
I'd estimate that our total garbage production has doubled since we came home from the hospital. Who would guess something so small could pee and poop so much!

On a more positive note, we love the composter. It's been a seamless transition. We leave a large bowl on the counter and throw our greens, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc. into the bowl. at the end of the day we put it in the composter. It's been about 2 weeks. Still no compost yet, but it does take time. I did add a compost starter to the mix. I know something is working, because the volume of materials I added to the container has already gone down, a sign that the compost cycle is working.

e-statements, plastic bags and the environment

I ran across an interesting factoid today:

"If the average American household (which receives 19 paper bills and statements, and mails seven payments a month) went paperless, it would save 6.6 pounds of paper, 63 gallons of water and 4.5 gallons of gasoline each year, as well as prevent the release of 170 pounds of harmful greenhouse gases, according to the Pay It Green Alliance, a coalition of financial services companies aimed at reducing paper use."

Reducing junk mail, switching to e-billing have been on my to do list for a while, but I just haven't gotten around to it. This is a motivator. Every little step helps!

Suburban yard farms? I knew I wasn't the only one!

I ran across this article/video in the Wall Street Journal about folks tearing up their lawns to plant veggies. Sigh. I wish I could get away with that here!

Yard veggies

Finally got out in the yard today

Spring has sprung in central Ohio. Actually, it sprung 2 weeks ago, so of course all of the neighbors' yards were immaculate on the first warm day and like a bad seed, I had long grass and tons of leaves littering my front lawn. My neighbors are nice and won't admit to me that yes, we are the bad seeds in the hood when it comes to lawn care. We're simply too lacsidasical with our raking and mowing!

I admit it's true. But, despite lack of sleep and crying babes, I managed to mow the front and back yards today, dig out a dead rose bush, and put 6 bags of leaves and branches out on the curb (They are made into compost by the city...). Phew. Not too bad, even if I am a little late!

New Year's Resolution no. 2: Start composting

Finally! I ordered the compost bin and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. It will allow me to get a start, albeit a late one, on my New Year's Resolution no. 2, which is to start composting all of our kitchen waste. We chose the Envirocycle composter, which sells for about $139. It's a decent size, holding 7 cubic feet of compost. It also stores compost tea on the bottom, which is a high-quality fertilizer for veggies and houseplants.

I can't wait to get composting!

Recycle your kitchen? Why not?

I ran across this interesting article in the NY Times. Apparently you can buy a recycled kitchen. when the uber rich move in to a new house they often tear out perfectly good top of the line kitchens just so they can replace it with something more to their liking. Now, a company is selling the old kitchen fixtures and donating the money to charity. A stroke of brilliance!

Recycled kitchens