Eco-Ranch in the Midwest

So much has changed!

2011-10-02T16:34:00.002-04:00

It was a heartbreaking decision, but hubby and I sold the eco-ranch. We took a significant loss : about $60,000 on all the improvements and upgrades we made. Sadly, it was an issue of school quality. We now have two toddlers: one 22 months, the other 3 and a half years, and we live in a terrible urban school district. That, and the house seemed gigantic when we bought it. But with the prospect of two giant teenage boys one day living there. Well, that wasn't going to work. So, we crunched some numbers and determined it was more economical to move to a new neighborhood with good schools. Of course, we picked another 1957 ranch house! A new eco-project, so to speak.

Our first order of business was to install a new high efficiency gas furnace and a new air conditioner. Project done. Then, we discovered we had a measley one inch!! of insulation in the attic. I was set to hire someone to add more (R 38 or R65? still up for debate) when someone told me I could get a $50 energy audit from our local gas company. Then, the company would give us rebates to have the insulation work done.

I got on the waiting list, and my number finally came up last week. I'm so happy we waited! We'll be getting rebates of about 60 cents per square foot of insulation, plus a discount on weather sealing. It's going to save us serious money. And, it will make our house probably even more energy efficient than the first eco-ranch.

So there are some exciting things on the horizon. I also have some interesting organic gardening projects underway, and I will update you on those soon.

It's been a hard year!

2010-10-03T18:44:00.004-04:00

Wow, that second baby really derailed the whole blog thing. I'm sure all of my former readers have fled to sunnier internet climes. But, I'm happy to write for just me.

Here's a run-down of what we did and didn't do this year:
First, the garden. We planted green and jalapeno peppers, slim red cayenne peppers and roma tomatoes. The peppers were a spectacular failure. We got mostly nothing, although we did manage to pick a small bucket of slim red cayennes, which makes hubby very happy. We dry them and eat them all winter long. Okay, HE eats them...

We had really weird weather this year, so I feel lucky we got anything. It was either super super hot and dry or weeks of monsoon-style rain. A garden disaster!

Except: We planted 18 roma tomato plants this year. It cost us $6 for all of them. We bought them through a school fund raiser. Those tomatoes turned into 50 pints and 33 quarts of salsa, pasta sauce, and stewed tomatoes now safely canned in the basement. It was amazing. I actually was out of jars and tired of canning, so I left some to rot on the vine. (after I snuck tomatoes to everyone I could think of...)

We also did get the ceiling fans in. The side effect: we realized there was zero insulation over one of the baby's bedrooms, and that we really should reinsulate the attic. So, I will be pricing that out in the next couple of weeks.

The kitchen doors have yet to be replaced. I did insulate the door between the kitchen and garage, and install a new, more energy friendly pet door.

We also converted our old 1957 electric cooktop to a new, gas cooktop. It's fabulous, and likely more energy efficient. Although, cook tops do not have energy star ratings.

Life got in the way

2009-10-15T00:21:00.003-04:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I have posted to Ecoranch. Sorry, I mean, if there is even anybody out there reading. The big news is we are having our second-and last baby. Another boy. I am due Nov. 22. That pregnancy, a little earlier than planned, set me back on a lot of the projects I was planning to do this year. Half the garden didn't get planted or turned, due to morning sickness and exhaustion, and many home improvement projects are still left undone. Sigh. And, I know how impossible it is to get anything done once a new baby comes, so we'll see if we make any progress ever again.

Just to update:

The Garden
We grew about 54 pounds of veggies in our garden this year, just over half of our goal of 100 pounds. Not too shabby, considering some beds didn't get dug due to pregnancy and work, our asparagus patch died a horrible death due to a deluge from a clogged gutter, and all of the raspberry plants were dead on arrival. There is always next year. Here is how it broke down:

.50 lbs of basil-- turned into 2 batches of pesto,
17.1 lbs zucchini-- all from 2 plants
3.4 lbs. beets
2.7 lbs hot wax and banana peppers (8 peppers)
3.8 lbs green peppers
21.32 lbs tomatoes-- roma, cherry and mortgage lifter heirloom
.62 lbs. potatoes
4.1 lbs butternut squash

Ceiling fans
We are in the process of converting the original 1950s light fixtures in the kitchen and in the two baby bedrooms into ceiling fans w/ lights. The original fixtures were recessed, basically just little metal domes housing a single light bulb. They put off very little light and were no help with climate control. The fans, although they will use more energy, will help keep those rooms more comfy in the summer and in spring and fall when it's not quite warm enough for AC, and will put more light into those very dim rooms. I say we are in process because the junction boxes are installed, but the fans we bought hung too low so had to be returned. I haven't quite found anything I love to replace them, but have to get something soon because I am staring at my attic insulation through the holes where the old fixture used to be!

Kitchen doors
After the fans are installed, I am dragging hubby to the store to buy two new interior kitchen doors, both solid core, to replace to damaged hollow core doors. One is between the kitchen and garage and is a source of much cold air poring into the kitchen in winter. Hopefully a solid wood door will be a bit more of a barrier. Also, I am looking for an efficient kitty door for this door, something that will leak less.

Our 2009 goals

We did meet some of our goals. We did install the three additional rain barrels, bringing our total to five. That free water does come in handy.

The low-flow toilet we installed in our main bath has really reduced our water use. I don't have an exact tally in front of me, but it has made a dent.

This summer, we did manage to reduce our electricity usage, mainly by turning off and draining the hot tub. Sigh. We don't want to give up all luxury though, so since it is fall, we have turned it back on. We'll see if there is a clever way to reduce the impact of the tub without getting rid of it all together.

On the laundry front, we still have our not energy star washer. I am trying to make it greener by running loads on the short cycle when it makes sense, using the lowest water setting possible for each load, and by washing in cold unless it's diapers or hubby's gym clothes.

The garden is in the works!

2009-03-22T21:29:00.002-04:00

I have an ambitious garden plan and April is fast approaching. We have a lot of work to do in order to transform my typical, 1950s in the city yet suburban style lot into the veggie and fruit growing powerhouse of my dreams. The seeds arrived in January and most of them have sprouted quite nicely in my sunny window. We started two varieties of green beans, butternut squash, luffa, four varieties of hot pepper, oregano, basil, cilantro, cosmos flowers, butterfly bush, lavender, and dill this year.

In May, my shipment of strawberries, asparagus, lingonberries, raspberry and blackberry bushes, and hot peppers should arrive. May is also the month I pick up my green peppers, roma tomatoes, zucchini, and flowers from my mom's school, which sells fantastic plants as an annual fundraiser. Their plants have never let me down.

April will be a month of hard labor. I started cleaning leaves and roots out of the garden beds this weekend, but we still need to rent a sod cutter and a tiller to dig three or four new garden beds. We will then have about 6 cubic yards (!) of compost and mulch delivered. Then begins the real work of spreading the soil additives and planting all of the flowers and veggies. It's work that will really pay off come August and September. I can almost taste the tomatoes now.

Replaced the not-quite-last water hog

2009-02-28T23:34:00.001-05:00

I finally got around to replacing the old old old water-hog toilet in our main bathroom. Frankly, given that it probably used 5 gallons a flush, I am ashamed it took me so long to do it. I guess it dropped down on the priority list behind work, babies, life and just about everything else.

But, it's finally done. I replaced it with a Kohler Cimarron, 1.6 gallon. I had to tell you the model number because the names companies come up with for toilets cracks me up. Just take a walk down the toilet isle at your local hardware store and see if the names don't make you smile.

I installed a Wellworth in my other bathroom. : )

Now I have one more big water hog to knock off my eco-friendlier makeover list: the washing machine. I just discovered that our washer is not Energy Star. Ugh. It's a kilowatt pig and probably uses a lot more water than necessary. I tried to talk hubby into shopping for Energy Star front-loading machines, but he made it clear that buying a new washer is not on the list of priorities. Ugh. I feel kilowatt guilt now every time I wash the jammies.

I can attribute this oversight to the appliance deluge that accompanies every house purchase. When we bought our house, we had to buy a washer, dryer, and fridge all at once. We wiped out our savings putting down a down payment, and were still paying the note on our house in New Orleans. Spending extra for an energy star model wasn't in the cards. Now we are paying for it, literally.

Smart power strips

2009-02-16T11:17:00.002-05:00

In hopes of meeting my goal to reduce our household electricity use, I just bought a Smart Strip LCG3 power strip. At $40, this is not cheap. But, it seems like it's worth trying. It is supposed to actually turn off your computer and electronics if they are idle for more than 1 hour.

After some careful thought, I decided to start with only one of these. My hubby has a computer, monitor, playstation, big screen TV, and speaker set-up in the basement that I suspect is a huge electricity vampire. Even when they are "off" these items are never really off, they are on standby. So, I plan to install one of these smart strips in this area. If it works well, I may buy one for the stereo system upstairs and possibly a smaller version that I can plug all of the small kitchen appliances into.

I know that reducing electricity usage to a manageable level is going to be very difficult now that our furnace is an electric heat pump (even though it's geothermal). This is what I hope will be one step in the right direction.

the furnace, the killowatt eating monster

2009-01-17T23:15:00.001-05:00

Well, it turns out our furnace is using much more electricity than it should be. We apparently had some sort of malfunction that we only caught because the temp here went below zero this week, and despite the furnace running constantly, the house never made it above 56 degrees. Frustrating to say the least.

It turns out the thermostat was not telling the furnace to turn on the auxilliary heat when the geothermal couldn't keep up, even though the thermostat sad the auxilliary heat is running. So, after about two hours of work, we finally got the furnace and the thermostat to talk to each other today. One problem solved.

I think this will help with the furnace's electric usage, because even though it's still near zero out, the house is warm AND the furnace actually has cycled off a few times. Before, it was running constantly and the house was still freezing. I hope this cuts its electric use significantly, but I am trying not to hold my breath.

Guess I got more than I bargained for for that service call.

Reducing home energy use 101

2009-01-17T12:21:00.000-05:00

Earlier, I outlined my plan to reduce our home electricity use by 10 to 20 percent by the end of the year. In a house already filled with compact fluorescent bulbs, this will be no easy task.

My most recent electricity bill arrived in the mail this week, so I now have my benchmark kilowatt numbers. It's enough to make me queasy.

We used a total of 19405 KwH in the past 12 months. The average U.S. family uses 10,656 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, or about 888 kwh per month. We were well below average before we installed our new furnace.

Our highest usage months were March, at 4,801 KwH (I think this is because our previous two bills were estimated, and didn't take into account our new furnace), December 2008 at 2,289 KwH, and August, at 1,520.

Our electricity usage has skyrocketed in the past year. I know what the culprit is.

In September 2007, we replaced our 1957 gas furnace with an electric heat pump. Electricity is not my first choice for home heating and cooling. But, we really wanted a geothermal system, which is supposed to be as earth-friendly as you can get. every month where we really needed heat or air conditioning sends our Kilowatt hours through the roof. Even our lowest use month is still twice what it was before we installed the new furnace.

Except for the huge amount of electricity it uses, the furnace has been great. I assume it's also more efficient than our old furnace, which at 50 plus years old was not the model of Energy Star efficiency. Although, I am not skeptical of geothermal's claim to reduce CO2 emissions and instantly turn your home into an Energy Star house. That electricity has to come from somewhere, and where we live, 78 percent of it comes from coal fired plants. But, we'll just have to deal with it and try to reduce our use in other ways. We aren't replacing it again.

In the interest of full disclosure I must admit we have another electricity loving vice: a hot tub. Not the model of efficient use of natural resources, I know. But we are clumsy and tend to get injured a lot playing sports, so we consider it therapeutic. We run the tub from September to July.

So, numbers in hand, our goal is to reduce our usage by 1,940 to 3,881 kilowatt hours a year. Our monthly average use is 1,617 kilowatt hours. Our monthly goal is to reduce usage by 161 to 323 kilowatt hours a month.

These are big numbers. As I said in my earlier post, we are planning to tackle this with a combination of upgrades large and small.

This month, We have already managed to implement part of our plan to reduce our kilowatt addiction.

* We installed the final three Energy Star windows in our house. We began this project last year, but because we are old fashioned, we only do what we can pay for out of pocket. We couldn't afford to do all of the windows at once, so we put off the last three (which we deemed to have less impact on our home's leakiness). Now, all of the windows are finished. The company also came out today to repair some window locks on the first set, so all of the windows should now be securely closed against the freezing outside air. This was our most expensive project, at $1,633.
* We have ordered the new doors for the kitchen. This doesn't sound like an energy issue, but it is. The door between our frozen garage and the kitchen is hollow and lets all that cold air right into the house. This is the second-most expensive project on our list, at $600. It is a close tie with another project slated for the laundry room.
* We have one final task: to find an energy efficient cat door. Put gingerly, the new thick door will cut off access to the "kitty loo", so we need to put a door in it. Hopefully we can find one that doesn't leak. Is there such a thing as an Energy Star cat door? I'm about to find out.

Considering we are midway through out first month, I think we are making a decent bit of progress. It's going to become more of a challenge once the big projects are out of the way, as it will be harder to find places that we can cut.

On the agenda for this year, to help with this goal,

* We hope to purchase a front-loading Energy Star washer.These are a good bet all around, and should be much more efficient than the top-loading model we bought when we moved into this house. I will do some research on brands and post my findings here.
* Invest in some LED lights, to replace some of the much-used CFLs we have around the house.

Who knows what we will need to do. It seems like every project we do leads to another project we hadn't even thought of before. It seems our house is an onion.

Food gardens that pay dividends

2009-01-13T12:38:00.001-05:00

I wrote this post originally for "Middle Path Finance" but thought you might enjoy it as well.

Last August, I drew out a plan of what I wanted the gardens on our half-acre lot, surrounding our 1957 ranch house, to be like. I live in the city, on a typical used-to-be-suburbs but now I'm in the city limits lot. I grew up in the country, in wide open spaces with plenty of sunny room for a garden. Not so here, but despite its limitations, I am determined to convert as much of our land to agriculture as possible.

I was discussing this last night with a friend who has never had a yard. He grew up in a condo, with no grass, and said he didn't understand why he felt compelled to grow things. He dreamed often of farming. It makes perfect sense to me. For thousands of years, people grew food. It's only the last two generations or so who have been so far removed from where dinner comes from. You can't breed such an important trait out of a species in only two generations.

So yes, our plan is ambitious. I dug about half of the new beds in September. With a shovel. Every night when hubby would come home, I would hand him the baby and head outside to dig beds. Our first two summers in this house we had only one row of tomatoes on the right side of the house, and a small bed that holds Peonies and sage that is hemmed in by a concrete sidewalk. Considering how many beds I have left to dig, I have made the executive decision to rent a sod cutter in April to clear the rest.

The real question now has become: How do I make the most of the garden? I can only make the beds so big, because I have to consider the neighbors. It has to be pretty and feed us. Our backyard is pure shade, thanks to two beautiful silver maple trees that keep spitting out saplings faster than I can dig them up and post them on freecycle. (Three silver maples have gone to new homes thanks to the local freecyclers.) The backyard garden is out, unless something unfortunate happens to my trees.

Now, with seed catalogs in hand, I must decide what to plant. Our system may help you make the most use out of your limited growing space as well.

My first stop is Bankrate.com. They have a handy article about home gardening and a list of what fruits and veggies cost the most at the grocery store.

This list is quite handy if your primary goal is to lower your grocery bill.Here are the spendy veggies and fruits.

• Mushrooms. • Blackberries.
• Collard greens. • Raspberries.
• Cherry tomatoes. • Cherries.
• Green peas. • Blueberries.
• Okra. • Apricots.
• Turnip greens. • Strawberries.
• Asparagus. • Pineapple.
• Mustard greens. • Grapes.
• Kale. • Plums.
• Cauliflower. • Avocados.

Of course, there is no sense growing foods your family doesn't love, no matter how much they cost in the store. But the list is a handy guideline. Several of the things we'd like to plant this year are on the list, which simply reinforces our decisions.

How do you grow a garden that will pay you dividends?

* Plant the foods that will save you the most money, or will provide you with a food that you like but normally don't purchase because it is too expensive. Growing foods that can be preserved for winter use, such as hot peppers, potatoes and tomatoes, can help you stretch your grocery budget well past the summer season. Plant foods that can be frozen or canned, and don't waste anything that your garden produces. By mid-September, it can be tempting to let those last green Roma tomatoes rot on the vine. That is not the way to make your garden pay off.

If you, like me, are just starting your food garden, remember that some foods take a long time to pay off. For instance, fruit. Raspberries and blackberries can be faithful fruits for small backyards, but generally take at least a year to bear fruit. If you plant a fruit tree, it can take three years or more for you to collect your first juicy dividend.

Asparagus is another patience-tester. Asparagus can take two to three years to produce a decent crop, but once established, that bed will produce for another 20 years. Strawberries take two years to produce a good crop.Fill in the wait by planting a variety of annuals that will provide a good harvest this summer, like peppers and tomatoes.

It is important to remember

* The garden is a work in progress. You probably won't be able to accomplish everything in the first year, nor will you necessarily be happy with the choices you make in the first year. Through the seasons, you will learn what grows best on different parts of your property. For instance, we grow tomatoes on the right side of the house. When we tried green peppers in that spot, they didn't do well. It's almost as if they got too much sun. When we moved them to the less sunny left side of the house, the peppers did very well. The beauty of the home garden is that every spring is a chance to start fresh.
* You must mix instant gratification with long-term production. Annuals can be great if you like replanting your entire garden every year (and paying for plants every year). Me? Not so much. So I am mixing annuals with perennials and longer-term plants like fruit trees, because in 5 years I hope to have a varied harvest, and a garden where something new ripens every couple of weeks.
* Don't spend a fortune on your garden if you plan to move, or if your main goal is to save money. Don't skimp on bargain seeds. Buy good ones, yes. But don't go crazy and spend $500 or more on tools and gizmos. That can get out of hand quickly, and eat up your profits.
* And when you are picking what to plant, don't discount something just because it's very cheap at the store. Cheaper foods like potatoes can be worth growing. Chances are anything you grow at home will taste a lot better and be more nutritious than what you can buy at a grocery store. And, you can choose to grow pesticide-free as well, an added health bonus.It all depends on why you want a garden and what you hope to accomplish.
* Be creative in your use of space. The aforementioned potatoes can be grown in a space saving trash can, if you don't have room for a long row of them.
* If you are going to do this well, you have to visit the National Center for Home Food Preservation web site. If you grow anything that you hope to eat after summer is over, it helps to know how best to preserve it. Freezing isn't always as simple as just tossing stuff in a Ziploc and putting it into the freezer.
* Make room for animals and insects in your habitat. It's always good to plant something for the honey bees, the butterflies, and other denizens of your habitat. The goal should be to tread lightly. You may also want to refrain from using pesticides. You might be surprised at how well your garden does without chemical assistance.

Now that I have said all of that, I'll tell you what I am going to plant on my modest lot, in the flower beds I have reclaimed from lawn.

Asparagus

* Mary Washington asparagus. An heirloom variety, to establish a bed.
* a hot pepper garden, so that we can dry them and use them to flavor our food all year long. We have chosen to grow Kung Pao hybrid, long red slim cayenne, false alarm hybrids and hot lemon heirloom peppers. We'll also plant one or two green pepper plants.
* five each of heritage everbearing red raspberries and royalty standard purple raspberries.
* red pontiac potatoes. We will be 'forcing' these in a trash can, like my grandpa used to do. By stressing the plant you can get great yields without wasting precious space.
* six Roma tomato and six cherry tomato plants. I don't know what variety, as we buy these from my former grade school every year during their plant sale fundraiser. They have always been good producers.
* the herb garden will consist of cilantro,pesto perpetuo basil,and Greek oregano.
* a patch of Ozark beauty everbearing strawberries.
* bloomsdale spinach and nantes carrots, for my raised bed and fall coldframe. I use these to extend the growing season. This will be my first year trying to extend the fall harvest into winter with the coldframe.
* green beans of a yet undetermined variety, at the request of hubby, who could live on these alone.
* the obligatory zucchini plant, also from the school fundraiser. I may get ambitious and plant two, even though I know I'll be up to my neck in zucchini. I have two new recipes for zucchini, and it always makes a great extender for sauces and such, so maybe I can keep up.Echinacea
* A butterfly garden, including five varieties of echinacea, two types of bee balm, and some butterfly weed. I will frame this flowerbed with butterfly-friendly annuals, and maybe with lingonberries, which are delicious on Swedish pancakes, unusual, and look like an ornamental plant.
* Luffa. Yes, the luffa sponge is a squash, not something that is plucked from the ocean. This will be a fun experiment. They grow as a vine, so with staking shouldn't take up too much space in the garden.
* English lavender, for its aromatherapy qualities.

Of course, the seeds aren't ordered yet so this could change. It is overly ambitious, I know, and I haven't even included the two sweet dwarf cherry trees I'd like to plant. But through clever use of space, we hope to grow all of these things in abundance in our small garden, in plain view of the neighbors, without raising their ire.

No discussion of an economical garden would be complete without suggesting ways to save money in the garden.

* We use rain barrels to collect water for our plants. It saves money and the collected water is better for the plants because it doesn't contain the chemicals in treated water.
* We compost. You don't need an expensive set up, but you do need patience. It can take a year or two to turn waste into rich compost, but when it is ready, your garden will pay you back with lots of love, disease resistance, and delicious fruits.
* Save seeds, or at least let a few veggies and fruits fall into the dirt. This netted us some lovely volunteer cherry tomato plants that sprung up and gave us tomatoes just like the plants we bought every year.
* Skip the pesticides and fertilizer. We have never once used either in our garden. Instead, we try to take good care of our dirt via mulch and compost, and we don't get too upset if a slug eats a tomato or two. There is enough for everyone.
* Don't waste a single veggie or fruit. Last year, I had two marathon sessions turning Roma tomatoes and green peppers into pasta sauce. I froze about a dozen bags of it, which will feed my family all winter. You will have to have some marathons too, whether you are in the mood or not, to get the most pay off from your money-saving garden.

Green wishes do come true

2008-12-26T12:26:00.003-05:00

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that one of my goals was to build a coldframe.
Well, my farmer, Brian -- from the family that grows the food for the food co-op I belong to "Paige's produce"-- called a few days later to say he read the post and that he had a cold frame that was too small for the farm to use. I could have it if I wanted it. Someone had given it to him, and he would be happy to give it to me.

Sigh. Sometimes wishes do come true. I am so thankful for this opportunity.

Inspired by this new-found coldframe, I picked up the book "Four Season Harvest", by Eliot Coleman. It is fantastic. While I am not foolish enough to think I can grow enough food to feed my family even in winter, it did give me some ideas on how to make the most of the coldframe for seed starting and for growing cold-hardy veggies like spinach and carrots later into the season.

Energy project No. 1: Garage door insulation

2008-12-11T12:19:00.000-05:00

All right. I am gearing up for my first energy-efficiency project for the new year. As I mentioned, we want to reduce our annual electricity consumption by 20 percent next year.

Now that the weather is cold, it's become clearer where our heating and cooling Achilles' heels are, and right now, it's the kitchen. Our kitchen is freezing, and it's obvious that the garage is the culprit. Our kitchen is separated from our very cold garage by one measly hollow-core door.

So, first we are going to insulate our garage door. Lowe's sells a kit by Owens Corning that will cost us about $65. The walls of our garage are actually pretty thick, so the garage door itself is likely the biggest culprit for heat transfer.

Second, we are going to replace the hollow-core door leading to the kitchen with a solid one. Cost? Not sure yet. We just started shopping.

I hope to have supplies in hand right after Christmas, and have these projects finished by early in the new year. Have to get those resolutions off to a good start, don't I?

2009 eco-goals

2008-11-19T10:37:00.010-05:00

Hubby and I discussed it and if we are serious about getting solar and getting the most for our money, we need to seriously make the ranch much more energy efficient.

Electricity:
When we get our next bill, I will post our annual KWH usage. I know it's high. Our new geothermal furnace, while efficient, uses electricity. And, until last month, we hosted a back-up data system with multiple servers in our basement.

The goal is to reduce our electricity use by 10 percent by June and 20 percent overall by December. The long-term goal is to cut use by 30 percent.

We will go room by room making efficiency improvements. We may switch from compact fluorescent to LED lights where practical. This may mean a new refrigerator and a new washing machine. We'll see.

We will ask the solar installer to come out, do an energy audit, and assess our lot for solar appropriateness. I will call in January. I wouldn't want to get my hopes up only to be told solar wouldn't work for us. Plus, this may yield some handy tips on efficiency.

Insulation:
Our kitchen is not well insulated. We plan to replace the window over the sink with a double-paned Energy Star window, replace the door between the kitchen and the garage with a solid, insulated door. And, insulate the garage door itself to solve this problem. Replace both bathroom windows with Energy Star windows.

Garden Goals:
Produce 150 pounds of veggies and fruit. Plant dwarf sweet cherry or apple trees for future fruit production. Build planter boxes for the front porch, which will be used for a kitchen herb garden. My goals is also to preserve or freeze everything we grow this year. No waste. This will mean I have to learn some new skills, but it should be interesting.

Plant a row for the hungry. I will plant extra veggies and donate it to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. I also hope to get my neighbors involved, by asking everyone in my neighborhood to drop off excess produce at my house twice a week, and I will then drive it to the food bank. I don't know if they will be willing, but it can't hurt to ask.

Add three more rain barrels. If I can find food-grade barrels at low cost, I will attempt to make these myself. If not, I will buy them. Water rates are rising 10 percent next year, which is added incentive.

Make a second composter. One composter isn't enough. We have had to throw away compostable material while we have waited for our current batch to finish. I'm not sure if we did something wrong, but hey, it was our first try.

Foster habitats for native species. The only way I know to do this is a butterfly garden, and making a bat box. I will search the OSU extension office Web site for more tips.

Build a cold-frame greenhouse from salvaged materials. I'm not sure I have the skills to pull this off, but I plan to try anyway.

Other goals:

Further reduce plastic bag use. We need to be super vigilant and remember to take reusable bags with us everywhere. This may mean acquiring many more reusable bags and stashing them everywhere, so no matter where we are, we have a bag. My favorite so far are the DIMPA bags from IKEA. They are strong, cheap, pretty and hold TONS of stuff.

Reduce the amount of garbage we produce. Can we do better? Probably. This means thinking more about packaging, about reusing before we recycle, buying in bulk, etc.

The earth friendly(er) laundry room

2008-11-13T12:45:00.003-05:00

I am planning a significant cleaning and makeover of our laundry room. Nothing hard core, just cleaning out all the junk (it's a catch all), moving the washer-dryer, building a folding table out of a vintage 1950s vanity I got for free, and throwing some paint on the walls and some fabric to hide the storage racks. Hubby decided to throw his two cents in.

"I want more drying racks" he said.

Currently we use two large wooden drying racks. They take up A LOT of room. So much that we don't have room for anymore, and I really don't want the precious space I am making by cleaning the room out to be used for more racks.

So, after a little research, I found a solution. A handy wall mount retractable line. Good for the earth, out of the way.

If the budget allows, I may also trade in my current washer for a front-loading model, as I understand they are more energy and water efficient.

Setting Eco-goals for 2009

2008-11-07T12:20:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Gene, I got a neat link to an urban farm, where the inhabitants are attempting to be self sufficient food and energy-wise on their urban 1/10th of an acre lot. They are doing amazing things, but what really struck me that we could all do is set eco goals. I set financial goals regularly, and it really helps me meet them. I haven't even thought of setting firm eco goals.

The folks at Urban Homestead's goal is to cut their monthly electricity use in half. They also set a food production goal for their garden. I am going to follow suit. I will post my goals and progress on the sidebar on this blog. It should be an interesting experiment.

"Urban Homestead"

I will post more concrete goals after more consideration, but
For starters, I want to reduce my electricity usage by at least 10-20 percent. I will likely accomplish this by zapping vampire electricity used by all of our appliances and computer gear. Beyond that, I may invest in LED lights where possible, to further reduce usage. I also plan to get an energy audit from the solar installer later this year, so I can seriously reduce usage to make the most out of any solar power system I buy. This may involve something like a ConServ refrigerator.

Also, I would like to triple my usable garden space. The current garden plan will likely accomplish this, but I may tweak it to see if I can get more sunny space to grow veggies. I also plan to build several growing boxes for the front porch, to house herbs and greens. I also purchased several small coldframes for seed starting and may make another out of salvaged wood and windows from the Habitat for Humanity restore.

My food growing goal for 2009 is 150 pounds of fruits and vegetables from the garden. Since I haven't been keeping track, I have no idea if this is easy or hard, but you have to start somewhere, right? I want to keep a garden journal as well, so I know what does and doesn't produce.

To reduce my water consumption, I want to add three more rain barrels to the garden area this spring. I may make these myself to save money. This should also reduce the need to use city water to irrigate my new larger garden beds. I may also investigate purchasing a front-loading washer, as these are supposedly more energy and water friendly.

I would like to add more square yards of laundry line in the backyard. This would help with electricity use.

Those are my initial thoughts.

Solar tax credits

2008-11-07T11:18:00.002-05:00

Good news for solar and for us. Looks like the 30 percent tax credit on solar power installations has gotten even better. Now, it's 30 percent of whatever you spend, with no cap, as opposed to the $2,000 cap in place before. And it's good until 2016. I'm thrilled. we are hoping to get solar panels in 2010, and this will really help us out.

"Solar tax credits"

Sustainable living

2008-11-06T12:32:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking a lot about sustainability lately. Not just for the earth, but also when it comes to finance. Maybe all the bad news on Wall Street got the ball rolling. I freaked out a bit when I watched my retirement accounts lose more than $75,000.

What does it mean to live sustainably?

It should be no surprise to green folks that what's good for the earth is good for the pocketbook. With the exception of the solar panels I hope to buy some day. That's JUST for the earth. But on all other fronts, living sustainably has the dual benefit of helping the planet and saving money, plus the ethereal benefit of mental well being and the confidence of being self sufficient.

My big question? How self-sufficient and sustainable can I possibly be on such a small piece of land? In the middle of the city? I don't know the answer yet, but in the next couple of years I hope there is a steep learning curve.

Maximizing my garden space I believe is the first step. The more food I can produce on my small semi-suburban plot, the better I will feel. The second part of this is managing to can, preserve, or freeze as much of that as I can. I'm still working on that one.

I also read a story about a new plan in Cincinnati to sell small undevelop-able plots of urban land to people who want to use them as gardens. I hope this catches on and spreads to my town, because hubby and I had discussed finding vacant plots to buy for this very purpose.

Those are my random thoughts for today. If you have any ideas about sustainable everyday living, I'd love to hear them!

No spend month

2008-11-03T22:05:00.002-05:00

The hubby and I have declared November a No Spend month. It's technically a spend $400 month, but who's counting? We are allowed only $400 for all of our food, gas, entertainment, etc. this month. Anything that isn't a recurring monthly bill. I wrote a bit about it here:
"One month money crash diet"

We're hoping this will help us be more conscientious about our financial lives, which in turn, affects our impact on the environment. If you aren't buying extra stuff or taking extra car trips, you have put less carbon into the atmosphere AND preserve the contents of your bank account.

Also, we are in good shape with the house projects. My main goals were to finish digging the front flower beds and paint the house before winter, and we accomplished both. It was very hard work, but it's very satisfying to have it finished. (so we can start a new to-do list in spring...). I have made an executive decision. In the spring, I will be renting a sod cutter. I have more beds to dig and I am DONE doing them by hand, so I will spend the $100 or so to rent a sod cutter for the day. It'll make the job go much faster.

I have also found a local mulch supplier who will deliver the massive mountain of mulch I am going to need for the new beds I've dug. It's only marginally cheaper than buying bagged mulch, but it's much easier than running back and forth to the store and why waste all those plastic mulch bags?

Painting the house this weekend

2008-10-09T21:14:00.002-04:00

Finally. I am giving my house a new paint color this weekend. I admit I am not using eco-friendly paint. I was thoroughly unimpressed by the performance of Sherwin Williams' Harmony paint a few months back and on a big job like painting a while house, I don't want to take any chances. Plus, that paint stunk to high heaven !
So yes, this is my guilty confession.

Planning the butterfly garden

2008-09-29T08:56:00.002-04:00

I've decided that I want all of the flowers in my new bed to attract and harbor butterflies. I started doing some research and boy, it isn't easy to design a new butterfly garden! You have to have a combination of nectar and larvae plants (meaning a place for butterflies to eat, and a place to lay eggs) and you need to make sure you have planted varieties that bloom at different times, so you have someplace for them to go from Spring until Fall. I'm using the Ohio Extension office Web site.

I'm glad I decided to wait until Spring to plant, so I have time to work this out.

Also, I've decided I'm renting a sod cutter in the spring, to build the rest of the beds. No more hand digging for me. I'd be old and gray before I got all the beds dug and planted.

yard finished

2008-09-23T09:21:00.003-04:00

After about 8-9 hours of actual digging, the sod is finally removed and the outline of the new flower bed is complete. Yay! It was hard work, but didn't take as long as I had anticipated. Last night, I added peat moss and mulch soil conditioners.

My plan to do the rock wall around it this year is scrapped. We can't afford it, especially now that we have to pay $307 to get a tree branch removed. One of our silver maples was significantly damaged in the recent windstorm that knocked out our power and it's dangling over the Bean's room, so it's got to go. That was about half of what I budgeted for the rock wall, so it'll just have to wait until spring.

The beds will be planted with a butterfly garden and flowers, as well as secret hidden veggie plants in the spring. So for this season, my work is done...

Ike blew out our power, 1000 miles from the coast!

2008-09-17T18:43:00.000-04:00

Well, we just got power back at our house. The remains of Ike blew through here at 75 miles per hour plus Sunday night, and knocked out power to all of central Ohio. Even I was surprised. Our power just came on this morning.

I'm upset because I had just stocked the freezer with homemade pasta sauce from my garden, shredded fresh garden veggies, a whole lasagna I was planning to make later. Basically, my grocery budget and grocery challenge are blown this month because of this storm.

We had to drive 40 miles south to find an open restaurant yesterday, then we camped out at our sister's, who has power, for dinner. I have been living on bananas and peanut butter with crackers and water since Sunday. I'm over it.

It reminds me that I either need to get a generator OR I need to get a gas stove so I can still cook when the power is out.

DAy three of digging

2008-09-09T20:54:00.001-04:00

This is what 3 days and $90 worth of peat moss and sod looks like. I have about 50 percent of the main bed de-sodded, turned and mulched. Not too bad. It may take less time than I thought. Then again, I am SOOO tired of shoveling. It really is hard work.

Removing sod sucks

2008-09-09T15:11:00.001-04:00

Now I understand why the neighbors looked at me like I was crazy when I said I was digging the new flowerbeds myself. Digging up sod is hard work. And it kind of sucks. Phew. Good thing I am dedicated. I really want new flowerbeds (aka sneaky secret garden veggie patches hidden behind flowers), and frankly I am too cheap and too broke to pay someone to dig them for me. So yeah. My MO is to just do a small patch at a time every single night. I remove the sod on the patch, turn it and then mulch and peat moss it. And little by little, it's getting done. If I thought about the entire project, I'd just get overwhelmed and stop. Only the front beds need to be done this fall, then I will implement the garden plan little by little each year until it's done, probably in two years total, including the new patios in the back.

Started on the garden plan yesterday

2008-09-08T10:42:00.001-04:00

Phew. removing sod and digging new flowerbeds is A LOT of work. Geesh. I did manage to get one existing bed cleaned up, turned and mulched. I also expanded that bed one foot and turned and mulched the strawberry patch. All of this took about 2 and a half hours. I think if I work on digging the new beds about an hour a day, I'll have it all done by the end of the month.

I'm not sure if I'll get the stone done. I'm not sure we can afford it right now. This month is already shaping up to be pretty tight money wise, so the stone may have to wait until spring. I really want to paint the house in October, so that is number one priority. I have to do it when the weather is right, and when I don't have veggies and flowers growing by the side of the house, so it'd be harder to do that in the spring than the flower bed stone walls.

Gardeners: Plant a row for the hungry

2008-08-31T20:44:00.003-04:00

I had never heard of this program until today. Basically, you donate extra produce from your garden to local food banks, who are happy to have fresh produce. What a great idea! I will definitely participate next year, and may even try to persuade the neighborhood association to go along with it!

"Plant a row for the hungry"

New Orleans North

2008-08-30T23:06:00.001-04:00

Well, several adults, 3 cats and one dog are on their way to our house, evacuating Hurricane Gustav. We were expecting two more adults and a six-month-old baby, but they are hunkering down in Memphis instead.

I am sad for New Orleans, my former home, and sad for my friends who just finished all of their Katrina repairs. Here we go again.

Today I hugged the Bean and I told him how thankful I was that we were safe and happy and didn't have to evacuate and start all over again.

It was hard enough once. We didn't want to do it again. (FYI, I was driven out of Nola by Katrina and had to start life over again in Ohio, and spent 9 grueling months battling insurance companies and trying against all odds to sell our house.)

That said, I cleaned the house tonight, went to the farm market for some sweet corn today, and am about to go set up a queen size futon bed in the basement. Our basement is gigantic, all finished and the same size as the upstairs. This way, everyone will have their own bathroom and their own space and no one will have to listen to my Bean scream at night!

I pray it doesn't hit New Orleans again.

The Garden plan

2008-08-28T13:23:00.001-04:00

I have ambitious plans to beautify the outside of our house. Part of this is to eliminate grass,because I hate mowing, and since all of the full sun on our property is in the front, build beds large enough that I can secretly grow vegetables behind the flowers without raising the ire of the neighbors.

And then there's covering up those glamorous sink holes that showed up last year!
Here is the plan. The dark areas are the new beds. Now that the roof is finished, my goal is to dig the beds during the month of September. If all goes well, I will be able to buy stone and lay the stone retaining walls around the beds as well.

The dark parts of the diagram are the new flower beds. There should be enough room to plant some perennials for a butterfly garden, and then a hidden strawberry patch, herb garden, and watermelon patch, and some zucchini plants. From the street, all you will be able to see are flowers, if all goes according to plan.

It's like a stealth agriculture plan! I'm such an anarchist...

Sad thing happened today.

2008-08-23T22:39:00.000-04:00

A crow flew into our yard and spent the day sitting under our dogwood tree. I could tell something wasn't right. He was alone and wouldn't fly away. Well, I just came home and he's dead. I think I'm supposed to call the health department and have him tested for West Nile Virus. At least that's what I've read. Poor little guy.

The cool part about a chemical-free garden

2008-08-23T13:31:00.002-04:00

I went out into the garden today and saw two praying mantis. One was about 6 inches tall, the other, about 2 inches tall. I love them. They are so cool. I thought that if I used pesticides I wouldn't have such a magnificent creature in the garden. Just another plus.

Picked 12 lbs of roma tomatoes today.

2008-08-22T22:16:00.001-04:00

Mmmm. MMMM. This is the best time of year, when those industrious little plants start really putting out. We picked 12 pounds of romas tonight and I've already made them into spaghetti sauce. We're eating noodles now, and the leftovers will be frozen for winter. we should also have enough left on the vine to make another batch probably next week.

I hope to have a much better garden next year. The wheels are already turning.

pound pound...

2008-08-21T10:27:00.002-04:00

Well, the roofers are here. Part of me does feel guilty watching all of those asphalt shingles go into the dumpster. But what can I do? If I can't afford the eco roof, I can't afford it right? It goes against all of my morals to buy something I really can't afford. So, alas, I watch the dumpster fill up.

As a weird penance, I've started collecting recyclables on my walks with baby Bean. I carry a grocery sack and put all the not too icky plastic bottles and cans in there and bring them home to my recycle bin. That probably makes me crazy, but hey, civic pride right? Gotta keep the neighborhood clean.

It's also been hard keeping hubby into the composter, now that he knows it's gonna take a while. I keep having to remind him not to throw those coffee grounds into the trash. Just because the compost won't be ready for this year's veggie garden doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile!

Hired a roofer-- finally. it's like I couldn't give my money away.

2008-08-15T10:21:00.001-04:00

I finally hired a roofer yesterday. I like them a lot (so far)!. For a while, I felt like I couldn't even give my money away. I've had 4 estimates. Of course, I called more roofers than that and many didn't even show up to do an estimate. I thought the housing downturn meant more contractors looking for work. I guess not!

Three weeks ago I had actually hired a roofer, the one recommended by my neighbor, and he never came by to pick up the deposit. Geesh. Is there something wrong with my cold hard cash?

I have two other projects that are on hold waiting for the roof, so my entire summer project list has been on hold. I keep promising the neighbors that yes, I do have a plan for making the front of the house presentable, nay, even look fabulous, but they are starting to not believe me!

I can't put my landscape plan into place until the roofers are done, because I can't have old shingles falling all over my flowerbeds.

Maybe this will get the show on the road.

Our yard looks awful because after we got our geothermal furnace and re-sodded the grass, we had two weeks of heavy rain,and parts of the yard where the furnace lines run sunk in. So i have a wavy, awful looking yard!

Still no compost...

2008-08-06T23:24:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been 2 months or so since we got the composter and we still don't have a batch of compost. It's y fault. I know it's working, because the thing seems like a bottomles pit. I put a lot in, but it never seems to fill up. We messed up because we put really large items in there. We don't have the energy to grind up all of our compost-headed veggies into tiny bits, so it takes longer to compost. I also realized that we forgot to take the plugs out of the base, which means extra liquid was staying in the drum rather than draining into the compost tea collector.

Oh well, we're new at this!

Economics of green home improvement

2008-07-18T09:47:00.002-04:00

I told y'all about the recycled metal dream room: Price tag $22,800. Well, the quotes came in for a 30 year traditional asphalt shingle roof: $7,900. How can greener options compete when there is such a price differential?

Even I, who make an effort to go green, have to pick the traditional option. As much as I hate the thought of all my current shingles going to the landfill, I feel I have no choice. I need a new roof and simply can't afford the green one.

Oh well, that will mean less time to save up for those solar panels!

Wal-Mart and plastic bags

2008-07-09T11:13:00.002-04:00

I (gasp) went to Wal-Mart last night. Not my preferred shopping venue, but when I need things like shampoo and bubble bath, I stock up there because it's soooo much cheaper than anywhere else. Hey, if you are going to upgrade a 1957 ranch to energy super-star status, you need to save money to do it.
Anyway, I have reusable shopping bags-- even a couple of the Wal-Mart kind.The problem is they are impossible to use at WalMart. The way the bagging center is set up, the cashier has to bag your stuff, there isn't even a place for you to bag if you want to. And, there is no way to even set up your bags so the cashier can use them. It really bothers me, because I know every time I shop there, I am going to end up with a dozen plastic bags, many with only one item in them. I did ameliorate the too little stuff in one bag problem by transferring items from one bag into another, loading them up as much as possible before the cashier turned the bag turnstyle again.

On other fronts, the composting is going well. I still have yet to get any compost out of the thingee, but mostly because we are always throwing more in. I know it's working because the composter isn't even half full and we have thrown sooo much in there. If it weren't decaying, I'd say we'd filled it 4 times over all ready in volume of items. It feels nice to know that isn't going into the local landfill, and I can't wait to add some compost to my garden.

"Green" roof too expensive

2008-07-03T23:51:00.003-04:00

Well, turns out the green option, the recycled metal roof, is just too expensive, about $7,000 over our budget. It cost $22,800 to do our 1400 sq foot house! At first I was heartbroken, but I guess I have to choose my battles. Get a normal roof, then save up for solar panels and spend some more money on energy efficiency projects. When you are on a budget, you really can't win them all.

pop cans on the roof?

2008-06-30T13:13:00.002-04:00

I am shopping around for a new roof. we need one desperately. I found an Ohio company, Classic Metal Roofing, that makes a recycled aluminum roof. I think it's made from old pop cans. They claim it reduces attic heat gain by up to 34 percent, and can lower home energy costs by up to 25 percent. It's made from 95 percent recycled aluminum. It fits over your existing roofing, so the old shingles don't got to the landfill, and it's guaranteed for 40 years.

No word yet on how much it costs. I am going to call the dealer today and ask for an estimate. I hope it isn't out of our price range. It sound too go to be true!

strawberry count: 12 quarts!

2008-06-10T23:09:00.002-04:00

I can't believe it. My very very small strawberry patch has yielded 12 quarts and there are more berries to pick! Looks like I have a garden winner I can stick with.

Fresh organic strawberries-homegrown!

2008-06-05T20:28:00.003-04:00

That patch of strawberries I planted last spring finally paid off. I have collected 5 quarts from my 1 foot wide by 3 foot long strawberry patch, so far. And there are still more to pick. My hubby had some and said they were the best strawberries he has ever tasted. I have to agree. We ate a bunch, but I am determined not to waste any homegrown produce this year, so I froze about 2 quarts today. For the $6 I spent on plants, you can't beat it.

Garbage

2008-05-21T15:56:00.002-04:00

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

2008-04-30T13:19:00.003-04:00

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!

2008-04-22T13:35:00.003-04:00

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

2008-04-20T22:28:00.003-04:00

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

2008-04-17T20:38:00.002-04:00

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?

2008-04-10T12:49:00.001-04:00

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

The baby bean has arrived

2008-04-07T22:33:00.002-04:00

Our new bean arrived Tuesday April 1, after 25 hours of labor. Trust me, there is a reason they call it labor and not tickle party. Phew. Hopefully we'll be able to keep on the green track while raising this little guy. So far so good: used baby clothes, sharing baby furniture and stuff with other couples with kids. But we'll see. There are still many more years to go!

Why I'm so into home improvement projects...

2008-03-29T11:18:00.004-04:00

A lovely fellow just commented about my enthusiasm for home improvement projects. I have to say I wasn't always so driven to get things done. Our first house, in New Orleans, I was always making plans but never actually putting them into action. I had a to-do list a mile long, but something else always seemed more important.

Then there was a hurricane. Yep, and nothing was done. I had to do all of the projects on that to-do list just so I could sell it. And it really upset me that the house looked so beautiful when I was finished, yet I wouldn't actually get to live in it enjoy all of the work I'd put into it. I vowed I wouldn't make that mistake with this house.

So far, two years in I've stuck with that resolution. The to-do list actually gets done, and while our home is very modern and probably isn't decorated to everyone's taste, it sure is coming along nicely. When I look at the before photos, I'm amazed at how much we've accomplished in 2 short years. Of course, there's still plenty more to be done....

The summer of clearing the slate...

2008-03-29T00:32:00.002-04:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about the garden plan. Months ago I had outlined a very ambitious planting plan. It fell by the wayside due to the exhaustion of late pregnancy. No one warns you about that. Maybe because no woman would have children if she really knew what she was getting into.

Anyway. That, combined with my desire to plant fruit trees at some point, has led to a new plan. This will be the year I clear the palette. This will be our third summer in this house. We've done a lot of work on it, but most of it has been to the interior or to the systems that keep everything running.

This summer, it's all about the outdoors.
I'm going to expand and build up all of the flower beds (including building low border walls of natural stone)
I'm going to have someone come and yank out all of the evergreen shrubs and the roots. They're in all my prime full-sun spots, and frankly, I think the last lady got a little too crazy planting shrubs.
I'm going to paint the outside of the house (some awesome, mid-century pastel color)
And, I'm going to get some fill dirt and even out the lawn. the geothermal really did a number on our grass.

So, I may not be able to have to cucumbers and asparagus patch of my dreams this year, but this will lay the foundation for bigger and better (organic) things down the road.

plastic bags everywhere...

2008-03-28T16:16:00.000-04:00

Ugh. They're like a scourge on the earth. I managed to acquire 3 new plastic bags today, despite packing all of my reusable shopping bags. The first, at a restaurant where my for here order magically turned into to go. The second, at Target, even after I said I didn't need a bag. I guess it's just habit to throw stuff in there and hand it to you. And the last, at the grocery, when I ran out of bags. I'm trying. I feel like I'm failing, but...

Also, looks like we'll have enough money to order that composter I have my eyes on. But not this week. I'm going to the hospital next week to have my baby bean, and don't want it to be delivered while I'm away. So maybe the week after that...

Wading pool veggie gardens

2008-03-26T18:11:00.002-04:00

I just ran across the fascinating project. Looks like you can do intensive veggie gardening in unusable spaces by planting in those shallow plastic kiddie pools we all had in the 1970s!

Kiddie pool urban gardening

Green living--in the 1940s?

2008-03-26T11:54:00.002-04:00

I ran across this today. It's some food for thought. We talk a lot about carbon credits and such but it seems like the 1940s had its own green revolution, and we could learn a few lessons by turning back the clock...

The WWII green revolution

Can being green make you rich?

2008-03-25T16:38:00.001-04:00

A worthy question. I read a lot of personal finance books, so I was intrigued when I ran across this article by David Bach (of Rich Couples Finish Rich fame). He has written a new book about how going green can make you rich and this article is a rundown of the ways you can save or make money by being more environmentally aware.

It's interesting that such a high-profile writer is taking on this topic. Of course, some of the suggestions are things us eco-geeks have been doing for years, like freecycling and donating used goods, but it may be worth a read anyway.

Green = Rich?

Turning your backyard into an orchard

2008-03-22T22:51:00.002-04:00

Several of you commented about my desire to turn my backyard into an orchard. Here is the link to the NY Times article about this topic. It totally spoke to me. Enjoy!

The backyard orchard

A composter...finally?

2008-03-16T11:57:00.003-04:00

I think I have finally decided on a composter. It costs about $150, is round, and in addition to compost, produces and collects compost tea that you can use to fortify your veggie garden and your houseplants. Next week, come payday, I'll see if we have enough left over after bills to order it.

Also, I saw an awesome article in the NY Times about backyard orchards. It really spoke to me because I have often looked out my back window at all the weird, useless shrubs I inherited and thought of pulling them out and planting something that will produce food. I am really getting into the idea that I should turn as much of my landscape as possible into agriculture. And my backyard would be a great place for some dwarf cherry trees and some raspberry bushes. I can almost taste the pies now.

On that note, I realized that my ambitious veggie garden plan will have to wait until next year. To pull it off this season, I would have had to start the seeds already. And considering I'm a bout 38 weeks preggo and could pop at any time, and completely exhausted as a result, it just didn't happen this year. Boo. At least I still have my farm co-op to look forward to. And, now that I have a plan, I can really spend the summer getting my garden beds in tip top shape.

Babies = Batteries

2008-03-14T13:03:00.002-04:00

I never would have guessed that baby stuff required so many batteries-- the mobile, the swing, the toys... It never ends. I didn't want to be a scourge on the earth so I have spent the last couple of weeks shopping for rechargeable batteries. I finally decided on a Rayovac charger that fits multiple battery sizes. This is my first foray into rechargeable batteries, so I can only hope I made a decent choice. Of course, even if it sucks I'll keep using it because I'm too stubborn to throw away batteries every six weeks!

Our quest to do only second-hand baby stuff also failed. It all ended at the "shower" my friends insisted on throwing me. They bought us way too much stuff. And the used crib my MIL gave me? Covered in lead paint, so I had to buy a new one anyway-- all the used baby stores were sold out. Ugh. I did make a valiant effort. And we did get a lot of clothes used and we are borrowing a lot of other equipment from friends, so I guess it wasn't a total loss...

Eco-Moms change the world?

2008-02-15T23:14:00.004-05:00

I found this article in the NY Times today. (You may need to register). It's about groups of suburban upscale moms who meet to drink wine and talk about environmental issues! Who would have guessed. The soccer moms are on the bandwagon.

EcoMoms

Garbage, part 2

2008-02-05T15:54:00.000-05:00

I just found out that Columbus,OH, has a curbside recycling rate of only about 3 percent. Only 11,342 households in the city -- out of about 350,000-- recycle at curbside. Ugh. Our mayor even says this is "pitiful."

This explains all those cans full of garbage I see every week.

Windows -o- rama

2008-02-05T15:02:00.001-05:00

Our new Energy Star windows started going in yesterday. Granted, it's been slow-going. Our installer's helper didn't show up yesterday (he suspects a Superbowl hangover...), so they guy had to work all by himself. I have no idea how he managed to get the windows in and out alone. But, he did manage to do all of the bedrooms in one day. So those are finished. Today, we were rained out. So hopefully tomorrow, work will resume and all will be said and done by the end of the week.

I'm stoked. Our windows are so bad, that if these new ones make even half the difference I suspect they will, it will be a noticeable improvement. Of course, it's too soon to tell if they'll be better in extreme cold because on Feb. 4 it's 60 degrees and raining. In Ohio. Tell that to all those folks who don't believe in global warming...

Garbage

2008-02-01T10:05:00.000-05:00

It's garbage day. And looking out my window I wonder how the hell they do it. My neighbors. Two people in each house, just like us, and yet every week they have a giant pile of garbage on the curb. EVERY week. I maybe put my can out once every two weeks, and then it's not usually full. Certainly not full to the point that the lid won't close, like both of these neighbors. (we have the same size cans, standard city issue.)

I just don't understand how houses with the same number of people as ours can produce so much more garbage. I'm too chicken to poke around the cans and see what's in there~! But boy, part of me wants to.

First trip to Aldi's...

2008-01-24T20:53:00.001-05:00

I went to Aldi's the discount grocery store for the first time this week. Boy was it cheap! Of course, the produce section didn't net me much more than a bag o taters, but that's OK. I think what I like most is that you HAVE to bring your own bags. Otherwise, you just have to carry all your stuff out. It was a good kick in the pants to remember to pack mine.

Also, it's almost time to sign up again for our farm co-op (Paige's Produce). Last year, we got way more food every week than we could eat. A lot of it went to waste. I'm seriously thinking of investing in a very small chest freezer. That way I could store more of the co-op veggies and more of the things we grow ourselves in the garden. So much went to waste last year. And now that it's winter, I'd like to have all those tomatoes and ears of corn we couldn't eat in July!

Dreaming of compost...

2008-01-22T13:07:00.000-05:00

I must be losing my mind. Last night I actually had a dream about making compost. Okay. Maybe it's a reminder that I haven't done anything about THAT New Year's resolution.

The plastic bags? Yes, I'm making an effort. But the compost is still stuck in bin indecision land. I've ruled out worm composting, at least for now. With a kid on the way I'm not sure I can concentrate on keeping thousands of wigglers alive in addition to a 7.5 lbs pink needy human.

In my dream, I just used a plastic trash can with a lid, threw in some compost accelerator, and turned it with a shovel every week or so. I think this is the way I'm going to go. After all, maybe my brain was trying to tell me something...

Reusable grocery bags...

2008-01-17T13:43:00.000-05:00

In keeping with my New Year's Resolution to use fewer plastic grocery bags, I stayed up late last night making heavy-duty reusable grocery bags from some vintage 1984 Transformers fabric and some lovely retro Batman fabric I picked up used a while back. I lined the bags with a super heavy duty canvas duck cloth, so they are nigh indestructible, and gave each deep side gussets so that they'll hold a lot of stuff.

Turns out I made a lot more than I can use, so I'm going to put the extras up for sale on Etsy

I hope having these on hand will help me reduce my plastic bag dependence. I know I have cut down substantially since I made my resolution, yet I still manage to come home with more plastic bags than I had hoped, mostly due to poor planning or unplanned trips to the store. Oh well, it's a process!

Second-hand babies and family pressure

2008-01-14T13:30:00.000-05:00

As you know, our first little one will be arriving in April. Early on, the SO and I decided we'd buy as much as we could used and second hand. After all, kid stuff is expensive, but they grow so fast they can't even really use it for that long. Why spend the money?

We got a used crib and stroller, a large laundry basket full of second-hand onesies and such (all for less than $1 each), some play mats, and some free used toy boxes. So far, I think we've spent about $120, and we have just about everything we need. Only a few things left: a car seat, a crib mattress, and some Happy Heiny's-- they are the new fangled reusable diapers.

Yet, I'm getting a lot of pressure from family and friends to have a baby shower. They all want to buy us stuff. I've politely ducked most of this, but the pressure is mounting. I've been to showers before. It's a bunch of women sitting around in a circle watching some girl open presents. That's great for some people, but it makes me really uncomfortable. I've never been comfortable getting lots of gifts.

At first I dodged by agreeing to have a normal party for the people we know. But now, I'm not even sure I want to do that. But this seems to raise a strange reaction of anger and tears from people I know. I mean. Do people really like feeling obligated to show up on a Sunday afternoon with presents??? I'm still conflicted.

So conflicted that I partially relented. I went to Target and registered. But it's probably the weirdest registry anyone has ever seen: most everything costs less than $5, and it's all for odds and ends like pacifiers, bottles, etc. But, that's the stuff we need that I can't buy used. I feel like the biggest weirdo in the world. Of course, I haven't told anyone about the registry, because I'm still debating.

The secret life of stuff

2008-01-10T14:24:00.001-05:00

I ran across this awesome Web site today. It has a 15 minute flash video explaining the life cycle of the things we buy. It's very compelling. I hope you like it.

The story of stuff

It's garden planning time... already!

2008-01-09T12:18:00.000-05:00

The first of the season's garden seed catalogs came in the mail yesterday. Three years ago, I never would have guessed that'd I'd be excited about seed catalogs. Something about the move to Ohio has changed me-- I think it's the magic dirt. Anything I plant does really well here, unlike in New Orleans, where gardening was a constant battle against sweltering heat, giant insects, and finding a vegetable-- any vegetable- capable of growing in subtropical zone 9.

The burning question: What to plant this year. My first two years in this house I stuck with basics. I planted 6 cherry tomato plants, 6 roma tomato plants, three zucchini plants, and 6 green pepper plants. It's not that I have an affinity for these. It's just that the local school has a fundraising plant sale and this is what they sell. The first year, we got 1 measly zuchini, 20 pounds of roma tomatoes, no green peppers, and enough cherry tomatoes for me to snack on while mowing the lawn and mulching.

I rearranged the plants in the second year and got bumper crops of all of them. I mean bumper. Baskets and baskets of veggies, so much so that I had to go buy a special cookbook featuring those vegetables. We got so much we couldn't use it all OR give all of it away so many tomatoes and such just rotted on the vine. (Time to buy a chest freezer?) Between that and our farm co-op share, we didn't buy a single vegetable all summer. Except maybe some potatoes and spinach.

Bear in mind that the only space we have for gardens are traditional, front of the house flower beds. Our backyard is all shade. I'd till up my entire front yard and plant if I could, but the neighbors would have heart attacks. So we've learned to do a lot with a little space.

This year, I'm not going to let hard-won fruit rot on the vine. Here's this year's rough plan:

- Potatoes: I'm going to plant three varieties of potatoes in garbage cans in my back yard. Why garbage cans, you ask? Because that way you know where to dig when it's time to get a potato. Put them in the ground and you'll spend all day digging holes looking for them. My grandpa used to plant them in garbage cans and with great success. Now I'm going to try it.
- Peanuts. The hubby loves them, so I'm going to plant a few in some containers on the front porch. If I stick it in a pot, it'll look decorative and minimize the ire of the neighbors.
- Tomatoes. I'm going to cut our crop in half, to 3 roma and 3 cherry plants. That should cut our annual yield to something more manageable-- like 20 pounds instead of last year's 40!
-Zucchini. Plant one and it takes over. So this year I'm literally only planting ONE. That should be enough for salads and the occasional loaf of zucchini bread.
-Watermelon. Mmmm. Mmmm. Who doesn't love watermelon? I wouldn't normally have enough room for this, but I found a dwarf vine that is only 3 feet long, so where the zucchini once stood, the watermelon will now be king.
-Greens. We love basil, cilantro and spinach, so I'm going to dedicate last year's green pepper space to these three crops and see if it goes anywhere.
-Strawberries. We planted a bunch of strawberry plants last year. They should be ready to spit out some fruit this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

I'm not sure if this is too ambitious a plan, considering we have our first baby on the way. But my mom assures me I'll feel fine when it's time to plant in May.

Veggie gardens may seem passe, but they really do save you a lot of money on groceries. We like that ours has supplied us with months of organic, delicious veggies for two years in a row. You can't beat that.

Geothermal savings and plastic grocery bags

2008-01-08T15:04:00.000-05:00

It's still too early to get a final tally on the potential savings we're garnering from our new furnace, but the early results do look good. For both November and December we spent $200 less on home heating than in the same months last year. So, it looks like the early savings tally for the geothermal furnace is $400. Not too shabby.

The bad news is I'm up to 5 plastic grocery bags and it's only Jan. 8. So sad. But it would have been worse had I not paid $1 for a reusable bag at the local grocery store the other day. That saved me three bags right away. This week, I'm planning to make some reusable grocery bags from some vintage fabric I found at the thrift store. I'm hoping to make 6 paper-grocery-bag sized bags out of the fabric I have. We'll see how that goes.

Window shopping- literally

2008-01-06T01:05:00.000-05:00

The hubby and I went window shopping today. We finally got tired of having sheets of ice on the insides of our windows when it gets cold. Even though we weren't planning on it, at least not yet, we purchased nine Energy Star rated windows for our house from a company that is based in and makes the windows right here in our hometown.

We chose simple sliding windows with low e argon gas between the panes and a U rating of .30. Energy Star windows generally have a U rating (the equivalent of an R rating for insulation) or .25 to 1.25. We were happy with that range.

Frankly, they weren't as expensive as I thought they would be. I was expecting to pay between $7,000 and $15,000 for replacement windows. Our tally? $5700, including installation and a very nice lifetime warranty. We did get a 35 percent discount because the company was attending a home and garden show this weekend. They apparently offer that special to all those who buy during show weeks, even though we weren't anywhere near the show.

Installation is in 7 to 9 weeks. Since we weren't planning on this expense, we will have to be a bit spartan in our living the next couple of months, but I'm happy to do it. You can lost up to 50 percent of your heating through the windows, so it's money well spent. Plus, it knocks another big project off of the "big" eco-ranch to-do list. All that's left? The roof, and some solar panels.

Geothermal works great. But then there's the windows...

2008-01-02T19:21:00.001-05:00

Well, our new geothermal furnace is pumping along nicely, filling the house with nice warm air. Our last natural gas bill was only $9, far less than the $300 plus a month we paid with our 1957 gas furnace chugging along in the basement.
But now that the furnace is nice, it's made it very clear that we need to replace our windows ASAP if we are going to save any energy. We still have the original single-pane aluminim frame 1950s windows in this house. We got our second snow of the year today, and as usual, the inside of the glass is covered in a nice sheet of ice. Inside. So, every minute we run the furnace, we're sending all of that heat out into the ether because our windows are terrible.

I have no idea how much replacement windows cost or even if anyone will come and do that work in the middle of winter, but this Saturday, I'm heading out for an Energy Star window shopping adventure to see if we can afford it. New windows were on the list of to-do projects, but I was planning to wait a couple of years. I don't think we can afford to wait that long.

Make New Year's a little greener...

2007-12-18T15:56:00.000-05:00

We've all made New Year's resolutions. Drink less, get skinnier, get out of debt. Half of America practically follows a checklist of obligatory self-improvement goals, which, usually by mid-year, are all for naught.

This year, I'm changing it up a bit. I'm ditching the usual stand-bys and instead I've chosen two things that I'd like to do this year to make my life a little greener. No matter how lofty our eco goals, we all probably overlook some little things we could do better. After a lot of thought, I've chosen to set two goals for myself for 2008:

1. Reduce the number of plastic grocery bags in my life. Yes, I always mean to use canvas totes at the grocery and to tell the cashier to please not double-bag my gallon of milk. (It has it's own handle, why do I need a bag?) but I'm not always forceful enough on that front. I see lovely canvas totes all around, but I manage somehow to talk myself out of getting them because I don't want to spend the money. I'm giving myself a cheapache and as a result I'm up to my eyeballs in plastic bags.

2. Start composting. Indecision got me on this one. I've spent months agonizing over what kind of compost bin I should get : The fancy $200 plus one with the handy crank, a worm bin for vermincomposting, or should I build my own cheap bin and spend the rest of my life turning it with a shovel twice a week? Well, I need to decide quickly, because it's a waste to throw out broccoli stems and banana peels that, with a little love, could become FREE mulch for my vegetable gardens. American households throw away 26 million tons of food a year. Think of all the wasted landfill space. And all the free mulch.

So those are my "little change" goals for 2008. Maybe you can think of one or two little changes you'd like to make?

Exercise for your brain

2007-12-18T15:45:00.000-05:00

I just finished compiling a list of some of compelling books that eco-geeks like me might find useful and insightful. I posted them here,and will leave a permanent link on the right under the "What I'm reading" column.

I found Supercapitalism particularly compelling. It's an economics book, but explains in plain language why it's so hard to get things done on the environmental front, even though it's good for almost everyone. And, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle was a life changing read. I've bought several of these as gifts and they don't disappoint.

Check it out. Maybe you can add these titles to your post-holiday to-do list!

Baby steps into earth-friendly paints

2007-12-17T13:19:00.000-05:00

The watchword for paint in recent years is VOC. It stands for volatile organic compounds, things like benzene and formaldehyde that are used to make interior and exterior paints. Not only are they rough on the areas around the paint factory, they tend to leach gases into your home for months after the walls are freshly painted. Luckily, a lot of companies are now producing paints without so many of those chemicals, such as low-VOC and zero-VOC paints.

Since we have a little one on the way, I thought it'd be a good idea to test one of these paints in the future nursery. I chose Sherwin Williams' low-odor zero-VOC Harmony paint.

Frankly, I was unimpressed. I'm not sure what other brands of similar paint are like. But Harmony smelled worse and stronger than regular acrylic latex paint (even though it claimed to be low odor) and the coverage was not that good. It took three coats of white to get a nice, even finish, even with primed white walls. I've had much better luck with American Tradition and Behr brands.

Harmony also only comes in gallons, so if you only need a quart, for an accent or a project, you are out of luck. Oh well. Back to the drawing board. Next time around I am going to try Benjamin Moore's brand of low-VOC paint.

Babies and climate change

2007-12-14T12:44:00.000-05:00

It's time to come clean. We're having our first baby here at the eco ranch. We're almost 6 months along. We've made it through the tests, the scans, and all that stuff, and it looks like it's really going to happen.

I'm not a huge fan of being pregnant, which has put my hubby's campaign for a second child on shaky footing. He's an only child, he says. Only when he was an adult, and saw how much fun everyone else had with their siblings did he realize he was missing out. That, and there is increasing pressure to take care of his parents emotionally because they have only him.

But the child debate also has another side, one only mentioned in whispers because it's such an unpopular opinion. It's that parents should limit their offspring to two or less because the world is overpopulated. Bringing too many more resource-using carbon-producing first-world humans into the world isn't helping the environment.

A lawmaker in Australia recently proposed taxing parents with more than two children, to offset the carbon emissions of those extra children. Here is the news story about this

At the risk of sounding harsh, I completely agree. Sustainability is factoring heavily into my family planning.

The need to have large families just isn't there any more. 100 years ago, when you'd lose some of your children to disease before adulthood or needed them to help on the family farm? Yes, have as many as you'd like.

But now? In the modern world? We simply do not have the resources or the economic need. With ever more of the environment being poisoned to meet the current population's needs, how can we rationalize putting more people on the earth?

It's led me to feel that if you must have children, have one or two then quit. Or, don't have any at all.

We are an American middle-class family. As such, even though we're making changes to be more environmentally friendly, just by our very nature and existence as Americans, we use more energy, food, resources, etc. than citizens of any other nation. Isn't it wise to reduce the number of Americans in the next generation?

I just finished Jared Dimaond's book "Collapse" as well, which is an historical review of ancient and modern civilizations that have collapsed economically, culturally, and environmentally. Overpopulation was a factor in most of them, and is used as an explanation for atrocities such as genocide in Rwanda. It's food for thought.

How many earths does it take to support your lifestyle?

2007-11-07T13:01:00.000-05:00

I ran across this fabulous Web site yesterday. It allows you to calculate how many earths it would take to sustain the world's current population if everyone lived like you. Fascinating stuff. I read the results of some folks who were using up 20 earths!

That couldn't possibly be me, I thought. We live in am odest house (1400 square feet), drve one car-- a 1997 Honda Civic hatchback that gets 35+MPG), grow a lot of our own vegetables in the summer, don't eat meat often, use rain barrels, work from home as often as we can, and recycle every last scrap of anything vaguely reusable.

I was smug for a minute until I realized that my total was a still 3.7 earths. Geesh. How much more do we have to do? I guess that's just another reason to keep greening the eco-ranch!

See what your score is. Feel free to post a comment about it. I'd love to hear your scores, too!

Here is the quiz

Green flooring options...

2007-11-01T16:10:00.000-04:00

When we moved in, the kitchen floor was a mess. It was covered in a 1960s dark red vinyl that was peeling along the seems. No matter how much I scrubbed it, or how many times I glued down the seems, there was just no saving it. So I went in shopping for a new floor.

Finding an eco-friendly option isn't all that easy. The manufacture of sheet and tile vinyl floors releases PVC into the environment and is considered by some groups to be the world's most toxic plastic. So the cheap, quick and easy fix was out... That's not even counting the glue.

Hardwood or laminate wood wasn't really an option. I've heard you aren't supposed to use that in kitchens and bathrooms because of water issues, and it would have been really hard to find something that looked good next to the home's original hardwood floor.

Natural stone was our next option. It looks good, it's natural, durable, etc. it also shows up on a list of sustainable products, although where the stone comes from and how far it has to journey to end up at your house can significantly diminish any eco benefit. Some groups suggest you only buy stones quarried near where you live. For us, that'd mean our choice was limited to sandstone, and frankly, that didn't sound too practical.

Ceramic tile is a decent eco-option. We're planning to use it in our main bathroom in the near future. And we almost used it in our kitchen until I wandered through a home show last year. That's where I discovered Marmoleum.

It's a new, high-tech linoleum product made from all-natural materials such as linseed oil, cork, and wood flour. You don't need glue to install it. It just clicks together. It's also super easy to clean, and just happens to look really nice.

It cost us about $9 a square foot without installation. The entire job ran us just under $3,000, to do the kitchen, eat in dining area and half bath. Not a small area.

This project was one whose value couldn't be measured in energy savings, like a new furnace or compact flourescent bulbs. That's usually a major criteria when deciding on eco-friendly renovations. But, we are very happy with our decision. Sure, it cost more than vinyl, but it makes us happy to know it didn't poison the neighborhood where it was made.

It also looks neat. Much different than any other flooring we've seen. Everyone who has visited us has commented on it. And, ultimately been fascinated by this new and improved floor.

The burning question: What next?

2007-10-30T16:59:00.000-04:00

Now that the new furnace is up and running, the sod has been lain over the mud pit that was once the front yard and most of the rooms are decorated, I'm faced with the question most home improvers bump into eventually: What next?

I admit I don't have any big eco plans in the works. Frankly, we just don't have the budget for any big improvements right now and with winter just around the corner, it's hardly the time to be ripping out windows or digging up the back yard.

We also have a strict rule of paying cash for all of our big projects. We have to save up the money, then do it. No home equity loans or credit cards. It's very old-school style. Our savings account is still trying to recover from the cost of the geothermal system. Hopefully when summer comes, we will have enough saved to put in new windows. (After that, a roof and some solar panels.)

So what's a home improving girl to do? I better think of something fast or it's going to be a long winter!

Clean your house-- with plants

2007-10-03T16:00:00.001-04:00

I ran across a very compelling study about the cleansing effects of some common houseplants. Apparently, some houseplants, such as spider plants and peace lilies, remove toxic chemicals like benzene and formaldehyde from the air inside your home. This wouldn't be a big deal except that those chemicals are major contributors to indoor air pollution and can leach into the air from common household items such as carpet, particleboard furniture and paints.

Unfortunately, the more air tight and energy efficient your home, the more likely you are to suffer from indoor air pollution. The same acts that save us money and energy-- insulating, weatherstripping, etc.-- mean less clean, fresh air can move into and out of our homes. If you live in an old, leaky house, you may not have any pollution at all.

Plants act as a living carbon filter, sucking chemicals out of the air and breaking them down into harmless compounds. Some estimate that you'd need about 15 plants to significantly reduce indoor air pollution.

Here is a list of some beneficial, air-scrubbing houseplants:

Hedera helix English ivy
Chlorophytum comosum spider plant
Epipiremnum aureum golden pothos
Spathiphyllum `Mauna Loa' peace lily
Aglaonema modestum Chinese evergreen
Chamaedorea sefritzii bamboo or reed palm
Sansevieria trifasciata snake plant
Philodendron scandens `oxycardium' heartleaf philodendron
Philodendron selloum selloum philodendron
Philodendron domesticum elephant ear philodendron
Dracaena marginata red-edged dracaena
Dracaena fragrans `Massangeana' cornstalk dracaena
Dracaena deremensis `Janet Craig' Janet Craig dracaena
Dracaena deremensis `Warneckii' Warneck dracaena
Ficus benjamina weeping fig

If you'd like more information, you can see NASA's original research here

Or read this simple, easy to understand tutorial from the Minnesota Extension office: here

The side effects of geothermal

2007-09-18T14:25:00.000-04:00

Well, the geothermal furnace is up and running. I didn't give much thought about what to do with the lawn once it was finished, however. Maybe because they were only supposed to dig up a 10 ft by 10 ft square. No such luck. Because it was raining so much the week they came to drill, they dug a trench the entire length of our yard. Now, 90 percent of my front yard is mud.

I'm not a fan of lawns. I think they're a waste of time and energy. But, my neighbors would rise up in revolt if I just left it as a pile of dirt! What to do? We tried to even it out by hand and throw down some grass seed. But even if the seed grows, it's not going to look good, like a real lawn.

I have to put my thinking cap back on. I'm thinking of calling some sod farms to see how much that would cost. We don't have a lot to spend, considering we just emptied the savings account for the furnace!

Your handy guide to recycling weird stuff

2007-09-11T10:43:00.000-04:00

I have a pile of things I really can't bear to throw out but I have no idea how to recycle. Of course, it's all in piles in the garage. Far from ideal. I ran across this guide to recycling strange things today, and found some solutions to my growing mess. It has suggestions on everything from cardboard boxes to styrofoam packing peanuts.

Recycling strange things from Co-Op America

Who recycles? A new poll

2007-08-31T14:57:00.000-04:00

Here's an interesting new poll from Harris Interactive about who throws out the aluminum cans with the rest of the garbage.

Harris Recycling Poll

Some highlights:
Those in the East and West are more likely to recycle (88% and 86% respectively). One-third (32%) of those in the South as well as three in ten (30%) of those in the Midwest, however, say they recycle nothing.

Three-quarters (77%) of American adults recycle something in their own home, one-quarter (23%) still recycle nothing at all. One may think that the younger generation is the one most likely to recycle, but this is not the case. Three in ten (30%) Echo Boomers (those aged 18 to 30) recycle nothing, compared to 19 percent of Matures (those aged 62 and older).

Among those who do not recycle, the reasons are very varied. One in six (15%) say they do not recycle because it is not available in their area while 12 percent each say it takes too much effort and it costs more to recycle where they live. Just one in ten (11%) say they do not recycle because they don’t believe it makes a difference while six percent say they are too busy and five percent say it is too difficult.

Almost there

2007-08-31T11:06:00.000-04:00

The trenches are filled in, the lines are run. We're less than three working days away from flipping the switch on our new geothermal system! Of course, the house is a mess, with some drywall in the basement ceiling torn out to make room for pipes, but we're very excited to give it a go.

Little green changes that can save you a lot of money

2007-08-24T15:20:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd post a list of handy tips that appeared in an article I wrote for the Columbus Dispatch about saving money by conserving water and energy. Most don't cost a lot of money, and I've put some into effect in my own home already...

Water

Install a low-flow showerhead : A 10-minute shower uses 50 gallons of water. A low-flow showerhead reduces that to only 25 gallons. Low-flow showerheads cost about $12 at home-improvement stores. If you shower 10 minutes a day, the savings would be 750 gallons of water a month, or about $5 a month on your water bill.

For added savings, replace your faucet aerator. Aerators are the round disks at the tip of the faucet that control how much water comes out. Low-flow aerators cut water use from about 2.5 gallons to as low as half a gallon per minute, at a cost of about $1 each.

Watch the flush: The typical family of four uses 112 gallons of water a day, or 3,360 gallons a month, to flush toilets, at a cost of about $20 a month.

Replacing older toilets, which use 3.5 to 7 gallons of water per flush, with low-flow toilets using 1.6 gallons could reduce your water use by up to 73 percent. The cost to make a replacement starts at about $100, but you could save up to 2,450 gallons of water and shave about $14 a month off your water bill.

If a new loo is out of your budget, hanging a water displacement bag in the tank can reduce water use by 20 percent, or about 1 gallon per flush. Water displacement bags cost about $2, and could save you up to 672 gallons, or about $4 a month.

Lawn smarts : The average American family uses about 120 gallons a day, or 3,600 gallons a month, watering lawns and washing off driveways and sidewalks. You can reduce that by up to 50 percent by watering in the evening -- when less of the water evaporates because of heat -- and by "making sure you aren't watering your sidewalk instead of the grass," said Rick Tilton, assistant director of the city's division of water and power. Potential savings? About $10 a month.

Electricity

The average U.S. household consumes about 11,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity (kWh) a year, at a cost of about $900, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs : Compact fluorescent bulbs use 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer, according to Energy Star, a government program that rates products by how much energy they save.

In central Ohio, it costs 95 cents to power one 75-watt standard light bulb for five hours a day for one month, according to AEP Ohio. It costs 25 cents to power a compact fluorescent for that long, a savings of 70 cents a month and $8.40 a year per bulb.

It takes only about 3 months to recoup the extra cost of compact fluorescent bulbs in energy savings, according to Energy Star.

If a houseful of new bulbs isn't in the budget, replace those in the fixtures you use most, such as the kitchen, bathroom and family room lights, Deyette said. Replacing five bulbs will save you about $3.50 a month, or $42 a year, according to AEP Ohio.

Buy a power strip : Many appliances use electricity even when they are turned off. It's called a phantom load, or vampire electricity, and the Ohio Consumers' Council says it accounts for 5 percent to 10 percent of a home's electricity use and costs Ohioans $46 to $93 a year.

Unplugging one small appliance, such as a fax machine, one computer monitor, and one television when you aren't using them will save you about $6 a month, Stroh said.

Plugging electronics such as computers, televisions and DVD players, and small appliances such as coffeemakers and microwaves into a power strip, and then turning the power strips off when you aren't using those items will save you even more money, Deyette said.

Heating, air conditioning and laundry : Heating and cooling account for 47 percent of the average household's annual energy bills, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The easiest way to cut that expense is to adjust your thermostat.

Every degree you raise your thermostat in the summer shaves 2 percent off of your energy bill, Deyette said. Every degree you lower the heat in winter, shaves 3 percent off the bill.

Install a programmable thermostat : This can lower your heating and air-conditioning bills even more, by about 10 percent, said Ronnie Kweller, spokeswoman for the Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit group in Washington.

Programmable thermostats alter the temperature of your house at different times of the day, allowing you to use less energy when you're sleeping or not home.

"If you're spending $1,000 on A/C in the course of summer, it can save you up to $100," Kweller said. "You can still come home to a comfortable house but not at the cost of running the air all day."

They cost as little as $30 and usually can be installed by the homeowner, Deyette said.

Laundry day is another cost-saving opportunity.

A family that washes seven loans of laundry a week can save about $5.25 a month, or $63 a year, in water-heating bills by washing clothes in cold water, Kweller said.

Old-fashioned line-drying will save you even more.

"A new electric dryer can use 4,500 watts per hour," more than almost any other appliance in your home, Stroh said. Old dryers use even more.

"Hanging your clothes out to dry will knock nearly $10 a month off of your utility bill."

The $5 recycling roadblock

2007-08-15T16:24:00.000-04:00

Every Tuesday I put my red recycling bin out on the curb. It's always so full it's spilling over into whatever other containers I can muster. But when I look around, I'm the only person on my street putting out a bin. My neighborhood overall doesn't have many recyclers either. It's so easy, I couldn't understand what was going on. So I went straight to the head of the neighborhood association. Here is his response:

"Folks don’t want to pay for it to be picked up."

Recycling in my town costs $5 a month. 5 smackers. Trash pick up is completely free, so it's not as if the $5 fee is on top of a large monthly trash bill. But free trash does send a clear message: why conserve? Throw it away. It's free!

I tried to talk the neighborhood association into doing a recycling fundraiser-- starting with something simple like aluminum cans-- because they're always trying to raise money for projects. They passed.

I know I'm the young person in a neighborhood of older people, but is there really a recycling generation gap?

Geothermal isn't pretty

2007-08-08T23:48:00.001-04:00

The yard is a mess. I guess I wasn't expecting them to coat it with bentonite clay. They also had to dig a trench to hold excess water, because it's been raining a lot here this week. Hopefully this is the worst of it. And to think the neighbor complained that the rain barrels were unsightly!

Geothermal Green Light

2007-08-06T10:00:00.000-04:00

After a lot of thought, we've decided to go ahead and get the geothermal heating and cooling system, even though it costs a few thousands dollars more than a traditional high-efficiency furnace. Price tag: $12,400.

Three factors made the decision for us. First, geothermal is one of the most efficient forms of conditioning the air in your home. It is up to 500 percent energy efficient, and emits very little CO2. Also, any extra heat the system generates would be used to heat our water, displacing some of the natural gas we currently use. The geothermal heat pump is also a high-efficiency air conditioner. It carries heat out of the house in summer, just as it carries it in in winter.

When you do the math, we're getting the equivalent of a new furnace, a new air conditioner (ours needed to be replaced), and a super efficient water heating system all with one new appliance. When you look at the price tag again, it's more cost effective to pay for geothermal than it is to buy each of those three items.

We also calculated that it will take about 5 years for us to make our money back in energy savings. For alternative energy systems, that's a very short payback time. Solar panels can take up to 30 years to pay for themselves.

Given those factors, it simply makes sense. Of course, I will have to pay to re-seed the lawn when they're finished drilling the wells. But I think that's a small price, don't you?

My personal Victory Garden

2007-07-30T14:39:00.001-04:00

Grandma only had one story from World War II, and it involved she and my great grandma ripping up the front yard to plant carrots. I didn't get it. I thought "geesh, that's what grocery stores are for," and cataloged it into the cheapskate grandparent bin along with all the crumpled pieces of aluminum foil in their kitchen drawer and washing and reusing plastic bags.

I've since changed my tune. I saw this stat on Treehugger.com "For the average American meal [...], World Watch reports that the ingredients typically travel between 2,500 and 4,000 kilometres, a 25 percent increase from 1980 alone. This average meal uses up to 17 times more petroleum products, and increases carbon dioxide emissions by the same amount, compared to an entirely local meal."

Hmmm. Grown at home equals good for the planet. It's worth a try. My first step was to join a farm co-op. For about $200 I bought a half share, which means I get several bags of in-season produce that's grown about 40 miles from my house, from late may until the end of September.

It's the best thing I've ever done. My farmers, from Paige's Produce in Steubenville,OH, are the nicest people. I really enjoy seeing them every week when I pick up my food. And the food is 1000 times better than any produce at the local grocery. It's bred for taste, not the ability to sit for 3 days in a freight car and not bruise.

The farm also turned out to be less expensive. I thought $200 was a lot of money at first, but it's turned out to be a great value. I get a lot more vegetable for my money; it's actually cheaper than buying from the grocery every week.

But then my hubby and I decided to take it a step farther and plant our own garden. Our goal was to grow enough to live off our own vegetables and the co-op vegetables for the whole season, without having to buy any from the grocery.

Amazingly, we're almost to August and it's worked!

We spent about $20 on plants-- 3 zuchinni, 6 cherry tomato, 6 roma tomato, 2 green pepper, and some strawberry plants. We also bought some seeds for mixed field greens and cilantro.

Well, none of the seeds sprouted, but the rest are pumping out veggies. We can hardly keep up! The zuchinnis have just about run their course, producing more than 15 giant fruits so far this season. We made them into bread, into a pasta sauce, and have grilled them. We've also, of course, foisted the extras on unsuspecting friends. The cherry tomatoes have produced for about a month. We pick a large cereal bowl full every week. We'll probably have enough to get through the summer. We've had about 4 green peppers and the roma tomoatoes are about to turn pink. They make great sauce, and there looks to be enough fruit to make sauce this summer and have enough left over to can for winter use.

We're eating food grown within 100 miles of our house, so it requires less gasoline for transporting. It's not only a good move environmentally, it's good financially. For a minimal investment, we get a lot of high-quality produce for very little money.

All this from three small patches of dirt. We grow the green peppers and tomatoes in two small flower beds on either side of our house, and we grow the zuchinnis and strawberries in one of the front flower beds.

Just think how much I could grow if only I could tear up the whole lawn, like grandma...

The lazy person's water saver

2007-07-27T16:47:00.000-04:00

You caught me red-handed. Yes, I still have a water-guzzling 5-gallon a flush toilet in my main bathroom. Sure, I've already replaced the loos in our other two bathrooms-- which we don't use nearly as much. But for some reason, I've left the one that would have the most impact if changed.

There's a simple reason: I'm lazy. The floor in that bathroom is on the "to replace" list and frankly, I don't feel like pulling the toilet out twice. once now, and once later when we decide what kind of floor to install. Can you blame me for not wanting to scrape two wax rings? That's what I thought.

So, I have a $1.69 solution. Not a cure, mind you, but it's something. I'm going to place a water displacement bag in the back of the tank, which will reduce water use by about 1 gallon per flush. It's like putting a band-aid on Niagara Falls, but hey, it's only temporary, right?

Toe-dipping into the compost pile

2007-07-25T17:08:00.000-04:00

I shucked 7 ears of locally grown corn two nights ago. Looking at the giant heap of silk and shucks that came from those few ears, I realized a lot of our garbage comes from vegetables.

From the looks of our trash can on the curb every week, you wouldn't peg us as big throw aways. I always secretly wonder how our neighbors, most empty-nest retirees, manage to completely fill to overflowing their giant city-issued cans every week. We usually have three bags in our bin, which means it's about 30 percent filled.

The recycling bin, however, is always overflowing, and I usually have to put out another container full of recyclables with it on collection day.

But we could do better. It's time to start shopping for a compost bin. It's the next logical step in our "save the polar bears" action plan.

One compost site, called Black Gold, said composting vegetable waste saves CO2 emission from garbage trucks and saves precious landfill space for non-recyclable items. You also don't have to spend as much on garden mulch every spring.

So I'm going to shop around for a bin. I'll let you know what I find, as well as how hard it is to get the compost process "started."

rain barrel update

2007-07-10T15:40:00.000-04:00

So far this summer, we have kept 640 gallons of stormwater out of our local sewer system, thanks to the rain barrels. Of course, that also means we've haven't paid the city water department for the 640 gallons of barrel water we've used to water our vegetables and flowers, a net savings of about $4.30!
At least the plants seem to love it....

The geothermal heating estimate

2007-06-19T16:58:00.000-04:00

I'm sure I already mentioned the belching monster of a furnace we have in our basement. I'm sure it was state-of-the-art in 1956. And I certainly admire that it was built well enough to work for 50 winters without so much as a hiccup. But it has to go!

We just got our gas bill yesterday, and it looks like our annual natural gas consumption was 1200 CCF. I plugged that into a carbon-footprint calculator and got a little dizzy when I found out that 1200 CCF produces about 14,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year. Holy Cow!

That furnace really has to go!

One furnace option we're really keen on is the geothermal heat pump. It consists of a network of underground pipes hooked to a high-efficiency electric heat pump. It is highly efficient because the temperature underground is steady year-round. A traditional furnace pulls freezing air from outside, then heating it to a comfortable indoor temperature. Geothermal pulls the air from the underground pipes, and because it is a steady temperature, expends less energy heating it up to heat your house.

They can also be retrofitted to heat half of your hot water, and to act as an air conditioner in the summertime. So really, it's a furnace, air conditioner and auxiliary water heater all in one. It is also considered one of the cleanest, least CO2 producing furnace options.

We got an estimate from (maybe our one and only) local installed. Looks like it'll cost $12,400 to convert our house to that system. I still have to crunch all the numbers, but it seems promising. The installer estimated the pay-back time at about 5 years. If it cuts those $350 plus heating bills in the winter, it may just work out.

In the meantime, I have a lot more homework to do.

How much do you really save with compact flourescent lightbulbs?

2007-06-19T10:40:00.001-04:00

I love the earth but admit I am a cheapskate. My palms get a little sweaty when I head to the hardware store to buy lightbulbs, and the 6-pack of compact flourescents cost $10.

So let's do the math. How much does a compact flourescent bulb really cost you, compared to a regular light bulb?

It costs $2 to use a a 13-watt compact fluorescent light bulb 6 hours a day for one year, and $18 for the typical 60-watt bulb, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. So every incandescent bulb you replace with a compact flourescent will save you $16 a year.

Sold!

Flourescents also last longer, up to 7 years, than other bulbs. Of course, they are more expensive. But in this case it looks like paying more upfront will save me cash in the long run.

It's easier when I think of each little lightbulb in the bubble package as a $16 a year bonus.

But let me be clear that I'm not going crazy buying cartloads of them either. I've read that it's best to just buy one package to start, and use it to replace the bulbs in the fixtures you use the most. I figure that's the overhead light in the bathroom, above the kitchen sink, in my bedside lamps, and the two floor lamps in the basement and living rooms. I've also read that it's good to keep a few extra on hand, and use them to replace egular light bulbs as they burn out. In theory, within a year or so, you'll have a house full of energy-sipping conpact flourescents without the expense of buying them all at once. (or wasting perfectly good, normal light bulbs.)

Looks like I have another weekend project....

The argument for a laundry line and air-drying your clothes

2007-06-19T09:59:00.000-04:00

Laundry lines aren't the most glamorous topic, but they are more interesting than you might think. Especially if you're trying to reduce your carbon footprint. Oh, and save money.

Your clothes dryer is one of the most energy-intensive appliances in your home. BY some estimates, they cost about $85 a year to operate and emit an average of about 3.9 pounds of carbon dioxide every day (according to the Sierra Club).

No wonder line-drying has become rallying cry for environmentalists. Yes, there are now laundry-line activists who are fighting to overturn municipal ordinances and homeowners association bylaws against line drying. (Visit them at LaundryList.org)

It's a compelling argument. We installed a laundry line this spring. And we hang out our laundry maybe three times each week. I admit that sometimes it can be a hassle to lug the laundry up the stairs and outside. Line drying definitely takes more time-- there's the lugging, the hanging, and of course, the fingers-crossed hope-it-doesn't-rain-before-my-clothes-dry dance. Oh, and line drying makes your clothes a little "crunchy", which is remedied only by lugging them back to the laundry room for a 5 minute tumble in the dryer to soften them up.

My hubby was the driving force behind the laundry line. I admit I was slow to warm to the idea. But now that we're in the groove, I love it. There is something relaxing about slwoing the pace of my over-booked life long enough to pin up each sock and towel as squirrels scurry in the trees above me. Something invigorating about the fresh air.

And something great about slightly lower electricity bills, although it's hard to tell how much of that is laundry and how much is our switch to compact flourescent bulbs. (That's another story.)

Even though our neighbor protests, insisting that laundry lines are low-rent (A common perception, despite all of them growing up with mom's who line-dried), we aren't alone in our laundry lining.

Here are several news stories on the issue:
This Story in the Boston Globe

A story in the CS Monitor

We like it so much we're thinking of upgrading with two high-tech laundry lines, one outside and one in the basement laundry room. (Check these out:http://www.clotheslineshop.com)

The Truth About Rain Barrels

2007-06-18T13:45:00.000-04:00

I apologize for the angry rant about my complaining neighbor. I am quite steamed about the whole incident.

But allow me to back up. We bought two rain barrels from the Friends of Big Darby Creek, a nonprofit attached to one of our local watersheds. They subsidized the barrels, bringing down the cost to about $30 each-- quite a lot cheaper than the usual $100 to $120 price tag. We're having some problems with swelling rivers after major storms, and it turns out houses with gutters like mine are contributing a lot to the problem.

Our gutters do not run off into the grass. Instead, they are connected to a series of underground tubes that funnel the water directly into the sewer, which then drain into the closest river. Apparently it's better for the water to run directly into your grass.

Enter the rain barrels. We can reduce our environmental impact two ways if we use them-- the first, involves not taxing the watershed. The second: Using tap water for gardening is not only bad for plants (They don't like the chemicals in the water), it strains our city's water-treatment plants.

And, it'll save us money. We have quite the vegetable garden brewing, and when we water with tap, we pay twice-- once for the water itself, then an equal charge for sewer volume. (The utility assumes the water you use will end up in the sewer).

Our barrels hold about 80 gallons each. Including water and sewer charges, it'll save us about $5 on our bill every time we use about 750 gallons of barrel water on gardens. It's not huge, but it's nothing to sneeze at, although the number of barrels we use each summer depends on how much rain we get, and so far it looks as though we are headed for a drought.

We installed one on each side of the house, on the gutter closest to our vegetable and flower gardens. Each comes with an overflow hose, to direct water away from the foundation if the barrel is full, and a spigot that attaches to a standard garden hose.

Here is the Wikipedia entry for rain barrels, with some interesting facts and links to information on how to install and build your own barrels. Check out Wikipedia's entry

It seems like an eco- and a pocket-book win-win to me, despite the protests of our less-than-sunny neighbor. Heck, maybe I should crunch the numbers and make the economic case that he too should install one!

Our first complaint from the neighbors

2007-06-13T17:24:00.000-04:00

I suppose it's bound to happen. You want to make changes that are better for the environment, and for some reason it ruffles the feathers of the neighbors.

My father-in-law installed two rain barrels, one on each side of my house, this weekend. Last night, we found an index card with our neighbor's phone number on it and a "please call me" note stuck in our front door.

So we called. He said our laundry line and our rain barrels were "unsightly and disturbing all of the neighbors."

Needless to say, we were furious.

The laundry line is in the backyard. This neighbor is the only one who can see it, and only from his back upstairs window.
The rain barrels are hidden behind trees and cannot be seen from the street. They are also smaller and less offensive than our trash cans, which sit right outside with them. (All of our neighbors keep the trash cans outside.)

We are disappointed, to say the least. We don't want problems with our neighbors. We have good relationships with most of them. The hubby plays bridge with one older woman across the street, another watches the house while we are out of town, and another comes over to share the numbers for plumbers, electricians, and other handy people, or to chat about their grandchildren.

This neighbor in particular has always been frosty to us, so I shouldn't be surprised.

But as much as I like being nice to the neighbors, we are standing our ground. The rain barrels will stay up and our laundry will dry outside. I just have my fingers crossed that this is not the first in a long string of futile battles over the "green" ranch project

Summertime = furnace?

2007-06-08T13:33:00.000-04:00

Now that it's 90 degrees outside I've been thinking about my furnace.
That might seem weird, but hey, who wants to replace their furnace when it's 20 degrees outside? Not me.

The hubby and I have decided that the furnace is the first big project we're going to tackle. It makes sense. The darn thing has been chugging along in our basement since 1957. (My guess is it wouldn't make the grade for an Energy Star rating). It also costs us a huge bucket of cash to use. In the winter, we bundle up in sweaters and keep the thermostat on 60 degrees, yet we are still paying north of $350 a month to "heat" our 1,400 square foot house.

Here's the catch: We aren't quite sure what to replace it with. So I've been poking around on the Internet.

I read a compelling story about new micro-CHP furnaces. Basically, they not only heat your house, but use the extra energy to generate electricity. They are used widely in Japan, but have just made their debut in North America. (Here is a link to that story:http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1114/p01s02-usec.html)

Then there is geothermal, a series of underground tubes that transfer heat into and out of your house. It is incredibly efficient and emits almost no CO2. Alas, we have a small lot, so I'm not sure if it's an option for us. Plus, I'm not sure if there is an installer near us, or if it's going to be prohibitively expensive. (for more info: http://www.geoexchange.org/)

The least sexy option is merely to upgrade the furnace we already have. I mean, a new, normal furnace would still have to be significantly more energy efficient than the 50-year-old monster that's chewing up natural gas at our house every winter, right?

We are budgeting between $7,000 and $12,000 for this project. It makes my palms sweat a little bit because that's a lot of money.

But that's about how much we are budgeting for each of the major system/structural upgrades to our house: The furnace, the roof, the windows, and maybe if we're feeling frisky, a net-metered solar power system to top it all off.
Our plan is to tackle one big project a year, to spread out the costs.

So let the shopping begin.

The $20 earth-friendly makeover

2007-06-07T15:58:00.000-04:00

I bet you've never given a second thought to your faucet aerator. Faucet aerators are the little disks in the mouth of your faucet that regulate how much water comes out when you turn the handle. If you're like me, it's something that never even occurred to you. And who would have thought that those little buggers could be replaced with more efficient models? Once again, not me.

But after a short investigation, I discovered that I was sending 2.5 gallons a minute down the drain. Multiply by two bathroom faucets, and well, it just seems like a bit much. So I spent my first $4.30, plus shipping, for the earth.

That was enough to get me two ultra-low-flow faucet aerators. They only use a half a gallon a minute.(You can see what I'm talking about here

It only took about a minute to install each one, and much to my surprise the faucets still have plenty of water pressure.

At this point, I'm already feeling mildly smug. It feels good to save a polar bear, one gallon at a time.

So what about the other $15 or so? While cruising the aisles at Lowe's I splurged and bought a low-flow shower head. My hubby was skeptical. Until his morning shower today.

That showerhead seems to have not only made us "greener" but also saved him, the daily late-waker, the unhappy shock of a cold morning shower. Who could resist that?

I'll admit. These first two "projects" are probably the easiest we are going to encounter on our journey. But hey, I'm not too proud to admit that the cheap and easy path is a great place to start.

Where we are and where we want to be

2007-06-06T23:11:00.000-04:00

I suppose the first step of any meaningful transformation is a realistic assessment of where you are right now.
We bought this house about a year ago. At 1,400 square feet, it's modest. It's a great house, but let's face it, it's as green as a mid 1970s coal-burning power plant.

We've got leaky, single-paned aluminum windows, and the original 1956 gas furnace is pumping away in the basement. The roof needs to be replaced, and the air conditioner looks like it was fresh out of the box in 1982. Not the formula for energy efficiency. But at least I won't feel bad ripping out the old stuff. It'd be a lot worse trying to "green" a house if the systems were just new enough that it'd be a waste to replace them.

So that's where we are. Here is what we'd like to do.

We want to reduce the amount of CO2 we're generating. Suspect No. 1 is the furnace. It's so old, that it's the biggest offender. Because of it's age it has to be terribly inefficient. Sadly, we keep the thermostat on 60 all winter and our heating bill is still more than $300 a month. It's got to go.

Part 2 of reducing CO2 is to reduce our dependence on coal-burning power plants. Electricity is cheap in Ohio. Very cheap, but our utility generates 80 percent of its power from coal plants. Most were built before tough pollution standards were in effect which equals EEK! A lot of river towns around here are practically condemned because of the pollution these plants generate. So once the furnace goes, tackling this will be the next big project.

We'd also like to reduce the amount of water we use, recycle more, and reduce the amount of waste we produce.

And here are the rules:
We aren't rolling in money. All of our projects have to pay us back in some way. Either they can be cheap, but provide a significant boost to quality of life, or if they require a big bunch of cash, they have to save us money somehow.

We're hoping our journey can act as a guide to other Midwestern homeowners. And let's face it-- the Midwest is the land of the price-conscious value shopper. If it doesn't pay off, people here won't do it! That said, we'll probably do a lot of price comparisons between traditional products and earth-friendly, just so you guys can see the math and decide if it might make sense for you.