Natural and Sustainable

Make your homemade composter and make your own potting soil the natural way. Here’s how:

1. Using a sharp utility knife, cut the bottom out of a plastic trash can. Make sure to attempt to find a plastic can that was used using recycled plastic to make your composter even more environmentally friendly.

2. Poke or drill holes around the sides of the can. About 6 to 12 inches from the top, for even ventilation. Your composting material will let off gasses and they need somewhere to escape from the container or the breakdown of the material will not happen in a health way.

3. Dig a 1-foot hole and sink the can into the hole. Makes sure you remove any large rocks or objects so that they will not poke or jab additional holes into your container.

4. Insulate the aboveground part of the container with straw bales or the like. Be sure and pack dried leaves into the gaps of any areas around you plastic conposter container.

5. Put a few scoops of soil or compost into the bottom of the container, and layer brown and green ingredients as they become available from your own kitchen. Keep the lid tightly closed between the additional of the material. Do not add dying plants to the mix or charcoal from your bar-b-que grill or your fire pit or fireplace.

You want to cause as little of a disturbance as possible to the insulation. Wait till sprung to turn the pile. If you want to go the extra mile, add earthworms to your container. Worms freed on what they can find in the soil, and these days that can anything from house disinfectants to even prescription and illegal drugs. Some of which kill the worms. So why not supply the earthworms with something good food finds.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Change out your toilet for an environmentally friendly one. The sleek new H2O conserving toilet has a light or heavy flush button option that can save a family of four up to 6,000 gallons of water a year in flushing water waste.

Getting a green, healthy and eye-appealing lawn takes patience and care. But does it have to come at a chemical expense? No. Here are four ways to get that lawn you want, without going the chemical route and even making it worse for the environment and you wallet.

1. Choose the right fertilizer: Synthetic fertilizers damage the health of the lawn by offering a quick burst of nutrients that quickly dissipate. In turn this leave your grass weak and wanting more, and more. And the run off from this synthetic fertilizers will eventually run off into the water ways and ground water supply. Natural and organic fertilizers like manure, compost, seaweed, however, release nutrients slowly, allowing the grass to take them up over a long period of time. This preserves the quality of the soil and encourages earthworms and healthy microbes.

2. Remove the thatch: Thatch is that brown layer of old grass and other debris that builds up ion the surface of the soil under you grass. If it is left to remain on the grass it can prevent water and even fertilizers from reaching the roots of the grass in your lawn. Be sure and remove the thatch in the early summer or around the end of spring. Be sure and sue a sturdy rake to remove this.

3. Top-dress your lawn: Adding a fine layer of homemade or animal-based composted manure to the lawn surface during the same time you go to remove the thatch will help stimulate the growth of new shoots on the grass shaft. This in turn will help the quality of the soil in your yard as well.

4. Control the weeds in an organic and natural way: Pulling by hand is the best way to combat weed issues, but if your lawn is way to big to be going around and pulling the weeds, be sure and use organic and natural weed killers on the market today. There are ones that are specifically made for crabgrass, dandelions and even other types of weeds such as clover.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Victoria’s Secret is going all-organic in their “Pink” line of women’s clothing. This is just one more way that Victoria’s Secret is still the favorite among men.

• What is compost? By the dictionary definition, compost is “a mixture of decaying organic matter, such as leaves and manure, used as fertilizer.”

• What’s the difference between compost and mulch? Mulch is a protective covering (like sawdust, compost or paper) spread or left on the ground to recuse evaporating, maintain even soil temperature, prevent erosion, control weeds, enrich the soil, or keep fruit clean. Compost makes a handy mulch around closely spaced vegetables and flower plants because it doesn’t damage the stems.

• Does all compost smell? The odor of compost should be earth-like, or like good woods soil. Any bad smell is a sign that the materials are unbalanced or hat decompostion has stalled.

• Will compost attract insects or rodents? Compost piles have a bad reputation for inviting dogs or other pets, housing mice, rats, and snakes, and providing a breeding den for flies, mosquitoes, and other undesirable insects. If kitchen wastes are not covered or turned under, there could be a pest problem. The best way to avoid this is to raise your compost above ground and to keep it enclosed.

• Why use compost? Compost helps protect plants from disease and insect pests. Compost enhances the soil’s ability to hold water and air, both essential for plants. Over time, compost-amended soil darkens and warms up more quickly in the spring, extending your growing season.

• What’s wrong with commercial fertilizers? Chemical fertilizers, unlike the natural fertilizer of compost, are manufactured from unrewable natural resources such as natural gas. Approximately 2 precent of the natural gas consumed in the U.S. goes into the manufacture recycling wastes, conserving precious energy recerves, and regaining control of our food supplies.

• What materials should I compost? Homes and gardens across the country produce a wide variety of organic materials. Yard trimmings, leaves, grass, weeds, brush and prunings make up the major share of compostables, although kitchen scraps and agricultural manures can also play a significant role.

• What materials should not be composted? Most ashes are safe to mix into your compost heap, but coal ashes are not. They have excessive amounts of sulfur and iron, amounts that are toxic to plants and the ground water. Charcoal should be avoided too. Don’t add any colored paper, such as magazines or catalogs to your compost pile either. Keep pesticide-treated plants and pressure-treated wood scraps and sawdust, which contain copper, cyanide and arsenic, out of your compost pile. Pet droppings also can contain disease organisms and are best to avoid as well.

• How long does it take to make compost? When you tend to a compost pile, maintain a balance of ingredients, check the moisture level, and turn it regularly, compost can be made in a matter of weeks.

• What’s the fastest way to make compost? There are five things to concentrate on when making fast-acting compost:
1. Vary the materials to make a balanced food supply for the micro-organisms.
2. Mix all materials thourhgly instead of just making layers.
3. Make many cuts and scratches in stems and leaves to provide entry for microorganisms.
4. Turn frequently for aeration.
5. Maintain ample moisture.

• How should I use compost? Begin your comport-adding program by spreading at least an inch over all growing areas in the fall or before you plant in the dpring, and till the compost into the top several inches of the soil. Supplement your original copmpost application by sidedressing the heavy-feeding crops such as squash, corn, tomatoes and even broccoli with either a half-inch layer of compost or a blended organic fertilizer each month during the growing season. You will see a visable difference in the soil.(Source: Conscious Mag. 2007)

**A 75-year old woman in Florida refused to pull forward after ordering at a McDonald’s drive thru. Over at Sympathy Pain, Bryan Comer as the full story. Read it here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: When traveling, ask your hotel what it’s doing to be more green. If they aren’t doing anything, suggest some ways for them to change their practices.