Natural and Sustainable

Bring nature indoors with this awesome moss and twig basket. It takes about an hour to make and will last for as long as you keep it. Here’s what to do.

Materials you will need:

Newspaper
Four 20 inch branches that have little twigs, remove the leaves completely
Floral wire
Small shallow round basket
Small throw away plastic bowl
White glue
Green sheet moss
Foam brush
Raffia

Here’s what to do: Attach the branch handle to the basket by bending one piece of wire into a medium length U-shape about 6-inches long, make it a U-shape. Place the cut end of one of the branches against the side of the rib of the basket and place the wire on top of it. Push them both ends of the wire through the basket weaving on the side where you chose the handle to be. Pull the wire tightly against the branch and twist the two wire ends together where they emerged on the outside of the basket. If you push the brand end through first you can then follow with the tow wire end and just weave the wires back and forth and twisting before inserting backing to the basket again.

Continue this until the branch is completely secure. You may find an easier way to secure the branch; this method is only a suggestion. Just make sure the branch is secure into the basket side using a shoelace fashion back and forth to secure the branch tightly. Cut off the excess wire and tuck the sharp ends back underneath the branch to hide them.

Do this same above process on the other side of the basket; be sure to line up the handle to the other side. You can either use the other end of the branch you started with or gather up another twiggy branch to use on the other end.

When that is finished gently pull the two branches together or leave as is if you want you handle to be short and you used the other end of the same branch from the other side of the basket. Using floral wires attach the two branches together and twist together some floral wire. Don’t use a lot of floral wire, because, you don’t want the wire to be seen.

Pour a small amount of white glue into your plastic container and lay out your moss. Gently shake to remove any dirt or rocks or twigs. Spread a thick layer of glue to the inside of the basket and fit the moss inside, tear the moss to fit, never cut. Tearing will create a more natural look. Continue the process all around till the entire basket, inside and out is covered in the moss. Smash down the moss as you apply it to the basket so the moss isn’t filling up the basket entirely. If the moss tends to come up in certain areas, simply lift that section and apply more glue.

Be sure and dry the basket for several hours before adding any gourds or pinecones and such. With your raffia, tie a bow around the top part of the handle and give as a gift with some seedlings, nut or apples inside.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Lemon Verbena leave from the Lemon-verbena tree make an invigorating citrus herbal tea. You can also have the scent released and it helps to lift your spirits of a bad mood. You can also chop up the leaves and simmer them on the stove in a pot of water to help fill you home with the great scent. You can purchase one of these trees from Mountain Valley Growers for under $6 and have this wonderful tree inside your home all year long.

• What you will need:

-Recycled, plastic container. Make sure it is pretty tall so you can continue to fill it without having to empty it as often.

-Utility knife

-Recycled paper

-Scissors

-Recycled tape

What you will need to do:

Wash and clean the plastic container thoroughly. Especially clean it well if it contained soaps or other washing liquids or cleaners. Next, tear away any labeling and add this labeling to your recycling of paper goods on the curbside pick up.

Take the recycled paper and make palm tree leaves or daisy petals to add to the top if your coin bank. You can even paint the outside of the container with paints or use the recycled paper and make additional designs and paste them on the outside of the container. Once the paints and the paste dry, start adding coins to your newly made bank. Once the bank is full, donate the money to a wildlife charity or buy seeds to plant in your garden. This project is good at teaching children the three Rs. Reduce, Reuse, And Recycle.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Make you own paints and pastes, here’s how:

For watercolors: Stir 1/2 tbs. of powdered drink mix with 1/2 tbs. of warm water.

For paste: Mix 3/4 cup cold water with 1/2 cup cornstarch. Bring 2 tsp corn syrup, 1 tsp. white vinegar, and 3/4 cup water to a boil in a saucepan. Slowly add the cornstarch mix to the boiling mixture. Stirring until dissolved. Let cool for 24 hours. Store in an airtight container. These two recipes are better for the environment and your child’s health in the long run.

Plastic Grocery Bag Draft Stopper: This project is great for keeping plastic bags out of land fills and ending up in our streams and water ways.

What you will need:• Wool tights or Cotton mesh
• 40-100 plastic grocery bags
• Twine or cotton string
• Glue
• Colored ribbon (optional)
• Buttons (optional)

What you will need to do:
With the 40-100 plastic grocery bags, wrinkle the bags one by one and stuff them into the tights or cotton mesh bag. Pile as many as you can into the tights and make sure the tights can move a bit freely into a shape that you want so that it will rest against your leaking or drafty door crack or window. Also make sure that it is the same length of your doorway or window. You don’t want it hanging over the sides and giving gaps for air to leak through. Once the tights are stuffed tie off the end and use the twine to close the opening. If you choose you can also sew a straight stitch across the opening to make sure the opening does stay shut for the life of the draft stopper. Once the opening is close, cut off the remaining leg and the rest of the excess that is left from the tights. If using a mess bag or mesh material, you will need to use the sewing machine to cut a small rectangle size piece from the material and sew up the sides and both ends to create a legging-type shape.

Using the glue you can attack ribbons or other designs to the draft-stopper to give as gifts or just to decorate to use in a child’s room or play room.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Here is a simple list of helpful and very useful links:
1. EPA
2. Grist
3. Treehugger
4. Ideal Bite
Check out these links to learn more about what you can do as an individual in order to help out the environment and yourself.

Wildlife Birdfeeder

What you will need :
• 2-liter plastic soda bottle with the plastic screw top in place
• A Hammer
• A Nail
• Duct Tape
• Wooden Dowel
• Funnel
• Bird Seed
• Twine or Hemp String
• Paints or permanent markers

What you need to do :
Using the hammer and the nail, punch two pencil-sized holes on opposite sides of the plastic soda bottle. Make sure you punch them, just before the curve of the bottle begins near the top. Push the wooden dowel through the holes to form a perch for the birds to sit while they eat from your feeder.

Next, punch two larger holes about 1 in half inches from the perch, just above where the birds will sit. Be sure and make these holes large enough for the birds to be able to pick out the bird seeds while they are eating, but not too large that the seed falls out.

Finally, Punch two to four more holes into the bottle of the soda bottle so you can be able to feed the twine through the holes and hang your feeder from a nearby tree. Once the holes in the bottom are made, feed the twine through. Kids can now help paint or use a permanent marker to place whatever they want to on the outside of the bottle. Once the paint is dry, place a small piece of duct tape over all the holes so you can feed the birdseed into the soda bottle through the top using the funnel. Once your birdseed is in, screw the top back on, flip upside down and hang your feeder outside and remove the duct tape.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Making more for the birds. Preparing nesting supplies for your local birds is such a simple process. All you need is a mesh cotton grocery bag and fill it with items such as shredded paper, fabric strips, cotton balls, feathers or batting. Dry grass or pine needles. Hang this in a spot that is out of the way of predators and is easy accessible to many birds.

Kids love art projects, so why not use items within your own home to help with the art project basket or tote. You can find thing lying around or that were once used for something else to add to that art project basket and here’s how:

• For Paintbrushes: Use clean roll-on deodorant sticks, old tooth brushes, sponges, old pencil erasers.

• For Canvases: Use newspaper, cardboard boxes or inserts, paper bags, old tarp pieces, left over wrapping paper, or even left over carpet remnants.

• For Templates: Use plastic containers or lids for circles, an old flip flop and cut out pieces and designs from the foam of the shoe bottom, jug lids, old leggos for squares and even square pieces of wood.

You can get creative with just about anything lying around your house, your garage or even in your yard. If you take a trip around and use a bit of imagination, anything can be use to paint with. And it’s fun to reuse items and show off how you reused them to others.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: If more people walked or biked to their two mile or less destinations there would be less need for foreign oils and less carbon emissions. But since many depend so much on their car there are other ways to help with this issue: Avoid idling in drive through lines, park and go inside instead of sitting and waiting in your car. Carpool whenever you can and take public transportation instead. If you cut just 20 miles out of driving a week you can save up to 1,000 lbs. of emissions a year.

Making your own recycled watering jug:

What you will need:
1. 1/2 gallon plastic jug, such as orange juice or milk jugs. Use a jug that has a sturdy handle so you child can easily hold the jug while using it.

2. Hammer and nail; to punch holes in the jug so the water can drain while using it.

4. Colored duct tape or paints (Use non-toxic, no-water-based paints for this project)

5. Small bucket (to collect water to use in the jug for watering the plants with)

What you need to do:

Using a hammer and nails to punch 10 to 15 holes about 1/4-inch apart in the upper corner of the jug on the opposite side of the handle of the jug. Cluster the holes just as you see in a purchased water can.

Kids can design the jug in anyway they want. You want to use water-proof sticker and or water-proof paints. If you use water-based paints, they will dissolve over time, so find some nontoxic paints that will withstand the use of water and your child using the jug.

The bucket can be placed in the shower to collect shower run off and your kids can use that extra water to water their plants with. Or go one step better and have them help you create a rain collection barrel. This will show kids the importance of saving water and also recycling old into something new.

Kids will love this jug project because it is something they made that they can use everyday on their own plants and/or garden plants.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Be smart about the toys your child plays with. Look for second hand toys at yard sales or second hand stores and the wooden toys with nontoxic finishes are the best for your child. Plastic toys aren’t so great all the time. Plus wooden toys last a lot longer than plastic ones do anyway so they are well worth your money and your health in the long run.

1. When it’s trade-in time opt for a hybrid or the new water ran vehicle.

2. Reuse your hotel towels.

3. Offset your travel with carbon credits.

4. Choose close-to-home adventures and cut your driving distance can save your big.

5. Travel by bus or train whenever possible. Air travel and driving long distance alone have very high carbon costs. Pubic transportation is almost always the most efficient way to go with traveling.

6. Rent a hybrid or a biodiesel car at your destination city or country.

7. Carry a fork and travel mug in your car and say no to the plastic utensils, disposable cups, and paper napkins.

8. Use the sun to help recharge your electronics when you can.

9. Borrow, rent or share sleeping bags or even a tent.

10. Use an efficient camp stove. Recycling used canisters also keeps your carbon costs lower.

11. Reuse the sip-lock baggies.

12. Buy foods in bulk and package it yourself in reusable, glass containers or the like.

13. Take a low-carbon vacation. A 4-0day backpacking trip saves over a golfing trip of the same duration.

14. Maintain and repair your things so as to replace less and less to go to the landfill.

15. Donate your used gear when it’s time to get something new or take on a new adventure.

16. Wipe with natural material such as snow, leaves, or even moss when out in nature.

17. Use a cotton bandana that can be rinsed and reused,. not baby wipes when you need to wipe something off of you or your child. They can even be used as napkins.

18. Replace your old gear with greener gear as it wears out. An old polyester fleece with a recycled poly or even one made from hemp or bamboo is a great start.

19. Use rechargeable lithium batteries instead of the throw away one-time-use standard AA or AAAs.

20. Give up on the gas-powered lanterns in favor of candle lanterns or an LED rechargeable lantern.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Wear leather hiking boots instead of synthetic ones when looking for hiking gear and apparel.

• Convince a friend or even a neighbor family to reduce their water usage.

• Ask your church or synagogue to convert to green power. Get your church to switch to renewable energy and improve their energy efficiency.

• Pick an initiative and lobby in your community. Recruiting just 500 people to recycle their newspapers every day would reduce the impact significantly.

• Support the bike lanes in every town, especially your own. As well as car pooling, mass transit, and green space, then get 50 people to commute by bike or even by bus.

• Volunteer on your community council or for an advocacy group to fight global warming. Conduct a campaign to convert 3,000 homes in your own town to changing to CFL light bulbs.

• Write letters to the editor and express your own opinion in community group meetings in support for action on climate change.

• Give away your old clothes, your household goods, and other items you don’t use to friends in need, neighbors in need and even charities. Post your unwanted goods on Free Cycle or even Craigslist.

• Organize a clothing swap with at least 10 other friends and save yourself and everyone involved some money in the long run.

• Ask your county dump to open a reuse center where you can bring items that another family could use that are in need.

• Plants trees in your community that are in need of a mother earth-touch. Start with your own yard and then venture out from there.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Turn your computer off when you are not using it. Even when in “energy saver” mode computers continue to use a lot of energy.

Biodegradable Seed-Starter Pots:

You will need:

• Scissors
• Empty Toilet Paper Rolls
• Potting Soil
• Seeds of Your Choice

Cut each roll in half and press them all flat as you can. Use a book or a brick to get them flat. It’s best to use recycled toilet paper rolls for this project, that way you already know they are environmentally friendly and haven’t been chemically altered with man-made ingredients. Next, make four, half-inch to three-quarter-inch slices on one end of each roll to create four equal-sized flaps. Open up the roll and fold in the four flaps on the tub that you just made, like a box-bottom. Fill the pot with the potting soil, and plan your seeds, and be sure to water gently or have another bowl or dish under the pot if you are having them inside. When the seeds have sprouted and are ready to go in the ground, either pull the plant straight out of the soil, or plant the “little pot” you have made directly into the ground. This a great project for kids and even for the entire family. There is no need for tape, glue or even rubber bands, which aren’t all made earth-friendly. These little pots can be used over and over again if you pull the seedling sprouts out of the little pots directly. You can experiment with different plant types to see which ones work best inside you little pots. I like to plant pumpkin seeds and squash seeds inside mine. Mainly because, their roots tend to grab the soil better and it’s easier to pull them out. With strawberry sprouts, I plant them directly into the soil inside the pot. Have fun with your kids and planting seeds and teaching kids how wonderful and great the world really is.

Bush’s recently approved economic stimulus package is supposed to help boost our economy that is slowly shrinking away, by returning funds back to the Americans who are cash-strapped. Bush assumes that all Americans who are going to receive their checks will turn around and spend it in the shopping malls and for purchases online as well. The federal debt is already at $9 trillion, will this little bit of return help our earth’s future? I have already heard so many people tell me how they already have their money ($600 or $1,200) spent. The earth is trying to heal while Americans are thinking, turn that money into a big screen TV or even something that will be thrown away when it’s time is done and used up.

Why not take that money and turn it around for the good instead of the bad? Here are some ideas to help you in the process.

• SRIs (Socially Responsible Investments): These are a way to invest financially in corporations that are legit as far as the environment is concerned such as:
1. Domini Social Investments
2. Pax World Mutual Funds
3. Calvert
All of these companies offer socially responsible mutual funds with companies that embrace fair labor practices, environmental preservation and human rights, to name a few.

• Green Century Funds, Portfolio 21 and the Sierra Club Stock Fund go the extra green mile with super strict eco-criteria for their mutual funds they offer the public.

• Village Banking, Accion, Grameen Foundation, and Kiva: These companies bolster a small business in the developing world through a micro loan. For a small investment, you can help third-world entrepreneurs escape poverty and improve their standards of living.

Here’s a timeline of when you might receive your money:

DIRECT DEPOSIT

Last two SSN digits: Payments will be transmitted no later than:
00 through 20 May 2
21 through 75 May 9
76 through 99 May 16

PAPER CHECK

Last two SSN digits: Payments will be mailed no later than:
00 through 09 May 16
10 through 18 May 23
19 through 25 May 30
26 through 38 June 6
39 through 51 June 13
52 through 63 June 20
64 through 75 June 27
76 through 87 July 4
88 through 99 July 11

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Cooking and baking with organic and natural products and food choices is a great way to avoid pesticides, and eating locally is a great way to keep the money in your own community and help the small-time farmers.

Repurpose your old headphones into mini speakers to take anywhere you go.

What you will need:

Pair of old headphones
2 Playing cards
Glue
2 Altoids Tins or tins that are like wise in shape with a hinged lid as such
Electrical Tape
Knife with a sharp blade, such as X-Acto®
Small Pin
An Awl or drill bit similar in size to a small awl
A Lighter
Wire Cutters

Now, What to do:

1. Dismantle the headphones and remove the speakers.

2. Use a pin to poke small holes into each of the two playing case, then glue the speakers you just dismantled to the back of each card. Be sure you line up the holes with the speaker, so the sound will come out the holes and not be blocked by the playing cards on top of it.

3. Use an awl to poke a hole in the back of each of the tins, it can be any size you want it to be, just make sure it’s large enough to fit the headphones wire through. Also make sure it’s not jagged either, or it will cut the wire after several uses. Once the hole is in the tins, thread the speaker wire through the holes you just made.

4. Reconnect the wires together by twisting them together and burning the plastic coating with a lighter. Make sure you burn it completely off. Then use the electrical tape and tape them together.

5. Place the foam padding from the headphones inside the Altoids tine first, open side up. The foam will help pad the speakers during play.

6. Trim the playing cards so they will fit inside the tines, place them on top of the foam and use glue if it is necessary. Then plug your headphones into your iPod or your CD player and let the good times role.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Buy or borrow pre-used moving boxes.