Green Daily

Now that you cleaned up your dishwasher, it's time to tackle the fridge. In the past, I'd use some type of spray cleaner or bleach and wipe everything down but this year, I'm going a bit more natural thanks to some tips from Eco Localizer.

You're going to need white vinegar, baking soda, some rags and your vacuum cleaner with hose attachment. First things first, you're going to want to pull everything out of the fridge so you can clean shelves and drawers easily. Make sure you throw stuff that needs to be kept cold into a cooler.

Then, start with the traditional, pull the fridge away from the wall, unplug it and vacuum the coils on the back. This is a good way to gain back some efficiency in your fridge. Once that is done, it's on to the scrubbing.

Using your vinegar you want to spritz down and clean all the surfaces in the fridge. If you come across a particularly gunky bit, use a paste of baking soda and water to get some extra scrubbing power.

Once everything is clean, make sure you wipe it down well to get rid of extra moisture and start adding things back into the fridge. Check expiration dates and make sure to toss out things that have been sitting around for too long.

Step back and enjoy your sparkling clean, nicely organized fridge.

After finally getting rain barrels installed at home and capturing 110 gallons of water for my garden after only 1/2 inch of rain, I got a little giddy at the possibilities.

And then I stumbled onto this post on Sustainablog about creating a water neutral home. I'm guessing that living in Texas, and having a vegetable garden, I'm not going to be able to be completely water neutral but, I could certainly work on ideas to use a lot less.

First of all, a decent sized rain harvesting system is needed. You can use that water for watering gardens and even for things like flushing toilets (if you can figure out a good system). You can't use it untreated for drinking water though.

You would also need to make sure you have low flow shower heads, faucet aerators and low flow toilets. The dishwasher and the washing machine would need to be really efficient as well.

A final water saving measure would be to set up a system that uses household greywater - that from sinks, washing machine, etc. and reuses it for things like flushing the toilet. We have a greywater sprinkler system on a portion of the lawn, which takes that water, filters it and sends it out through sprinklers. But, we can't plant any edible plants in the range of those sprinklers.

Becoming water neutral definitely takes time and ingenuity, but it could be a very worthwhile project.

If you're hopping on the bandwagon and planning a garden this year - or even if you've been at it for awhile - you might want to check out Tomato Casual.

The site is jam packed with information about planting and caring for tomatoes, tips on choosing varieties to plant and even ideas on preserving your bountiful tomato harvest. I found some great ideas for drying tomatoes and ideas about some heirloom tomato varieties to try.

If you want to know about more than tomatoes, check out Urban Garden Casual which covers all aspects of urban gardening.

Now that spring is here and summer will be coming soon, it is time to think about fleas if you have pets. It is definitely good to have a plan and work on preventing fleas rather than trying to get rid of them once they are on your dog and in your house - trust me.

I learned a few things about flea control when I got my dog in November. She came with a really bad case of fleas and it took time and dedication to get rid of them.

Fleas don't like pets that taste bad. You can give your pet garlic tablets (made for them, not the human ones) or, garlic and brewer's yeast tablets. My dog gobbles them up and they are relatively inexpensive at the pet store or Walmart. You can also give your pet some apple cider vinegar inside and outside. I spritz a little on my dog's dry food each evening and she doesn't seem to mind at all. And when she is spending a lot of time outside I spritz some on her coast and brush it in - that one isn't so popular with her though!

If you frequently brush your pet you can keep fleas at bay and if your pet does pick some up, you will know about it before it gets out of control.

And here's a simple solution if you do end up with some fleas. Fleas don't like to take a bath. A simple bath with soap and water - not even flea shampoo - will kill off the majority of fleas that you have. And if they have invaded the house sprinkle boric acid on the carpets and let it sit overnight, then vacuum it up. That should rid you of most of them.

You can get rid of fleas naturally. It just takes some patience.

[Via EcoSalon]

If you are harvesting rain water in barrels or another system, are you sure the rain belongs to you? I was surprised to read on the Eco Localizer blog that in some states, it does not.

For homeowners in Utah, Colorado and Washington it is actually illegal to collect rainwater in barrels. There is some work going on to change the laws and overall, it sounds like someone with a rain barrel or two at home is not going to encounter any resistance.

I think what surprises me the most is that Colorado and Washington are usually pretty green friendly places to live. Seattle does have a local rule that overrules the state law against rain barrels so that is encouraging. I never thought anything about the rain barrels we put up at home. But if you haven't put any up yet, it might be worthwhile to check your local rules and regulations.

There are lots of interesting innovations in packaging and shipping being made to help make the consumer goods we all buy a bit more eco-friendly. What about using sailboat power for delivering products?

One company in France and one in Napa, California are using sailboats, specifically large, three-masted schooners, to deliver wine to nearby areas. And in the Seattle area, a company is using sail power to deliver CSA shares and is hoping to partner with other organizations for delivery.

I can't see fleets of schooners plying the waters from China to the US or even from Europe to the US for the most part. But for local coastal deliveries it's a pretty cool concept. I wonder if UPS will be considering horses next?

[Via Crunchy Chicken, Eco Worldly]

I have an older dishwasher and I am fighting a battle to keep it running in good condition until I can go buy a nice, eco-friendly, energy efficient model. If you are on a quest for sparkling dishes too, some of these tips might be helpful.

First, we considered having a repair man in for a check up on the dishwasher. We were getting lots of little food particles sprayed everywhere. Then, before we called the repair man we put boiling hot water and baking soda down the kitchen drain adjacent to the dishwasher and cleaned out the bottle of the dishwasher really well. There was much improvement.

Other options to consider would be getting and old toothbrush and some white vinegar and scrubbing areas like the door seal and all the little nooks and crannies at the bottom. You can also wipe down the inside with white vinegar to combat staining and gunky build-up.

You can also run a high heat cycle with a cup or bowl of white vinegar in the top rack (no dishes, just the vinegar) to help get rid of any more gunk you couldn't get with the toothbrush.

If you're trying to make your dishwasher last longer until you can afford a sparkling high efficiency model, a good green cleaning might drastically improve your performance. Try it and see!

If you end up with plastic bottles at home or at the office, save some up for these automatic plant watering bottles.

I am always looking for a way to keep the garden watered with limited time spent on my behalf, and, a way to make sure the garden has plenty of water if I go away for the weekend or something. So, I was really excited when I found a way to make plant waterers from leftover plastic bottles on Instructables.

All you need are a few plastic bottles - two per waterer, a drill, some glue and some scissors. It is seriously simple to put together and it seems like it would work pretty well. I am tempted to try this in some areas of my garden and see what happens.

If you have eliminated plastic bottles from your home, nice job! Ask the neighbors for theirs or keep an eye out at the office. You might be able to find enough to make this work.

If you have a can of Campbell's Soup in your pantry, you could get a packet of free tomato seeds. The program, called Help Grow Your Soup is offering a limited number of seed packets in exchange for the code on the bottom of a soup can.

The program lasts until June 21 or whenever supplies run out. You probably won't get your seeds in time to plant them this year, but you can store them until next year without a problem. If you haven't grown tomatoes from seed before, the site has a lot of useful tomato planting tips.

The program will also donate seeds to local FFA chapters for each click on the website and each seed packet ordered. So, get some seeds, help out some kids and Help Grow Your Soup!

[Via Good 'n Planty]

Apparently, First Lady Michelle Obama is listening to all the people practically begging for an organic garden at the White House. She spoke to Oprah for the April edition of O Magazine about the project and ABC News is also reporting that a garden is coming. The New York Times has also written it up.

The First Lady hopes that the White House garden will encourage Americans to eat more healthy, fresh foods:

"We want to use it as a point of education, to talk about health and how delicious it is to eat fresh food, and how you can take that food and make it part of a healthy diet. You know, the tomato that's from your garden tastes very different from one that isn't. And peas - what is it like to eat peas in season? So we want the White House to be a place of education and awareness. And hopefully kids will be interested because there are kids living here." From O Magazine

I'm sure it will provide lots of good photo ops for the Obamas', but I also hope it will encourage other Americans to plant their own gardens. It worked for Eleanor Roosevelt in 1943!

[Via Sustainablog]

There are hundreds of tips out there for reducing the amount of water that you use on a daily basis. Get low flow toilets and shower heads, take shorter showers, get Energy Star rated dishwashers and washing machines, the list goes on and on.

What if you could just look at a nice picture to get some good ideas? As a former teacher I know some of you are more visual learners, so you need to check out this chart from Good Magazine. Not only does it mention low flow shower heads but it gives the indirect water usage that some things require.

For example, if i switch from drinking coffee every morning to drinking tea, I could save 28 gallons of water that are used in the production of my beverage. It won't reduce my water bill like the low flow shower head but it might help save some water in another country.

Check it out and see what kinds of changes you can make.

[Via Lifehacker]

Earth Hour 2009 is gaining even more momentum. Organized by the World Wildlife Fund the hour when people will turn off the lights on March 28 is gaining some serious support.

You've already read about some cities willing to darken their skylines and celebrities like Alanis Morrisette and the hosts of What Not To Wear pledging to participate but now a slew of famous landmarks are on board as well.

The Coca-Cola digital billboard in Times Square, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Las Vegas Strip including major casinos the Luxor, Cesar's Palace and The Stratosphere will all turn the lights off on March 28.

Santa Monica Pier, including the Ferris wheel will go dark in L.A. as will the Capitol Records Building and Pinks Hot Dog stand. The Sears Tower and the entire Chicago skyline have pledged to go dark.

Internationally, the Eiffel tower and Notre Dame Cathedral in France will turn off the lights, the Sydney Opera House, the London Eye, Niagara Falls, Hong Kong's Symphony of Lights and Stockholm Castle will all be dark as well.

The list gets longer every day. Will you be turning off your lights (and other electricity using devices like your TV) for an hour starting at 8:30 p.m. local time on March 28?

This is my own, non-scientific opinion, but I think brewing your own beer can be eco-friendly. Let's think about the process.

You can collect glass beer bottles at home and from friends, or even pick up a few at the recycling center, sterilize them and reuse them over and over, getting much more than just one use from them before they are recycled.

Beer, like wine, in glass bottles, is heavy and is transported across the country and around the world on a regular basis. If you make it at home, it is transported from the fridge to the couch - not a very big carbon footprint there!

If you really get into it, you can grow some of your own hops and grain to produce your beer, making it even more eco-friendly since the ingredients are being produced very locally.

So, it seems like making beer at home could be a relatively eco-friendly option. Even if you regularly buy beer in cans, you are still saving the transportation miles involved in shopping those cans all over the place.

There a nice beer-making tutorial over at The Simple Dollar that shows how home-brewing can be very cost effective as well. So, start collecting those beer bottles and look for some beer recipes.

If you are a wine lover and on a quest to be eco-friendly, you may have tried boxed wines, organic wines and local wines. How about wine from a LEED certified winery?

Cade Winery is working to be the first LEED Gold certified winery in Napa Valley and they are doing all sorts of things to get there. The buildings of the winery feature natural ventilation, there is a plug-in for electric cars, and bike racks and even a shower for cyclists who come for a tasting. The winery is also dedicated to keeping a portion of the land in a land trust so that there will be open space as part of the land usage.

Hopefully the wine is tasty and it will be a perfect option for a green wine.

[Via Green Building Elements]

Wondering what to do with pet food bags, caulking tubes and used paintbrushes? Terracycle wants you to recycle them. The company will be adding recycling bins to Home Depot and Petco locations to collect all sorts of things you didn't think you could recycle.

Home Depot locations will be talking saw blades, nursery pots, furnace filters and paint brushes. The items will be recycled into clocks, sturdier nursery pots and other items.

Petco stores will have bins to accept pet food bags which will be made into tote bags. The bins should be in place nationwide by the middle of 2010.

It is nice to know that there are companies out there that are trying to figure out what to do with some of our previously unrecyclable items. I just hope that Terracycle will be able to find a market for all those pet food tote bags so they can keep collecting!

[Via The Inspired Economist]