Vibrant Life

For this year’s homemade holiday project,  I made a garland from last year’s holiday cards. Instead of recycling them, I made them into a fun garland for the front door, where I could see scraps of loved ones’ handwriting through the season.

All I did was use my scrapbooking tools to cut circles and punch out the centers, ending up with three different sizes of circles to work with. Then I strung the different sizes onto leftover scraps of yarn from my knitting stash. I knotted the yarn, threaded some circles onto it, varying their sizes and colors as much as I could, then knotted it again and added more paper. It ended up being too long for our door, and here I was worried it would be short!

I like the end result, and think it’s a fine way to keep tidbits of the pretty holiday cards everyone sends for just a little while longer.

Last week I found this FURemover, a zippy brush that promises painless pet fur removal, for sale at my local Walmart for $4.99. I was skeptical. I’ve been promised results before. But, aware that my foot-long lint roller with sticky sheets made for pet hair removal was using 8-10 sheets on a single couch, I thought it was probably worth a try. I have three couches (well, two plus a loveseat), and several pet beds throughout the house that need a good once-over after a hot summer with two dogs and cat nesting in them.

Typically, I buy replacement rolls several times a year. My usual method is to vacuum each couch first, removing the easy, surface fur with the vacuum’s brush extension; then, I use the lint roller to nab embedded hair that needs extra prodding. I’m not a fan of spending $8 for a single bout of hair removal, so I crossed my fingers and bought the thing.

And this brush works. Truly. While it’s not a one-step solution, like the expensive lint-rolling stickers that grab the hair and bear it away with them, the slightly sticky fingers of this brush fluff the embedded pet hair up from your couch cushions and move it to the edge, where you then vacuum it up. Still very simple and I’m not throwing away dozens of expensive, hairy stickers on a quarterly basis. This works really well on car seats, where the upholstery sucks the hairs in for future release on formal wear only. Or so it seems.

If you’re a pet lover sharing space with several shedders, this brush will help you keep surfaces under control. Waste-free. It’s a nice discovery and, in my mind, a good stocking stuffer.

Finishing the landscaping around our house

The hubby and I wrapped up this year’s landscaping attempt with two half-price perennials from Home Depot. We’re excited to try Dipladenias, which can grow as large as you train them, in our xeriscape, drought-tolerant garden. Normally, we’ve purchased plants from High Country Gardens, where the site will let you know what grows best in your area and recommend different plantlife based on rainfall. High Country Gardens also has an edible plant category, so you can enjoy foliage two ways. We love buying rare bulbs and seedlings here.

But we’ve started to notice that the local stores (Ace Hardware, TruValues, and even Home Depot and Lowes) tend to sell plants that do well in native soil. I might be slow to realize this, but my nerves get the best of me when spending money on things I know little about — like Kansas plants. Research makes me feel better about purchases, and so I slowly came to realize that landscaping stores stock entirely based on environmental factors already. Then all I had to do was wait for the discounted fall pricing on perennials before snapping up a few things I’ve been eyeing all season.

I’m extremely excited for the beautiful plants will have growing next spring. Once my hardy purple salvies, double pink peonies and tulip-shaped dipladenias burst into flower, you’ll find me trolling garage sales for porch furniture to sit on while gazing at my florals all summer.

In the past month, I’ve been traveling — it is summer, after all — and reading a great deal, both on paper and online. I’ve stumbled across some dedicated environmental groups and thought I’d share my findings. If you’re looking for inspiration to start your own neighborhood project or just want to throw a few dollars at someone with a great idea, visit a link or two below.

Maybe you’ve heard of Kiva.org already. The idea is that Kiva allows members to directly loan money to entrepreneurs in developing countries through a local bank. Anyone can browse the applications, complete with a photo, and decide whether to send money to nearly any country for nearly every type of business imaginable. I’ve been a lender on Kiva for almost two years now and can honestly attest to its functionality with six fully repaid loans, plus more lending underway. Loans are a minimum of $25 and lenders receive statements regularly. When the money is repaid, you can lend it to someone else or have it returned to you. I don’t have much money to spare, but I’m empowering someone — with $25! — jumpstart a career that will build them a life. It’s an incredibly ambitious yet functional nonprofit that fills an important niche.

Learn more about Kiva — http://www.kiva.org/

Project H Designs funds a variety of international design projects that dynamically impact recipients’ lives. For example, their Hippo Roller system efficiently transports 22 gallons of water in a rotating barrel, making the lives of 75 families in Kgautswane, South Africa, a bit easier.

Learn more about Project H Design — http://projecthdesign.org/index.html

The California-based GRID Alternatives provides hands-on training in harnessing solar electricity and shares energy-efficient solutions to low-income neighborhoods, saving energy costs for developing communities, one family at a time.

Learn more about GRID Alternatives —http://www.gridalternatives.org/

People ask me where I bought my reusable bags. They really do, all the time. That is, those who are not annoyed and/or threatened by them. I’m not sure where I originally found Envirosax, but at the time they were a tiny Australian company exporting handfuls of bags to the US at very dear shipping prices. I bought myself a bag o’ sacks — it’s a real thing — and then dozens more for everyone on my shopping list that year. The thing is, they were adorable! Sweet, printed florals or bold, sweeping graphics gave each bag purse potential. While the company has bloomed, I, along with the original recipients of my holiday 2005 buying spree, still carry the bags from my first Envirosax order. That’s how durable they are, and mine have been sorely tested with everything from heavy canned goods to weekly farmers market runs. One bag has holes poked through the center after a loose artichoke prickled through two years ago and he’s still going strong, though I’m careful about the artichokes these days.

This year I supplemented my fraying, tired collection with two newbies from Envirosax. (Now that I live in the country, I need a few extra bags for stocking up.) Yes, there are plenty of other reusable bag manufacturers. But I like to adopt the second and maybe even fourteenth cousins of my current bags and think of them all giddily catching up on family business when I’m asleep.

If I think about how many plastic bags I’ve avoided by using these five bags on nearly every outing for the past four years, I’m proud of the tiny dent I’ve made. I’m down at least 1,040 bags, at five bags per week. Scoff if you must, but it’s more than a few bags.

When I moved to rural Kansas, I noted the eye rolling and heaving sighs as I unveiled the bags at the local grocery, at the farmers market, the antique store. It was downright embarrassing sometimes, actually, and often frustrating. But rather than think of myself as an emissary for world peace (which I am) and singing “have patience” under my breath, I carried my bags because I believe in them. They make a difference. I do love my bags — let’s be honest, we have a relationship at this point —, and they make a statement about me: I care.

There’s a war going on between my husband and I about the importance of paper towels. Occasionally, I’ll admit, it’s a relief that he wipes his grimy car-parts hands on the disposables rather than my fresh white linens. Even when he’s washed them three times, he leaves a gray trail of grease after he changes the car’s oil. Ew. I reach for them myself, too, after weeding the garden or planting a few things, using the edge to dig dirt from under my nails. And there’s nothing better for gross cleanups like pet mistakes — not using cloth for that!

While there many reasons I like to use paper towels, I realize it adds a bit of volume to my trash over the course of a year. I’ve done a few things to cut down on that without erasing paper towels entirely from my grocery list.

• Buy the half-size paper towels. For obvious reasons, these still get the job done and I can always get a second if it’s necessary.
• Hang a patterned, colored towel in the primary hand-washing sink. It’s more likely to be used, even when your hands might still have a little way to go toward clean, if it’s not white.
• Move the paper towels location. If you’re used to grabbing one because it’s close, try switching them to the other side. As it takes a second for you to process where they went, you’ll remember why you moved them and perhaps reach for a linen towel instead.
• Throw used disposables into your compost bin. Why not? They’re paper products, too.

If you have any ideas about reducing the use of paper towels, chime in!

I don’t know about you, but I’ve completely bought into the hype of teeth whitening. Several of those Crest kits have been used, plus specialty toothpastes and gels, plus a few of those mint-flavored ampoules — all to keep my pearly whites a radiant shade. As I pondered the latest solution, a $100 month-long kit with guaranteed results, I felt a mixture of inadequacy and stupidity. How white is white enough, anyway? How much money am I willing to spend on brightening my smile? Well, okay, a bit, actually. When I notice that all the other teeth in my photos make mine look yellow, I start up the shopping again. Hmmm. With a sigh, I replaced the kit on the shelf.

A few weeks later, I dredged up my observations to my sister, Allison, and our friend Myntha. Allison was sympathetic, saying she’d spent a bit of money on whitening recently as well. We discussed how the kits made our teeth feel — sort of scraped up and sensitive for a few weeks — and whether the benefits are worth the results. Yes, we agreed, knowing how shallow this makes us. Noting Myntha’s silence, I asked her what she used on her teeth, big glowing white teeth that they are. “Baking soda,” she replied. “It’s cheap and it works.” End of conversation.

I did not buy that $100 kit. I went directly home and put a tablespoon of baking soda in a small bowl. Each morning when I brush my teeth, I first wet the brush and quickly dip the bristles into the baking soda so that only a bit of the soda attaches itself. I brush my teeth lightly for 30 seconds, then rinse my mouth and toothbrush. Followed by a regular brushing with toothpaste, the salty baking soda taste doesn’t last. I noticed the difference within 3 days — no kidding! — and have been brushing this way ever since. With just two cents worth of baking soda, my teeth are now equally as white as they were after a Crest kit. Yes, Myntha, it’s cheap and it works.

Too much produce?

I’m produce crazy. Really, I am. I pick up a CSA delivery from the co-op on Mondays, then visit a Wednesday market in a neighboring town for bakery goods, followed immediately by a bike ride to our town’s market three blocks away. I am also growing loads of veggies, if I can keep the snails and slugs away long enough to form actual vegetation. My husband brings me eggs from a co-worker’s chickens, and I nab local milk and tofu at the co-op. There’s even a third market I visit once a month for fresh cheese, honey and any organic meat my husband requests. All in all, I’m feeling pretty lucky about my bountiful surroundings this summer.

“So,” my husband asked me over dinner, hesitating slightly, “what are you going to do when your CSA pickup turns into the same things you already grow?” He’s not a huge vegetable lover, so it’s an excusable question. He wants to know just how much salad and grilled squash medley he should plan on choking down. I needed a minute to regroup. “What do you mean,” I floundered, thinking it over while he rephrased. Time sped on and nothing came to mind. Finally, I had to admit: I have no idea what I’ll do with all of those vegetables.

After moving back to the midwest from Denver, where it was often difficult and expensive to find good produce, I was amazed to be invited to join a CSA — quickly and cheaply. I didn’t think it through. I don’t need it. Between my markets and co-op and neighbors and garden, I’ll have enough produce to feed us and can and freeze all that I can imagine using. Plus some.

My solution? For now, I’m trying to find someone to split my CSA box on a weekly basis. That will halve my issue, and I’ll still get some of the great things like mushrooms and berries that I don’t grow at home. What will I do when the box is partway full of zucchini and I’ve just picked 10 of my own? A table at the farmers market — loaded with zucchini cupcakes, zucchini bread, zucchini muffins, zucchini pie? — would suit me just fine.

Grrr. I admit it — I was angry. Walking along the gardens that flank my porch, I was aghast to see all my hard work transplanting seedlings and starters had been ravaged by pests. And large pests of the fuzzy bunny type chew straight down to the core. Squash, zucchini and cucumber were indistinguishable without leaves. Totally armless, stick figures of tomatoes, eggplant and pepper waved in the wind. I had to start again, losing weeks from my growing season. What could I do to keep the rabbits from eating my second efforts?

According to the The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food” by Tanya L. K. Denckla, rabbits can be repelled with environmentally-friendly methods. The list included several easy fixes. I started by sprinkling a border of mixed cayenne pepper and garlic powders around fixed beds, followed by a growing screen constructed out of leftover window supplies. For transplants like zucchini that have a wide berth, I used an overturned colander for PM protection. As an added measure I lined the edges of my garden — and possible entry points — with dog poop. I know, gross. But it’s free and I have a vast supply. We’ve gotten a neighborly tip about urinating around the edge, but that seems excessive.

So far, so good. The bunnies have new munching grounds, and my little plants are safely thriving.

It’s planting time in Kansas! Okay, so it’s been planting time for a while, but I don’t have my own tiller. I had to wait out a few rainy weeks before my parents could bring theirs across from Missouri and dig up my patch. (Thanks, Mom and Dad!) I’d already started seeds indoors using egg crates (pictured). I still have plenty of things to start from scratch, but the lettuces, radishes and carrots will take no time to sprout.

It’s been really exciting to nab a few new seeds from my favorite place on the web, Seeds of Change. Among other things, this year I am trying scallopini squash, yellow watermelon, finger-sized eggplants and several varieties of colorful lettuces. We have two foundling blueberry bushes straddling the front steps, and a row of kale and cabbages growing hardily alongside the house. I’m also starting a mini garden on our screened back porch, growing a few container herbs and tomatoes to ward off a complete loss from unexpected hail or storms.

I’m looking for ideas on ways to make a pretty border around mine, keeping the dogs and wildlife out without restricting easy access. I’m thinking of a taller, latticed fence, then a small bricked, trough around the edges lined with strawberries or other perennials.

Do you have pictures of your garden to share? I’d love to see it. Post a link to your blog or hosted picture in the comments.