Green Daily

If you're gardening for the first or 40th time this year, there may be some special variety of seed you are looking for that is proving difficult to find. After disappointing garden results last summer, I set out to find varieties recommended for my specific gardening region this year.

Some varieties have been easy to find and others have proved very elusive. I'm convinced that big box stores all over the country receive similar shipments of seed packets - generic varieties or those that might grow well in most (but not all) areas. Where to turn besides trying your luck with Google?

Mother Earth News. The magazine that has been promoting self-sufficient living since the 1970s has an expansive database of seed varieties offered from a large number of mail order companies. Just type in what you are looking for and you will get a list of where you can find it. You can also search for organic pest control products you might not be finding in your local garden center or nursery.

You'd better order those seeds soon though. Gardening season is beginning already in the South.

If you're battling some gray hairs, apparently, the humble potato can help you out. Kitchen Cosmetics has a long list of hair products that come from the pantry, but the first on the list of natural treatments for gray hair is potato peels.

According to the site, you simply boil the potato peels in water, strain, cool and use the water as an after shampoo rinse. Other possible solutions include sage or apple cider vinegar.

There are plenty of other suggestions for natural hair coloring and highlighting of other colors of hair as well as recipes for rinses, conditioners and more.

[Via Planet Green]

If you sometimes feel like you'd have to move to have a more eco-friendly home, check out the Nottingham Eco-Home. An old Victorian townhouse was retrofitted to be a super green home.

From a solar water heater panel on the roof, to a system for composting toilet waste in the basement the entire home has been changed out to make it all as energy-efficient and eco-friendly as possible. The CO2 emissions have been reduced by 18 1/2 tonnes! And the natural gas bill is only $30 (US) per year! Of course, the return on investment on all those changes will take quite awhile, but the project is inspiring.

Instead of going out and building a shiny, new LEED certified, eco-home, why not do the very best you can with what you already have?

[Via Treehugger]

Stanford Professor Byron Reeves wants to set up a new system that would reward World of Warcraft (or other games) players for saving electricity. Through a smart metering system, Reeves idea would be to give those conserving resources in their real life extra in game benefits and rewards.

Considering World of Warcraft has something like 11 million players all over the world, it could be a very beneficial program. Of course, all it makes me think of is some gamer, sitting in the dark, shivering because they want to get more points. You have to wonder if they might take those long, hot showers at the gym or take the laundry to Mom's house just to keep the points going up, in which case they aren't conserving more, they're just being more creative.

The spirit of competition can be a good thing though. At our house we compare each month's electric bills to the same month in previous years and count it a victory if it is significantly lower. It will be interesting to see if game developers go for the idea.

[Via PlanetSave]

While car and truck emissions hog most of the spotlight when it comes to media attention, homes and buildings are responsible for coughing up their share of nasty emissions -- especially when they're drawing power from a coal power plant. In an attempt to reduce home emissions, and electricity bills, consequently, the UK Department of Energy will offer 7 million households the opportunity to get a free eco-makeover, including free insulation.

More than one quarter of UK homes and apartments will be given the opportunity to get a weatherproofing update, thanks in part to £1 billion provided by power companies under their energy saving initiatives. As the updates are carried out, customers will be offered the chance to purchase solar panels, wood stoves and other carbon reducing equipment. The announcement was made after Australia announced that it would embark on a insulation spree, set to retrofit 2.2 million homes. Groups like Friends of the Earth have been pushing for a major EU eco-renovation for some time now to help achieve CO2 reduction targets. According to Friends of the Earth, 27% of UK emissions come from homes.

[via CleanTechnica]

My oven is currently kind of gross. There are some serious nasty bits in the bottom but I've been putting off cleaning it since my "normal" method of the past would be to open all the windows and spray on some oven cleaner, nasty stuff that it is. Now that I've become more environmentally minded and conscious of the chemicals around us every day, it doesn't seem like the best idea.

So, how do you get your oven clean without that nasty chemical spray? A hammer and chisel comes to mind, but, apparently baking soda, vinegar and soap work too. Of course, it will take a little more elbow grease but in the end, you'll still have a clean oven, and without that horrible chemical smell in your house.

There are many other recipes for natural oven cleaners out there. How do you get your oven clean?

My Valentine's Day won't involve a Valentine. But, I will be seeing a troupe of belly dancers perform with a group of friends. This Valentine's Day, celebrate yourself or your love with something good for you and the earth.

Soy candles, organic chocolate, local flowers, organic flowers, humanely, earth-friendly farmed diamonds are fabulous. But this Valentine's Day you might not have that sort of change lying around on the bureau. Never fear! Green Daily is here to save the day. Earlier this week we posted on a few ideas for the eco-friendly. These ideas are more geared to the light of cash, but rich in love types.

May I suggest a hike in the woods today with your sweetie? A single rose is just as lovely as a bundle. That and a thermos of cocoa or tea make a lovely Valentine's date; do it in the moonlight and you are set for romance. Do it with a friend instead if you're single.

Want to give a ring this Valentine's? Check out consignment stores and used shops for attractive jewelry gently used and less expensive. You can buy yourself one, believe me.

A music lover? Go old school. Put together a mix of mp3s or a CD of sexy songs to chill with. How can your partner resist Jeff Buckley's "Everybody Here Wants You" Bright Eyes's "This is the First Day of My Life" Shirley Horn's "My Funny Valentine" or Stevie Wonder's "I Love Every Little Thing About You." Throw in a little Etta James's "At Last" and you are set for an evening of fooling around. Check out your own music closet and rev up the stereo. I love doing this with or without a partner.

Looking for a bottle of something special? Try a local vineyard's sparkling wine. Some places even make prosecco locally.

Finally, look for events in town. Watching a play or seeing a gallery exhibit support your community and don't require more than a $20. Also, your local art museum may be hosting a party this evening. You may still be able to join.

Kids toys can be horribly expensive, poorly made and laden with nasty chemicals. That, and too many toys lead to a spoiled and bored child. When times are financially tough and another no-school day is upon us, a few eco-friendly, homemade toys come to mind. Not only are the toys fun, making the toys can be great fun for kids. My nieces and nephews can attest.

The Hovercraft: Take a CD you no longer want, and the top to a squirt-style plastic bottle (think dish soap or water bottle). Creative Kids at Home has a host of ideas for toys. In this one, you glue the squirt lid to the hole in the CD so no air can pass through, then blow up the balloon, place the untied mouth of the balloon over the opened squirt top and slide it along the floor. A hovercraft!

Gloppy Goo: This idea comes from Kid Concoctions, a book series and Website. Mix a little white glue with vegetable dye and water. In a separate bowl mix borax with water, pour bowl two into bowl one, then lift the first mix out of the second mix after a few minutes, and you've got child-friendly goo.

Kid Concoctions also has free, download-able pictures, games and toy ideas.

Penny Pendant: In honor of President's Day, Enchanted Learning has an idea to make a pendant or necklace that features Old Abe. Cut out a few paper stars (if you use regular paper you may need to reinforce it) and glue them together in whatever design you choose. Then glue the the penny Lincoln face up to the center of the star medley.

Log Cabin: DLTK's Growing Together has instructions for building your own log cabin from newspaper roles. A few other ways to build this include using pretzels and frosting, or brown paper bags.

In most respects, the mass adoption of recycling by the developed world can be held up as the one of the shining victories of the environmental movement in the 90's. There are few metro areas in the US where you aren't issued an iconic blue or green plastic box to put your aluminum, glass, or plastic in. Yet, there are lingering questions as to whether the process is actually producing the environmental gains promised. The answer is long complex, and varies from place to place and material to material.

Now that you are making your own laundry detergent (or at least using all natural products) and using dryer sachets to scent those clothes that go into the dryer, you need to know how to make some wool dryer balls to stop the static problem.

I certainly use my clothesline as much as possible, but sometimes, we need clean clothes on a rainy day and the dryer sees some action. And honestly, when I was in an apartment, clotheslines or drying clothes indoors would not have been practical overall. So, anyway, wool dryer balls are similar to doing something like putting tennis balls, or those blue plastic dryer balls in with your clothes. The balls help to fluff the laundry and reduce the static.

I am guessing you could lightly scent them with some essential oils, or, leave them plain. The result should be fluffy and relatively static free clothes. If you aren't into doing it yourself, there are many opportunities to purchase wool dryer balls on Etsy. They also might be fun to play with.

[Via TipNut]

Even if it is cold and wintery in many parts of the country, it is still time to start doing some planting for your spring and summer garden. Planting seeds now will give you a head start once it is time to put things int he ground and what better way to get started than to make your own seedling pots?

There are a few different options for making seedling pots. You can make little, mini newspaper pots for starting herbs and smaller plants. And if you don't like that tutorial, this also tells you how to make smaller newspaper pots without using any tape.

You can also make seedling pots from the cardboard tubes from toilet paper and paper towels. Of course, you've all given up paper towels, but, I'll bet you still have some toilet paper. This one takes a bit of advance planning though, as you need to have plenty of rolls ready to go already. You can double what you have by cutting the rolls in half as well. You might think about opening bottom flaps when you plant though so the roots have a better chance of pushing out into the garden.

You can also use those toilet paper tubes to grow carrots. This seems quite interesting to me because my carrots last year were too short due to our hard soil. This may end up being the use for my toilet paper tubes and I will use the drinking glass newspaper seedling pots for everything else. If you'd prefer square pots and don't mind some folding, these origami newspaper pots are pretty cool, and would be good for larger plants.

The beautiful packaging of the Altru home fragrance line will probably be the first thing that catches your eye. Intricate and ornate patterns in rich, tropical colors decorate striking round containers. And that's just the outside!

The soy candles are poured into beautiful hammered copper. The incense burner is a delicate star shape in a matching copper. And then there are the scents.

Dreamy names like harmony, integrity and remembrance translate into heady fragrances that include exotic flavors like persimmon, persian lilac, and italian rosemary.

The crowning moment is when you find out about the Altru's commitment to being socially responsible company. Proceeds from sales support In A Perfect World, an organization that helps children become compassionate, socially conscious and responsible.

Altru is one of those products that is beautiful on the outside, inside, and in what it does for the world!

As long as you aren't microwaving food in plastic containers, using your microwave can be an eco-friendly choice. Mainly because it is more efficient than your oven or stovetop in most cases.

The RiverWired blog makes some good points about why your microwave is eco-friendly. Items, in general, cook faster in the microwave which means you're going to use less electricity (if all your appliances are electric) for the job. Apparently, with the right phone calls, microwaves can be recycled.

As long as you reheat or cook food in safe containers, like glass, and you aren't using a really old microwave, everything should be good.

If you are new to gardening and trying to figure out what the heck you are supposed to be doing, this Spring Garden Guide from Little house in the Suburbs might help. It has a week by week plan for your spring garden.

After printing out the guide (on the backs of used paper is fine) you fold it up into a little booklet, figure out the last frost date for your area and go from there. Now, some of it is a bit late. Here in Texas, I'm about 5 weeks out from my last frost date, so those things I was supposed to plant indoors 12 weeks before... not working. This assumes you are using seeds though as far as I can tell, since I already have little sprouting onions ready to plant outdoors.

This would definitely be easier than the five subject notebook I lugged along garden shopping last weekend!

Are you planting a garden this year? Where are you finding the information you need?

If you're a wind power fan like me, you're probably thinking: oh great, here we go again. This is by no means the first time wind turbines have been blamed for a smattering of health problems, but the most recent outbreak of what is being called "wind turbine disease" sounds somewhat legit. According to the Japanese press, over 70 residents living near wind farms are complaining of ill health, which they believe stems from low frequency sounds emitted from the turbines.

The Okawa family, living only 350 meters (less than a quarter mile) from one turbine, reported symptoms like dizziness, numbness, and insomnia soon after the turbine was activated. To test their suspicions, they rented an apartment away from the turbines to sleep each night, where they say symptoms quickly dissipated. Acoustics experts tested their home and found that extremely low frequencies were present in the Okawa home, but reassured them that low frequencies weren't harmful. With so many complaints, the Japanese Environmental Ministry has stepped in to investigate the health effects of these vibrations.

[via CleanTechnica]