This month Rebecca and I are focusing on reducing household consumption and waste. As we’ve both shared, we’re probably considered tree hugging hippies by many, but our thrifty, green fervor has slacked off a bit over the years. Even though I no longer hang out every load of laundry, I have to say that giving up composting altogether wasn’t an option. I simply couldn’t dump moldy melon rinds into the trash without chest pain caused by eco-guilt. Plus, since we’ve had kids our household production of half eaten macaroni, expired yogurt, and soggy grapes has drastically increased.

So why did I want to stop composting?

1. Often there were dairy products, eggs or meats mixed with food waste, which meant it couldn’t be composted.
2. Our compost bin is a huge distance from our kitchen.
3. We were constantly besieged with clouds of fruit flies.
4. MICE! Lots of them, who happily nested in the bin while food was delivered to them on a daily basis.

The last factor eventually grossed me out so much that I began researching another solution. Bokashi Bins have been fantastic and greatly lessened our overall family garbage. (And fruit flies, and mice, and the trek to the compost bin!)

You can read my post written nearly three years ago entitled, Do Bokashi Bins Work?, to find out more. But also, stay tuned to my series of upcoming posts on how to start your own bokashi system, how to build your own bins, and how to rapidly change table scraps into rich soil.

Despite the fact that my eco-nomical efforts may have slacked in some areas, I feel like bokashi composting is a huge victory that actually makes my life a tad bit easier. Do you use Bokashi? Have you ever even heard of it?

Summer doesn’t really get started in the Pacific Northwest until after the 4^th of July; that’s what they say, anyway. As a result, I don’t usually water my garden until the first week in July when the rain dries up and the temperatures rise. After experimenting with various methods for a few years, I finally buckled down and bought two products (keep in mind that I hate pouring money into my garden when it’s supposed to be saving me money!): two soaker hoses and a simple electronic garden timer.


With the hoses wound around my plants and the garden timer, my vegetables receive the same amount of water every day. This seems to keep them happy. If you want to water every other day or on some other schedule, you’ll need a digital garden timer. Ed (as I like to call him) from The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible says that we can improve upon the way nature waters plants by directing the water right to the roots. This helps ward away mold, bugs, and disease—and of course it also saves quite a bit of water.

What I like the best about this system is that—once I’ve set everything up—I don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the summer. If we go away for a trip, my garden still gets its daily dose of water.

How do you water your garden to conserve water and—another precious resource—your own time?

I have a new garden experiment this year: DIY garden cloches. Here in the Pacific Northwest, our gardens endure cool temperatures and abundant rainfall until mid-July. To keep my young starts warm and slugproof, I’m protecting them with homemade cloches made from recycled soda bottles. Sure, the traditional glass domes over tender green plants add sparkle and class to a garden bed—but my DIY interpretations do the job and feature a nice little air vent at the top.

Chateau cloches $77.89, set of 2. Real glass cloches for a classy veggie patch.

A DIY cloche made from a recycled plastic bottle

How can you construct this wonder dome for your own crops? Simply cut the bottom off of a clear plastic liter or gallon bottle. Leave the top open for ventilation, and place over the plants. So far I haven’t done much to keep them in place—I’ve sort of propped mine up with old leaves.  I found some more cloche-making ideas online:

• Make a DIY cloche out of recycled CD cases
• Build a portable cloche that fits over an entire garden bed
• Make a cloche for seedlings out of recycled hanging baskets and film glaze. Reproduce that Victorian look!

Not up for a craft project? These large garden cloche plant covers (3 for $26.97) have pegs for securing to the ground as well as air vents.

And this kitchen garden cloche is $93—it’s like a clear plant tent, which can cover a sizable chunk of a garden bed.

After all this excitement over my DIY cloches, I still don’t know if they are going to do any good. Stay tuned for updates as the gardening season progresses!

Spring is here! Around my neighborhood I’m already seeing foot-high leeks, kale, and chard popping out of garden boxes. Meanwhile, my vegetable patch remains covered in a layer of last fall’s leaves. If you have any tips for early gardening, I’m all ears. Is it worth throwing some seeds out in the mud this early in the year?

Today I’m turning to all of you in an online opinion poll to help my family make a major life decision: Should we move to a bigger house?

I know you’re all up to your elbows in mistletoe and holiday cards, but we’re in the midst of a major transition and I love getting advice from wise readers.

You may remember my proud posts on the budgetary and environmental benefits of small homes.  We have been quite happy in our thousand square foot house for several years and the income from the small studio apartment we rent out back makes it even better.  Here’s a summary of why we should keep living in our small home:

1. Constant Togetherness.  It’s nice to be within sight of each other almost all the time.  No one can retreat into his or her own world because our domain is mutual.  There’s no need for a baby monitor here!  (Our house isn’t really as small as this photo, but it can feel that way at times.)
2. Limit on Acquired Stuff. We don’t have to maintain piles of possessions simply because we don’t have the room.  If something new is going to come in, another object simply has to be removed.
3. Lower Energy Consumption. We have less space to heat, thus giving us lower utility bills and a lighter carbon footprint.

I could go on, but you get the gist!  We have a good gig here.  So why do we want to shift to a bigger home?  Again, the list:

1. One Bathroom, Four People. This isn’t usually a problem, but a recent bout of communal stomach flu was pretty miserable with just one latrine.  I imagine this will get tougher when the kids get older too.
2. No Space for Visitors. Kid gatherings are tricky in our home. Overnight guests have to camp out on the floor and be climbed upon by our children at 6am.  We won’t be living in the mansion pictured here, but it might just feel that way at first!
3. Excellent Financial Timing. Interest rates are low, prices are low, we have savings set aside, and we’d be keeping this house as a rental. (Our goal will be a house close to shopping and work that is between 1600-1800 square feet.)

If you’ve managed to live in a small space as a family (perhaps even tinier than our house) for years and enjoyed it, please comment!  If you live in a large house, did you enjoy having the extra space or was it tougher to maintain? You could just be the one who tips our decision one way or another!

Update! Since I’ve written this post we’ve found an 1800 square foot home with a rainwater catchment system, organic garden beds, and a water saving toilet.  We may just be in love!  We’ll keep you posted on the progress, and in the meantime, we need your advice!

It’s October—and now my garden has decided to go crazy with zucchini? I have just one zucchini plant, but I’ve been harvesting one to three zucchini a day for the past few days. What are your favorite zucchini recipes? Have you had success grating and freezing summer squash? (And then how do you make use of your frozen zucchini during the year?)

To make this post somewhat more relevant to the Green Baby Guide, I will share my tip for turning zucchini into baby food: simply grate it and cook it up with ground-up oats or some other baby cereal. My daughter loved this as a baby. Unfortunately her love of vegetables has turned to hate over the years . . . but that’s another post for another day.

Please help me out with your favorite ways to use zucchini!

My summer garden is a complete failure, except for a handful of cherry tomatoes, one strawberry, and a few tragically small leeks.  Should I even consider winter gardening?  Although my backyard farming skills are novice at best, it makes me feel better to know that we’re all struggling with low yields this year due to cooler temperatures.  Is winter gardening worth the effort?  Please inspire me with your wisdom!  (Or save me the trouble of even trying…)

One money-saving eco-tip I hear over and over again is grow your own food. Ever since I had a plot of land to call my own, I’ve tended a small veggie patch. Some summers my gardens flop, sometimes they take over the back yard—but even on my Year of Abundant Tomatoes, I doubt my homegrown efforts offset my expenses.

Last year’s tomatoes

Now, the good thing is, I am not doing it purely for economic reasons: I enjoy gardening as a hobby, and I like to dart outside to pull a scallion out of the ground or pluck a few basil leaves to garnish that tender homegrown zucchini. And of course it’s great knowing exactly where my food comes from.

So let’s take a look at my last two summers of gardening. Last year I spent over $200 on gardening supplies because we decided to make raised beds and fill them with new four-way soil. I also bought some soaker hoses, seeds, and starts. All of that yielded a great crop of tomatoes and basil—I’d estimate about $40-60 dollars’ worth. The carrots and lettuce flopped.

This year I needed to lay down a lot less cash, but I still spent about $40 on various plant starts, some of which were immediately devoured by slugs. We had a really rainy spring and I didn’t even attempt planting anything from seed. And now it’s August and—due the aforementioned rainy spring and consistent cool temperatures—I’ve yet to harvest a thing!

I know Joy is an expert in acquiring free gardening supplies, which would be a great start to making gardening pay off. Do you feel like you not only break even but actually save money with your gardening efforts? What are the secrets to your success?

A while ago I asked, “Why don’t you use cloth diapers?” The responses were so varied and interesting that I decided to make a new series of “Why don’t you” questions. No judgment!

Today’s question is, why don’t you garden organically? Do you find yourself drawn to chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides? Maybe you do it because your parents did it that way. Maybe you get hit by horrible insect infestations or your grass withers up and dies without a regular injection of chemicals. Or . . . what?

With my husband being a stay at home dad last year, our income took a dip and we vowed to cut back.  We carefully recorded all our expenses and tried to spend less.  And we did in many ways, but not at the grocery store.  We went to one budget store for dry goods and hit another one for organic produce and healthier foods.

We felt great about our choices until we recently checked our overall grocery spending.  It had skyrocketed to nearly as much as our mortgage payment!  (I must confess that we have a really low mortgage payment, but still!)

Now that I’m the one at home, our income has dipped even further and I’m in charge of trying to cut back expenses.  The grocery bill is our biggest monthly cost, and I’m eager to bring it down, but I don’t want to give up on organics.  So far I’m trying to offset the cost of organics by couponing a bit more and checking out Grocery Outlet for organic deals.  We’ll also be eating a lot from our garden this summer and picking local fruit, but I hope that I can figure it out without feeling like I’m sacrificing my ideals.  We don’t need processed foods now that I have more time to cook, but somehow just produce, dried beans, and basic canned goods add up to quite a lot!

I have to confess that if the choice was between giving up organic foods to allow me to stay home with the kids and working to pay the grocery bill, it would be pretty clear to me that being at home was my priority.  Surely things aren’t this black and white if I continue to pursue gardening and try to pick local produce.  Right?  Please provide inspiration!