Archive | July, 2009

Our Everyday Stuff Freebies – August 2009

stuff_freebies_aug09

Please note, this competition is now closed to entry… YOU COULD HAVE WON a 7 inch “PanDigital” digital photo frame! Our family uses these all the time and it saves printing out photos (which saves trees), we just load our favorite photos and watch them scroll through! This digital frame normally retails for about $80.00 [...]

Read Full Article

Sustainable Organic Farming, its all in “On Good Land”

Sustainable Organic Farming, its all in “On Good Land”

As our family attempts to take steps to simplify our lives and help our planet, I wanted to read something that was relevant to organic food and a simply life. This book fits the bill. On Good Land, is an excellent book. You are drawn into the story of this small farm in the suburbs [...]

Read Full Article

Paper Energy and Recycled Material

America_Recycles_Day

I was just surfing on the net looking for random facts about the 3-R’s, (recycle, reuse, reduce), when I came across some information that I found to be amazing, at least to me. 1 ton of un-coated virgin (non-recycled) printing and office paper uses 24 trees 1 ton of 100% virgin (non-recycled) newsprint uses 12 [...]

Read Full Article

Green Truck? Maybe Just Green Thinking!

green_truck

The month of July has been a fight against my own conscience. My old truck had reached the point where I could buy a new truck that was much more affordable, lower monthly payments and have a new truck warranty. I started researching what type or car, truck or SUV I might want and my [...]

Read Full Article

Shopping Totes-Reuseable

reusable bags

We have been using reusable shopping bags since February of this year. It is amazing how few plastic bags we now have that we have to recycle. We use to get aroung 10 to 15 plastic bags a week, from our trips to the grocery store, drug store, shopping center etc. Now that we use [...]

Read Full Article

Why Waste Water?

half gas copy

On the news the other night there was a story about a drought ridden area in Texas where the wells had gone dry. Except for one family, everyone was having to truck water in just to exist. The one exception was a family that had installed a rainwater collection system. Even with little to no [...]

Read Full Article

A Greener Home Office

A Greener Home Office

Working from home gives me the opportunity to run a green office. I went to Staples to get paper the other day and took stock of all the recycled products I could get. I have been buying Staples 100% recycled copy paper for a while. It is 20lb, 90 bright, made from 100% recycled paper [...]

Read Full Article

Always Something to Learn When Your Eyes Are Opened

Always Something to Learn When Your Eyes Are Opened

How does a project that seems so simple and gratifying, end up making you feel guilty when your done? Well, when you start becoming environmentally conscious about what you do, then sometimes the end result can give you a different ending, as in my story. It has opened my eyes and given me yet another [...]

Read Full Article

Capture Wind and Solar Power on Your Bike

Capture Wind and Solar Power on Your Bike

My husband and I have taken quite a few bike rides in the fall and spring; cruising the many biking trails available in the area.  While riding we typically listen to our iPods, kind of a serenade along the trail.  Last time we were out, about 10 minutes into the ride, my iPod went dead. [...]

Read Full Article

Stahlbush Island Farm Vegetables

Stahlbush Island Farm Vegetables

While out grocery shopping this past weekend, I came across a great product. I bought a bag of Stahlbush Island Farms diced butternut squash. The brown paper packaging caught my eye with 100% Natural, Certified Sustainable Farming, Grown in the USA across the top. That was enough to make me buy and try the product. [...]

Read Full Article

Our Upgraded Cooling Systems

new_ac_finished2

Last week was not much fun in our home here in Texas. The week started with an unpleasant surprise, our upstairs air conditioning stopped working and the temperature upstairs quickly rose to about 90F (32C). Our air conditioning units are both covered by our home warranty so I quickly placed a service call and they [...]

Read Full Article

UrthBags, Beautiful Bags Reusable and Recycled

UrthBags, Beautiful Bags Reusable and Recycled

Inspiration for our articles comes from many different places and last week I found a great company that inspired me to logon and write; My inspiration came when I was “Googling” for recycled bags and purses, buried on the second page of my Google search was a name that just jumped out at me… UrthBags [...]

Read Full Article

Our Green and Baby Safe Travels

Our Green and Baby Safe Travels

This past weekend got me thinking about our plans to start a family and how we would travel with our new baby, or perhaps multiple babies, and I started day dreaming… How will we handle visits to the grocery store? What will it be like simply going out to the cinema? How will we possibly [...]

Read Full Article

Reach for Green… Green Works!

Green Works All Purpose Natural Cleaner

As we strive to live a more balanced, natural lifestyle and still keep a clean and healthy home, I started using Green Works cleaners from Clorox last week. I did not want any harsh chemical fumes or residues but I did want something that would clean. I bought the Natural glass and surface cleaner. In [...]

Read Full Article

Gray Water System Extraordinaire

grey_water_system_2

The picture below is not a gray water system gone wild. In the arid parts of Texas you sometimes hear people say, “It rained 17 inches in these parts last year and I was here the day it rained.” The picture was taken on “The Day.” Our gray water system at Luna Azul did a [...]

Read Full Article

Green Product Ratings Background Search

goodguide_ratings2

When I began writing this post, my original intention was to blog about a brand of soap which I had heard through the grapevine is good for humans and can also be used as a flea killer for dogs. In order to protect the manufacturer I will not be mentioning the soap by name. You [...]

Read Full Article

Home Compost Bin – A Self Assembled Solution

diy_composter_build_stages

Do you throw away old fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells, tea bags and coffee grounds? Our semi-vegetarian household goes through lots of fruit and vegetables and being from England I drink lots of tea! Our trash bags no longer contain anything that can be recycled, we make sure all our recyclables go into our [...]

Read Full Article

The Cost of Turning Green

More Green for Green

As we have continued on our quest to be a greener family, I have found that it is a little more expensive to be green.  I wrote a blog last week about the eco friendly evolve plastic sandwich bags by Ziploc . We purchased those at Walmart for about 1.97 for a 50-count box.  Store [...]

Read Full Article

Going Bananas

Going Bananas

I couldn’t believe it, I walked outside to take the dogs out and there was something different about my banana trees, well one of them. It had a bloom on it. A really big bloom! This is the second year for this plant in our side-yard. I did not know that they produced fruit so [...]

Read Full Article

The Yogurt Patch – A Tasty & Green Local Business!

yogurt_patch_toppings

We were recently invited by my wife’s parents, Sharen and Carter, to get fresh frozen yogurt from a local business they had been telling us about for weeks. We tagged along in hope of some delicious dessert and found much, much more! The “Yogurt Patch” sells a variety of low-fat, no-fat and no sugar added [...]

Read Full Article