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Posts Tagged ‘diy’

The dirt on red wigglers [Supplement to Episode 4]

Posted in tv episodes, tagged , , , , , , on April 29, 2009| 2 Comments »

The wigglettes!

Hey gang! Here’s a bit more information about the worm bins we created in the last episode. So now you have NO excuse not to start one. 🙂

  • First, make sure you get red wigglers for your bin. They like working in close quarters. Earthworms are just the opposite. They hate being confined and are much better out in the wide open spaces.
  • Next, our dear little babies don’t like light; that is why we painted the drawers black. To keep it dark. Even though they have no eyes they are light sensitive. Too much light exposure paralyzes them and they dry up and die in less than an hour. Then you cry. Then you have a little wake, with music and a nice glass of wine…. Anyway, keep the bin in a shady cool spot with good air circulation.
  • Now, make sure they have enough “bedding”, i.e. wet newspapers. No glossy or fancy paper. Keep it simple. They will eventually digest all the bedding into compost also.
  • Tip: The ratio is 2:1. Two pounds of food for every pound of worms. There are about 1000 worms in a pound. One pound of worms can eat 2 pounds of food in a day. Yes, that’s a LOT of kitchen scraps!
  • Finally, don’t give them any moldy or spoiled food or the bin will start to smell and attract flies. Keep it fresh. And remember no meat, dairy or citrus. They are picky eaters in that respect and will just high tail it out of there.

If you want to make worm tea or wrangle give a holler. We got people and places for you to go to learn more. Tell us how you are doing, too. We’d love to hear how well (or not) it’s going!

I wrangled for the first time about a month ago. Because it’s more precious than gold, I used the worm tea for my favorite plants and I started some tomatoes with the compost. It is, without a doubt, the BEST, MOST COMPLETE compost you can find. And you can grow  your own!

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Episode 4!

Posted in tv episodes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 25, 2009| 3 Comments »

All right, gang, we’re back with another jam-packed episode!

One of our goals has been to make this into a collaborative effort, and it continues move in that direction. Jeff Jensen, my friend from High School (that place I went to nearly 20 years ago!) sent me some music to include in this episode, and I’m thrilled to add him to our growing collection of great artists. (Now if only I could get Fear Factory. What, not the right tone? Okay, fine.)

It’s also really cool to see the progress we’ve made on both the filming and editing front. We’re actually improving. Although we can only improve so much with me in front of the camera….

This episode sees us doing a little catch-up to get on schedule with the seasons: we pack the summer garden tearout in with the what I call a “winter garden medley”—photos of the garden as it grows over three months. Now our filming schedule will only be a month off instead of six….

We also take a trip to Mt. Olive where I learn a LOT about organic farming, and, inspired by their worm bins (200 tons of compost?! Seriously?!), I set out to build my own.

Join us! And let us know what you think!

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Summer garden planted!

Posted in organic gardening, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 21, 2009| 2 Comments »

And what a beautiful weekend it was for shooting scenes and planting veggies!

First, we prepped:

  • We soaked the beds thoroughly
  • I tilled to loosen the dense loam
  • We sprayed worm “tea” (read: poop) on the soil and then tilled it under

Then we planted:

Lots o' bounty!

As you can see, the right-hand bed still has some hangers-on from the winter planting. We’re going to make the plants in this bed multi-seasonal.

The mound in the middle is comprised of a) my failed composting efforts and b) my successful (though unintentional) greenhouse efforts: the little cantaloupes had started in the “compost” so I just transplanted them to the mound. I’m a genius (also unintentional).

potatoes-day-1

Finally, we planted some potatoes, some already started—again, from my composter-turned-greenhouse.

Now we water, we weed, and we wait for the sweet, sweet rewards!

How about you? Have you planted your summer garden?

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Habitat For Humanity Wins Inaugural Green Business Award! San Luis Obispo County Green Award 2008

Posted in shelter, tagged , , , , , , on April 17, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Habitat For Humanity Wins The Green Business Award!
San Luis Obispo County Green Award 2008

This is a great place to shop. I got a 12 foot metal pole for our clothesline for $4.30! Bathroom fixtures, lighting fixtures, paint, tools, hardware, nuts, bolts, screws, tile…oh my!

Even kitchen sinks.

Very helpful, friendly volunteers, and even customers, seem glad to help a damsel in distress, which would be me. I am trying to put together an outside antenna contraption and don’t know what the heck I am doing. So, if you are in the market for a project and need some materials I would give the ReStore a look see. I like to know where my money is going and this sure makes me feel good when I spend it here: all the proceeds go to building green Habitat for Humanity houses.  They provide a great service to our community and, well, look they won the Green Business Award for goodness sakes. The press release is below (with links from lil’ ol’ me).

Habitat for Humanity is one of six businesses to win the Green Business Award from the Sustainability & Resources Committee of the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce, for the environmental benefits of our ReStores located in San Luis Obispo and in Templeton.

Criteria for selecting award finalists include long-term environmental benefits, project transferability, environmental leadership, creativity and other considerations. Members of the Green Awards Committee include individuals from the City of San Luis Obispo, SLO Air Pollution Control District, Ride-On, SLO Regional Rideshare, SLO County Agricultural Commission, The Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo County, Integrated Waste Management Authority and SLO Chamber of Commerce.

‘We are truly honored to win this years Green Award,’ states Penny Rappa, Executive Director of Habitat. ReStores help the environment by reducing the amount of usable building materials dumped into our local landfill. ‘Since the opening of the Templeton ReStore in January of 2005, and San Luis Obispo ReStore in October 2007, we estimate over two tons of materials have been diverted from the local landfills annually,’ states Rappa.

Habitat for Humanity ReStores are building material thrift stores, receiving and selling new and used building items. ReStores provide an opportunity for the public to donate building materials and to buy quality building materials at very low costs. Doors, windows, cabinets, sinks, light fixtures and other building supplies are given a second life. All proceeds from the ReStores are then used to build new Habitat homes in San Luis Obispo County.

Habitat of San Luis Obispo is in the process of completing four homes within the City of Atascadero, with a home dedication planned for December 13, 2008. Plans are also in motion to build four similar homes within the City of Grover Beach in 2009.

Habitat for Humanity of San Luis Obispo County has built simple, decent housing in Paso Robles, Cambria and in Atascadero. HFHSLOCO was established in 1997, as a non-profit organization and an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International. All donations to the ReStore are tax-deductible.

The ReStores are open Thursday through Saturday from 9:00am to 3:00pm.
For more information on what building materials the ReStores accept and sells please call: Templeton 434-0486 OR in San Luis Obispo 546-8699.

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The clothesline saga continues…

Posted in sustainability, tagged , , , , , , , on March 18, 2009| 4 Comments »

First, can someone please tell me why I decided not to get a dryer in the middle of the rainy season? Still, I have managed to hold my laundromat trips to a minimum; two precisely. And that was to dry the thicker towels and blankets. I do believe that in the nearly 2 months I have not had a dryer, that is pretty good, don’t you think?

The clothesline Samson and Jeanne made works wonderfully.

Mostly.

We are still working out a few kinks, but in the end I will have the coolest line on the block! Then everyone will be jealous. Kind of like an episode of “Desperate Housewives,” without all the makeup, drama, or women.

The secret? It is really all about time management.

I put the clothes on the line during the sunniest part of the day; for us that is mid-morning to mid-afternoon, after the fog has burned off and before it rolls back in. I leave around 8am to take Logan to school, so I throw a load in the wash before I go and then by the time I get home the clothes can go on the line to dry.

I also have found that one load a day is the best answer. I have never been a “separator.” All my clothes are washed together in warm/cold with a gentle, environmentally friendly detergent and rinsed with a little bit of white vinegar (LOVE that stuff!), so having one load a day is really no problem. Oh, and as for whites, the sun is amazing for making the whites white.

The only problem is if I am not home to do the one load a day, it backs up on me and I am back to stringing up another clothesline on the back porch. That’s when I miss the dryer. I suppose I could just have Samson stand in the laundry room and breathe hot air over them…LOL!

Now I am off to hang some clothes….no really!

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Episode 3!

Posted in filmmaking, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »

First, for those of you with RSS readers, I fixed the blog title so it shows up on the feeds again. (Thanks for the heads-up, Chris!)

And now, the next episode! It’s a  jam-packed one. My mom and I are really starting to get the hang of this—except maybe for the whole indoor lighting thing. You’ll see what I mean.

Wait until you see the garden! It’s insane how big the veggies (and the sunflowers) got. I mean it. Insane. We also get to the SLO Farmers Market, where I interview some of our local farmers (and a bee keeper). Logan and Kaia track down some lizards to show us, and my mom and I have a coffee and talk about the triple bottom line philosophy. Like I said, jam packed!

I’m totally stoked at the momentum we’re building for Hole in the Fence. There are great things happening here and I can feel the energy! I hope you do, too.

Let us know what you think in the comments. We love your feedback!

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Weekend weeding

Posted in organic gardening, tagged , , , , , , , on March 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »

I love the rain! So does the garden!

So do the weeds. It was time to do some serious weeding.

I pulled the big weeds right out of the rain-soft ground. I’ve found there’s actually an art to pulling weeds with the entire rootstalk intact. And I really get into the challenge of seeing how many weeds I can pull out whole.

The kids jumped right in. Logan gathered the weeds I’d pulled and Kaia played in the mud.

On the smaller weeds we used straight white vinegar, which is, as I’ve said before, the edible version of Round Up.

And by edible I mean, if you get a bit peckish while your weeding just grab some lettuce, apply a little of your weed killer, and voilĂ ! instant salad.

It’s weird: a project can look massive and onerous, but once I get rolling it’s done in half the time AND I end up enjoying it. Or maybe that’s just me—made half crazy from all the vinegar.

P.S. I also wanted to demonstrate my awesome weed-pulling skillz with an animated gif, but the site that would have allowed me to do that suffered a server crash, so…another time!

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Winter Garden Planting Tips

Posted in organic gardening, tagged , , , , , on February 9, 2009| Leave a Comment »

So, we started our winter garden in December to film it, which was actually a bit late. And it was just pure luck that we are having such a warm winter and and everything is growing like crazy. If you’d like to take advantage of the beautiful weather, too, it’s not too late to throw some “winter” veggies in the ground.

The best way to find out what to plan is to check with local nurseries. They’ll stock up on the veggies that are in season and ready for planting. Farm Supply (who I absolutely love, by the way) is carrying broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, lettuce, bok choy (OMG, Bok Choy is the winter version of zucchini) seed potatoes, onion sets, peas, and lots of other cold-loving plants.

If you have some organic garlic cloves around stick them in the garden, too.

You can start many of the plants—like radishes, carrots, spinach, lettuce—from seeds since they are fast growers. Others you can start from…starts. Hah! Once again, check with your local nursery, they’re the experts.

The Old Farmers Almanac has a time schedule for planting by the moon. So if this is your first or you are going to plant the second round like we are, now is the time.

  • The time to plant flowers and veggies that bear crops ABOVE ground is during the LIGHT of the moon that is, from the day the moon is new to the day it is full, this is a waxing moon. I like to think of it as wax on, like in Karate Kid. Wax on is a clockwise motion adding to the light of the moon. Waxing. Above ground crops Brussel sprouts, lettuce, Bok Choy (OMG) radishes, spinach, etc.
  • Flowering bulbs and veggies that bear crops BELOW ground should be planted during the DARK of the moon: that is, from the day after it is full to the day before it is new again. This is called the waning moon. Again, in Karate Kid Wax off. So this is a counter clockwise motion decreasing the light of the moon. Waning. Below the ground crops like Potatoes, onions, carrots, garlic, leeks, etc.

The month of February starts out with a waxing moon so plant above ground crops up until 2/9. The full snow moon is 2/9. So plant your below ground crops on the waning or dark of the moon. Or not. Some swear that planting by the moon makes a real difference. Others, who have to get stuff in the ground so they can film it, do it whenever they can. (I’m sure Samson will write a post about how he’s SKEPTICAL about planting by the moon. I say skeptical, schmeptical).

Old Farmer’s Almanac shows the following planting dates according to the moon for:

  • BEETS 2/10-23
  • BROCCOLI 2/24-3/10
  • BRUSSEL SPROUTS AND CABBAGE 2/24-3/10
  • CARROTS 2/15-23
  • CAULIFLOWER 2/24-3/7
  • CELERY 2/24-28
  • COLLARDS 2/24-3/10
  • ENDIVE 2/24-3/10
  • KALE 2/24-3/10
  • LEEKS 2/15-23
  • LETTUCE 2/24-3/7
  • ONION SETS 2/10-23
  • PARSLEY 2/24-3/10
  • POTOTOES 2/10-23
  • SPINACH 2/7-9, 2/24-3/10
  • SWISS CHARD 2/7-9, 2/24-3/10
  • WHEAT, SPRING 2/24-28

Plant away! And we’d love to hear how it goes. Oh, and if you have any other questions, leave them in the comments. Oh, and if you have a nursery you really like, let us know about that, too.

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Vinegar…the all natural “Round Up”

Posted in diy, tagged , , , , on January 28, 2009| 5 Comments »

First, I rent. Second, my landlord is awesome. Third, he’s also very much into order and neatness.

So, a few months ago he was was doing his usual landscaping check and he noticed some weeds growing up between the cracks of the stones on the back porch.

“I’ll take care of those next week,” he said.

What I heard: I’m going to soak your back porch with glyphosphate.

He’s an awesome guy, but not so much into the organic thing. Expediency and efficiency drive his decisions. So I talked him into letting me take care of it.

Now I had to take care of it. First stop, Google. I read up on natural herbicides. What could I use that would be nearly as effective as a glyphosphate-based weed killer? The bulk of articles favored straight white vinegar applied with a pump sprayer. So I went to Home  Depot and bought a sprayer for about $10. Then off to the local grocery store for several gallons of white vinegar. Finally, I soaked all the weeds in the back and stood back to see the results.

They were amazing.

Below are a series of photos showing the application process and the results over a five day period. Bottom line: this is totally the best way to go. Added bonus: Kaia gets to help.

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I am the Knit!

Posted in community, tagged , , , , , on January 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »

When I was 12 (hey it was not THAT long ago!), I had an accident that pretty much confined me to my couch for a few months. I was a VERY active tomboy, so after about a week of watching television and reading I was going crazy.

Say it with me: CRAZY.

A friend of my mother’s offered to teach me how to crochet. As desperate as I was, I lunged at the opportunity. So a group of us pre-teen girls would get together and have classes. We crocheted, we talked, we laughed, which really helped distract me from the long recovery. Kathy, if you’re reading this, THANK YOU!

Time went by; friends started having babies; I started making blankets; but no matter how much I tried I just could not get past the “square ” crochet, so blankets was pretty much all anyone got.

After I had Logan I felt emboldened to try more complex knits. I mean, I was a MOM, and once I became a mom, long dormant genes had awakened. I figured one of them had to be the “knit” gene. So I took up a knitting book—the basic “teach yourself to knit” type. Success! I learned to make a hat!

By the time Kaia came along, I had advanced to booties, so she had the full outfit—hat, booties, blanket!—when she was born. And I had found a creative outlet that was portable, fun, and easy to start and stop—except for the starting and stopping part. You see, as the kids and their dexterity grew, projects were abandoned with increasing frequency as I found the needles in increasingly interesting places—and consequently not in my project. When Kaia was hitting her first birthday, I was hitting my limit. I put the needles down (more or less) permanently.

Then in November, the month after Kaia turned four, I came across knitting looms. At first I was unsure if the looms could give me the same satisfaction as my needles. Turns out not only am I satisfied, I am thrilled.

Say it with me: THRILLED.

I can leave my knitting for days, know exactly where I was when I left off, and the kids have not messed up one project. In the 8 weeks or so I have worked on the looms I have made over 30 hats, which was perfect for a Christmas where we chose to emphasize giving handmade gifts over purchased ones. I’ve also made a few cool scarves, and I’m in the process of doing a blanket with a stuffed teddy bear head for a baby shower. I have lots of other ideas turning in my head, too. I’m a knitting genius.

I have even inspired my brother-in-law and his kids to take up knitting.  Apparently he is using it in the place of a bad habit he is trying to kick……I expect a hat (or 20) soon!

I personally have the knifty knitters round and long looms; they come with basic instructions and you can watch demonstrations and get patterns or craft ideas online. Any fellow knitters reading this? Wanna share secrets and ideas?

Knit on!

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