Rain Barres, 2012 :)

:) Our rain barrels are set up! :)

Seriously, after laboring for a few years over the best way to do these, they're really easy to assemble, now that I've worked out all of the kinks.

In fact, for anyone interested in making your own, go HERE for probably the best instructions I've seen.



The *ONE* thing the link doesn't address is linking multiple barrels. That was the biggest struggle I had.

My conclusion about overflows is pretty simple. You gotta have the primary barrel higher than any of the others, as you can see in the above photo. Your barrels that will store are lowest. The end barrel has to be a little lower than the primary barrel. The idea is that the excess water will flow down from the main one and deposit in the middle and flow through to the last one. I do not have an 'overflow' on the main barrel or second one. I have that on the last one only (it's more easily seen in the top photo here, though).

A few more tricks:


I didn't want my barrels on the side of the house where the downspout was, but around the corner. So I used the flexible downspouts. If it gets really windy, they won't stay, so I use bungee cord to secure them in place. This is really a key element for me.



This is my overflow barrel. The second in line. I used 1.5 inch PVC to go from the primary barrel to the final one. Those are connected through the side. Any barrels in between are not. They simply have the spigot in the bottom and mesh on top. The joint is moveable and when the barrel is full, I can move the entire elbow mechanism into the UP position so water flows to the last barrel, but not into the ones in the middle. Does that make sense?

Need an excuse to mow the lawn less?

Last year, we sort of fell behind with the whole lawn mowing thing. Big time.

Yet some of me wonders if it's us or if it's our neighbors who like to mow their lawn. A LOT. LOT. LOT. Seriously, for every time we mow our lawn, it seems they've mown theirs twice. Which makes their grass look even shorter and ours look rather shaggy.

I'd really love to send a memo to the block and say "hey, lighten up a bit so we are all equal" but I know that won't happen.


I was annoyed until last fall when I was at a lecture about native Kansas plants/flowers. In the presentation, the guy mentioned that mowing your lawn less has less of an impact on the environment.

A light bulb went off in my head.

We weren't the bad neighbors. We were the hippies who care about the environment and make a conscious choice to mow less, thus being kinder to the planet.

Ok, so the motivation isn't exactly true, but it made me feel GOOD about our "whenever we get to it" approach to lawn mowing.

I'd love to provide you with hard core numbers on this, but really, who do you believe when you google something?

I did, however, find this really cool calculator to help calculate the impact of lawn mowing. I am not 100% sure of the size of our lawn, but I'd really like to find out, because I'm supremely curious about the numbers.

So, in conclusion ..... MOW YOUR LAWN LESS, and do it shame-free. Because, after all, you're helping to lessen your carbon footprint!

Now if I could only find a tactful way to share this enlightened approach with my lawn-mowing-obsessed neighbors....

A little kitchen organizing

Even though there are only 2 bipeds in our house, we do a lot of recycling. See that green bucket below? We have 2 of those we fill on a weekly basis.


They won't both fit in the kitchen, though, so we have other containers. And the dog food on the left. It was a bit crowded. And see where the semi-hole in the floor is (lower right side of the frame)? We used to have a wall there.

It was getting crowded/outta control, so we had to make some changes.


Ta-Da!!!! Oh happy day it was when it arrived. The dog food goes on the bottom (notice the lid) and the recycling is on top. A MUCH better arrangement.

I admit, they ARE a little bulky, but about the size of the green monsters, so it seems to be working.

Rain barrel update (again)

Ok, so the barrels. Gotta love 'em. Here's a video. The first clip is from before I figured out the overflow. There is a brief sunny dividing image, then it will show the ones with a completed overflow. I haven't 100% got the overflows complete. I have the east barrels done, but not the west. I'll be ready for Spring 2011!

Enjoy:

"New" bedside tables!

In Erik's bachelor days, he picked up these bedside tables. From some hotel that was getting rid of a bunch of stuff. Needless to say, they are HEAVY.

There is a picture in my head of what I wanted to find for the space. I've been poking a bit, but finally found them last week at a secondhand store! I think finding previously owned furniture counts as recycling. ;)

They don't "match" in the traditional sense, but their legs have the same curve, so it's close enough.

One of the things I love most about these tables is that you can see through the legs. The previous ones were boxy and obtrusive. Couldn't see much through them. Just really ate up visual space. I know it's a tiny change, but somehow I feel like we have more space, even if it's an optical illusion!


I want to paint them. And initially I thought white. But then I thought: CANARY YELLOW!!!!! And then I swung back to thinking yellow would not go well with our more bold blue walls. Sheesh!

Now I'm swinging back to painting them white, but maybe paint the drawers yellow?

There isn't yellow in the bedroom yet, but I'd like to make it my "accent" color. We've got the blue, and then the black and white, but I'd like another pop, and I think a bright yellow (think: Big Bird) would be nice.

At some point, I'd love to work on a seating in area in our bedroom and I have my eye on a few options:


This would bring in some more yellow!


This would continue the B&W theme.

I can't decide which I like best, but it's a ways off.

Cool Composter

Hi bliggidy bloggidy world!

Ok, so after yesterday's "Debbie Downer" post, I could help with some solutions.

I know I've previously blogged about composting HERE.

So here's the deal, my friend, Juno. Well, her compost bin is better than MY compost bin and now I have compost bin envy. Go check it out HERE and see why I'm jealous.

Let me remind you what MY compost bin looks like:



Way less cool.

And now I want to build one like Juno's. But I have about a million other projects in line before I get to this, so it'll have to wait, and I tip my hat to Juno and her cool composting bin (and the idea for 2 doors? Genius, Juno! You WIN!)

Trash Talk

Would you believe an average of 100 people a week stop in on our blog? And I suspect that doesn't include those who have it on their RSS feeds. Really? I say something at least 100 people want to read? iiiiiinteresting.

Anyhow, knowing there are people who stop by to see what rant I have gone on, and to find no new posts, well I feel like a slacker. So here we go! ;)

A few months ago, I went to something regarding environmental issues here in Salina. And I was SHOCKED to see the numbers. Are you ready?????

- 24% of the trash in the U.S. is from yard trimmings and food waste. In Salina, it's 23%. SERIOUSLY .... nearly a quarter of the trash going to the landfill is yard clippings or food that we could compost???? wow. I am stunned.

- 61% of Salina's trash includes the following: wood waste, paper products, yard waste and food waste. MORE THAN HALF???? REALLY????? How much could we be recycling?????

Let's pause for a minute to reflect. IF residents of my fair city would 1) recycle paper and 2) compost, we could cut our landfill contributions by MORE than 50 percent??? Woah. That's heavy. And stunning.

I have to be honest: One of the things I miss most from living in Hays was the ease of which I could recycle. You just put your stuff in a blue bag and it was collected every week. Every household paid some nominal fee ($4-$5) and everyone could recycle.

Here in Salina, we have to pay for a bin, then everything has to fit INSIDE of that bin. Ugh. Fortunately, when I asked, they were awesome and gave us another bin for FREE. :) One of my brides here in town has THREE bins, which she tells me is the max you can get without extra fees. I have to say, using three recycling bins would be something I aspire to. But for the time being, I'll settle for the two.

SO ... rambly post (didn't I warn you?). But here's the message: If you ever thought "Oh, it's just the junk mail" or "What I do can't make that much of a difference" ... THINK AGAIN. Look at the above numbers and think again. Even if you do just ONE thing, it would be way better than nothing.

Start by getting an extra trash can. Designate it as your paper bin. Toss the extra junk mail, fliers and handouts from church into there. I honestly think you'll be surprised at how quickly it fills up. And if you haul it to the recycling center, then it won't go into a landfill!!!! If the 100 people who read this blog all start recycling paper ... think of how much paper that is!!!!

Last interesting fact, then I'll close. Recycling does take energy, but requires less energy than starting from scratch. Here are the numbers: "Recycling aluminum can cut energy consumption by 95%; plastics by 70%; steel by 60%; paper by 40%; and glass by 30%."

Be well. And if you recycle, leave a comment! If you don't but can commit to start, even if it's just paper, leave a comment!

The 4th "R"

I know Earth Day was a few weeks ago, but I heard something related to Earth Day that I liked and wanted to share. Well, two things.

1. We all know "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." But I heard someone pose a 4th "R" to the mix. REFUSE. As in refuse to take another plastic bag at the store.

I'll share an amusing story with you.

Once, I was at the grocery store and all of my items didn't fit into my reusable bags. And the bagger started to put it into a plastic bag. "Don't you dare give me another petroleum-based product to take into my house." I shrilled at the poor 15-year-old boy who clearly was trying to make a buck at his first job. Embarrassed, I sort of recovered "I'll just carry that satchel of apples out." .... yeeeeeeah, classy, Karen.

Speaking of fruit/produce, I no longer bag my items .... celery? Just toss it in the cart. Leeks? Same thing. Unless it comes bagged, I don't take another bag with me ... just coz I'm crazy like that.

Extreme example, but just say no. To a tiny bag when the only item you get is a Mother's Day card. Or a box of candy. Or whatever. I don't know about you, but those plastic bags multiply like RABBITS in our cupboard.

Which brings me to item No. 2.

2. Plastic bags in the cabinets. I was reading a magazine a few weeks ago, and read of a clever way to corral them. Take a Kleenex box that is empty, then just shove the little buggers in there. Viola! A repurposed use for the Kleenex box (prior to recycling) and the bags are contained.

We did this, and it worked fairly well. The only trouble is we have more plastic bags than fits into a Kleenex box. I guess this means I should take them to the dropoff at the grocery store.

Ok, that's it for today. I have tons of info about composting and recycling relative to Salina, and I'll share in a day or two ... but in the meantime, do you have any tricks to help recycle or reduce???? Reuse??? Anyone? Share, share, share! :)

24 hour pantry

Before .... and After! :)

We have this odd little closet in our dining room. It was just empty and wasted space. But not anymore!!!!


Let me start with this above photo of our kitchen. There is a big gap between the cabinets and the ceiling ... so junk has started to amass. Ugh. So the intention with the pantry was to put the slow cooker in there (but it doesn't fit!), but the coffee pot (neither of us drink coffee) does! I also have a good location to store extra cereal and crackers now!

And the growlers you see in the kitchen, well, those will go in a little nook to the left of the door opening. I just have to figure out how to install those shelves.


Now let's talk about my jars.

I love them.

With a variety of grain (steel cut oats, couscous, Israeli couscous, garbanzo beans, navy beans, and the list continues), I don't want to keep a bunch of bags strewn about ... so I hooked it up with mason jars! LOVE THEM! :)


Erik has a whole aside about jars and containers, but that will be another post for another day. I love how I can clearly SEE what's in them. Of course, they probably should be labeled so others know!


I might hoard spices and herbs in the freezer, but Erik hoards salad dressing. Do you need any more proof? Didn't think so.


Close up of a jar.


This last photo seems odd ... but bear with me ... you might remember a random post about our bedroom closet HERE about a bunch of extra holes in the wall ... I remember thinking "what kind of idiot drills a million holes???" WELL, let me tell you how this happens. I now know from first-hand experience. This results when your stud finder is being difficult, won't work, and you know there's a stud in there somewhere .... so you drill several holes to find the dang thing. Sheesh!

This project took less than 24 hours, but we've both been wanting to do it for a LONG time. I really like this ... that we can take a small space, make a BIG change in a small amount of time, and it helps clear clutter and organize other parts of our house.

OH, last comment about this ... the shelves here are actually from the master closet. We tore those shelves out and then cut them down for this closet. How cool is that? So we recycled! I had the white paint from other projects, so we were out less than $10 to get the brackets. How do you like that???? :) So it was a GREEN project!

Additional info about composting and the like ...

I have an addition to THIS post on composting.

I was in downtown Salina this week and came across a flier that's trying to raise awareness about environmental issues. This is interesting: 14% of the Salina landfill is filled with food waste. Click on the above link to see all about composting ... it's another way to rid yourself of food scraps. BUT, be sure to NOT put meat in your compost, or you'll have the neighborhood dogs and coons in it.

It also compares water usage of Salina residents to that of Hays residents. Now, THIS is extremely interesting. In Hays, residents use an average of 89/gal/person/day. Any guesses for Salina?????

124. An average person in Salina uses 124 gal/person/day. When I first moved here, I suggested to the Salina city commission that they make water reduction a priority. In Hays, the city puts aside $1,000/year toward washer rebates. Yes, that's right. If you buy a high-efficency washer, the city will give you $100 towards its purchase. I believe they also take your old shower head and will give you a low-flow shower head gratis.

One of the most frustrating things about living in Salina is how wasteful people are with their water. I just cringe during the summer months. Maybe that's why I work so hard to use my rain barrels. I suppose I hope that my excessive collection and not using water will make up for the extra water that others are using.

Composting

About a week ago, I made THIS post about gardening.

It's taken awhile (sorry!), but now I am taking the time to put words to the promise of blogging about composting. :)

But before I start, let me say that Erik and I have about 1 to 1.5 bags of trash that we put into the collection bin PER WEEK. I don't know how much your garbage out put is, but I'm pretty proud of that. We attain that by recycling everything possible (and we recently received a SECOND recycling bin from the city so we can put out even MORE recycling!!!), along with composting.

So, first things first, here is a photo of our compost pile:


(There are some dirt piles behind the pile, but the area inside of the wire inclosure is our compost pile).

There are certainly more elaborate setups, but this home-made setup works for us.

I simply went to Lowe's and purchased the 4 metal pole thingies, and the wire mesh stuff. I don't know the exact name of it. But I guess even chicken wire would work.

I hooked the wire stuff around the metal poles, but did make sort of a "door" that I can open it if I need to.


So, how do you start? Well, it's not terribly difficult. Seriously, VERY little actual SKILL is involved!

You take items you don't eat, or maybe they've gone bad, and toss it on the pile.

THAT'S IT!!! :)

Ok, so what do you add on to the pile? Fruit and veggie scraps.

It could include:
• apple core
• bananna peel
• the outer portion of the corn
• the center of the tomato
• the core of a pepper
• ends of an onion.
• garlic peel
• egg shells
• plants I've pulled from the garden at the end of the summer

Also .... GRASS CLIPPINGS!!!!! AND LEAVES. The first year, I didn't have leaves in the pile, just the grass clippings and the food scraps. It was a pretty smelly pile (my neighbor across the fence wasn't appreciative of the pile's placement). I did some reading, and realized we needed some "brown" in the pile ... so on the leaves went! (the neighbor is less objective to the pile now).

Really, lots of stuff. If we have lettuce that sits around too long, we toss it onto the pile.

Oh, I also put some peat into it when I started.


During the summer, I have my pitchfork and turn the pile about once a week. It's also important to be sure the pile gets some moisture. If it doesn't rain for a month or so, wet the pile down, because it will help to break down the pile.

Also, I will say that I have sort of a "backup pile." This is for when I've decided it's time to put the compost into the garden. Now, HOW do I know it's ready? Well, when you're turning the pile regularly, you'll notice that the pile sort of starts to look like dark, dark, dark dirt. Once I start to see that, I don't keep piling new stuff in because I want the compost to "finish" so to speak. I pile stuff onto a smaller area, and once the compost looks like rich dirt, I remove it and put it into the garden. Then I move the stuff from the "backup" site into the regular compost pile.


And this is what we use as transport. I learned this idea over the summer from the people Paul lived with. They had a nice stainless steel container WITH A LID. Previously, we'd just been using a big yogurt container with a lid. It would get gross and icky ... but with the stainless steel container, we can give it a really good thorough cleaning.

Oh, one last thought before I pull some photos of compost piles/devices I pulled from the web: It's important to have some slats or some way air can flow through/into your pile. I wouldn't suggest just sticking it into a trash can or something that is completely enclosed.

Ok, some photos of other ways of doing this I pulled from the web:



I really like the next two:




PLEASE don't feel like you have to spend a lot of money on one like this:


(but you can if you *really* want to).

Heirloom veggie seeds are HEEEEERE!!!! :)

YEEE-HAAAW!!!!!!!

Check out what came in the mail today:


*grin*

Next up, plant these puppies:


I started a few tomato seeds last week ... but now the big guns are here!


Let's talk about heirloom veggies. Last summer, I read in Better Homes & Gardens about heirloom tomatoes. The gist of the story was that the tomatoes are supposed to be more flavorful. :) They also come in cool colors (like purple ... have YOU ever seen a purple tomato?).


I'm SO ready for this summer and to get my fingers into the garden!


And this was what I found on the bottom of my invoice:


I feel all the better for supporting a company that utilizes sustainable practices. The place they get the seed envelopes from uses wind power to make the paper. How cool is that??!!??!

Oh, and if you want the hookup on these seeds, CLICK HERE to check out their online catalogue.

Recycled Purse????

Ok, so for everyone who knows me, I'M NOT A PURSE PERSON!!!!!

But I do have one. Ok, 2 of them. And I admit, they come in VERY handy on occasion. But one is large and becomes a dumping ground/catch all for everything. The other is just the right size for my wallet, but it's sometimes a struggle to wrestle the wallet in and out of it.

So, when we were traveling over Christmas, I saw a glimpse of a purse ... wait for it ... MADE OUT OF SEATBELTS. Now, this is genius, I thought. Really. Reusing seatbelts. I like it.


And the more I looked, the more options I saw that there are in the world of seatbelt purses. Who would have thought????!?!?!


Then I saw the bag below, and really wondered if those seatbelts were reused, or if they were made specifically for that bag.


Seriously. Have YOU ever seen a seatbelt like this? Me either.


There's another company who makes them, and they do a diamond weave. I have to admit, I am digging this a bit more from a visual aspect. ;)


I might actually believe this was made from reused seatbelts.

But then I get back to the bottom line/question at hand. I don't really USE a purse that much ... do I really NEED a seatbelt purse?

Regardless, it's an interesting idea/product and I thought I'd share. :)

R3 — Milk

It's probably the longest I've ever stood and stared intently at the dairy case. I stood, eyeing the glass bottles through the doors. To buy or not to buy locally produced milk? That was the question ... I just couldn't decide. For 1/2 a gallon, it's about $1 more, but .... I believe in supporting the local economy (Junction City, but close enough). Oh, what to do?

Seriously, I stood there for more than a full minute debating the issue.


In the end, I decided to just go for it. Honestly, I don't think I've ever had milk from a glass bottle before. There is a grippy part that serves as a handle, which is fantastically easy to use! One of the big bonuses for the glass bottles is the milk is supposed to taste better. I guess I'm not a milk snob, because neither Erik nor I can tell the difference. So does it justify forking over more moo-lah for the milk?


For the time being, with just the two of us consuming barely a half a gallon of milk per week, I suppose the $1 isn't going to break the bank. We'll have to see.

Any thoughts on getting local milk from our blog readers? Is it worth it? Not?

For anyone curious, here's a few articles I found about the dairy: HERE and HERE.

One item mentioned in one of the articles, the bottles are completely reused ... which is nice. We recycle our plastic bottles, but how much of that is truly reused? Who knows?!!?!? I guess it doesn't have to travel so far and takes less gas .... which is positive, right?

Absentee blogger returns!

Check out what my awesome husband got me for my birthday!!!!! Yes, it's a RETRACTABLE clothesline from Target. :)

HERE and HERE.

One end will attach to something in our yard (currently, we think it's the tree trunk). Anyone who wants to come and help me dig the hole for the end that retracts, DO let me know! ;) Oh, and yes, we had the dig safe people come out, so we won't run into anything we shouldn't.

Let me also add I'm excited b/c there will be 170 stinkin' feet worth of hanging space. I picked up some clothespins at Target for about $1.50 last week. But I only got 150, so I might need to score a few more ....

Rain Barrel update!

I'm excited to have my rain barrel up and running!!!!!!!

We tested it this week and it is able to drain to our garden! :) i've done a bit of testing with the soaker hoses, but they need a little TLC before they're 100% ready to go, so the jury's still out on that one.

Twice, I've drained almost 1/3 of the barrel, and twice it's rained less than 1/4 of an inch. Guess what the result was? It filled the barrel to the point of OVERFLOWING!!!!! Seriously amazing! I have no idea about the actual amount of square footage that drains to the barrel, but it's about 1/3 of our roof.

I have another barrel and I'm excited to get it up and running!

On the slightly down side, I have yet to make a screen to keep gunk out of the barrel. And I'm having some issues w/ light through it, so I have some algae ... it doesn't look the prettiest, but it works and is saving water as I water my baby garden plants! :)

My rain barrel runneth over!

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!! The rain barrel is UP AND RUNNING! :)

Yes, I'm a big, fat dork. Ok?

The best part was it was finished before our 10-inch snow. Before the roof even started melting, the thing was FULL. And it's 50 or 55 gallons. I can't remember.


I can't count the number of hours I worked on this darn thing. Seriously, a week ago, I spent the ENTIRE day running around town looking for pieces/parts.

Above is a moveable rain gutter. This was a fantastic tip from one of the guys are the hardware store. :)


After much trial and error, I finally ended up with this design option. There were LOTS of options on the table, and after a lot of trying things, this just worked best.

I wanted to have a spout where I could attach the garden hose ... and put my soaker hose at the other end. I'm excited to get my garden planted and try this thing out! :)

I'm also getting VERY interested in using "grey water" .... but there are all sorts of "issues" here in the U.S. Check out what Colorado says HERE. And they have awesome looking systems, but you gotta go to Australia. Check them out HERE.

So, for the time being, I'll just be content to collect rain water for my veggie garden (and strawberry patch!).


If you want one of these bad boys, I'd be happy to make one for you for $30. They retail for $40 at Orscheln or almost double that in hardware/garden stores.

If you're picky about color, I can get the barrel in black or blue.

Bricks/blocks to raise the barrel off the ground & moveable rain gutter are NOT included.

# 43 — Do not get a plastic bag at a retail store for a month

... CHECK!!!!!!!!!!


The goal of this 101 in 1001 item was to use a cloth/material bag instead of plastic bags from retail stores.

Early this summer, Erik came home with a handful of red Dillons bags. They're awesome! We use them constantly for groceries, but I have to admit I was a little bit of a slacker at other places. But I wanted to cross this off of my list ... so a few times, I told the clerk I didn't want a bag and just carried out an item or two, or used the Dillons bags.

Seriously guys, it's not too big of a deal. It's actually easy to do ... AND you get 5 cents off per bag of your entire purchase at Dillons when you use the bags ... so you see, they're actually PAYING you to use the bags. I'm sure they have already paid for themselves. :-)

# 100 — Visit "baby Paul" at college

... CHECK!!!!!!!!


Last weekend while I was in Chicago for Lori and Derek's Engagement session, I made plans to visit my youngest brother in Urbana/Champagne, Illinois.

We started with a tour of the campus, especially the lab where Paul works.


This is plasma ... I thought it was made up in Ghostbusters, but evidently, it's a real thing and Paul had photos to share. :-)

We then went around the rest of the campus. Isn't it beautiful?!?!!??!!!!


More fall beauty!


Check out the stunning leaves! I can't get OVER the awesome color. :-)


So glad to get another item knocked off of my 101 in 1001 list. :-)

On my trip to Chicago, I took a less conventional method of travel. When I was hanging at Joyce and Billy's wedding, one of Joyce's co-workers was talking about the Megabus. While I never found a ticket for $1, I *did* get tickets for under $50 one-way. Yup, that's a round trip to Chicago for less than $100! Unbelievable! And the best part was ... NO AIRPORT SECURITY!!!!!!


It was a long trip ... 10 hours up ... but pretty good. I rode on the top of the double-decker bus and was able to watch and be sure no one ran off with my luggage. :-)

And tickets to/from UIlli were less than $20 one-way.

I *did* get stircrazy on the trip ... and if the bus has been on the road for awhile, the toilet might be full and then you have to wait for one of the stops .. but stops are reasonable.

And a great part about using the bus ... it uses less fuel than a plane would, so I was actually hugging trees! :-)

I also have to give a big shout out to my awesome mother-in-law for letting us crash in KC, and for also meeting Erik half way to drop me off. Thanks, BA!