What to do With Your Christmas Tree after the Holidays

Christmas Tree

1.) Make a feeder for birds and squirrels!

First, remove all ornaments and lights. Take the bare tree and move it out to your yard still in the stand. String it with popcorn and cranberries, sprinkle with birdseed or hang bird feeders from the boughs. Smear pine cones with peanut butter, hang apple rings or orange halves. Hang hollowed-out orange halves in the tree and fill them with nuts.

Enjoy the show as the birds feast on your gift to nature! Not only will the tree provide food for wildlife during the cold winter days, but it can also be a place for them to hide from cold winds.

2.) Mulch the tree for your garden. It can then be used in the landscape as a cover around trees, shrubs, and flowers. This helps insulate the soil, conserve soil moisture, and retard weed growth. It also helps return nutrients to the soil as it breaks down. Pine needles are great for ground covering and mulch.

Read more…

The Amazing Human Planet

Enjoy this 3 minute video of the most amazing species on Earth.

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day

Let’s all take this day to be grateful to Mother Earth – the source of everything we eat, wear, buy, drink, breathe.  Really, we count on her for everything.

Mother Earth has had a rough year – the Gulf oil spill, the millions of tons of debris and nuclear waste from Fukashima, the non-stop bombing – to name the few things that come to the top of my mind.

It’s easy to do something to give back.  Stop accepting plastic bags at retail stores, stop drinking from disposable plastic bottles, don’t litter, drive less, plant a tree.

Personally, I refuse plastic bags.  Thousands of marine animals and more than 1 million birds die each year as a result of plastic pollution.I carry my own fold up cloth bags in my purse and in my car.

In our offices, I have a spring water cooler and have banned disposable cups.  I have a vegetable and an herb garden to grown much of our own produce which keeps me out in Mother Nature and gives me valuable exercise as well as tasty nutrition!

What are you doing to make a difference – everyday?

Landscaping – Reap Huge Rewards!

Costa Rica

There’s money in your yard!

Did you know that you can actually increase the value of your home by improving the landscaping?  A Money Magazine survey found that good landscaping can add 7%-14% to the value of your home. That’s Huge!

A survey by Husqvarna found, “Checking with real estate agents, more than 70% believed that a neglected garden lowers property prices by somewhere between 5-15%. Another 17% believed the effect could be even higher.”  They also found the top 5 garden elements globally to be:  1. Well-maintained lawn 2. Inviting social area 3. Stone paths and walkways 4. Decorative trees 5. Decorative bushes.

How’s your curb appeal? Yes, its VERY important. Curb appeal gets prospective buyers into the house! Many buyers decide NOT to buy just looking at the exterior of your home. If the exterior looks bad, understandably they assume that the house itself was not well maintained.

I wrote in an earlier post: the American Society of Landscape Architects found that homeowners can receive between 100% and 200% of the money they invest in professional landscaping services when they sell their homes. Michigan State University research found that proper landscaping can increase a home’s sale value by about 12%. And a study by the U.S. Forest Service found that trees alone add 3% to 7% to property values.

So, money spent on well done landscaping is worth it for (1) the value of your home (2) curb appeal which helps with selling (3) the aesthetic enjoyment for yourself, your family and your neighbors, and (4) trees and plants are healthy for the environment.

Now that Winter has passed and our wonderful Spring is here, it’s time to get outside and spruce up that curb appeal.  Rake up dead leaves and debris, dig up plants that didn’t survive the winter and cut back dead branches from trees and bushes, kill weeds before they take over, trim and shape hedges.  Enjoy a beautiful yard and get paid for it when you sell!

You can’t lose with good landscaping. Invest, enjoy and reap huge rewards!

Plastic Bag Tax

Plastic Bags

According to the Washington Post, Washington DC’s 5 cent tax on plastic bags, instated in January, has already dropped the number of plastic bags handed out by food stores from an average of 22.5 million per month in 2009 to just 3 million in January!  What a huge difference!  And, the tax not only significantly reduces plastic waste, it has also generated $150,000 in revenue.

Who charges this tax?  Bakeries, delicatessens, grocery stores, drugstores, convenience stores, department stores and any other “business that sells food items” must charge the tax on paper or plastic bags.

I love this–I really do.   A simple 5 cent tax–with revenues going towards an environmental cause voters rallied around–and consumer behavior is changed for the better in a truly big way.   I love that just 5 cents is enough to make consumers reconsider taking a plastic bag.

The results are nothing short of miraculous so far–there are 19 million less plastic bags in a landfill because of this tax!

Is this new?  Here maybe.  But, San Francisco, Los Angeles, China, Tanzania, Mumbai, Mexico City and others have already implemented bans or fees for plastic bags.

I, personally, am thrilled.  I think plastic bags should be outlawed.  Not that paper bags take any less energy to produce or don’t harm the environment, but they at least degrade and are not choking and suffocating wildlife.

I suggest reusable bags and the ones I love and always carry I received as a gift.  They came from Envirosax.  Thank you, Carolyn.

Whatever you choose to use, please, No More Plastic Bags!

Happy Arbor Day!

Trees

How are you recognizing the day?  Planting a tree?  Pruning and protecting the ones you already have?

Arbor Day is recognized Nationally as the day when individuals and groups are encouraged to plant and care for trees.  It’s celebrated in a number of countries and, here in the US, is celebrated on the last Friday in the month of April.

In my yard, I planted 5 Golden Spire Arborvitaes. They’re conifers, evergreen, and will grow 20-30 feet tall! They’re absolutely gorgeous and I’m thrilled to have them, to have been able to plant them and to know that I will will be the one to nurture and watch them for years.

Here in North Carolina, our state Arbor Day is the first Friday following March 15 and our state tree is the Pine.

The first Arbor Day was April 10, 1872 in Nebraska.  By the 1920s, every state in the United States had passed public laws stipulating a certain day to be Arbor Day or Arbor and Bird Day observance.  These dates were established depending upon climate and suitable planting times.

If you don’t know what to do or don’t have anywhere you can plant a tree, go to ArborDay.org and learn more about how you can help our Planet by contributing trees.

Please let me know what you did special today.  Don’t you just love trees!

Thanks to Julius Sterling Morton, a journalist and politician,the man responsible for the first Arbor Day and for seeing that it became a nationally recognized holiday. Morton served as President Grover Cleveland’s Secretary of Agriculture and, throughout his career, worked to improve agricultural techniques throughout the United States.

Saving Water, the Water Pebble

Dry Planet

It’s April, “Earth Day Month”. For me, that creates even more awareness everyday that we need to be taking steps to preserve and protect our planet, our real estate.

My big passion is water. I’ve written a number of posts about it. Here, again, is a wonderful site devoted to the preservation and protection of water.

This article focuses on something new and so easy to use, the Water Pebble.  This device simply sits near any water drain and times the water usage.  It “teaches” you to reduce the time you have the water flowing.  Waterpebble could help reduce the average shower to less than 6 minutes saving over 20 litres of hot water every time.

At this time, I’m not planning to buy a water pebble but, because of reading this, I am going to be more aware of the time I spend in the shower, rinsing dishes, washing my hands, any time I run water.

Isn’t it great to be aware?  We hold so much power in our own decisions, our own actions.  What will you do to make a difference to the Planet?

“When the Well’s dry, we know the Worth of Water.”
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Poor Richard´s Almanac

Happy Earth Day!

Earth DaySupport the Earth, won’t you?

Your support enables Earth Day Network to power the environmental movement and ensure a healthy and sustainable planet for all of us. Your contributions and purchases help mobilize communities, implement environmental education programs and support Earth Day events and actions around the world.

Donate, won’t you?  Together we can make a difference.

Global Days of Service

Global Days of Service

Global Days of Service sponsored by Earth Day are April 17 & 18.

The Global Days of Service will feature Volunteer Actions by tens of thousands of global participants, from April 17 – 18, 2010. These projects in parks, beaches, schools and forests will focus on climate change solutions like tree planting, energy efficiency retrofits, water protection, urban gardens and forest restoration.

Produced with the help of Earth Day Network, along with local community organizations and governments, the activities will address current challenges and will help cities and organizations streamline their energy needs, and ‘green up’ their communities. Suitable for individuals of all ages, including children and families, these activities encourage active lifestyles and healthful living, while also connecting volunteers with the green solutions.

Find out what’s happening in your area.  Participate.  Donate.  Make a difference to the planet.

You can follow some of my love for the earth at Growing in My Garden.

What did you find to do?

Earth Day at Center City Park in Greensboro

Earth Day @ Center City Park

Earth Day @ Center City – April 22, 2010 from 4:30 to 7:30

Make plans now to attend this free event with your friends and family!

2010 will mark the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day in 1970.  I remember it!  All of us who rode the bus walked to school that day.  It was such fun!

Come on down to the park in downtown Greensboro.  Last year was so much fun!

There will be music by Chapel Hill-based band, The Love Language, and the NC A&T State University Choir.  Kids activities will be hosted by ArtQuest of Green Hill Cultural Center.  Natty Greene’s Brewhouse (whoo hoo!) is sponsoring the Green Drinks Beer Garden.  Bicycling in Greensboro (BIG) will be conducting an ArBike Parade, and the artists of Elsewhere etc. will be unveiling  a public art installation designed specifically for this occasion.

Local crafters and local food purveyors will be selling on Davie Street immediately adjacent to the park.  For more information, visit www.sustainablegreensboro.org or call (336) 756-7476.

See you there!