Day 284 of our Green Year: Don't Over Boil Tea

Layla is a big fan of organic green tea, and while buy organic and fair-trade tea, there is another way that we can go green with our tea. That way is by not overboiling it. When you hear the tea kettle whistling, that usually means for us that the tea is ready. However, the truth is that it was ready about a minute previous. When the water is whistling, the water is going to be too hot to drink so we are going to let it sit and let it cool before we drink it. That makes the energy we used to get it to boiling or whistling, is simply wasted.
As a result, let your water warm up just until it is hot enough for you, but not too hot that you can't drink it. It saves a bit of energy but if you boil the kettle four times a day, it can add up to a lot of energy over the course of a year.

Thank you to Wandering Coyote who provided us with a great list of green things you can do located here.

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Day 283 of our Green Year: Sustainable Shrimp

We mentioned yesterday that we will be using FishPhone, the service that allows you to text to find out if the fish you are buying is sustainable or not.
Well today, we are going green with the ocean once more and this time it has to do with shrimp. Shrimp are a very important part of the food chain in the ocean, but they are being depleted in amazing numbers due to overfishing.
As a result, Layla and I will be more sustainable with the shrimp we buy. We will not buy farm raised shrimp from overseas because it can be pumped full of artificial feed and antibiotics. We will be buying farm raised shrimp from our own country though as there are stricter laws regarding them. We will also only buy organic shrimp, which we have found at our local grocery store. On top of that, we will also only buy shrimp on occasion and will severely limit how much we buy to once a month or less so we do not take too much from the ocean or shrimp farms.

Thank you to Wandering Coyote who provided us with a great list of green things you can do located here.

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Day 282 of our Green Year: FishPhone

One of the few meats that we still eat here is fish. Generally every couple of weeks we will have a fish dish to shake up our vegetarian routine. As we have mentioned many times, the fish we get from overseas can contain harmful ingredients, some of which can cause cancer. On top of that, you have to be careful what fish you buy in case it may not be sustainable. Cod used to be very sustainable, but with the collapse of the fisheries, this is not the case anymore.

So, what can you do? Well, when we are at the supermarket, we can choose to text the Blue Ocean Institute's FishPhone. By texting 30644 and entering FISH with the name of the fish you want to buy, we will receive a text back to let us know if that variety of fish is good for us and if it is good for the world. If it is endangered or on the verge of being so, FishPhone will let us know.

Thank you to Wandering Coyote who provided us with a great list of green things you can do located here.
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Day 281 of our Green Year: Making Our Own Cereal

Due to our banned companies list, most of the companies that make well-known brands of cereal are banned in our house. This means that we do not eat too much cereal as a result, and sometimes when we have to work in our home office, we have to make breakfast that may not be as simple as a bowl of cereal and goat's milk.

Thankfully, it is very easy to make your own cereal by following several recipes on the net. Which is exactly what we will be doing here at our ranch.
We were going to put up some of the recipes, but sadly our internet is in and out, but you can find one of the recipes at this location.

Thank you to Wandering Coyote who provided us with a great list of green things you can do located here.

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Day 280 of our Green Year: Cutting Food by Hand

At the ranch, there are several appliances that can be used for cooking. I don't use most of them because I prefer cooking by hand, but one I have used on occasion is the food processor that cuts up food quickly and easily.
However, beginning today there will be no more food processor use by me when I cook for everyone, which is about five or six days per week.

Instead, I will be cutting all food by hand. I find this is more relaxing and lets you take more care in the cooking. The food processor is not really needed anymore and the day may come soon where we give it to someone who actually needs it.

Thank you to Wandering Coyote who provided us with a great list of green things you can do located here.

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A few days ago, Layla and I enjoyed nature and being green by going snowshoeing. Here is a picture of us out walking along the river in our snowshoes.

Day 279 of our Green Year: Saving Energy With The Monitor

Months ago, we mentioned that you can save energy on your monitor by having your home page as a dark page like Blackoogle. Well, today we are going to raise awareness of another great website that can save you energy with your computer usage. This website is NowBlack.com. NowBlack.com uses Google.com type of template by using simple is better. However, instead of using a white background, they use black. As they say on the website:

"Take at look at Google, who gets about 200 million queries a day. Let's assume each query is displayed for about 10 seconds; that means Google is running for about 550,000 hours every day on some desktop. Assuming that users run Google in full screen mode, the shift to a black background will save a total of 15 (74-59) watts. That turns into a global savings of 8.3 Megawatt-hours per day, or about 3000 Megawatt-hours a year. Now take into account that about 25 percent of the are CRTs, and at 10 cents a kilowatt-hour, that's $75,000, a goodly amount of energy and dollars for changing a few color codes."

While on an LCD screen there is a small savings in energy, with a CRT larger monitor, there is a five to 20 percent savings of energy, which adds up to a lot of saved energy. It is not much, but it is at least a start.

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Day 278 of our Green Year: Snowshoeing and Recycling Toothbrushes

Today was a fun day with a fun outdoor activity. We took a trip down to the river and went on a nice snowshoe trip with our friends. It was a lot of fun and it was a great way to get close to nature, even during the winter time.

Today, we will also bring up what to do with your toothbrushes when you are done using them. Most people throw them away, but there are plenty of things you can do with them, courtesy of Green Living.

- Scrubbing in between tiles

- Knocking off dust that's caked onto other items.

- Comb cleaning

- As a paintbrush for the kids art projects

- Cleaning a cheese grater

- Cleaning jewelry in conjunction with baking soda

- upholstery and carpet stain removal

- Applying hair dye

- Scrubbing dirt off hard skinned fruit and vegetables

- To clean car battery terminals

- Cleaning mud or dog poop from shoes


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Day 278 of our Green Year: Natural Flea Repellents

Since we have a few dogs at the ranch, we worry about them getting fleas. They do go outside and they can get fleas. There are many methods that can be used to fix the problem of fleas, but we are choosing to go natural to deal with fleas, or at least prevent them.

First of all, you can make a tea of a lemon peel and water. Steep it overnight and sponge the tea onto the pet if they have fleas. Citrus is hated by fleas and they will die or leave immediately.
Second, putting a strong herb over the animal will help to keep away the fleas. Mint and basil are two really good remedies.
Third, if you bathe your pet, you can add salt to the water you use and that will help to kill any fleas.
Fourth, you can add brewer's yeast to the pet's food. Fleas do not like the taste of animals that eat this type of yeast.
Lastly, by sprinkling borax on carpets, sofas and other pieces of furniture, it will keep fleas from attaching themselves to your furniture.

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Day 277 of our Green Year: Natural Disinfectant

There comes a time when disinfectant is needed to keep things clean around the house. If you are dealing with chicken, then you need to disinfect the area so that you don't spread salmonella. Sadly, many different types of disinfectants have several harmful chemicals in them and people are spreading them all over their counters and chopping blocks.

To keep things safe, and not use harmful disinfectants when we are dealing with cleaning, we have chosen a great disinfectant recipe from a green living website.

We can try this recipe:

Mix 1.6 oz of eucalyptus oil with a litre of water. Be sure to shake well before use and use as you would a store bought disinfectant.

And this one:

Mix together 1 gallon warm water, 20 drops grapefruit seed extract, Mix and pour in a spray bottle

Hopefully this will keep harmful bacteria out of the house, and bad disinfectant chemicals out as well.

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Day 276 of our Green Year: Supporting Animal Shelters

Care2.com has a great online contest going on right now. By going there, you can vote for an animal shelter in your area. If your animal shelter is chosen, then that animal shelter will get $10,000 to help it out.

Layla and I feel that if we are going green, that means helping animals in the wild, helping ourselves, and helping the domestic pets that some people give away for a wide variety of reasons, or strays that are picked up.

We are going to be voting for our local animal shelter of course, but you should vote for your animal shelter. No matter which shelter wins $10,000, animals win and that is the most important thing. Being green is about helping all animals, including those in shelters. That is why Layla and I have chosen to vote for our local animal shelter.

You can vote here.

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Day 275 of our Green Year: Make Your Own Bubblebath

Nothing is better than a bubble bath, and every couple of months, it can be nice to have one. A couple of the people here at the ranch also enjoy to have a bubble bath, so Layla and I came up with the idea of making our own bubble baths.

Here are two recipes that we will be trying out, courtesy of Care2

Bubble Bath Mix for One Bath
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2-3 drops essential oil

Bubble Bath Mix in Bulk Quantity
1 cup baking soda
1 cup cream of tartar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Up to 5 drops essential oil per bath (optional)

Combine the baking soda, cream of tartar, and cornstarch in a jar. Use a few tablespoons per bath. Add the essential oil at the time of the bath; otherwise the baking soda will neutralize the scent during storage.

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Day 274 of our Green Year: Companion Planting

We can be excused for thinking spring is almost here due to the nice weather we have been having. However, it is January and the cold weather is going to be coming soon. That being said, today's blog is about gardening, which will be here before we know it.

Layla and I do not use pesticides, herbicides or any type of chemicals in our garden. As a result, our plants are at risk for pests destroying them. To combat this, we are going to be using companion planting.

Companion planting has been around for longer than fertilizers and pesticides and has been used for hundreds of years to help plants get protection from pests, provide shelter from wind, sun and frost, and to improve the soil with minerals and nutrients.

When you plant a variety of different plants together, it creates a variety of smells that confuse the insects and prevent them from laying eggs in the area. There are also a variety of insects repelling plants that will help the garden keep away the pests. Peppermint keeps ants away, you can use white cabbage to keep away aphids, as does garlic. Garlic also keeps out spider mites. Perennial chives keep away aphids and spider mites too. Basil deters flies and mosquitoes, while sage keeps bean beetles and carrot flies away.

In our planting, we will use these tips from Sheridan Nurseries:

• Beans-like celery and cucumbers but dislike onions and
  fennel.
• Beets are compatible with bush beans, lettuce, onions, kohlrabi, and most members of the cabbage family. Keep pole beans and mustard away from them.
• Cabbage, celery, dill, onions, and potatoes are good companion plants. Dislikes include strawberries, tomatoes, and pole beans.
• Carrots, lettuce, radish, onions, and tomatoes are friends. Dill isn't, so plant it at the other end of the garden.
• Corn prefers to be near pumpkins, peas, beans, cucumbers, and potatoes. Keep tomatoes away.
• Cucumbers like sweet corn, peas, radishes, beans, and sunflowers. Dislikes include aromatic herbs and potatoes.
• Lettuce grows especially well with onions. They are also compatible with strawberries, carrots, radishes, and cucumbers.
• Onions can be planted near lettuce, beetroot, strawberries, and tomatoes but keep well away from peas and beans.
• Peas, carrots, cucumbers, sweet corn, turnips, radishes, beans, potatoes, and aromatic herbs are good companions. Keep peas away from onions, garlic, leek, and shallots.
• Radish grows well with beetroot, carrots, spinach, parsnip, cucumbers, and beans. Avoid planting near cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, or turnips.
• Squash can be planted with cucumbers and corn.
• Tomatoes, carrots, onions, and parsley are good companion plants. Basil improves growth and flavour. Keep cabbage and cauliflower away from them.

There are also good insects that you want to attract to your garden. These insects will take care of the other insects you don't want. Ladybugs eat aphids, so get some Perennial Yarrow. Wasps and bees can help the garden, so have some pollinating flowers in it.

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Day 273 of our Green Year: Natural Floor Cleaners

In the past nine months, we have used a variety of methods to try and keep our floors clean so that we did not have to use as much harmful cleaners. We take our shoes off when we come in, we have a door mat, and we ensure that the floor is swept as much as possible.

For the cleaning of the floor, we use vinegar and lemon juice to clean up the marks, and sometimes baking soda to really get the hard stains.

We have two types of floors in the house. Laminate and hardwood. We are putting bamboo flooring in during our renovations.

For our hardwood floor, we do not use water because it can be bad for the hardwood. As we said, we use baking soda with a damp cloth to clear off the scuff marks. However, we also use a 1/4 of environmentally-friendly dish detergent that is great for cleaning up parts of the floor as well.

Laminate flooring is much easier to clean and just requires vinegar and water.

Keeping the floors clean is easy to do when you know the right environmentally-friendly ways of doing it.

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Day 272 of our Green Year: Reusing Boiled Water

First, some good news. We have passed our nine month anniversary, meaning there is only three months left in the whole Our Green Year. We are three-quarters done, and on the home stretch for sure now. As well, we passed 9,000 hits recently, which makes about 1,000 hits per day.

Now, many months ago, we started using boiled water on weeds, rather than a weed killer. Well, in the winter, there is no weeds so what can we do with our boiled water. Simple, by taking our boiled water and then using that again to boil something else, we can reuse the boiled water. The boiled water can also be cooled and then given to the plants to help water them.

One great thing about reusing boiled water is that when you boil vegetables, you can then use that same boiled water to make rice. You save water, and nothing is wasted. Win-win for everyone.

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Day 271 of our Green Year: Wind Power

Well, at the farm we have decided to make the switch to wind power, like we are with solar power. We are hoping to find a good and small wind turbine that will give us the ability to supplement the power generated at our ranch, which will come from solar power. This will be no easy task though, and we are even looking at plans for making our own wind turbine.

It probably won't be by the end of April, but the ranch will be going to wind power in the near future, hopefully this year.

Adding wind power to our ranch will be a great mix with the solar power. It will be expensive obviously, but it will help us become completely off the grid in the future.

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Day 270 of our Green Year: Nylon Uses

Nylons are used every day by millions of women around the world. When they become ripped or old, they are often thrown out because they cannot be worn anymore. However, this is a waste as with anything that is not reused. So, why not follow some of these great tips for reusing nylons so that you don't contribute to the growing waste in our landfills.

• You can use nylon stockings to create a shine on your wood floor by putting a bath towel into the nylon stocking.
• If your trunk has too many things in it to close properly, you can tie some nylon to hold the trunk closed.
• If you need a really large rubber band, you can cut the elastic top of the nylons out. This works great with another nylon elastic to hold in your important documents.
• Nylons can be used as a 'wick' to water your houseplants.
• Instead of using fabric softener that makes your clothes smell nice, you can put potpourri into a nylon, tie off the nylon and toss it in the dryer with the clothes or sheets.
• Did you lose a contact lens? Put your old nylon over the vacuum nozzle and slowly move it around the floor. It will suck up the contact lens, but not suck it into the vacuum bag.
• You can store plant bulbs in the nylon and hang them to dry.
• If you roll an old nylon into a ball, you can use it to clean your sink and tub.
• Don't like the feeling of wool on your arms? Line the sleeves of the wool sweater with the legs of nylons.
• If you have lumpy paint, you can strain it through an old nylon.

Nylons can be reused many times over throughout the house. This makes it a great thing to hold onto after you are done using them. Too often we throw out things that can be reused because we live in a 'one-time use' and disposable society. We use something once and toss it away. Instead of doing that, follow these tips with nylons and begin to look for other ways that you can reuse the items in your house. Doing this saves the environment, and saves you money. Win-win!

Day 269 of our Green Year: Crushed Glass Counters

Renovations are a part of life for many people, and it is a part of our life. We have come to another decision with our renovations, and that is to put in crushed glass countertops (we will dispose of the old countertops properly). Unlike marble and granite, which has to be mined and taken from the Earth, crushed glass countertops is all about recycling.

These types of countertops used a wide assortment of glass, crushed to turn it into a wonderful countertop that can be easily cleaned and maintained. Recycling at its best! The countertops are also very smooth and very attractive.

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Day 268 of our Green Year: Energy Star

Renovations to make our home become greener continue, and we have come to the decision to replace the appliances in our home with Energy Star appliances. Energy Star appliances are well-known for being extremely energy efficient, often using as little as 25 to 40 percent of the energy that regular appliances use. Replacing the fridge, stove and microwave means that we will be using far less energy at our home. Energy that will be hopefully coming from solar power and wind power at the farm eventually.

The appliances that we are replacing will be recycled properly or given away through Freecycle.

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Day 267 of our Green Year: Soaker Hoses

It is January, but that does not mean we can't start thinking about the green things we want to do when the snow melts and the time comes to again be watering our garden. We already gather snow for the plants inside, and come spring we will be catching rain once again to water the garden. However, we thought there must be a better way to water the garden than just turning on a sprinkler, and that is what led us to the soaker hose.

When you use a sprinkler, a lot of water is wasted on dirt and ground that has no plants in it. However, with a soaker hose, you can position the hose so that it only hits your rows of vegetables and plants, and therefore there is very little water that is wasted. A soaker hose has thousands of holes that seep water out into the soil, exactly where you want it to, without wasting anything. It is the environmentally friendly alternative to watering your garden. With a soaker hose, there is no need to waste water where there is no vegetables or plants to water.


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Day 266 of our Green Year: Sponsoring Animals

Throughout Our Green Year, we have donated to wildlife funds, raised awareness about them and more. Today, we are sponsoring wild animals. When you sponsor an animal, you are not sponsoring a specific animal, but you are giving money towards preserving the species that you are sponsoring.

One of the best places to do this is WWF, which allows you to sponsor a caribou, polar bear, orangutan, snow leopard, arctic fox, emperor penguin, grizzly bear, tiger, giant panda, asian elephant, cod, leopard frog, monarch butterfly, sea turtle and an owl. You can sponsor all, or just one, and it does not cost much.

You get to know that the money you gave is going to a specific species, and you know that you are making a difference with the environment. You can sponsor as we are by visiting the World Wild Life Fund.

When you sponsor an animal with the World Wild Life Fund, you get a cuddly toy, reusable gift bag made from recycled plastic, personalized adoption certificate, letter that identifies you as a gift giver and a report that shows you how your symbolic adoption will support the wildlife.

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Day 265 of our Green Year: Soles4Souls

Recycling is not only good for the environment, it is good for people as well. It offers many solutions to problems of people not having enough of what they need. However, when we give away the items we don't need so others can reuse them, we are helping both those people and the environment.
Back when Layla and I lived in Rossland, a good friend of ours named Scott ran a group called People Loving People. They took in second-hand goods and gave them to people who needed them in the third world.

Well as part of Our Green Year, we are raising awareness about another group who does much of the same. It is Soles4Souls and they help put shoes on the feet of people who cannot afford them. We don't think of shoes as essential, but feet have more contact with our world than anything else. Stepping on the wrong thing can lead to infection and death for some people.

Soles4Souls donates shoes to those who need aid around the world. They accept both new and used shoes and have donated over one million pairs of shoes to those who needed them after the Asian Tsunami, as well as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.


Layla and I only buy shoes when we absolutely need them, and from now on our old shoes will be recycled to Soles4Souls to help those who need shoes around the world. This is a much better solution than just throwing the shoes out so they can be added to the growing landfills around the world.

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Day 264 of our Green Year: Dealing with Mosquitos

It may be odd to talk about mosquitoes right now, with snow on the ground, but it won't be long before the bugs are buzzing around us and biting us. Often, when mosquitoes bother us, we will use chemical candles or install zap lights, or coat ourselves in chemical sprays to ward off the bugs and (in rare cases) West Nile Virus.

For Layla and I, we will choose a more natural approach. First, we will wear colors that do not attract mosquitoes and we will wear colors that will repel the pests.
On top of that, we will use a native method for dealing with mosquitoes, which is to use pine branches. By holding a pine branch near you, you can ward off the mosquitoes. For whatever reason, the do not like pine branches and this is a great and natural alternative for us to use instead of the bug spray.

Having a smoking fire or even a smoking branch near you will also keep the mosquitoes away because they don't want to go into the smoke.

For Layla and I, we will deal with the buzzing and biting pests naturally to keep from being bit.

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Day 263 of our Green Year: Cool Showers

So far this year we have committed to taking navy showers for a portion of our showers each week, showering every two days, limiting showers to five minutes, using a low-flow showerhead and collecting our grey shower water. Today, we are doing another shower item. This time we are committing to taking cool showers.

Now, this does not mean we are going to shower in freezing cold water. In fact, it means that while nice hot showers are very nice, we will have to settle with lukewarm showers instead. They will be a mild warm, but not overly warm. They will be a bit on the cool side.

The reason is that when you run your hot water, it takes energy to warm that water for the water heater. The more warm water you use, the more energy it takes. Therefore, by taking cool showers you can greatly reduce the energy needed for your shower.

Warm showers are gone for us now, and while we are not ready for freezing cold showers, we will meet it half way with cool showers.

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Day 262 of our Green Year: Making Our Own Mouthwash

Typically when someone needs mouthwash, they buy Scope. However, Scope has a lot of ingredients in it that are very hard to pronounce. According to some studies, dental experts do not believe that mouthwash that you buy offers very many benefits beyond what you would get from flossing and brushing your teeth. Mouthwash that you buy does not get rid of bad breath, it only masks it. On top of that, a lot of mouthwash does not come in renewable plastic bottles, thereby contributing more to the landfills.

Instead of doing this, Layla and I are going to try making our own mouthwash. We don't usually buy mouthwash, but some people at our home do and we want to offer them an alternative.

There are several recipes you can try to make your own mouthwash, courtesy of Planet Green.

Homemade Mint Mouthwash
2 oz filtered water
1/4 tsp baking soda or sea salt
1 drop of pure peppermint oil

Method:
Mix all of the ingredients together and swish like you normally would. This is only for one serving. Make as much or as little as you want.

Homemade Rosemary-Mint Mouthwash
2 1/2 cups filtered water
1 tsp fresh organic mint leaves
1 tsp organic rosemary leaves
1 tsp anise seeds

Method:

1. Boil the water, add herbs and seeds, and infuse for 20 minutes.
2. Let the liquid cool. Strain it and use it to gargle. This amount is enough to last about a week.

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Day 260 of our Green Year: The Working Assets Visa Card

Several times in Our Green Year, Layla and I will use one of our Green Days to spread the message about a good product or cause. Today, we are raising awareness about the Working Assets Visa Card.

While Layla and I do not use much credit (and are glad for that now considering the economic times), we think it is important that credit card companies work to make the world a better place. The Working Assets Visa Card does this. Since 1985, it has donated $60 million to the causes it supports, including Greenpeace and the Alliance for Climate Protection.

In all, the program supports 10 environmental causes that help to preserve habitats around the world and make sure that while people may spend to consume, their spending can make the world a better place.
That being said, it is always better to spend less and consume less, but if you need a credit card, get a credit card like this that at least offsets some of the damage consumerism causes.

Day 259 of our Green Year: Honouring With Trees

Last month, a family member of Layla's passed away. This is hard for anyone to go through, but you can use this tragic situation to do something green. On the same note, you can also honor their memory with something that will live on, possibly longer than you will.

It is honoring someone you care about, alive or dead, with a tree. This spring, to honor the family member that died, we are planting a tree at our ranch. Over time, this tree will grow and prosper and serve as a reminder of that person's life and the affect it had on all of us.

While that tree serves as a memory of that person, it also helps take CO2 out of the air and replace it with oxygen. In many ways, you are honoring the person you cared about and creating life (oxygen) through the planting of the tree.

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Day 258 of our Green Year: Composting......Hair?

Today it is a bit of a weird thing we are doing, but it is a green thing to do. In our home, Layla and I cut out own hair. Mine is quite easy to cut because it just involves buzzing it off, and Layla usually just chops off a portion of her hair when it gets too long.

Well, we learned recently that rather than just throw that hair out, you can compost it. Apparently, hair is a great source of nitrogen for the compost. Animal hair is as well and with all the cats and dogs we have, it seems like a waste to just throw all that hair in the garbage. Instead, we will now compost it. Hair is composed of 45 percent carbon, 28 percent oxygen, 15 percent nitrogen, seven percent hydrogen and five percent sulfur. All of this helps your compost and makes it work better for you.

In the spring and summer, we will be using our old cut hair outside, by providing it as something that birds can make their nests out of. Just another cool use for hair.

Used hair is used in many amazing ways. Old hair is actually used in the making of oil spill mats for car mechanics. Ottimatt is a company that does this.

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The homemade seed bell worked great and the birds were swarming around it this morning. Wonderful sight to see.
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Day 257 of our Green Year: No Compressed Air

For those of you who use a keyboard a lot, you will know that getting things inside of it like crumbs, dust and more can be a big pain in the butt. Those pieces of dust and crumbs will sometimes block the keyboard keys from pressing down. When you are working on a book, or a long report, those missing 'keys' can lead to a loss of productivity as you go back to fix it.

Usually, people will use an compressed air canister that will shoot a blast of air under the keys to clear it out. This, however, is not a green thing to do. Many compressed air canisters are packed with toxic chemicals and greenhouse gases. When you shoot the air out, you release those gases. Not to mention that there is little you can do with the canisters when they are out.

For Layla and myself, we will be using a different solution instead of compressed air canisters. First, shaking your keyboard over a trash can works great and it can get plenty of those bits of things out of the keyboard. If you have a laptop, this won't work as well. You can use a duster to get in between the keys. Another idea is to put some tape down on your keyboard, tip it over and then tip it back. Most of the bits of crap should stick to the tape. Just be careful that when you pull up the tape, you don't pull up your keys.

Of course, probably the best option so you don't have to use compressed air is to not eat at your computer and keep the crumbs away from the keyboard. That being said, in today's busy world, sometimes eating lunch at your desk is the only way you can make deadlines.

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We have been replenishing our bird feeders a lot this winter to keep the birdies warm, and there are plenty of fat chickadees here who are loving the food. We have two big bird feeders located near one tree and a flag pole, and we have another seed bell outside our loft window. This seed bell ran out today because the birds just love it, and we decided to make make our own seed bell. It turned out pretty good. One of my favorite activities in the morning is to sit at my desk in the loft and look at the birds eating outside my window as I drink my coffee. We hope they enjoy the seed bell, and we will see tomorrow.

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Day 256 of our Green Year: Steeping Differently

Layla loves tea, and months ago we went green by buying fair-trade tea and making dandelion tea when we have dandelions at our disposal.
Today, we are going green again by choosing not to buy tea bags, and instead buying loose tea leaves that we will put into a small steeping canister to make tea. Tea bags can create a lot of waste and they are only used briefly. By using reusable tea canisters, we can keep from using those tea bags, and instead use the loose tea leaves.

Not all companies are bad for their tea bags. Some companies have bio-degradable tea bags that break down when composted. These are great products but we thought it was better to just use the tea canister.

Once we are done with the tea leaves, we will put them in the compost so that they can be broken down over time and then reused as part of the soil to make our plants and garden grow high.

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Day 255 of our Green Year: Green Birthday Gifts

255 days down, 110 days to go. We are rounding the bend and coming in on the home stretch of Our Green Year, but there is still a long way to go.

Today, with some birthdays coming up for friends and family, Layla and I are making the commitment to go green with the birthday presents we buy for our friends and family. Back on my birthday, Layla made me a green present of a flower pot for my birthday, and now we are extending that beyond ourselves. We gave green gifts for Christmas, and we are going to give green gifts for birthdays.

Green birthday gifts can be a variety of different things. It can be a homemade scrapbook using materials from the house. It can be something made from recycled materials, or it can be something that actually helps the environment, like planting a tree. It can also be something like cleaning someone's house for them in a green way, cutting their lawn or just making them a nice green dinner.

Green gifts are a great idea for birthdays, and it is a philosophy we will be putting forward to all our friend's birthdays.

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Day 254 of our Green Year: Improving Air Purity

When most people want to purify the air in their homes, they will purchase an air purifier. This device is made to clean the air and make it smell nice and fresh. In our home, we generally use plants to do this, but there is something else you can do if you don't want plants in your home. All you have to do is open windows.

Opening windows may not always seem like it is something you can do to go green, but it is a much better alternative to clearing their without using the energy of an air purifier. As well, some air purifiers don't remove various pollutants, and some even produce gases like formeldahyde, which is banned in our home.

Even in winter you can open your windows, albeit only for a short time, to help clear the air. Keep your furnace turned low of course, put on a scarf and toque and open the window for a fresh blast of cool air coming into the home. The air will feel pure, you will feel refreshed and you didn't waste any energy with an air purifier.

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