Peter's Eco Lunch. Homemade 100% canvas, REUSABLE, lunch bag featuring stainless steal cutlery and reusuable containers.
I’ve noticed lately two things: 1) there are a lot of tips to show you how to build a green lunch and 2) there is a lot of talk about how organic food doesn’t hold any more nutrition than conventional food. The discussion that could happen based on these trends is amazing, and I would like to add a few points to hopefully further the discussion. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve wanted to learn to can vegetables for quite some time. I’ve grown tomatoes for three years (not consecutive), and my husband and I are slowly working out our routines. We have been to the u-pick farms more this year and have had a greater variety of fruits, although I don’t believe we’ve yielded the same quantity as last year. Regardless, we are slowly learning, and slowly we are working our budget down and eating more home-prepared foods. Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday, I received an email from “Ben”. Unfortunately, my reply bounced back. Regardless, I said that when asked a question, I would post it here. Ben was interested in more concrete places to get free mulch, and this is what I’ve set to tell him:
We got our free mulch from Asplundh, who I believe were contracted by P.G.E. They trimmed our neighborhood’s trees when I wrote that post a few months ago. They simply had a sign that read, “Free Wood Chips.”
I believe tree trimmers and arborists have to pay a fee to dump mulch, so they’d much rather give it away. I’ve heard that some tree services have a long list of names, so it may just take some inquiring to find out.
As for a place to start… I would contact these companies or agencies in addition to Asplundh:
Lastly, I’d call the Oregon City Hall to find out if they use a specific tree service and get that company’s name to call directly.
Apparently people like mulch! This blog has seen a steady increase in hits since I posted the ‘free mulch’ tidbits several weeks ago. So, I thought I’d take this opportunity to preach to the choir about some mulch benefits:
That’s all for now folks!
Check out the Xerces Society’s native plant list: The Xerces Society » Plant Lists. Use lists like this to help plan your garden and attract pollinators. We need those prescious
We just got this brochure in the mail for the office of Planning and Sustainability, www.portlandonline.com/bps.
On Saturday, February 7th from 8:30am until 2pm, at George Middle School (10000 N Burr Ave, Portland, OR), the City of Portland will host an event where folks can learn to save money and “connect with resources.”
They will have exhibits of the following:
They will also be host to workshop on improving your home, 45 minutes long, offered hourly.
AND, they will have FREE lunch, lead testing, and on-site professional childcare. Even door prizes on the hour.
This is a terrific service to get informed and get free useful stuff for your home, like energy efficient light bulbs.
Get in, and get in early. It looks like it will be jam packed with a lot of workshops covering many facets of the home. Bring a friend and tag team the workshops!
Local Harvest / Farmers Markets / Family Farms / CSA / Organic Food
This is a fabulous website that supplies information for many local producers of food across the U.S. Siimply tell them where you are located, then search for a local CSA, farmer’s market, meat producer, farms, and restaurants. This is a must-have for anyone interested in ensuring their food is locally produced.
If we really want to consider all aspects of sustainability, we must consider our economic contributions. I’ve been thinking green for many years, and now is the time (more than ever) to continue to refine how I act green.
So, if for example, natural systems should produce and decompose to produce again, then we need to be thinking very locally. If mulching is important in gardening, then what better source than truly local – mulch from your neighborhood or your own yard.
The City of Portland was trimming tree branches near electrical wires this week, and we saw the sign, “Free Wood Chips.” So, we told the gentlemen we would like to take them up on the offer. Friday, 10 cubic yards of wood chips were dropped on our driveway, the same spot that hosted 4 cubic yards of screened dirt three months ago. Being able to sieze opportunities like this is crucial when thinking about going green. How can we use what we have? What options are within our reach that won’t cost us out of pocket anything? Not only have we not paid for these, I’m comparing this to all the $3.50 bags of cedar-bark mulch we purchased from Lowe’s last summer; but we also got them delivered for free too! Just think about it.
The back-side view of our free mulch.
We thought it was steaming at first, but as we worked with it Saturday, we realized the pile is that hot.
Beth stands about 5'7".
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