Category Archives: Uncategorized

How A Push Mower Can Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Posted on February 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

When it comes to mowing the lawn, we often don’t even think of the pollution that our mower creates. I am guilty of mowing away while the fumes built up around me. In an effort to reduce my carbon footprint, I started looking for a more enviromentally-friendly way to get the job done. 

I knew my sister-in-law had a battery powered mower however when I asked her for her feedback she stated that it wasn’t worth the purchase – the charge never really lasted long enough to get the job done. While I knew that using an electric powered mower would be a better alternative to using gas I really wasn’t all that crazy about working around all the cords - I had to do it while growing up and I hated it. 

While perusing differernt green living blogs, I came across a review for the Fiskars Momentum Push mower. After checking out the different comments on the review, I decided to try it out. When it arrived I gave it a workout on my lawn and found that it was more than effective in mowing my grass. Not only am I reducing harmful emissions in the atmosphere but I also get the added benefit of exercise to increase my cardio as well! 

http://youtu.be/i0AqFL2ltjA

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Why I Am Now Growing Heirloom Vegetables

Posted on February 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

While out taking a walk with my kids this summer, I came across this cute little side garden that had many perennials. I just happened to have my camera handy so I took a few pictures so I could duplicate some of the gardener’s planting arrangements in my own gardens. 

As I was taking pictures, the gardener actually came out so I thought I would ask her some questions about her garden. Because of my interest, she invited me for a tour of her backyard which was full of different plants and gardening beds. As I was checking out her veggie garden, I came across some different varieties of vegetables that I was not familiar with. I asked her what type of veggies they were and were she had gotten them. What I was seeing were heirloom veggies grown from the heirloom seeds. She actually bought her heirloom seeds cheap from an online retailer as she said that they can often be expensive if you source them locally. She also said that the actually produce from the plants was much more tasty than the veggies you can get in the store or even those you grow from traditional seeds. She had me sold as soon as she let me and my kids taste a few of her ripe, juicy tomatoes!

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How To Grow A Garden Without Dirt

Posted on January 30, 2012 | Leave a comment

As an avid gardener, I am always interested in different methods of gardening. While on a gardening site, I came across the Square Foot Gardening method. As I have horrible soil in my backyard that no amount of amending will help due to large tree roots sucking all the nutrients out of the soil, I was interested in this method of gardening as you don’t even need to use dirt. 

With the raised box gardens, you use the following mixture:

1/3 Blended Compost

1/3 Peat Moss

1/3 Coarse Vermiculite

Because you are not using dirt, you do not have to spend as much time weeding with your winged weeder as there are no weeds! Another bonus of using this method is that you don’t need as much space to grow your garden even though you can produce the same amount of produce as you could with a traditional garden. You can even accomplish vertical gardening using this method as well which is great for growing cukes, zucchini and even squash. I know that I am planning on trying out Mel Bartholomew’s method this summer and am looking forward to some fresh garden veggies.

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Coolaroo Shade Sails

Posted on January 30, 2012 | Leave a comment

If you have warm Summers than you are probably looking to get some form of shade on the patio. Not surprising really, warm weather can really make it next to impossible to enjoy being outdoors. I have the perfect solution though. A Coolaroo shade sail. This is a piece of heavy duty material in a variety of sizes that can really make an amazing difference to the temperature underneath it.

They come with all that you need to attach them to either the house or to poles that you install yourself. The beauty of them is that you are then able to take them down when you want to in less than a minute. Underneath a coolaroo sun shade sail you will find the temperature is very pleasant. It will be about a third cooler than out in the direct sun.

Plus the prices for these shade sails are very good, so you won’t be spending more than you would on some form of umbrella for the patio.

The difference is that it will actually enhance the look of the patio and it will offer you a mauch larger shaded area as well.

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Shade Ideas For The Patio

Posted on January 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

The Coolaroo sun shade sail is a thing of beauty. It can totally transform your patio or garden to being a very pleasant place to pass the time during the warm Summer months. These are very heavy duty pieces of material that come with fixtures to allow you to either attach to the hosue or to a sturdy pole that you install yourself.

But this is not some ugly tarp, this is a designer piece of equipment that makes your outdoor area look stunning.There is a real design element to them and as they come in all manner of colors they can even be used to complement planting schemes as well.

What owners love is the simplicity of the whole design. Nothing is complicated and they can be put up and taken down very simply once you have done the necessary work to allow them to be unclipped easily.

Large enough to provide shade and shelter for a good number of peole, they are going to transform how you live during the hot weather. You won’t have to be hiding away indoors any longer. You can sit out in the shade with a nice cool drink and enjoy the good weather.

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Does The Clear Blue Fertilty Monitor Really Work?

Posted on January 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

When it comes to getting pregnant, often for many women trying to conceive is much more difficult than for the average couple. Sometimes women may think that it is just a matter of throwing out the birth control and they will conceive in a matter of months but they may be in for a surprise. My husband and I were one of these couples…we thought that it would only be a matter of months before we could start telling people that we were expecting.

It was not to be. After over a year of trying we ended up seeing a fertility specialist who diagnosed me with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). Once he put me on meds, he also suggested that I track my ovulation by taking my daily temperature first thing in the morning. This worked for a while however often I would forget which meant that I never really knew when I was ovulating. I finally broke down and bought the Clear Blue Easy Fertility Monitor which meant worry-free tracking. After only a few months of using the monitor along with using Metformin, we were finally able to conceive. I am so thankful that we finally bought the monitor.

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Dining Like Royalty

Posted on December 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

Royalty is known for their expensive tastes and lifestyle. From the houses they live in to the clothes they wear, from the cars they drive and the dinnerware sets they eat from, everything is high end. We commoners might not be able to afford the same things that they can (how many of us can actually afford dinnerware sets designed with real gold?) but it doesn’t mean that we can’t have the same experience for a much cheaper price.

Instead of pre-ordering costumed made dinnerware sets with flecks of gold and hand painted by top notch artists, we can opt to buy cheaper but delicate and extravagant looking dinnerware sets for a much less expensive price. There are many different brands offering different high end dinnerware sets, among them my favorite would have to be Johnson Brothers.

The Johnson Brothers company is known for their traditional dinnerware. The designs are reminiscent of Old English styles that they are romantic and rustic in look and feel. Each of their pieces are beautiful and delicate, made from semi-porcelain which is much durable than their fragile counterparts like porcelain or crystal. 

Johnson Brothers china patterns are usually very intricate and rustic. They have different collections with different motifs. Some depict simple village life like their ‘Friendly Village’ collection and ‘Blue Coaching Scenes’ collection. Some show architectural views like the ‘Old Britain Castles’ collection which comes in subdued colors of blue, pink and brown.

They also use themes from nature like their floral ‘Vintage Elizabeth’ collection and ‘Old English Chintz’ collection. Each Johnson Brothers piece is very beautiful and delicate. You are sure to feel every bit like royalty when dining from these dinnerware sets.

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How To Get The Greenest, Lushest Lawn In The Neighborhood

Posted on December 26, 2011 | Leave a comment

I love the look of a lush green lawn, however we seem to be the only one’s in our neighborhood that doesn’t have green grass. After trying for a few years to get our lawn free from dandelion’s I finally asked my neighbor what he was doing to get a healthy lawn.

One of the first things he suggested was to fertilize the lawn in the spring right after the ground thaws. Once you have applied the initial application, he suggested that I add another ferilizer application every two months until the fall. We decided to try out this method as we were trying to get green grass. My husband got out our fertilizer spreader and added the fertilizer. Off he went to start spreading the fertilizer and all was going well until he got finished with the front lawn and realized that all the fertilizer was GONE. He had forgotten to set the regulator on the spreader and used too much fertilizer on our front lawn. We watered for a few days so that the fertilizer would not burn our grass.

We ended up getting our wish….we had the greenest lawn on the block however my husband was very busy mowing all summer long. He often would have to mow the lawn with our Husquvarna 7021 mower at least twice a week. After the summer, he decided that he did not mind not having the green lush lawn that all our neighbors had as he was not crazy about all the mowing.

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Making Life Easier In The Garden

Posted on December 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

After years of paying out every year or so for a new wheelbarrow wheel it seemed to be getting a little bit ridiculous. It was adding up to quite a large amount of money. Then one day whilst at yet another builders merchants looking for another tire I was offered the chance to buy a flat free wheelbarrow tire.

Perfect.

The beauty of these tires is that they simply last for ever. They are never going to let you down and they are never going to need to be replaced. Mine has been going strong for so many years now that I find it amazing.

Plus with these types of wheels we are not limited to only using them for light loads like we often are with regular tires that we have to pump up. And this is normally a part of the reason why they need to be replaced so often . Put just a little bit too much in them and they are going to result in a puncture pretty quickly.

What Kind Of Tire

We can buy flat free tires for wheelbarrows in a few different options. Either with a specific size in mind or a Universal option that is going to be perfect for basically all kinds of barrows.

Personally I would recommend that we buy the Universal, it means you do n0t have to be totally certain about the size.

Installation

Installing them is simplicity itself. It is just the same as when you replace the wheel normally. The only difference is that you do not need to be bothered about pumping it up once you have replaced the tire.

It really is going to save you an awful lot of time and more importantly money if you invest in a flat free tire.

Price

Sure, the prices are a fair bit higher than for a normal tire, but the beauty is that that is it for life. No more trying to inflate a tire only to find it has a severe puncture. Just fit it and your job is done.

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Jamie Oliver in new meals attack

Posted on December 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

Jamie Oliver: “The standards are there to keep everyone on their game” The TV chef Jamie Oliver has accused the Education Secretary Michael Gove of eroding healthy school food standards.

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