CT Green Scene

The Seeds of Spring!

By Elizabeth Conrad

An unusually warm winter has turned into an early spring, and lately I find myself day-dreaming about warm sunny days, deck parties with friends, and swimming in cool Maine waters. At our house, my husband is the gardener AND the cook, and over the past year, his interest has piqued regarding heirloom varieties. Our commitment to preserving food diversity and security drove us to seek out as many resources as we could. In fact, we found so many great on-line and print catalog sources for organic and heritage seeds and plants - complete with instructions - we thought it nice to share with our readers. 

One of our best discoveries this year was purely accidental. Last weekend a Sunday drive led us to Old Weathersfield, Connecticut - an amazing place that has been producing seeds for New England gardeners since 1811.  Comstock, Ferre & Co. offers 250 varieties of open pollinated non-GMO seeds. The floors were old wide plank with rows and rows of paper seed packets.  I think there must have been 50 different varieties of tomato seed alone - and we came home with enough seeds to keep us in vegetables for ten years!

In addition to Comstock Ferre & Co. , we have a surprising number of great resources are right here in New England including the High Mowing Seeds located in Wolcott, Vermont  and Fedco Seeds  of Waterville, Maine.   Another Maine based seed company, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, has a large selection of heirloom and organic seeds available. 

igI am sure that I have missed many other worthy enterprises here in our region, so look around and see what might be available right in your community! 

Check www.permacultureactivist.net/seeds/SeedResrcs.htm for an excellent list of heritage and open pollinated seed companies. In addition, the Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa is an excellent resource for anyone interested in the preservation of our seed heritage. Happy planting!

 

Elizaebth Conrad is co-founder of Common Good Market, a New England (Virtual) Town Square Market for the 21st Century offering an outstanding selection of high quality sustainable and eco-friendly products for the home made by New England artisans and crafts-people. Common Good Market believes that buying locally made products helps build more resilient local economies, leads to improved environmental outcomes for our region, and a better future for our children. Visit Elizabeth's blog to read more. 

Operation Trashdown: The Benefits and Ease of Composting

by Ilene Moyher

Welcome to Operation Trashdown, a concept for creating a cleaner earth. Everyone can help by adopting the "less trash" mindset in their shopping and daily routines. Considering what's in landfills and in our oceans (read interesting facts about The Great Pacific Garbage Patch), here are some ways each person can help reduce the amount of trash created and save money, too!

Composting of household trash– it’s easy to get started and maintain, can reduce the amount of household garbage by one-half (it did in my house), and creates great soil for garden use. It may seem ‘icky’ at first, but in reality composting creates less messy garbage and is as simple as throwing food and paper scraps into a container then adding them to a pile in the backyard.

DIY Skincare Experiments

by Brittany Shutts

After years of warfare against my skin, I have transitioned into a routine that is radically different. In high school, I was plagued with acne and endured face steaming, microdermabrasion, and prescription ointments. I tried numerous cleanser/toner/moisturizer combinations. Due to the mélange of products and treatments that ousted the oil and singed away the blemishes, my face was feeling pretty raw and irritated.
   
When I first read about the questionable ingredients riddling many personal care products, I started to notice parabens, dyes, and artificial fragrances on the labels of the bottles on my sink. Thus began my quest for something that would keep my face in tip-top shape without polluting it with carcinogens.

Vendors Wanted for ReStore Earth Day Event!

Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite

By Brittany Shutts



Brittany Shutts is a senior Creative Writing major at Purchase College. Her hometown is in Upstate New York in the Adirondacks, where she spent many years reading books on high tree branches. She recently returned from a semester in the Czech Republic. Brittany loves to talk with her hands and also writes fiction, drama, and a blog about nothing in particular. Brittany is passionate about holistic health and non-toxic, sustainable living. She enjoys thrusting unfamiliar vegetables on unwilling family members and gazing wistfully at the organic chocolate section of the supermarket.

Bedbugs are nocturnal parasites that feed on human blood. Once they latch onto beds, furniture, or clothing or make a cozy home behind your wallpaper it becomes incredibly difficult to get them to move out. If, until recently, bedbugs seemed to be the stuff of nursery rhymes, it is because they virtually disappeared in the US with the use of pesticides after World War II.

Now these forgotten parasites are making a comeback and spreading as people travel and commute. Dormitories are especially prone to infestation due to the number of students and the rate of occupant turnover. Traditional methods of extermination often involve spraying harmful insecticides, a process that often needs to be repeated before the problem goes away. All it takes for a second infestation is a couple of bedbug refugees. Fortunately, there are a few preventative steps that can be taken to avoid sharing a room with a thousand of your closest friends. If you’re already battling the bite there are also many effective, pesticide-free methods of extermination.

NVCC Offers Green Courses for Homeowners - FREE

Humans weren't meant to hibernate: do something fun and productive this winter and take a green course for homeowners at Naugatuck Valley Community College, sponosred by Union Savings Bank.

From solar thermal to green building to sustainable landscaping to weatherization and ruuse solutions that will save you money--a multitude of interesting, inspiring and informative courses run from January to April. To register, call 203-575-8029 or email Ann Travers ATravers@nvcc.commnet.edu.

Solar Thermal for Homeowners your geothermal system

CRN 2747 • Danbury Center, 2 Sat., 1/8 & 1/15,

9 am - 12 pm, Rm: CL3

Instructor: Peter Governale

Is solar thermal energy a viable option for your home? Join us to learn basic solar energy principles, what it takes to install solar assisted hot water system, principal operating dynamics. Bring your own energy bills to calculate the cost effectiveness and return on investment for your home.

Geothermal for Homeowners

CRN 2748 • Danbury Center, 2 Sat., 1/22 & 1/29,

9 am - 12 pm, Rm: CL3, Instructor: Peter Governale

Why do nations such as Germany and Sweden have 97% of all new buildings space conditioned by geothermal? And why does the Iowa Board of Education mandate geothermal for its schools? Did you know that in 1993, the Environmental Protection Agency proclaimed “Geothermal heating and cooling is the most cost effective space conditioning system there is?” Join us to learn the fundamental principles of how geothermal energy works: practical applications for homes, businesses and schools; return on investment, cost effectiveness and life cycle fundamentals of installation procedures; technical principals of geothermal; what to look for in a contractor; available tax credits and state rebates; how making your home more energy efficient plays a role in designing your geothermal system.

Solar PV for Homeowners

CRN 2749 • Danbury Center, Thu., 2/10, 7 – 9 pm,

Rm: CL1, Instructor: Thomas Thompson

Learn about the many benefits and cost savings of implementing a solar photovoltaic system in your home. This course will provide information about Connecticut’s financial incentive programs for homeowners and the environmental impacts of PV installations.

Practical Green Remodeling, by CT Author Barry Katz

Long time Connecticut resident, (and occasional CT Green Scene contributor) Barry Katz, has just published an informative new book: PRACTICAL GREEN REMODELING: Down-to-Earth Solutions for Everyday Homes.

Published by Taunton Press, the book offers a compelling argument for remodeling green, guiding readers through process with over 200 color photographs of green remodeling projects from across the country.

What sets this book apart from the many how-to books on the subject is the author's emphasis on the "what to" and the "why to" of going green at home.

Asked what inspired him to write this book, Katz said, "I wanted not only to show readers what is possible, and often easy, to achieve in terms of creating energy efficient, environmentally friendly, and healthy living environments, but to provide a clear explanation of the complex and interconnected issues that make going green such a compelling choice for a growing number of people around the world."

Excerpts from the book can be found on the author's blog, The Future is Green. You can also follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/FutureGreen

 

Solar Hydrogen House in NJ

This AMAZING video shows that it IS possible to live off grid in a "normal" looking house.
Thanks to Judi Friedman at PACE. If you don't know who PACE is, by all means--click the link to visit this amazing CT-based organization!

Happy Mother’s Day

by Eileen Weber

This morning, my three anxious daughters impatiently awaited their mother’s peaceful slumber to dissipate. Three sets of beady little eyes all on me. Do you know how hard it is to sleep like that?

Honestly, I gave a valiant effort at ignoring them. But when they asked one another if they thought I might be awake in a soto voce “whisper” (note the quotation marks), I thought it best to open my eyes.

I found a stack of cards. One of them, as my oldest proclaimed with verve and gusto, was the “biggest card ever!” Yes, yes it was. It was about the size of a Lexus. It probably had its own zip code. In fact, I would hazard a guess that there are some third world countries that occupy less space than this card.

My first thought was, “This isn’t going to fit nicely into the recycle bin.” What do you do with old cards? It seems a bit ridiculous to throw them out. There must be something creative you can do with them. After all, they are made from paper.

A cursory search on the web brought back a number of sites that gave the same inspiring concepts. Many of the sites focused on Christmas cards. But the same process can still apply with more generic holiday and birthday cards. Hopefully, you will find one or two that work for you:

• Use them in scrapbooking.
• Make gift tags out of them.
• Cut them up and use them as postcards.
• Use them in decoupage.
• Make new cards of out of them for someone else.
• Take some of the cards with more attractive designs and frame them. Instant art!
• Cut them into long strips and use them as book marks.
• Cut into circles, laminate them, and use them as coasters. No more drink rings!
• Send your cards to St. Jude’s Ranch for Children. (Check their site for details.)
• Don’t give paper cards in the first place. Use e-cards!

For all the moms and moms-to-be, Happy Mother’s Day!

Organic Lawn Care

by Eileen Weber

Spring is in the air and homeowners everywhere are watching their lawns turn from muddy brown to lush green. Every year, garden centers are overrun with a rush of consumers picking up grass seed, fertilizer and weed killers. But for many, grabbing the first pesticide off the shelf is not their idea of a healthy lawn.

For Jay Feldman, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Beyond Pesticides, and Chip Osborne, President of Osborne Organics, organic lawn care is the best method to obtain the sometimes elusive American dream: A velvet carpet of green grass.

Last night, the two men spoke at a free lecture open to the public at Southport Congregational Church. The lecture, “Going Green In Your Own Backyard”, was sponsored by the Fairfield and Sasqua Garden clubs. It focused on how to manage your lawn or garden organically and the impact pesticide use has on our environment.

Feldman spoke vehemently against the use of pesticides. He showed a 1950s advertisement with the tag line “DDT Is Good For Me.” He even quoted the notable biologist Rachel Carson when she said, “Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such a barrage of poisons on the surface of the earth without making it unfit for all life?”

“You can’t go anywhere without people talking about being green,” he said. “But how do we incorporate that into our lives? It is time to shatter the myth that we need to use pesticides.”

DIY Green House Plans

The House Designers (THD) and ENERGY STAR® have partnered to offer consumers an exclusive collection of Green House Plans, which have all been awarded the "Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR®" credentials to promote green home building.
 
All ENERGY STAR® house plans include energy-efficient details and specifications for features such as tight construction and duct systems (specific to locality), properly-installed insulation, high performance windows, efficient heating and cooling equipment, and ENERGY STAR® qualified lighting and appliances to reduce energy costs by 20 to 30 percent.
 
THD, based in Monroe, Connecticut is a leading on-line resource of the leading residential architects and designers in the U.S. THD has the best selling, most popular house plans in America all under one roof owned and operated directly by the designers with clients who have built their homes in every state in the U.S. and in 56 countries around the globe. 
 
Source: The House Designers and PACE

X-Actly What I Wanted

by Elizabeth G. Howard

I had really just one thing on my Christmas list this year that I REALLY wanted, and this is it: a wall-mountable pencil sharpener.

I don't have to tell most of you who are over the age of 30 what the nostalgia factor of this item is. You can instantly remember the scent of pencil shavings and hear in your memory the familiar grinding noise, the one you made as you cranked away at the wall-mounted sharpener in your third-grade classroom.

At my school, it was the one place in the whole school you could go without asking permission. Mrs. Bacchus (yes, that was her real name... amazing the awareness of names you achieve when you are grown up. My first-grade teacher was Mrs. Lemming) would eyeball you as you got up, so you'd have to give body signals to ensure she knew just where you were headed-- and not, apparently, to escape out the door to pull the fire alarm. 

The Forest for the Trees

But for me, it was more than the nostalgia. I love to write anything anywhere, not just virtually. And as I progressed through My Office Life, I noticed that pens were all disposable, as were even the pencils, in their clicky-plastic casing. The only time you ever came across a real PENCIL, made of wood, was at trade shows, where they were given as quirky gifts that were merely there to carry around a logo. To use them, you had to cram their heads into sad, whirring electronic sharpeners that inevitably lived on that one secretary's desk that you didn't much like to talk to anyway.

What We Are Made Of

So it was these two things that pushed me to edge of desire this season of receiving. Colin was renovating a room and needed a pencil to mark the boards he was cutting. I discovered we had just one busted out pencil in our house. The eraser was gone, and its lead was warn to the nub, unusable without a sharpener. Colin had to use a pen to mark the boards, a pure travesty in my mind.

My Dad always has had a wall-mounted pencil sharpener in his shop and he used it as frequently as his children did as they worked on their math homework. He reminded us that we all make mistakes, and we have the tools to fix them.

So now I have my Boston X-Acto Wall/Table-Mountable Pencil Sharpener KS, Model 1041. It is made in China and I can see that it isn't as sturdy as the ones I used a a kid. But I was happy to receive it shipped in a box with almost all paper packaging. The simplicity of my sharpener reminds me of my own strengths, of the energy I have to give to things, and all the extra crap we don't need.

I think it makes me more human, and I like that.

A Conversation with Kate L. Harrison on Green Weddings

Environmentally conscious weddings are on the rise. And for a multi-billion dollar per year industry that is great news for our environment!  From organically-grown dishes, conflict free diamonds, recyclable invitations and earth-friendly party favors I can't help but ask; is green the new white?

Kate L. Harrison a New Haven, CT resident and author of The Green Bride Guide due out in stores December 2nd tells us more:

Q. What is a green wedding?

A. "A green wedding is any wedding where the couple tries to decrease the impact of the event on the planet -- and there are many ways to do it!  Every part of a wedding, from invitations to the favors, has eco-friendly options worth considering."

Q. Is it more expensive to have a sustainable, eco-friendly wedding?

A. "No! This is a myth that I am working hard to dispel.  A green wedding can cost more than a conventional wedding or it can cost less (up to 60% by my estimates).  It depends entirely on the choices you make.  That is why I have divided each section of the book up by price.  I offer low, medium and high-end choices in every category so couples can easily decide where to save and where to splurge.  You never have to sacrifice style or comfort to be green."

Q. What is the easiest component any wedding can incorporate to make it more sustainable?

A. "Couples spend about half of their budget on food, so this is a great place to make change.  Ask your caterer to create a menu with local, seasonal and organic dishes.  In addition to being better for the environment, they taste amazing!"

Q. There are many products on the market that claim to be "all-natural" or "organic", how can couples be sure they are choosing legitimate green products for their wedding?

A. "This is a significant problem.  Look at the recommendations in my book ( I have a whole section on green washing) and at thegreenbrideguide.com, check Co-op America's green pages and most importantly, ask questions!"

Q. What inspired you to write The Green Bride Guide and what can readers expect?

A. "The short answer is that it was the resource that I wanted to have but could not find when my husband and I were planning our wedding. The Green Bride Guide has all the basic wedding information (e.g. checklists and vendor contact sheets) but also offers hundreds of eco-friendly ideas and up-to-date resources in an organized, easy-to-navigate format."

What's next? The future looks green! And Kate will be contributing more green wedding ideas right here on CTGreen Scene.  Check back soon!  Interested in having your own green wedding?  Have more questions or concerns?  Ask Kate.

Natural Pesticides that Work

EarthTalkTM
From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: What green-friendly lawn and garden pesticides are available today? I’m particularly interested in options that won’t harm my cats.     -- Nancy Blanchard, via e-mail

Pesticides have greatly boosted agricultural yields over the last half century, so it is no wonder, given the commercial availability of many of these synthetic chemicals, that American homeowners apply 100 million pounds of the stuff each year to make their own gardens grow bigger and faster, too.

But the downside of using such chemicals is that they can poison people and pets as well as backyard wildlife: “Common insecticide ingredients such as 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), atrazine and dicamba have been shown to harm mouse embryos at times equivalent to the first week after conception in humans,” says Erica Glasener of The Green Guide. Due to such revelations, home gardeners are fast discovering the benefits of avoiding chemicals in favor of natural, less toxic alternatives.

But before thinking about applying pesticides, gardeners can design (or re-design) their gardens to make the most of native plants that have evolved over eons to thrive in local conditions without synthetic aid or lots of water. Choosing native plants appropriate to your elevation, soil type, drainage and sun exposure will naturally repel many common pests and also reduce the propagation of invasive exotic species.

Similarly, embedding your plants in healthy soil replete with beneficial insects and worms can also help reduce the need for pesticides. Laura Moran of Mainstreet.com suggests that home gardeners compost their vegetable food waste—which is chock full of nutrients that plants love—and mix it into existing soil to give the garden a healthy boost. “Aside from stimulating healthy root development,” she writes, “the addition of rich compost also improves soil texture, aeration and water retention.” It also provides a nice home, she says, for the beneficial bugs that are destroyed along with the bad ones by chemical pesticides.

If pesticides are necessary, there are a handful of organic varieties available. Bacillus thuringiensis (“Bt”) is a naturally occurring bacterium that is lethal to most leaf-eating caterpillars on trees, shrubs, flowers and vegetables. According to gardening writer Jeff Ball, it is harmless to all other insects, animals and humans. It comes in a powder form for use as a dust, or, when diluted with water, as a spray. Organic chemists have formulated varieties of Bt to kill mosquitoes or potato beetles as well.

Biodegradable Dog Poop Bags

On What to with A Handful of Dog Poo

by Elizabeth Howard

After we got finished discussing wine, films, Sex and the City, Myanmar and the general state of the weather at our cozy Southport luncheon, we finally got around to chatting about poo.

It started innocently enough, with a conversation about weaning ourselves off of plastic grocery bags. 

It evolved from the full-fledged bags to finding a replacement for the produce bags, which I had recently found a solution for.

"But then, you know," Carol asked, "what do you do about picking up the dog poop?" Carol is nothing if not practical. And she has a Black Lab.

Not to worry: when we aren't slathering butter on a cob, or pumping it into our gas tank, corn apparently has another brilliant use: biodegradable dog poop bags!

NOTE: The instructions on this product say you can toss the pet waste in the compost heap. DON'T!! Pet feces should not be mixed with normal garden compost that may come in contact with food. For a better alternative, check out Sharon Slack's Pet Waste Composter.

Take your spare room off-grid

Taking my house off-grid conjures up the most luscious words: independence, freedom, self sufficiency, intelligence.  Well, Off-Grid tells us how to start with just one room using a small PV system. Anyone out there tried something like this?

 

So, you want to go off-grid? Or maybe you want to find out what it’s like before taking the plunge? How about taking one room of your house off grid? It’s a less expensive way of learning the technology, before committing yourself.

We suggest starting with a bedroom. Look around your bedroom and see what devices you have that run on electric. As I look around my room, I see one table lamp, two floor lamps, wall lamp, digital TV, Stereo, satellite box, portable dvd player, vcr, and XBox. I also have a battery powered clock, powered by rechargeables, so I’ll add the battery charger to our list. There is also a curling iron, hair dryer, and ceiling fan with lights, but we will leave those items off our list for now.