Just a warning

This is just a little side note, when you build your raised beds and go to put a sub layer of compost down before your soil, Never..Ever...Ever...Ever put non decomposed green leaf lettuce down. In 1 week it has sprouted up and taken over the bed I had to turn the whole bed over and remove all of the roots and stems. Big pain and time consuming, so just use fully composted materials.

Save the Seedlings!!!

Say hello to our little seedlings!

 We have been working on these bad boys for about a month now.Since our yard is basically all clay and you can't grow anything in it, we had to import some of that good dirt. We picked up a truckload of soil for $28. It is composed of compost, mushroom and top soil. Dropped a few seeds in each biodegradable cup full of dirt, a good dose of H2O and used cupcake tins with clear lids to trap moisture and retain heat. On warm days we'd let the  little guys stay outside for a few hours.

 Everything was looking good but we did develop some mold. Solution: 9 parts water 1 part apple cider vinegar in a spray bottle and give 'em a squirt once a day.Problem solved.

 The weather took a turn for the worst and since they couldn't spend anytime outside in the rec yard.....

 We built a green house. Just took an old china cabinet that was headed for the landfill and did what?!?!

 Re-Purposed!

We just pulled the particle board off the back and set it in front of the window (this one gets the most sun and is near a heat vent).

 Someday they'll get to go back outside, but for now they're thriving and surviving in a warm environment with plenty of sun.

Got time for a quickie?

Just wanted to show a quick Before:

And After

We all picked a shirt (some dirtier than others) and it took out any new dirt and stains. It didn't clean the 5 year old stains in Barry's favorite college t-shirt. But neither would any of the name brand , store bought detergents. No allergic reactions so no reason to purchase laundry detergent ever again. 

The Laundry Experiment

3 Basic Ingredients

Obviously there are 4 ingredients in this picture. Those damned essential oils, they'll getcha every time. So we just pulled a few at home recipes and made some minor adjustments.The possibilities were endless. Powdered seemed prominent but I'm just a liquid kinda gal. Most Recipes called for laundry bar soap (had trouble finding an organic) or liquid Castile soap. So.....we just got Castile in a Bar! Our resourcefulness and know how is astounding. Now a basic tutorial. 

You will need:

1/2 a bar of Pure-Castile Soap,grated or

1/3 a bar of laundry soap,grated

1/2 cup washing soda

1/2 cup borax powder

1 tbsp essential oil of your choice(some are harsher than others, so do some research)  optional

2 gallon jugs

Funnel (we made one using a 2-liter bottle, re-purposing baby) 

Designate a large pot to cook up your crazy ass at home concoctions. Also, pick your least favorite stirring utensil, and a grater or knife... these too are now lost to the hippies.

Even if this sucks as detergent the house smells awesome

Drop the soap you have obviously grated into the large pot over medim heat. Add 6 cups of water.Add  Borax, Washing Soda and the essential oil. Now just stir till it all dissolves. Once dissolved it just needs 5 more minutes to cook with the occasional stir. Pull it off the the heat and let sit 5 more minutes. Place half the contents into each bottle and fill half way with hot water, using that sweet homemade funnel.

 Shake ferociously then fill the remaining half of each jug with hot water. Now back to shakin it like a salt shaker. You should actually shake much, much harder than you would a salt shaker. Let it sit for 24 hrs. it will gel up and kinda looks like egg whites. Bam! Laundry detergent. Break Down of cost $3.50 to do approx. 75 loads. 1/2 cup per load or 2/3rds if needed. Worked and Smelled Great. Sold

The Floating Garden's of Elkton

     So this is just a side project we started working on. We took some of our leftover chicken wire from the compost bin project and put it to use. The idea started as somewhere to plant our herbs where the Dog and Cat could not bother them, but it is quickly turning into our own little hanging flower garden. This is very easy to make, all you need is...

• Chicken wire, or any fencing you have lying around
• Recycled plastic bottles(size does not matter)
• Scissors
• wire cutters

Start by putting a drainage slit in the cap of the bottle, then just cut the bottom off, and put two small holes on either side of the middle of the bottle. Now just cut the cross wire on every other square of the fencing and put the prongs through the sides of your bottle to support and hang it, and Wala! you have a hanging garden. Just plant some seeds and watch them grow. We will update more pictures once the sprouts actually start popping up.

The circle of life......or Composting.
     So this is where it all began, and where it all will end. There are endless designs and ideas for building your own compost pile at home, such as three stage, tumblers, open piles, and so on. However if your space, time, and finances are limited like ours this plan is easy and so far is working great. The gardening and landscape center down the road from us was closing up shop and moving to a better location. What was a bad turn of events for them turned out to be great for us. We bought about 40ft of chicken wire, trellises, rebar,and countless other items for a very pocket friendly price.
     These two compost bins from start to finish took about 10 minutes. All you have to do is cut about 10ft of wire and roll it around itself to form the cylinder, then just weave the rebar through the fencing and hammer into the ground and you have a compost bin.Don't forget a lid to keep out unwanted critters. We used the remaining chicken wire.It's a bit difficult to pull back when you want to add scraps and my adorably uncoordinated girlfriend has scratched herself a few times. So, by next year we will make a few lid adjustments. Now all you have to worry about is making sure you have the proper mix of carbon,phosphates, and nitrates. Basically just make sure you have a good mix of green and brown and you won't have to worry.
     General upkeep and health of your compost bin is easy and you barely have to think about it. We add all produce scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, biodegradable paper and paper towels, also once your garden is done for the season whatever you do not till back into the soil can be thrown into the compost. Basically you can add most anything organic just no Meat, fecal matter, dairy, or anything that has already been cooked, all of these can breed bacteria and stop your compost in it's tracks. The only real work you will have to do is once a week stir up the compost to make sure it is aerated and semi damp(like a wrung out sponge).
     Now for a completely non classy, yet, effective tip on speeding up and enriching your compost pile......PEE ON IT. I know it sounds gross, and also risky if your backyard privacy fence isn't all that high and your neighbor catches you mid stream at 8am( what was i supposed to do? stop mid stream?). We have a good amount of hay in our compost an when mixed with urine it produces nitrogen quickly. Don't worry by the time it is all done composting everything is broken down to basic elements and you are not putting pee soil on your plants. This chore is for men only, and I am not being sexist or saying women can't do it (although if Angela tried, I'm sure I would have jokes to last all year!). Feminine urine is much more acidic than that of male urine and can be detrimental to decomposition and the resulting soil balance. If you don't believe me feel free to research it, I recommend http://www.treehugger.com/lawn-garden/is-male-pee-better-than-female-pee-the-compost-conundrum.html

Aesthetics!
     If you are worried about having ugly bins full of compost becoming an eye sore, do not worry. There are many ways to disguise and hide them to where you won't even know they are there. We went with two trellises in front of them where we plan to grow our snap peas and green beans. This way they are fully blocked from view and once the peas begin to bloom in mid summer any minimal odors from the compost will be disguised.

This should be enough to clean everything, and I do mean everything. Your house, your laundry....your nasty hippie ass. Rough estimate of total cost $75. Essential oils are your priciest purchase and totally optional. If you're overly paranoid like myself, research the risks and benefits of essential oils and use sparingly.

White Vinegar(might as well get apple cider vinegar too, its great for gardening problems)
Olive Oil (at some point we'll be purchasing grape seed oil as well)
Coconut Milk(we bought this non-organic prior to our whole foods trip)
Vitamin E oil
Flax Oil
Any and all citrus fruits
Pure Castile Soap (bar and liquid)
Washing Soda
Baking Soda
Borax(it's your new best friend)



Oops, we forgot to name-drop salt. The kosher and sea varieties are best but good ol' Morton's will do the trick.

So here's the plan....

So Barry and I decided to give up the booze for 30 days and as you would suspect we needed to come up with a plan to fill the void it left in our hearts and our liver's. We started a compost pile about a month ago and it snowballed from there. So here is our guide to cheaper, healthier living that even the laziest of hippies could pull off. We have no idea what we are doing, so feel free to follow along and laugh at our mistakes and celebrate our triumphs.