Re-Homesteading in Seattle! Cluck, Cluck, Quack, Quack!

The other day, on my way into Portage Bay Cafe for my BYOM coffee in the coolest coffee mug ever (screw-on lid so it won't fly off in transit, clip on REI mug)

 I found PORTAGE BAY GRANGE!  The grange is located on Roosevelt street right before you head over the bridge!  Literally in the middle of Seattle!  They have chicks for sale and really nice chicken and duck coops!  Yahoo!  And it is right down the street from the greatest local hardware store I've seen Hardwicks and Sons.......which sells dutch ovens, used tools and furniture and even kitchen sinks! 

Go LOCAL! Become a CITY-HOMESteader!
Gotta love it!

Can you "do" the MUG? BY-OM--It's good Karma!

Say no to paper cups.  Brand new paper cups last less than 10 minutes on average.  Honestly people that is RIDICULOUS!!  BYOM!  Bring Your Own MUG!  That is what a forward-thinking Seattlite, Karin de Weille is attempting to do world-wide with her Disposable Cups campaign through New World Habits, and she has Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin on her side!


 

Click on the pictures to find these cool mugs at Amazon!  SAY NO TO PAPER!  GO GREEN BY-OM--it's good Karma! Check out what the Seattle Times is saying in the paper today:  Drive to drop paper coffee cup brews in Seattle


To sign up to use your re-usable mug click HERE.









Cups are STYLISH and FUN.  Show off your style and your interests with your re-usable MUG!

Got a Big Belly?

I'm not talking body weight here, I'm talking BIG BELLY COMPOSTERS!  Check this out!  These self-contained solar-powered composting systems compost the waste as it is coming in!  Seattle's got a few right downtown!  Composting waste containers actually create compost and don't need to be picked up as often so they cut down on fuel and fuel costs! 
I like this idea!

"It Sounds like a Bambi Movie Out Here!"

As I was walking to the Starbucks a couple of mornings ago I passed a neighbor while several different species of birds were singing.  As I walked past we nodded at each other and he exclaimed with a strange smile (like he hadn't heard so many birds in the city before), "It sounds like a Bambi movie out here!"  I nodded and waited until he had passed before I chuckled and made a mental note to talk about our conversation on my blog!

My neighbor's statement echos how Seattle's policies and changes have improved the overall urban landscape and the environment.  The birds are back to the center/core-- the Capitol Hill neighborhood-- the most populated area of the city.

Seattle has done several things in the past few years to encourage nature to return:

• Seattle Re-Leaf -Urban Forest Management Plan ---plans to increase the amount of tree coverage across the city.
• Seattle Park's and Recreation Urban Forest Restoration Program --this program works to maintain area native green spaces and urban forest landscapes 
• Seattle "Wanted" Poster --"Lost! Tall tree with soft needles, textured bark. Last seen
  in neighborhood with other leafy companions" 
• Seattle Tree Ambassador--work to create beautiful natural spaces in the city. 

Trees give us so much.

Way to go Seattle!

"Kid Compost" Seattle Mariners --- ZERO WASTE HERO

1, 2, 3 ---ICHIRO!  The Mariners and Safeco Field in Seattle are encouraging ZERO waste at the stadium. I'm SO there!  50,000 fans produce several TONS of waste an evening and most of it is being COMPOSTED!  ROCK ON!
The Seattle Mariners even have a new mascot!  KID COMPOST--the Zero Waste Hero! check out the press release: Seattle Mariners Introduce New Environmental Mascot, Give Away Bags of Safeco Field Soil For Earth Day 2011



They gave out compost as a give-away!  ROCK ON!

For the Women on the Planet!

This post is for the women out there and the men out there who love and care about the women in their lives.
I know that this is at times a touchy subject, but I want to talk about feminine products today. Pads and tampons. If we haven't had the luck of going through menopause we deal with this choice every month. The monthly cost of feminine products on the environment is extreme.

So what can you do? Get yourself a cloth pad set. Check out the Cloth Pad Review Forum of over 100 types of cloth pads. Most are hand made and of great quality. My favorite is "Pleat."
Gotta have a tampon... (or something like it?) There are natural tampon alternatives too.

Protect your body.

Protect the environment.

The average women has 500 menstrual cycles in her lifetime. If she averages 20-30 disposable feminine products a month that adds up to 12, 500 disposable pads per woman. If each of these products (including the little plastic/cardboard insert or plastic wrap) weighs on average 3 ounces.....then each and every woman on the planet is throwing away 2,344 pounds of waste that is soaked with chemicals and made of products that cannot be recycled. Remember 1 ton is 2000 pounds. Basically each one of us is throwing away something a little bigger than the size of an elephant. As of last count there are 6.5 billion people on this planet (give or take a few) and around half of them are female (3.25 billion). Multiply the amount of feminine product waste with the amount of women on the planet and the number is too big to put on this blog. The amount of waste is STAGGERING.

Feminine products are bleached and contrary to popular belief NOT sanitized. The absorbent used in products such as Always are made of (don't freak out) the following:

• gel-forming polysaccharides consisting of pectin
• agar-agar
• guar gum
• gum arabicum
• gellan gum
• scleroglucan--water soluble polymer produced by fermentation of the filamentous fungi
• xanthan
• κ-carrageenan
• glucomannan
• sodium alginate
• propylene glycol alginate
• carboxymethyl cellulose
• chitosonium pyrrolidone carboxylate and/or chitosonium lactate.
• chitin, and chitosan materials like chitosan, modified chitosan, cross-linked chitosan and/or a chitosan salt and mixtures thereof.

This is just what is inside the pad. The outside is covered with plastic as we all know, which can leach chemicals into the body. Combine this with the bleaching process and the untold combined properties of this long list of ingredients and it is hard to say what we are really placing next to the most absorbent area of the female body.

YUCK. Everybody say it with me ..................ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Tampons in addition to being linked to Toxic Shock Syndrome consist of rayon. "Rayon is a whole other problem...It's made from wood pulp and during the process of converting wood to rayon, hundreds of chemicals that are used are embedded in tampons."

Remember it is not just ONE chemical. You could have 100s of chemicals touching your cervix and being absorbed into your body. That in and of itself is bad. But, what if those chemicals combine, or change form with the heat of your body. What happens then?

Protect your body. Protect the earth.

Go Cloth. Try the keeper. It is time to change this planet!

Got Kids? What do you do with all those worn out shoes?

Photo by Compost This!

You don't have to be a kid to enjoy this idea!  Got an old shoe, what is the gardener to do?  Shoe gardens are whimsical, free, and, fun.  Not only that most tennis shoes have holes in them by the time they are ready to plant!

YES!  I want to see gardens EVERYWHERE!

Truck Farm! They're Growing veg's on the beds of Trucks in D.C!



 Ok.  I just HAVE to post this AWESOME idea I found!  Washington D.C. has a traveling vegetable farm that is being grown in the back of a TRUCK!
They have a series of really cool videos with really great music discussing the process! 


What a great idea!!  Rock on!  It is new this year and is a project through DC Central Kitchen.  The movie will be out this winter!
OK SEATTLE!  Let's get a Truck FARM!

Truck Farm! Time to figure out how to figure out how to build a Truck Farm! Music by the Fishermen Three

Flat Tire? No Problem! Re-Think!

Ok.  So I'm on Twitter and the folks over at Flat Tire Decor started to follow my tweets so I checked them out!  Urban basket-weavers, these folks over in Wisconsin (gotta love the state of Wisconsin) have got it goin' on!  They create baskets and  woven floor mats, and their sister-company Flat Tire Footwear creates all kinds of shoes (hiking boots, running shoes, slip-ons etc) ALL out of used tires!  Have to say they look really comfy too! And get this. . .  you can get them at Sears!



Bristol & Bath "Kobe Tire Sink"

 So I got to thinkin' what else are we (or should we be doing with) old, worn-out tires?

 How about a sink!

Or check out what I found on Amazon!  Click the images below for more info.Or check out this great site: "TIRES AS ART"