Quick Tips for Cooling Off Without Air Conditioning

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 08:55:15 -0500

improvements you can make to your home to cool it without air conditioning, I thought I'd focus on easy tips and tricks for cooling off. These quick, simple ideas will offer immediate relief from the heat, no matter how hot it gets.

5 Eas]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

10 Delicious, All-Natural Homemade Ice Pop Recipes

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 10:33:19 -0500

10 All Natural, Homemade Ice Pop Recipes 1. Super Berry Smoothie Pops Take this smoothie recipe for mouthwateringly delicious (and good-for-you) berry smoothies, pour it int]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Get Your Feet Sandal-Ready with These DIY Pedicure Recipes

Wed, 11 May 2011 09:02:26 -0500

pamper yourself sometimes! Here are three easy, inexpensive recipes for doing your own pedicure at home. Relaxing, Moisturizing Foot Soak 2 gallons of very warm wate]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

5 Foul-Smelling Flowers from Around the World

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 09:04:09 -0500

1. Amorphophallus Titanum Also known as "Corpse Flower," Amo]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Easy Container Gardening: Can Planters

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 09:14:28 -0500

Ideas for Using Cans as Planters

One of the simplest, prettiest ideas I've seen for growing on a wall or fence is to use large cans (such as those that hold ground coffee or cans that many restaurants use. These usually contain tomato sauce or vegetables.) I came across the idea first in Gayla Trail's fabulous book, You Grow Girl! and was happy to track the project's inventor down online, where she offers instructions for how to make your own hanging can garden.
Another gre]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Let's Get Crafty! Must-Have Tools for Crafters

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 10:15:01 -0500

craft supplies.

Must-Have Tools for Crafting

<]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Can Houseplants Make You Smarter?

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 09:24:30 -0500

Houseplants clean the air and brighten a room. Occasionally, they drive us mad as we wonder how exactly we managed to kill yet another "unkillable" houseplant. (In that way, they provide great lessons in perseverance as well!) But it looks like there's one more great reason to grow houseplants: their presence in your workspace might actually make you smarter. According to a recent study published in The Journal of Environmental Psychology, just having plants in your work space is enough to increase your attention span. An increase in attention span means that we're able to remember more]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Spice Up Your Cooking with These 5 Beautiful Basils

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 09:08:08 -0500

Growing Basil Basil is a heat-loving herb that thrives in full sun and warm weather. Basil should be planted outdoors, in the garden or in containers, after your last spring frost date. If you are starting basil from seeds, you can sow them directly in your garden after your last frost date,]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Grow a Garden, Even in a Cubicle

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:15:38 -0500

plants clean the air, and that taking care of something alive, even a plant, is a definite mood-lifter. But if you're working in a cubicle or window-less office, this can be quite a challenge. If that sounds like your workplace, you might want to check out one of these fun gardening gadgets, originally featured in a post over on Mashable about "desktop farming." However, if you're not willing to spend fifty bucks for a ]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Make Your Own Seed Tape for Planting Annuals, Herbs, or Vegetables

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 10:18:47 -0500

herbs and vegetables. Let me tell you that a day of crouching down, sowing teeny-tiny carrot or basil seeds is absolute murder on the back. And trying to get nice, neat, perfectly spaced rows of seeds is not exactly an easy feat. Especially if you have kids "helping" you! So, now I've seen the light. Seed tape is a wonderful thing. It's also an expensive thing, if you try to buy it pre-made. Luckily, it's easy and i]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Easy Herbs to Grow for Natural Women's Health

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 09:00:38 -0500

Herbs for PMS Relief
The joys of PMS and menstruation: bloating, headaches, cramps, moodiness. If you are looking for a natural way to deal with the discomfort, consider growing these herbs in your garden: ... Read the full story on Planet Green

Tobacco Plants as Bomb Detectors?

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 10:14:42 -0500

Bomb-sniffing dogs may soon have a new ally in the effort to detect bombs before they can inflict harm: plants. Dr. June Medford of Colorado State University published a recent study in the journal PlosONE detailing her team's work with the tobacco plant to help detect explosives. The team engineered tobacco plants (Nicotiana) to turn from their typical green color to yellow when they detected trace amounts of TNT and other explosives in the air. The system isn't ready for airport security yet; the plants' leaves take several hours to change from gree]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

4 Plants Saved from Extinction by the Endangered Species Act

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 09:15:00 -0500

recent study completed by biologists from around the world, including scientists from the United States and Great Britain, has concluded that 22% - over 1 in 5 � of plant species are endangered. While those numbers are daunting, it was wonderful to read the news that the Maguire Daisy, formerly threatened by mineral exploration and other human disruption, has recovered, and was de-listed from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Endangered Species list earlier this month. Most often, plants end up on the Endangered Species list as a result of disruption, most commonly in the form of habitat loss due to hu]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

5 of the World's Most Amazing Gardens

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 09:15:35 -0500

1. Musee de Quai Branly Vertical Garden, Paris

... Read the full story on Planet Green

No Yard? Here's How You Can Still Make and Use Compost

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 09:30:32 -0500

food waste is simple for those of us with a yard -- just toss any fruit and veggie scraps out on the compost pile, and repeat until, soon, there is enough rich, crumbly compost to toss onto our garden beds. But what if you're an apartment dweller, with no yard, no balcony, no outdoor space to speak of to call your own? Composting is still a great option for you apartment-dwellers out there. It will take a bit of creativity, but it's entirely possible that you can reduce your total food waste to nearly zero, depending on how many of these options you're willing to use and the size of your household. Small Space Composting Option #1: Worm Bin People are sometimes hesitant to ]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Farm Hacks - How Open Source Farm Technology Can Help Small Farmer Succeed

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:00:35 -0500

In his fantastic book "The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer," Joel Salatin has a lot to say about farmers and their toys. Most specifically, the drive for the biggest, newest tractors (and other machines) that money can buy. Often, this lust/need for bigger and better drives farmers straight into debt. Salatin states: "The average farm requires $4 worth of buildings and equipment to generate $1 in annual gross sales. In other words, a farm generating $300,000 in annual gross sales is, on average, operating with roughly $1.2 million in equipment." We've seen a huge decrease in the number of family farms -- from over 7 million in the 1930s to just 2 million in 2000. Less than 2% of the U.S. population farms for a living. A huge factor in the decrease is that federal farm programs fa... Read the full story on Planet Green

One Seed Chicago - And How You Can Encourage Gardening in Your Community

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 13:18:22 -0500

One Seed Chicago is focusing on drawing attention to food deserts and childhood obesity by encouraging Chicagoland residents to grow, cook, and eat their own veggies. The organization is helping residents learn to eat what they grow via their "seed to plate" initiative, in which prominent chefs and others share re]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Detroit's Orchids - How the Motor City Helped Preserve Endangered Orchids

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 11:33:30 -0500

Anna Scripps-Whitcomb The orchids were bestowed upon the city by Anna Scripps Whitcomb in 1953. Scripps-Whitcomb was the daughter of Detroit newspaper publisher James Scripps. She was a fanatical orchid grower, who proudly showed her private collection of hundreds of or]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Favorite Gardening Posts of 2010

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 09:58:58 -0500

Vegetable and Herb Gardening
One thing is for sure: vegetable gardening was HUGE in 2010, and it looks like the trend will continue into the new year. I think we did a good job of showing that vegetable gardening is for everyone, from the country gardener with a couple of acres to the city dweller with nothing more than a couple of sunny windowsills.
Photo courtesy of AlexaSky, st]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

5 Creative Christmas Tree Recycling Ideas

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 10:38:43 -0500
5 Christmas Tree Recycling Ideas
1. Make a Wintry Potpourri Simply mix some of the needles from your tree with some cinnamon sticks, cloves, dried orange peel, and maybe some eucalyptus, add a few drops of a matching essential oil, and cover for a week to let the ]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet the Creepy-Crawlies That Make Garden Soil Healthy

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:35:54 -0500
1. Bacteria We're so used to waging war on bacteria (note the Read the full story on Planet Green

10 Great Green Gifts for the Gardeners on Your List

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 10:30:21 -0500
Repeat after me: Unless it's beautiful or useful, put it back. This is true in general when it comes to the items we buy for ourselves or others, but I'd like to suggest that it's especially true for the items you buy for the gardeners on your list. There are so many gadgets out there that are advertised as "great gifts for gardeners!" -- glass globes that supposedly help you water your houseplants, large plastic glove/rake contraptions that are neither effective as gloves nor rakes; not to mention the myriad goofy t-shirts available online now. While I'm as much a fan of goofy t-shirts as anyone, may I suggest something a bit more eco-friendly? The ten items on today's gardener's gift list are green, beautiful, and useful. As a die-hard gardener, I'd be thrilled to receive any of them. ... Read the full story on Planet Green

Store Your Vegetables in This Affordable DIY Root Cellar

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 08:50:52 -0500
low tunnels, this generally means growing vegetables that will store well after you harvest them. These include:

Apples

Carrots

Potatoes

Jerusalem artichokes

Beets

Cabbage

Parsnips

Leeks

Rutabaga

Turnips

While many older homes were equipped with some type of root cellar, it's probably a good assumption that most people don't have one now. And while you could put in a bit of time and effort to Read the full story on Planet Green

Start Reading Now for a Better Vegetable Garden Next Year

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:25:40 -0500
Knowledge is power. This is true in every facet of our lives, and gardening is no exception. The more we learn about how to grow healthy, delicious vegetables and herbs, the better gardeners we'll become. It doesn't always mean we'll be successful (pests, diseases, and weather can still plot against us!) but it does mean we can start avoiding many of those rookie mistakes we all make at some point. With that in mind, I'd like to present you with a crash course in vegetable gardening, courtesy of Planet Green and a few of my favorite garden blogs and websites. These links cover a variety of topics, from crop rotation and organic pest control to perennial vegetables and composting. There are tips for small-space gardeners, such as how to grow a variety of vegetable in containers. Learn how... Read the full story on Planet Green

Now's the Time to Try Going Vegan - November is Vegan MoFo

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 10:37:54 -0500
reducing the amount of meat and other animal products we eat. Maybe we do Meatless Monday or are "weekday vegetarians,", but we're ready to take that next step and either eat more vegan meals or switch over to a vegan diet all together. If you want to learn more about eating vegan, November is the month to do it.
Vegan MoFo!

Vegan MoFo (Month of Food) was founded by Post Punk Kitchen as a kind of vegan version of NaNoWriMo. Participants]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

10 Things to Do Now for a Better Garden Next Spring

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 09:28:23 -0500
Fall Garden Tasks

Clean up your beds. Remove any damaged or diseased plants. Weed one last time, and remove any fallen fruits.

Add compost or composted manure. You can either dig it into your bed or just spread it over the top for now.
... Read the full story on Planet Green

Similac Infant Formula Recall Notices Mailed in Padded Envelopes

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 12:56:41 -0500
breastfeed due to medications I was taking at the time. So the friendly people at the hospital gave me plenty of samples of Similac and I was put on a mailing list to receive coupons from the company. Happily, my son has long been off formula, so the recent issue of beetle parts being found in powdered formula has not affected us. I received not one, but two recall notices from Abbott (Similac's parent company) nonetheless. The fact that I received two identical letters, on the same day, would have been enough to make me shake]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Do Your Organic Eggs Come from a Factory Farm?

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 08:14:08 -0500
Many of us do our best to make good decisions at the supermarket. We choose organic produce over conventional, grass-fed meats when they're available, and organic dairy products. If we're able to, we're willing to pay a premium price for our food because we trust that the money is supporting sustainable agricultural practices. Take organic eggs. When you buy a carton of organic eggs, you're expecting that the chickens that laid those eggs are fed organic diets and given free access to the outdoors. We know that chickens living in factory farms face squalid conditions confined to cages they can't even move around in. When we pay a premium for organic eggs, we are, in our own way, trying to buy a better life for the chickens that produce them. But when theRead the full story on Planet Green

Book Review: Gene Logsdon's "Holy Sh*t: Managing Manure to Save Mankind"

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 08:39:47 -0500

Each of the U.S.'s estimated 100 million cattle produce an average of 27 pounds of manure per day = 2.7 billion pounds of manure PER DAY = over 985 billion pounds of manure per year.

Each pig produces an average of 8 pounds of manure per day. With an estimated 70 million pigs, American farmers deal with over half a billion pounds of pig manure per year.

The nation's 68 million pet dogs and 73 million pet cats produce an average of 100 pounds and 50 pounds of ]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Scammers at the Farmers' Market: How to Make Sure You're Supporting Local Farmers

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 07:48:17 -0500
farmers' markets is just too much temptation for some unscrupulous vendors. NBC Los Angeles' news team decided to do some checking around at local farmer's markets, and paid visits to the farms where the vendors claimed they grew the food they were selling. In some cases, they found fields full of weeds or dry, empty fields. The vendors were selling vegetables and fruit they had bought wholesale, and were selling it at premium prices at local farmer's markets, claiming it was locally grown and organic. As to the "organic" claim, NBCLA also sent several items purchased from vendors who claime]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Easy, Fast Homemade Bread

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 14:20:16 -0500
It doesn't have to, though! With a little planning and a little prepara]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Essential Blogs and Books About Homesteading

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 11:51:10 -0500
everything (baking, sewing, knitting, building, just generally making and doing it yourself) are at the heart of what homesteading is all about. Rather than depending on someone else for food, clothing, cleaning su]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Top 10 Rookie Gardening Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 09:58:42 -0500
We were all new gardeners once upon a time. Oh, the mistakes we made. The plants we killed! The dumb choices we made. Mistakes and dumb choices will be a part of your gardening life until the day you set aside your shovel and pruners (or until they day they pry them from your cold, dead hands, in my case) and that's a good thing. Mistakes help us learn. I can't imagine gardening without them.

But beginner's mistakes can be especially disheartening. There's nothing worse than just getting started in a new hobby and watching everything you're trying to grow just sit there pathetically when you dreamed of ripe juicy tomatoes and a garden full of flowers. With that in mind, here are the most common beginner mistakes I get questions about most often at the two garden blogs I write, ]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

How to Freeze Summer Squash

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 09:37:12 -0500
freeze some of that glut of summer squash you're getting from your garden or CSA, you'll be sure to have some on hand when you want it this winter, without resorting to rubbery, flavorless supermarket zucchini.
How to Freeze Summer Squash
Ther]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Growing and Using Stevia for Natural Sweetening

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:45:44 -0500
sugar, but still need a little sweetness in your life, you might want to consider growing stevia. The leaves of this useful herb are much sweeter than sugar, and can be used fresh, dried, or made into an infusion to add sweetness to a variety of dishes and beverages. Growing Stevia Stevia is native to Central and South America (although there are some varieties that are native to the American Southwest) and can be grown as an annual herb in areas where frost is common. Stevia can be grown either in the ground or in containers. It needs full sun and grows best when it gets at lea]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Recent Posts By Planet Green's Colleen Vanderlinden

Quick Tips for Cooling Off Without Air Conditioning

5 Eas]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

10 Delicious, All-Natural Homemade Ice Pop Recipes

Get Your Feet Sandal-Ready with These DIY Pedicure Recipes

5 Foul-Smelling Flowers from Around the World

Easy Container Gardening: Can Planters

Let's Get Crafty! Must-Have Tools for Crafters

Must-Have Tools for Crafting

Can Houseplants Make You Smarter?

Spice Up Your Cooking with These 5 Beautiful Basils

Grow a Garden, Even in a Cubicle

Make Your Own Seed Tape for Planting Annuals, Herbs, or Vegetables

Easy Herbs to Grow for Natural Women's Health

Tobacco Plants as Bomb Detectors?

4 Plants Saved from Extinction by the Endangered Species Act

5 of the World's Most Amazing Gardens

No Yard? Here's How You Can Still Make and Use Compost

Farm Hacks - How Open Source Farm Technology Can Help Small Farmer Succeed

One Seed Chicago - And How You Can Encourage Gardening in Your Community

Detroit's Orchids - How the Motor City Helped Preserve Endangered Orchids

Favorite Gardening Posts of 2010

5 Creative Christmas Tree Recycling Ideas

Meet the Creepy-Crawlies That Make Garden Soil Healthy

10 Great Green Gifts for the Gardeners on Your List

Store Your Vegetables in This Affordable DIY Root Cellar

Start Reading Now for a Better Vegetable Garden Next Year

Now's the Time to Try Going Vegan - November is Vegan MoFo

Vegan MoFo!

10 Things to Do Now for a Better Garden Next Spring

Similac Infant Formula Recall Notices Mailed in Padded Envelopes

Do Your Organic Eggs Come from a Factory Farm?

Book Review: Gene Logsdon's "Holy Sh*t: Managing Manure to Save Mankind"

Scammers at the Farmers' Market: How to Make Sure You're Supporting Local Farmers

Easy, Fast Homemade Bread

Essential Blogs and Books About Homesteading

Top 10 Rookie Gardening Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

How to Freeze Summer Squash

How to Freeze Summer Squash

Growing and Using Stevia for Natural Sweetening