Cold brew coffee obsessed!

My summer obsession is cold brew coffee! The keurig is getting a break this summer and my 4 cup French press is getting a workout. It is so easy and the taste is much better than coffee maker coffee! Plus, it is so inexpensive and no plastic bottles to throw away with no plastic contact plastic.

I love making it in the French press, because all I need to do is press it after 24 hours and store it in the refrigerator. Once you have poured the last drop, scoop out the ground with a teaspoon, give the French press a wash and start all over! Easy Peasy. Add milk, thin it with a little water, or drink it strong and black, you are in control.  Plan below!

UPDATE: lawn mower love

I am updating my original post from April 2012, because after 2 season of grass cutting, I still love this lawn mower! Though it is lightweight, think easy to maneuver, it still cuts all the grass evenly. Now, when I say "grass" I am really referring to a mixture of short green vegetation that grown in the space I call "yard". It is actually many varieties of grass and weeds and a bit of small hedge- resulting from an ill placed bird feeder. It will never be in a "turf-builder" commercial... unless it is the before shot.

The charge cord is really long, so the mower does not need to be near the power outlet, which are few and far between in a garage. I do not use the mulch bag and let everything compost, which is better for my area since the soil layer is thin. My yard, and most in my area, include natural rock outcroppings.

Let's talk performance, I use it on my back yard only and I have a pie-piece shaped yard that is nearly and acre, the bulk of the yard is the front. And, the back has garden areas, so not a giant space to cut, but oddly shaped and pieced out. Even with some back tracking, I can easily cut the yard on one change. I have even cut it once on a charge and half again a couple of weeks later on the same charge. If you are cutting thick or tall grass, it runs the battery down quicker. However, I found the solution after reading "the Grumpy Gardener" from Southern Living Magazine say on Facebook to cut your grass high to kill off weeds and encourage your grass without chemicals. I easily changed the wheel height, with one lever, and started cutting higher. Solved the problem of trying to cut the thick part of the yard, which was a foil for this mower... to be fair that part is a foil for every mower I have used. Still waiting on more grass and less weeds... But I trust you Steve (Grumpy Gardener), and I'll eventually get there.

So, two lawn season and still going strong. No gas, no lawn mower repair shop, no cord, no problems! No reason not to buy now and get an end of the season deal!

Post from April 2012:
I am in love... with my lawn mower! It's a new lawn season and I have a new mower. This year it is a cordless Black and Decker battery powered mower. It is so quiet, powerful, and can take on tall grass, um yeah, I put off cutting grass a while until I got the mower, and best of all no gas. It sounds like a big fan and I guess technically it is a big fan with very sharp blades.
Grass cutting always makes me think of summer at my grandmothers. She was a scheduled woman certain days were grocery days, then there was grass cutting days. The day before glass cutting days I was allowed to cut tracks into the grass with trimmers to play cars, runway, or whatever needs paths. Of course they were gone by the end of the next day. So, on grass cutting day, grandmother would put on capri length pants and her grasshopper shoes to head out to the lawn. To this day my sister and I refer to a certain length of pants-capris coming to mid-calf- as grass cutting length. Grass cutting length is not flattering, though functional, and the equivalent of shorts if you were born in the nineteen-teens!
Join me in the green revolution and try an electric lawn mower!

Eco chic at home- the dinner table

Cloth dinner napkins are a great alternative to paper for many reasons. For one, they are reusable and can save money in the long run because you do not have to buy paper every two weeks. For another reason, you can re-purpose them because they are typically made of cotton! I use my cloth napkins, as hot pads, bread basket liners, drying clothes and place mats.

Try out these cuties from Sunshine Sisters on Etsy! The nice part about this design is that they are reversible. This makes them great for keeping your breakfast sandwich hot on the way to work!

Michael Miller Hoopla Dot fabric napkins from Sunshine Sisters.

Grey and turquoise napkins from Sunshine Sisters.

my latest invention

I needed a rain cover for my seedling, a bad storm was a-brewin' late in the week. I ordered some protective garden cover/ row cover, but it wasn't getting here fast enough. So, I started "plan b-ing" and remember some old screens in the garage. A little copper wire and some landscape pins and I was in business with some screen tents for the garden. I love it when cheap meets ingenuity. They kept the garden neat from the rain, too!

planters from Home Depot

So, I got these raised beds from Home Depot, cedar, and super attractive. Shockingly, they were only $40 and I was stunned at how easy they were to put together. They are part of the eco-options collection and the cedar is FSC (forest stewardship council) certified wood. So, the wood was grown in a sustainable manner. The item was packaged beautifully, maybe even too good for a green product. They were thoughtfully designed for good looks and easy assembly. The pre-drilled holes were clean, the instructions were easy to follow, they even have cross bracing. I couldn't have asked for more and I couldn't have built them at that price. Great job Home Depot!
The seedlings are putting on their second set of leaves and we will be getting a cold spell this weekend, so I will be able to harvest the compost in cool weather and plant the garden on Sunday. Things are looking up for some very local produce!

Cisco's Valet- faster, easier, better

I purchased the Valet from amazon.com on Wednesday evening after giving up on programming my current router and being tired of being the neighborhood free WiFi hot spot. As I was looking one last time on another way of locking out other users of my wireless router, an ad on the Linksys page caught my eye. It was the Valet and it was just what I was looking for, if it was all that the ad promised. I searched for reviews and they all sounded good. So, I bought the Valet with 10% off and free shipping, a better offer than at the Cisco site.
The Valet promised to set up my wireless with names and passwords, something I couldn't do by myself without locking myself out of the system, with the use of a USB "key". It also promised to be ready and working within 5 minutes. I intended to install it on two laptops, a Toshiba Satellite running on XP and newer laptop running on Vista. I started the installation on the XP, which was probably a mistake as it is older. It ran it program for about 2 minutes and told me to call the help number which was picked up quickly by Ed. We reset the Valet and went through the usual unplugging and plugging in of the modem and Valet. After a reload, it worked though the phone call did take 39 minutes. Laoding it onto the Vista laptop was much faster- about 3 minutes. And, the Roku box plugs into the Valet just like it did on my previous router.
So, the long and short if it is:
Pro's- Easy to set up
          No need for any technical knowledge
          simple, straight-forward options to add computers or visitors
          Easy to change passwords
          Good customer service
          Attractive color choices
          Energy Star qualified plug
Con's- Slower setup on older computers

UPDATE from my 4/3/10 post- If you need ot change the set-up information you will need to inset the "key" and access the set-up from that drive. I didn't know this and spent a lot of time on a WebEx with a non-native speaker that was not helpful. I figured it out myself. How did I know the WebEx was not from the US, the sentance structure was really off. I was like I was messaging with Yoda. They did follow up with a phone call and an email. So they are trying, but it doesn't appear they are trying to hire people in the US.

seed sprouting success

Finally, I have seeds sprouting in each tray. I think it had to do with leaving the heating pad on under them for about 6 hours. Whoops! It was on low and their lids were on, so they didn't loose any water, but the temp was up to 85 degrees when I realized what I had done. It reminded me of the section of Animal Vegetable Miracle, when they needed the sprouts to sprout for Barbara's birthday party. They wrapped the jar in a heating pad for a few hours and the seeds sprung open. I think I accidentally did the same thing! They have also had the chance to spend time outside on the patio each day for the past three days. It's been sunny and the temps were around 65-70 degrees. Or maybe it was something like Murphy's law of seeds, I had just bought some tomato plants assuming the sprouting wasn't going to work and they sprouted by the following morning.
Now that there are seed sprouts, I have opened the covers and the lights are on them. The days are very sunny right now, so they will be going out in the sun from 9:00 in the morning to about 3:00 in the afternoon then under the lights until 11:00 at night. I am hoping that will give them enough light and heat to grow strong and not mold. I've had mold problems many times in the past trying to sprout seeds in those peat pots that expand in water.
Tomorrow will be my shopping experience for the raised beds!

Why I like Cultivating Life on Public TV

Last night I caught the episode entitled Rain on Cultivating Life and I thought about how much I like that show. I often think about projects from the show long after the episode is over. And, the projects are really accessible. Last night's project was a rain chain and I think I have everything at home to make it. It was attractive, do-able, and you could think of variation on the theme that you could design.
You can see yourself taking on a project here, a dinner there and planting a plant from one week's episode and next thing you know, you are becoming greener, healthier and more confident. I think being green is about confidence. When you find that you are more sustainable, and can make, grow or built what you need for yourself, you gain a confidence that can't be taken away. You are taking the power of, say, nourishment, away from others and giving it to yourself. It's like buying a garment that doesn't fit quite right and altering it to fit you. You are then in control of what you look like, not the tailor for the fit model or the designer that designed it for a imaginary model.

Empower yourself today!

money saving tip of the week- dish soap

I like to buy concentrated dish washing soap to save on the packaging, but I don't like to wash "a load of dishes". I'm a one to two at a time kind of gal. So my tip, I like put a little of the concentrated detergent in a larger and more attractive contained with a pour spout and add water- heavily diluting it. I get the same level of detergent as I would if it was in a dish pan, but I don't have to have the pan of water. My detergent lasts a long time!

Germinating- waiting

Day two of my germinating experiment, and I am surprised at the amount of heat the CFL's can put out. For the past two mornings I have needed to give the box of seed germination containers a hit on the heating pad for about 10-15 minutes to get the soil up to temp, around 71-75 degrees and the lamps seem to take care of maintaining it. I did give it a second hit this morning since it wasn't getting hot fast enough. My home thermostat, during the day, stay around 68 degrees on the top floor, which is not where the future seedlings are. So, I think they would stay too cool without the heating pad and lights. I've made many a moldy mess of germinating in the past from cold windowsills.
I found some more seedlings coming up in the spinach patch yesterday as I was covering them up with pine straw due to the possible snow.  Snow in Birmingham three days after Spring begins... I tell you! Not that I saw any snow, but it was very cold. So I'm hoping my seedlings stayed warm enough. I don't want to disturb the straw or the umbrella on the lettuce, so I can retain any heat this cloudy day can inpart. Tomorrow, they can strip their winter clothes, hopefully for good.

inspired by Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingslover

I have dabbled in gardening, off and on, for most of my life. As I child, my sister and I helped, and I say this without air quotes because I think we were a help more than a hinderance, with my grandmother and great grandmothers garden. As a young teen, I decided to turn a garbage can that was ready to make it's final pick-up into a composter. As a adult, I have made small gardens or gardens in large flower pots. This is the year that I will be truely inspired to change the word garden from a noun to a verb in all caps. Not just some tomatoes in a pot, an herb bed and some space saving cukes, but an honest feed the family type of garden. I'll be recording my journey here,  beginning today.
I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle about a year ago. Well, I don't really "read" books, I listen to them on my ipod. And, I decided to revisit this book as I am planning my garden for some organic food living. I had fogotten how much I like this book. I enjoy books that you learn from, an though this is a great story, it's full of good information, especially if you don't know much about where food comes from.
My garden will be as organic as my wallet allows. I still have some old fertilizer that I will be using, if the plants look a little peeky, because I hate to waste things by throwing them out. I'd rather use them up. And, I will be using seeds that I realized after I bought them that some of them could be from a Monsanto seed mill. But, as I'm not a waster, I'll still be using them.
I hope yu enjoy my journey, and maybeyou will be inspired too!

humidifer review

To follow up with my previous blog on indoor humidity, I would suggest the Frog humidifier by Crane. Not only does is put out a lot of humidity and holds water for all day or all night, the face on the front aides you in placing the tank on the correct way. No more spilling water trying to get everything together. Great item available at amazon.com or I saw it at my local Target today.

Happy humidifying!

indoor humidity

Temperature is the conditioning factor that we most often think about with indoor air comfort and quality, as well as those nasties that you air filter removes. However, indoor air humidity is one of the unseen forces that make our home comfortable. Humidity also affects the wood in your home, it can cause shrinking and cracking of floors and furniture.

Humidity, especially in the South, is an important element in our air. In the summer the humidity can make it oppressively hot and sticky. In the winter our skin and other systems, so used to the humidity, can revolt when the indoor humidity drops below 30%. According to ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55-1995 Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy, the optimal humidity for the indoors is a range between 30% and 60%. ( ANSI/ ASHRAE stands for American National Standards Institute and American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air/Conditioning Engineers.) You will need a hygrometer to measure your humidity, but a zap from the door knob will let you know there is a problem. Many digital thermometers also measure the humidity.

So, how do we achieve a humidity level in the optimal range? A common suggestion is to leave to bowls of water sitting around the house, which is the slow boat method. And, your pets might be drinking the water instead of letting it evaporate. I prefer a less passive methods, check out my list below!


Top 7 ways to increase humidity in your home
** denotes Eco-friendly ideas

1. Use a humidifier. Place it in the room you are occupying and near the heat vent. The vent will aid in distribution.
2. **Hang your clothes to dry indoors. Purchase a rack or two to hang sheets, towels, or all you clothes to dry. Not only will this add humidity, it will save on you energy bill.
3. Misting. This only might seem a bit odd, but I like to mist my face, I have very dry skin, with a hydrosol or rose water. It's very hydrating and smells nice.
4.**Steaming, instead of ironing, is a great way to remove wrinkles in your clothing, increase you air quality, and save on energy. Irons eat electricity!
5. **Winterize your home. Make sure windows and doors are not bring in cold dry air.
6. Make soup and hot teas. Not only does this nourish your body and soul, stave off a cold and stock the freezer, but boiling liquid adds steam to the air.
7. ** Add plants. Plants are the lungs of the earth as we all know, but they can also be the lungs of the home, taking in carbon dioxide and giving back oxygen and humidity.

stylish storage- external hard drive

I have been on the hunt for a hard drive... a stylish hard drive. I know the considerations should be size and price, but if I spending the money, I want something that looks good as well.

I narrowed it down to two brands, one speaks to my green side, the other on purely aesthetics and the parameters of around $100 and a terabyte of space. My green option was the [re]drive by Simpletech from Hitachi. the exterior is made from bamboo and recycled aluminum and it is energy star rated boasting a USB drive which is 25% faster than USB2.0.

Pretty snazzy!

LaCie was my other brand of choice, they have produced some of the coolest electronic gadgets with reasonable prices. I was first smitten with the LaCie Golden Disk designed by Ora-Ito. It looks like water reflecting a sunset or a morphed Chanel quilting bag. And, I what other beauties do they offer... Who knew the beauties I would behold! The Lacie Grand Disk with the subtle face reminding me of a Paloma Picasso design from Tiffany's, it's as if the hand drive could really have a brain.

Golden Disk on the left and the grand Disk on the right.

Then I found the one, the one that makes your heart sing, well is anything Phillippe Starck makes your hear sing... which it does mine! Below is the LaCie hard drive designer by Starck.

It contrasts the smooth front of the Grand Disk with the aluminum hard case of the [re]drive and adds a lighted orange Starck logo as the"on" indicator. And, features a touch sensitive front. I had to have it! All are available on Amazon.com.