Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Green Garage has guests (already!)


We all know that the Green Garage is not yet fit for human occupancy, but from Feb. 20-23 we hosted a biosand filter class for about 20 people. Our friends, John and Eileen Heasley, work with the Troy Rotary Club to provide Biosand Water Filters to people in need of clean water around the world. They wanted to host a biosand filter training class but could not find a building that fulfilled the requirements of meeting place AND physical workshop with water access. Our place fits both criteria, and so, even though the building is still in its rustic state, these intrepid warriors met for 5 days, braving loud blowers from the heaters, cold floors and a pretty primitive bathroom. But these are folks who are willing to travel to 3rd-world countries to teach people how to develop their own clean water, so they were the right group for the setting. And we couldn't have been happier to see real people using the building...an enticing vision of things to come.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Rain Barrel Workshop Presentation


This coming Saturday, March 1, from 11:15 to 1 PM, we will be at the Clinton-Macomb Library to do another rain barrel presentation. We will be doing essentially the same presentation that we did at Bioneers in October (see Rain Barrel Workshop Presentation), except that this time we will be not be building a barrel, but will bring one for demonstration purposes. If you can come, we'd love to see you there! For those interested in building a barrel of their own, we will be hosting the third annual Rain Barrel BBQ on May 17th. Reservations will be required so we can have a barrel ready for you. Contact the Bradleys at BradTH@aol.com to reserve a barrel.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Historic Green Garage


Above is a picture of what we are currently calling the Green Garage dating back to 1922 when it was owned by Ames-built Sales Corp. Below is from the same time period.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Bike Bags


Since I live only about a mile from my local grocery store, I was looking for some easy-to-use, practical bags for my bike that would fit the standard grocery shopping bag. I found these Biria USA bags on Bikemania.biz. I like them because they were very easy to attach to the rear bike rack, they are waterproof and close at the top to keep out rain or splashing water. Looks like I'll be using my bike even more this year! -- Martha

Monday, February 11, 2008

Worm Composting


This is a worm composting bin made from 2 opaque plastic bins. The bin with holes sits inside the other. Follow the link for making this Worm Composting bin .

Food scraps in the worm composting bin. Don't be alarmed by the sprouts, in this picture they are from the onions, they will die soon enough and become food for the worms.

Shredded newspaper added to half of the worm composting bin. I usually cover all the food scraps with shredded newspaper as in the picture below.

SIGG Bottles


In my never-ending quest to reduce our family's use of bottled water, I needed to find a good alternative to the small water bottles that I was putting in my girls' lunches. I was happy to find these 10 oz. bottles by SIGG (a Swiss company) that met our needs perfectly. SIGG bottles have been thoroughly tested to ensure that there is no leaching of chemicals and it is safe to put even fruit juices, soda and alcohol in them. They come in a variety of sizes, colors, styles and are a great choice both economically and environmentally. Check out the SIGG site. -- Martha

Thursday, February 7, 2008

A Little Greenhouse


Erica brought this little contraption to our last Tuesday meeting. It's a greenhouse made from a spinach container and an egg carton, and can be used for starting seedlings. What's nice about this device is that you need to water the seeds only once, when you first plant them. The lid will produce a greenhouse effect - sending the moisture back down into the fledgling plants. Good job Erica!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Eco-cook


Here's a clever idea coming from Treehugger.com. In their Design and Architecture section, they display this idea from Kechenyi Camille from France. It's called Eco-cook and multi-tasks your cooking, boiling food at the same time. Mitzi Carter found that her multi-pot from Williams-Sonoma works just as well.