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By eliza_cross, on May 10th, 2012%
 Photo by Jeremy Bronson If you never got around to starting any seedlings this spring and now you’re fretting about the expense of buying vegetable plants at the garden center, fear not! Many vegetable seeds can be sown directly in the dirt, where they’ll happy germinate and provide you with a nice harvest. Here’s a list of easy-to-grow vegetables (most of which prefer full sun) that you can plant from seed now:
- Beans – pole beans and bush beans are easy to grow, and if you harvest them regularly they’ll keep producing.
- Beets – grow in loose, moist soil.
- Corn – easy to grow if you have a large garden plot; corn needs lots of space.
- Cucumbers – bush or vining varieties are both easy to grow, and give them plenty of water so they don’t get bitter.
- Lettuce – plant now! Lettuce prefers cooler temps. If you sow some seeds every week or two, you’ll have a constant supply of fresh lettuce.
- Melons – grow well in hot, dry weather but like lots of water. To avoid crossbreeding, plant melons away from pumpkins, cucumbers and squash.
- Onions – less expensive than buying onion sets, be sure to buy onion seeds suited for your climate and amount of sun. Onions store well, making them and especially economical crop.
- Peas – plant now! Peas prefer cooler temps. If it’s already hot in your area, try planting peas in the fall.
- Radishes – like to be grown in moister soil.
- Spinach – especially easy to grow. Plant in full sun or part shade.
- Squash – zucchini is an easy, prolific plant for beginners to grow, especially if you have lots of friends who like zucchini!
If the danger of frost has passed in your area, prepare your garden bed and amend the soil if needed. Plant the seeds on a calm day at the depth specified by the grower and top gently with a layer of fine soil.
Need a great source for your seeds? These are some of my favorite companies, and they all offer non-hybrid, heirloom varieties:
Happy planting, and I’d love to hear what you’ve got growing in your gardens right now!
By eliza_cross, on May 8th, 2012%
 Photo by Joost J. Bakker IJmuiden Yesterday I read an article on the PR news site Bulldog Reporter about the meat industry’s “image crisis.” From the public outcry against “pink slime,” to a recent incident of mad cow disease in a dairy cow, to the Harvard study released this spring that suggests eating meat could lead to premature death, this spring has been a PR practitioner’s nightmare.
According to the LA Times article cited in the story, “beef historian and author Maureen Ogle believes the industry should have responded by running polished advertisements featuring ranchers touting their American heritage, as well as billboards proclaiming the safety of products, and executives should have been sent to major talk shows, she said.”
As a PR professional myself, I politely beg to disagree. I don’t think the meat industry has an image crisis that calls for a more polished public relations response. The meat industry has a listening crisis. The reason the media is filled with so much negative news is because the U.S. meat industry is not hearing its customers.
We are a household that still eats meat. I try to purchase from local producers who use organic feed, let animals graze, and treat them humanely, but like most people, sometimes I’m trying to live within the budget or I’m in a hurry and I purchase supermarket meat. I find that our family is moving to an increasingly vegetarian diet for many reasons – not the least of which is our distaste for much the U.S. meat industry’s standard practices. Your feelings may be different, of course, but here’s what I wish the meat industry would hear:
- We don’t want animals suffering in fetid feedlots or stuffed in crowded cages – not at any cost. We want humane treatment of animals raised for food production.
- We humans don’t want to have to forgo antibiotics when we’re sick, because of your continued overuse in the meat industry. (Factory farm animals consume 80% of all antibiotics in this country. The European Union curtailed use of routine antibiotic use on farms in 2006.)
- We don’t want you to pump these animals full of hormones like rBGH to induce quick growth. Let them grow up naturally. (The European Union, Japan, Australia and Canada have all banned the use of rBGH due to animal and human health concerns.)
- We want you to feed these animals good food that is part of their natural diet. We don’t want you to force animals that are herbivores, like cattle, to eat feed manufactured with animal by-products.
- We don’t want pink slime or other cheap additives in our meat. We simply want good, top-quality meat. (Canada, the UK and European Union have banned pink slime from their meat, but here it can constitute up to a whopping 15 percent of our ground beef without any labeling. Why?)
- We want you to take the lead in good practices. We want to be proud of our United States producers and processors, and we want U.S.-raised meat to be the best in the world.
In March 2012, ground beef sales slipped to the lowest level in a decade. Consumers are clearly voting with their checkbooks, and one can only hope that the U.S. meat industry collectively decides to improve its practices, not its propaganda.
What do you think?
By eliza_cross, on April 8th, 2012%
 Photo by Karen Roe American honeybees are disappearing at an alarming rate, and some think the EPA knows why. A growing body of evidence shows that widespread use of nicotine-based insecticides called neonicotinoids is linked to Colony Collapse Disorder.
Several countries, including Germany and France, have already banned clothianidin. And – Halleluia! – after the bans, bee populations began to rise again.
But in the U.S., clothianidin is still used on millions of acres of crops of corn, soy, wheat, cotton, sorghum, peanuts and more. American beekeepers report losses of up to 90% of their bees, and many worry that their hives won’t survive another season.
Here’s how to help:
1. Sign Change.org’s petition to urge the EPA to end the harmful pesticide’s use. As of today, the organization has gathered nearly 125,000 of the 150,000 signatures it seeks to present to the EPA. The form is quick and easy, and Change.org won’t share your personal info.
2. Post a link to your Facebook or Twitter page urging others to do the same. Here’s a ready-made tweet:
Save the bees! Sign your name to support urging the EPA to ban harmful pesticides now http://chn.ge/Hoh9Yr via @change
That’s all there is to it. Change.org has provided the impetus for numerous citizen-led causes, and every signature helps send the message that we care about our planet.
P.S. If you want to welcome bees to your garden this summer check out Urban Bee Gardens for tons of ideas, from bee-attracting plants to creating bee-friendly habitats.
By eliza_cross, on January 25th, 2012%
 Glass canning jars can be used again and again - photo by GoodNCrazy “In a recession, people are inclined to keep things, but I feel the opposite. The less I have, the richer I feel. Stuff weighs you down.” ~Béa Johnson
Last year I read the most inspiring article in Sunset Magazine, about the Johnson family in Mill Valley, California. The Johnsons have pared down their possessions and live a wonderfully simple life. The family members are so careful about not consuming wasteful packaging, they generate almost zero garbage.
The Johnsons are big on composting, and this is one way we love to reduce waste. I just love the idea of reusing the kitchen scraps in a way that benefits the garden and keeps stuff out of landfill.
What about recycling? Homeowner Béa Johnson says, “So much recycling really goes to waste, so you need to try to reduce that, too.” They are diligent about taking reusable containers to the store for food and eliminating junk mail, and their tidy pantry and closets would inspire anyone to minimize and simplify!
How much trash does your family generate in an average week? If you got everyone in the household on board, could you reduce it by 50 or 75 per cent? Or 80 or 90 per cent? We’re down to about half a can per week, but the recycling bin is full every two weeks when it gets picked up — so we have a long way to go. The Johnsons have motivated me to try harder to reduce our recycling and trash. If they can do it, why can’t we?
For more inspiration, you might enjoy the Johnson family’s blog, The Zero Waste Home.
P.S. In case you’ve just joined us, the January Money Diet is a challenge to take a 31-day break from nonessential spending. You can learn more about the money diet here — and jump right in!
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Win a Deluxe Happy Simple Living Gift Basket
In honor of the January Money Diet, I’ll be giving away a gift basket chock-full of home and garden goodies plus several books at the end of the month. On January 31, 2012, I’ll draw one random name from everyone who commented during the month and that lucky person will win the gift basket. I hope you’ll stop by often this month and share your own ideas, thoughts and experiences about taking a 31-day break from nonessential spending.
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By eliza_cross, on January 20th, 2012%
 Photo by Cuyahoga jco Don’t you love daydreaming about planting the spring garden when it’s January? Now is the perfect time to begin making plans and sketch out some ideas for your ideal garden. Even if you have a small yard, you can grow a surprising amount of food if you choose seeds and plants that grow well in your climate. If you want to tour the ultimate urban homestead, check out the Dervaes family’s website ‘Path to Freedom.’ You won’t believe what they grow in their 1/10 acre yard in Pasadena.
I love perusing the new seed catalogs each year to see what new varieties have been introduced, and these are some of my favorite companies:
For additional ideas, MicroEcoFarming.com has tons of information and articles about growing your own food. WinterSown.org is a site dedicated to an easy, inexpensive method of direct-sowing seeds. There are some great, wacky pictures on this site of people sprouting plants in pop bottles and all manner of recycled containers.
If you have favorite gardening sites and sources, we’d all love to know about them and invite you to share them in the comments section below.
P.S. In case you’ve just joined us, the January Money Diet is a challenge to take a 31-day break from nonessential spending. You can learn more about the money diet here — and jump right in!
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Win a Deluxe Happy Simple Living Gift Basket
In honor of the January Money Diet, I’ll be giving away a gift basket chock-full of home and garden goodies plus a signed copy of my latest book 101 Things To Do With Bacon. On January 31, 2012, I’ll draw one random name from everyone who commented during the month and that lucky person will win the gift basket. I hope you’ll stop by often this month and share your own ideas, thoughts and experiences about taking a 31-day break from nonessential spending.
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By eliza_cross, on January 15th, 2012%
 Photo by Liz West Back when I was an executive with a generous salary but a scarcity of time, if I was interested in a book I followed a highly efficient routine. I simply visited the website of a particularly large online bookstore and clicked on a convenient little button that read “Buy now with 1-Click.”
Soon we had so many books we had to install custom bookshelves that covered an entire wall of the living room. When we moved a few years later, we hauled 26 cartons of books along with us. Now don’t get me wrong; I’m a writer, and I love books. But one day, I was trying to squeeze another new book on the shelves and realized we had run out of space. I sat down and gazed at all the books and realized many of them were outdated, unwanted — or simply books that I had enjoyed once but was unlikely to read again.
I began giving books away, and decided to be more selective about which volumes deserved a place in our pared-down collection. My new mantra was: I’ll only buy books I really love, I prefer hardbacks if they’re available, and I’ll try to buy books from an independent bookstore. I also decided to pay a visit to the neighborhood library.
Today, if I’m interested in a book I still follow an efficient routine. I visit my library’s website and reserve the book. My library e-mails me when the book is ready to be picked up. I also borrow movies, CDs and current magazines from my library. I haven’t tried downloading a library book on my e-reader yet, but many libraries also offer free downloads of thousands of books for a number of devices.
When my computer died a few years ago, I went to the library and used one of their free computers until mine was fixed. When my daughter was shopping for a used car, she borrowed Consumer Reports magazine and researched the most reliable makes and models. Our library offers a delightful kids’ library and a summer reading program that my son loves, free talks on a variety of subjects, meeting and study rooms, and regular art exhibits.
This year our library partnered with our local power company to loan out portable power meters. We were able to borrow a meter to plug into home appliances and learn how much energy we’re using. Check with your utility company or library to see if a similar lending program is in place.
If you haven’t been to your local library lately, take a field trip this month and let us know what you discover.
P.S. In case you’ve just joined us, the January Money Diet is a challenge to take a 31-day break from nonessential spending. You can learn more about the money diet here — and jump right in!
—————————————————————————
Win a Deluxe Happy Simple Living Gift Basket
In honor of the January Money Diet, I’ll be giving away a gift box chock-full of home and garden goodies and a signed copy of my latest book 101 things To Do With Bacon. On January 31, 2012, I’ll draw one random name from everyone who commented during the month and that lucky person will win the gift basket. I hope you’ll stop by often this month and share your own ideas, thoughts and experiences about taking a 31-day break from nonessential spending.
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