Wasting food is not green (even if the mold is)

So John and I were having a problem that our fresh veggies and leftovers kept going bad in our fridge meaning we were wasting perfectly good food. Being my brilliant self ::stands in a victorious pose with super hero grin:: I devised a nice little system so this doesn't happen. Meet the board.



There are actually two parts to the board. The right size lists our produce so we don't forget about things until they are found rotting in the back of the drawer. The left side is for leftovers in plastic containers. Each container lid is numbered and the number, contents and date are written on the board.

This system also saves energy as we can see what is in the fridge without having to stand with the door open.

Book Review: The Urban Homestead, Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City

I don't remember how I stumbled across this book, but I'm glad I did. The Urban Homestead is a fantastic resource for anyone living in the city who wants good ideas on how to be a little greener.

The basis for the book is to show people that they can be much more self sufficient than previously thought possible while living in an urban environment. The topics range from gardening and urban forging to solar cooking and gray-water collection.

The thing about this book that most impressed me was that the authors didn't restrict themselves to readers who live in a house. Many of the projects can be used by apartment dwellers with few or no alterations. Though some, like raising chickens, should probably be reserved for those with a yard... unless you really want to piss off your neighbors. And if that is your goal then I recommend getting a rooster to keep your chickens well serviced. One of the projects that really caught my attention were the solar cookers and dehydrators. Currently I'm working on making a combo piece out of dumpster dive finds and will make a post with directions... once I get it all figured out.

The only draw back to this book is that due to length constraints much of the information is basic. However, the authors provided a fantastic appendix of resources where more advanced information can be found.

I give the Urban Homestead 5 out of 5 trees and highly recommend that people check out the authors' blog.

BYOT

Katya here, sharing a random thought I just had. If you're like me and never finish an entire meal at a restaurant, bring your own tupperware/reusable container for them to box it up in. This saves you from being responsible for a piece of greasy paperboard or some awful styrofoam, neither of which are recyclable in my area and probably aren't in yours either. Now if only I can remember to do this.

Get rid of bugs the cheap green way!

Katya here, making my debut post on the Mean Green Girl. Huzzah!

I live in an apartment so I have a bug problem. Some of the bugs are ok. The pillbugs are annoying to step on but otherwise harmless. The spiders are not poisonous and can live here as long as they stay out of my personal space. The ants and roaches are very unwelcome. But so is the bug spray man. He keeps telling me that the stuff he sprays is completely safe for me and the kitties, but then says he needs to know if I'm pregnant so he knows not to spray certain things. So I decided to tackle the problem myself.

First off, since I'm lazy, I double up. I took the vinegar/water cleaning solution mentioned in an earlier post and modified it. Most icky bugs (fleas, flies, spiders, ants etc) dont like peppermint oil. So I add essential peppermint oil to 1 part vinegar/3 parts water. I like to use 10 or 11 drops for every cup of cleaning solution. Now I have a fantastic all-purpose cleaner that is so safe I can even use it on the wooden cutting board. The peppermint oil helps dull the vinegar smell and the bugs dont like it, so they wont get into my kitchen. If I see an undesirable bug, I just grab my squirt bottle and attack them.

Another neat trick I learned is that ants hate cucumber peel. Every time I get a cucumber I save the peel. You can cut it into tiny pieces and put it into cracks where ants usually crawl in. This makes me really happy because I dont have to put anything extra on my shopping list.

I also read recently that roaches hate catnip. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm planning on making catnip sachets to put in cupboards. I've also heard that you can make a catnip tea, put it in a spray bottle and spray it into cracks or wherever your roaches are coming from. The kitties eagerly await the catnip spray.

Welcome

I wanted to let everyone know that I have invited Katya to be a writer for the Mean Green Girl. She started her journey around the same time I did and I feel that she will be an excellent source of information. So woot, a new author is added and my readership is cut in half.

Green PSA

So almost every green guide that I have read says that every few months you need to clean off the heat dispersion coils of your fridge. This is because the heat cannot escape as effectively when the coils are insulated with a nice thick layer of dust causing your fridge to work harder and use more electricity.

Well, I've been putting this off...for about a year...on a fridge that I have no idea when the coils were last cleaned. So Friday I busted out the vacuum, found the wedge attachment, grabbed a flashlight, pulled off the front grate and OH MY GOD, THOSE AREN'T DUST BUNNIES, THOSE ARE MONTY PYTHON KILLER DUST RABBITS!! ::Screams as face gets et.::

Yeah, it was a little nasty (a little nasty like the ocean is kinda damp). I couldn't see the coils for all of the dust. Poor fridge, because I was lazy it had to work so hard. So after much time laying on the kitchen floor shoving the vacuum around my coils are now mostly dust free. I am also now the proud owner of a number of fridge magnets that must have belonged to previous tenants.

So I'm begging you on behalf of your poor fridge, please pull the grate off the front and clean off the coils. It will run better and you will have the added benefit of a lower electricity bill.