Home & Garden
Latest Green Product: Poop in a Bag
Prepare Your Home & Yourself for the Freeze
Houston weather experts predict some freezing weather this week, in particular, Thursday; the coldest in 10 years (according to the Houston Chronicle). The Puryear Team wants to be sure our friends and family all around the greater Houston area take the necessary precautions to ensure your home is safe for this kind of weather. In addition to reading our first article in our December newsletter, here are 10 tips to get your home winter weather ready. You'll be a lot less comfortable in the coming months if you haven't prepped Home Sweet Home for Old Man Winter.
RAIN WATER IS FREE WATER
RAIN WATER IS FREE WATER
Rainwater Landscapes
By Jeff Corcorran
September 2009
Rainwater harvesting will eventually be required in Houston building developments. The cost of water is going up as is the ever increasing demand.
Houston has an abundance of natural clean water falling from the skies every year. The water purveyors estimate that Houston's water usage for landscaping is between 50-60% of the total water supplied. So catching rainwater for use in the landscape will greatly reduce the homeowners dependence on city supplied water.
A Farm with Art--and Heart
After a month of travel, these thirsty boots were aching for something more than the road – a place to dig in and put down some roots in the heart of this vast city. And right in the heart of one of its most blighted neighborhoods, I found it.
Urban Harvest + Social Networking
Urban Harvest just launched a new social networking site where farmers market visitors & vendors, community gardeners, UH members, and anyone else interested in Urban Harvest can communicate with one another. They invite everyone to post pictures and videos, create groups, chat with each other in the forums, and anything else that will help the new site become an online hub for Houston's community gardeners and local agriculture enthusiasts.
Go to the site by clicking here
Organic Gardening - Junior Master Gardener Classes
Organic Gardening - Junior Master Gardener Classes
Local business owner of Natural Living, mom and gardener, Lisa Hommel, is teaching a Junior Master Gardening clasess in Friendswood.
Info for class follows:
Learn how to turn those Coffee Grinds into more than Compost
Your coffee grounds are good for a lot more than a liquid pick-me up, so before you trash the next batch, read on for ways to reuse them instead. Hint: a flea rinse is involved.
Photo by How can I recycle this.
According to Natural Home Magazine, the coarse texture of coffee grounds makes them ideal for scrubbing hard to clean dishes. Start by packing the grounds into a square sized cloth, then gather its ends and secure with a rubber band. This tip also works on tea bags.
Make Your Refrigerator Far More Efficient
You've probably heard that keeping your refrigerator and freezer fully stocked is a simple way to keep them running efficiently. But what if you happen to lack for food, or want to optimize even further?
Photo by monkeyc.net.
If you're willing to do a little re-thinking of food storage, you're in luck. The New York Times' Science Times write-in question this week details supplements and alternatives to having a freezer full of Hungry Mans and a fridge stuffed with fruit and leftovers. Containers of water, for instance, can serve as a buffer in either the freezer or fridge:
