Even back in 2008 when we created our little bin, I initially wanted to make a more “legit” system out of shipping pallets (like I read about here and here) but hunting down and transporting a bunch of bulky pallets was a bit more than I was ready to sign up for. So I figured starting off with a bin and later graduating to something more built-in might be the way to go. And now just three short (ok, loong) years later, thanks to our patio supplies having arrived on pallets, I finally had my excuse to upgrade our compost system. It just took us a few months to decide where we wanted our new bin to sit. We finally agreed on this corner:

In case you need a clearer reference point, here’s that little not-at-all-to-scale map of our yard (the house is way too big and the almost-an-acre yard is much too small) that  Sherry whipped up (marked with an arrow where we added our little “compost station”):

We picked that spot because:

• it was fairly hidden from view
• it didn’t disrupt the landscape very much (i.e. it wasn’t in the middle of the grass or anything)
• it was convenient enough to get to without being right against the house (we know compost isn’t supposed to smell – and our old bin never did – but we didn’t want to risk getting whiffs of nature’s miracle at work if this system was any different).
• the only “landscaping” that we’d be sacrificing was some ivy and a few weeds (how will we ever live with ourselves?)

One perk to losing some of the ivy is that I uncovered some unexpected treasures in the process, like this ancient Hooters frisbee and a random plastic tire. Looks like this upgraded composting system is already paying off in major free-stuff dividends.

After a bit more work with my shovel and rake, I was eventually left with this clearing. Some of the online instructions that I googled around for suggested putting an extra pallet down for your base, while I read others who complained that a pallet on the ground made turning the compost a big ol’ pain (picture pitchfork tongs or shovels getting stuck between the slats). Some others even suggested a slanted base to help collect the tea (the nutrient-rich “run off” from your compost pile), but I just opted to keep things simple and make my life easy – at least for now. So this flat square of dirt did the trick:

With my area cleared, I gathered my supplies:

• Three shipping pallets (which I was thrilled to finally move out of our basement)
• A few 2″ wood screws
• Electric screwdriver
• Work gloves
• Shovel

Fortunately these were all things we already owned, so our project cost rang in at a big fat goose egg. Even better than a free project? The whole thing only took me about 20 minutes (not counting photo-snapping time). Which was a nice unexpected surprise. Remember, I go into all small projects expecting them to take forever and throw me ten curve balls so I don’t get my quick-project hopes dashed by an obstacle or two (which I’ve learned are par for the DIY course). So yeah, it was awesome that this quick and easy project really was quick and easy.

First I dug a small trench (about 4″ deep) at the back of the compost area so that my pallet had a little groove to stand in while I secured the other sides:

Then I put the second pallet next to it to create one side:

Notice how the side with the more closely-spaced slats faces in (otherwise we’d get lots of compost spilling through). But that doesn’t mean you should use a completely solid piece of wood (the slatted pallets help air circulate, which helps the decomposing process while also keeping odor down).

To secure the pallets together, I just drilled three screws (one in the top, middle, and bottom) to connect the two pallets. Some tutorials that I read called for zip ties instead, which I’m not surprised to hear (they, like duct tape, can accomplish almost anything). I just had screws on hand, and since that was another recommended method I went for it. I also enjoy projects a little more when I get to break out my power tools (I can almost feel Sherry rolling her eyes at this sentence). The funny thing is that the pallets were practically sturdy enough to stay together on their own so the screws kinda felt like a formality, but they were nice “insurance” so I’m glad I took a moment to add them (and say hi to my drill).

Then I rinsed and repeated the whole joining shebang with the third pallet on the other side.

Then, um… ta-dah? That was pretty much it. Some of the instructions that I read included using a fourth pallet to create a hinged door in the front (I guess a fifth if you added an extra pallet on the bottom). I wasn’t inclined to do this because (1) that seemed more complicated than I wanted to get into – at least off the bat, and (2) I didn’t have any hinges on hand. Initially I was just going to leave my bin open-sided and not stress if my pile started to migrate a bit beyond its three borders…

… but I realized it probably wasn’t the best idea in practice, especially since it was on a slight slope and one big rain could wash our pile-o-decomposition into the yard. Gross. So I improvised a bit and found a nearly-perfectly-sized piece of scrap wood that could act as a fourth wall (with the help of two leftover wood stakes). It stays in place just fine and can easily be picked up when it’s time to turn our pile (or grab a big heaping batch of nurtrient-rich soil when it’s ready).

As the pile grows, I’m thinking I could easily upgrade my system with a few more boards stacked up or a taller piece of wood with taller stakes or poles to hold them flush against the pallets. But this’ll do for now:

And to kick off the competition composition, I threw in a layer of nice brown leaves from the backyard. Ooooh. Ahhh.

Now we’re the first to admit that we’re still kind of novices at this whole composting thing. Even after three years of doing it. I’ve thrown out references like “turn the pile” as if I know what we’re supposed to do (and how often and why) but I’m really just going off of tidbits that we’ve picked up online. When it came to our old system we just stirred things when we tossed in a pile o’ stuff (we had a lidded plastic container that we kept under the sink for compost scraps and emptied that into the bin twice a week or so). And we printed out a list of compostable stuff and taped that to the inside of our under-the-sink door near the compost container so we could consult that if we didn’t know if something could be added. So admittedly I’m not quite Captain Compost yet (so if anyone has any pointers or resources for us, we’re all ears). The good news about compost is that it seems to just do its own thing for the most part (you can read about a few of our experiences with it over the years here, here, here, and here). We’ve never had any issues with smell or anything, so it’s a pretty painless auto-pilot process.

Oh, and I should mention that if anyone is hesitant about using wood that might be chemically-treated (like pallets) for their bin, you can limit your use of the resulting compost to non-edible plants (i.e. use it in your flowerbeds, not in an herb or veggie garden). That’s definitely what we’ll be doing just in case. We’re a bit late in the season to have much usable compost this year anyway (darn, no accidental pumpkin growing for me this Halloween) but hopefully next year we’ll have more free fertilizer than we’ll know what to do with. And maybe some of that ivy will have grown around the pallets to help it “blend” in a bit more. You know, so we end up with a charming secret garden compost situation. Of course we could also stain or paint the palettes to help them blend in (dark green, brown, gray, etc). We’ll keep you posted.

Do any of you have a pallet compost bin (or other composting system) going on at your place? How has it been working out? Anything you think we should know as we start this new chapter in our composting lives? Has anyone else accidentally grown a pumpkin? That’s my crowning composting achievement thus far.

We figured we’d just do a potted herb garden this year, with only a few “edible essentials” for our kitchen. Which is why we picked up a foursome of local and organically grown herbs (parsley, oregano, basil, and mint) at the farmer’s market this weekend for $12. Speaking of which, you can read more about our trip to the market on BabyCenter today as part of their “Big Day Out” this Saturday.

But back to the tub. It was about $8 at Lowe’s (way cheaper than any planter of that size) and to turn it into our herb pot, we figured it could use some holes for drainage in the bottom. They were a cinch to make with my little cordless drill.

To make them a bit bigger, I also wiggled a big nail around in them too. Oh yeah, and I made the holes in a heart shape. Maybe I was feeling romantic? Maybe I was subliminally professing my love for galvanized tubs? Or it was an ode to the L in YHL? Either way, this photo is about the most any of us will ever see of it.

Update: A few savvy commenters recommended that we test for lead just to be sure it wouldn’t leech into our food if it was randomly present in the metal. We just used one of those $4 Lead Test Sticks from Home Depoton to test the seams, the inside, the outside, the bottom, and even the holes that we drill and it was negative. Whew. So that’s definitely something to test for if you’re not sure how pure your galvanized tin is (and you’re using it for edible herbs)!

Also for drainage, we put a layer of gravel on the bottom (they were leftovers from the patio project). Hopefully they’ll keep the majority of the soil from dripping out of my hidden hole-y heart.

Before adding any dirt, we did a quick “dry run” of the herb placement. The taller guys (basil and parsley) went in the back, and oregano got some special space on the side – since my oregano tends to get bushy. Yeah… not so sure I like the sound of that last sentence.

Of course, if things do well (i.e. grow big and strong) this tin could soon get a bit cramped. But hopefully we’ll achieve “full” and not go as far as “so full it’s bad.” But if so, we can always transplant things into their own larger dedicated pots. You know if anything gets all diva on us. And we’re keeping the mint from spreading like crazy by separating it in a buried pot (a tip we learned a while back at the farmer’s market from a friendly local gardener).

You can see dirt in the bottom of the pic above. That’s some organic potting mix that we snagged at Lowe’s. It was about twice as much as the regular stuff ($10 vs $6, I think) but we figured since we’ll be consuming these plants it was worth going the slightly more natural route (since they were organically grown up to this point).

We usually would use our nutrient rich compost pile, but since moving our DIY compost bins got a little jumbled while we got settled so we don’t appear to have enough “ready” soil to use just yet (aka: things are still breaking down).

Here are the plants all in and soil-ed up:

Since the patio (which also got a bit soil-ed, as you can see) isn’t very sunny, we decided to put the pot on our balcony-to-nowhere (right off of our living room and kitchen). Despite being between two sections of house, it gets a remarkable amount of light – almost the closest thing to full sun that we have on our mostly shaded property. Plus it’s pretty darn convenient to the kitchen.

The beauty of having our herb “garden” potted this year is that we can move it around to test other sun spots if we find that this one isn’t doing the trick (since we’re still trying to wrap our heads around sun patterns here). Heck, it might even help us decide where to put a more permanent garden next year (gotta find that sweet spot). And if we decide to keep this potted version around, it’ll still look good on the larger deck that we plan to build out here eventually. Maybe even as an oversized centerpiece on an outdoor table?

And since no herb garden story is complete with an artsy close-up of your plant labels – here we go!

If you’re wondering, Colonel Oregano is not some weird variety of oregano. It’s just me being weird. I decided it’d be funny to take our simple popsicle stick labels and give them the Clue-character treatment. You know like Miss Scarlet and Colonel Mustard? Here’s my whole cast of made up herbs / suspect names. Yes, I’m what Sherry’s dad likes to call “a strange bird” (he’s also the man trying to single-handedly bring back the term “sick puppy”).

Next year if we decide to grow peppers it will be tough deciding whether to give it the “Sergeant” or “Doctor” title. Though the idea of a Dr. Pepper plant sounds pretty awesome, so maybe I’ve already made my decision.

What are you guys growing this year? Anything sprouting up particularly well or deliciously? Anything not showing as much promise as you’d like? Anything murdering someone in the conservatory with the lead pipe?

Psst- Don’t forget to check out the rest of our Farmer’s Market adventures here on BabyCenter.

We’d been meaning to get a new rain barrel since we left the old one that we made at our first house when we sold it. Of course we would have been happy to make another one, but we had yet to get to that part of our to-do list (and sign up for a local course to get our mitts on a large food safe barrel). So we took that sign as, well, a sign and pulled over to window shop. Not that the place had windows…

We learned that we had happened upon Carolina Mike’s Produce Stand, but he’s still a week or so away from having produce. And although it looks very out-in-the-boonies, it’s actually on a busy suburban street across from a Target (Richmonders, it’s on the corner of Forest Hill Avenue and Cherokee Road in the Stratford Hills area).

Mike was super friendly and told us the tall black barrels (formerly used to transport jalapenos) were $60 and the shorter blue ones (which used to contain soy sauce) were $40 – even though both were 55 gallons. Coincidentally, $40 was exactly what we spent to make our last rain barrel (through a local class) so we took the easy route and tossed one of the $40 ready-made barrels into the backseat. That is, after I took a trip home to drop off Clara and Sherry to make room for my new blue best friend.

The barrel actually sat unused in our carport for a week-ish while we debated where to put it. But we finally decided that he’d be most helpful near the small fenced garden area behind our carport / next to our sunroom. And yes, I realize this would make more sense had I already written an outdoor tour post for you guys (I promise that’s around the corner – the pics are taken and uploaded, just not yet edited).

This area currently acts primarily as Burger’s restroom, but we’re soon hoping to de-liriope most of it (aka: dig up that floppy grass) and trade that thin brick pathway for a nice big stone patio on this side of the house (since it’s accessible from a sliding door in the living room). But we still plan to leave plenty of plant beds that will need watering around the perimeter of our DIY patio, so that downspout next to the brick half-wall (which is actually the back of the carport) was calling our rain barrel’s name.

First I made sure we could fit a watering can under the faucet (aka “hose bib”) which meant I wouldn’t need to raise the barrel on blocks or anything. Though if I had made the barrel from scratch, I probably would’ve put the hose bib in a bit lower so I could use all of the water in the barrel – not just what collects above faucet level. The good news is that our last barrel has a spigot in around the same spot and we didn’t have any issues with smell or algae from the water that collected below the spigot after years of use (we can always tip the barrel forward to fully drain it).

Anyway, once I leveled the ground where the barrel would sit and figured out where my downspout would need to end, I got out a small hacksaw and began cutting away.

You can see a more thorough breakdown of this process on our original “How To Build A Rain Barrel” post. But basically I squeezed the curved spout back in place after putting down the hacksaw, slid the barrel underneath it, and called it a day. Voila! Infinite rain collecting potential:

We’re still waiting for an actual rainstorm to put Ol’ Blue to good use, but it does feel good to be back in the rain barrel club again. Even if our new barrel is so bright that it doesn’t exactly blend quietly into the landscape.

Once we begin to more formally tackle this area we might take a paintbrush to it (brick red perhaps?) to help camouflage it a bit better (like we did to our utility boxes and propane tank here). Heck, maybe we’ll even plant a few things around it to further obscure it. ‘Til then, we’ll just consider it our not-so-subtle way of celebrating Earth Day.

Is anyone else in the rain barrel club after a lapse in membership like us? Or do you have big patio plans on the agenda? Every day Sherry taps me on the shoulder and says “Wanna go dig up some liriope? Come on you know you want to.” Sheesh. It’s like the adult version of “are we there yet?” Can’t a husband bask in the I-built-you-a-12-foot-console-table-glory for a little longer? No? Ok, I guess I have some shoveling to do…

Allow me to explain. We decided to test the soil around our home’s underground oil tank (we have oil heat) a few weeks back to assure any interested buyer that it’s in tip top shape. Much to our horror, it wasn’t. Soil tests came back indicating that we had a small leak. We felt like somebody punched us in the face. Here we are with our rain barrel and our compost bin along with all of our energy star appliances and our cloth diapers in an effort to be green while our oil tank has been oozing nastiness underground without our knowledge. Shudder.

Luckily we learned that it’s something that the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality feels so strongly about fixing that they actually offer a credit to homeowners in our situation, so we only had to pay a $500 deductible for the removal of the old leaky underground tank (and the gross oil-riddled soil around it – hence the excavator pictured above) while the government covers the rest of the usually-around-$2,000 project. Nice right? But we did have to kick in about $1300 to install a new above ground tank (which will never secretly leak since it’ll be visible instead of buried). The good news is that it’s kind of like we’re paying it forward since we’re leaving a new tank for our home’s next owners and our new house actually also just got a new above ground tank (so we’ll inherit one that’s just as new and shiny). Ain’t she pretty all tucked quietly behind our azalea bushes?

Especially when you compare her to ol’ Rusty. They estimated that our tank was about 30 years old after unearthing it. Here’s hoping 30 is kinder to me when I hit it next year.

The funny thing is that as gross as that sucker looks, they could only find this dime-sized hole at the bottom (though they said others might be too dirt-clogged to see).

The good news of the whole oil-leakage incident is that since oil doesn’t move very much through compacted dirt like ours, it’s not believed to have traveled very far underground. So the Virginia DEQ just requires the removal of the tank and a bit of surrounding soil to rectify the situation. Okay, maybe a “bit of soil” is an understatement. This was the hole they dug:

They had to dig up two azalea bushes to make that hole but luckily the process didn’t disturb the driveway or any large trees. And they replanted the pristinely removed azaleas after filling the gorge with gravel and topsoil (though they were the first to say that they make no guarantees about their future survival). Cross your fingers, I guess?

Even though it’s bittersweet to have sunk money into unsinking this leaky tank for our buyers (yay environment, boo spending) we’re definitely comforted by the fact that we’re getting a new shiny tank at our new house (how funny is it that the current owners ran into a similar situation with their underground tank and just upgraded to an above ground version too?). So I guess we could call it good house karma paying off. If you can count following government orders as karma.

Have you guys had oil issues? Or other appallingly ungreen discoveries in general? Nothing like a little unplanned spending around the holidays to get your blood pumping.

Psst- Holy amazingness. Check out this sweet DIY play kitchen that was made from an old TV unit over on BabyCenter.

Yep, that’s Almost-Doctor-Dan (as many of you know him) marrying his bride Ali during their beautiful lakeside wedding in wine country just outside of Ithaca. The ceremony was touching and fun-filled at the same time (the officiant was their friend and Wedding Bee blogger Mrs. Hermit Crab, fyi). I even got to watch my two girls walk down the aisle together (Sherry actually wore Clara in her carrier, which seemed to be a hit with other wedding-goers). Not too shabby for Clara’s first wedding.

The wedding took place at a picturesque spot called The Fontainebleu Inn, a historic estate that we got to explore a lot of as we hunted for private spots for diaper changes and nursing.

While the weekend was certainly filled with family and wedding-related adventures, we carved out some time of our own to explore the area. And thanks to some tips from readers Amanda, Kirsten, Ashley, Julie, Nicole, and Josh (via Twitter/Facebook) we were able to live like true Ithacans for a couple of days – which we’re pretty sure requires inserting a “gorges” pun periodically into conversation.

Wordplay aside, Ithaca was a scenic spot with lots of opportunities for sightseeing and photo taking (too bad we managed to forget the good camera at home). For example, here’s Ithaca Falls – which actually cascades right through the center of town:

We also checked out Cornell Plantations (both Dan & Ali met at Cornell where he was getting his undergrad, and he’s now getting his PHD at Columbia and they’re living it up in NYC like Sherry and I once did). The plantations were a HUGE area filled with gardens, lakes, walking paths, and an arboretum. Sherry’s biggest takeaway from that trip was actually these chunky stone steps that were spotted frequently (and sat upon occasionally). Makes us want to do some landscaping!

But beyond beautiful greenery, one of the things that impressed us most about Ithaca was its green-ness. Perhaps its because its residents are blessed with such a stunning natural setting that they seemed to work extra hard at being eco. We lost count of the number of places we spotted with compost receptacles right alongside the standard trash and recycling bins – like this one at Collegetown Bagels. And nearly every cup and plastic utensil that we used was recycled and even compostable.

And their Farmer’s Market kind puts Richmond’s to shame. Once we managed to find a parking spot, we loved how there was not only fresh local food to buy (or eat on the spot) but tons of housewares, clothing, and art too.

We particularly loved the style of these graphic clothes and handmade pillows. We left empty handed though because we arrived devoid of any cash (which was probably a good thing since our car was packed with baby stuff anyway).

And thanks to the tips sent by our readers, we also were able to check out a lot of stores with waste-not mentality, like Home Green Home – which even carried those beer and soda bottle tumblers I tried to make (for $8 a pop, by the way). Sigh.

There was also an architectural salvage spot called Significant Elements that carried your usual collection of old windows, doors, and plumbing fixtures along with some more interesting finds that we loved:

We also ventured into a thrift store called Mimi’s Attic that focused on just household items, including some upcycled furniture like these brightly colored pieces that would provide a fun Domino-ish pop of color.

Right next to Mimi’s Attic was a second-hand baby store called Mama Goose. It was filled with gently used clothing, books, games, and any other kind of baby gear you could think of. We even walked out with some of the Charlie’s Soap that many of our varsity cloth diapering readers had recommended for washing Clara’s dipes. So far we’re loving it by the way.

Ithaca actually had a lot of great places for kid-related shopping. At the Ithaca Commons walking mall (where we found Home Green Home) there was also a place called Jillian’s Drawers. They introduced us to the novel concept of buying gently used cloth diapers (they looked like new) and renting baby carriers so you can figure out which is best for you before buying one (which definitely can save money and storage space since you’re guaranteed to end up with something you and your wee one like). Genius.

There was also an awesome toy store called Alphabet Soup that we thoroughly enjoyed (even though Clara slept through it- figures). I couldn’t decide which I liked most: the bright recycled-wood dinosaur toy or the chunky modern alphabet blocks.

But then I spotted the Plan Toys Green Dollhouse and suddenly had a clear winner in my mind. We already own a few Plan Toys because they’re green and fun, so we were totally entertained by the thought of someday getting this dollhouse for Clara. Yes, it actually has a recycling station and solar panels.

So that wraps up our little trip to Ithaca. Thanks again to the folks who offered up suggestions for what to see and do (we also loved our dinner at the Moosewood Restaurant and the Hot Truck subs that we snagged before the wedding). We’d love to go back to Ithaca someday when Clara’s a bit older and we can take her on some of those “gorges” waterfall hikes. Ok, I think I’m done with the gorgeous/gorges puns for now.

Have any of you guys traveled to (or lived in) Ithaca and have other must-see, must-do, or must-eat items to add to the mix for a future trip by us or someone reading? Or do you have other Ithaca-like cities that you’d suggest we check out?

The article wasn’t all about scare tactics though. It touched on some practical tips for moving towards a more natural regime for maintaining your lawn. Those suggestions piqued my curiosity because since banishing fertilizer/herbicides/pesticides from our lawn we really haven’t done anything proactive to maintain it and it certainly could use some help (especially after the heat/drought we’ve been “enjoying” here in Virginia). Luckily the article referenced a book, The Organic Lawn Care Manual by Paul Tukey, which even more luckily was carried at our local library (free books= booyah). You may have actually spotted it in some of our office progress shots from a few weeks back.

So like the captain of the lawn care nerd squad I’ve gone through the whole book from cover to cover, reading more about soil texture, grass anatomy, and watering than I ever thought I’d have the patience to read. It was actually quite fascinating and has me wishing I had the time, energy, and money to overhaul our entire landscape (fortunately the author offers plenty of tips for working with what you’ve got – some of which I hope to try in the coming months).

Many people actually wonder why we have so much grass while considering ourselves to be green, but because we don’t use any fertilizers/pesticides/herbicides and don’t even water our yard unless we’re seeding it (which we haven’t done for 2+ years) it’s actually a pretty eco friendly expanse of green. We even use a reel mower 90% of the time so we don’t even have the gas guzzling guilt to deal with. But anyway, back to the book. When I said I was acting like the captain of the lawn care nerd squad, I meant it. Just look at how many pages I flagged:

Without even attempting to play organic lawn care expert here, I thought I’d at least share some of my “aha” moments and tips from reading The Organic Lawn Care Manual so that you guys might get a flavor for what I found so interesting:

• Do you only visit certain parts of your property to mow? This was a throwaway question but it’s the #1 idea that has stuck in my head. The book asks us to reconsider the needs of our lawn and calls into question the ideal of a golf-course ready expanse of green in front of our homes. Tukey does a good job at not making anyone feel bad if they just love a big, grassy yard but his thought to seed part of his own backyard with wildflowers had me rethinking a few spots on our own property.

• Self-sustaining vs. drug-addicted lawn: I liked his analogy that the goal with a lawn should be to train it to take care of itself, not teach reliance on a cocktail of weed and insect killers, fertilizers and winterizers. A healthy organic lawn is one where the plants are strong enough (and the soil is nutrient rich enough) that it crowds out weeds, survives droughts, and fights off disease on its own. Sign us up.

• It’s about soil first, grass second: Tukey spends a fair amount talking about soil (though in his opinion not enough). He reminds us that without enough healthy soil as a starting point, you’ll constantly be battling your yard. He dives deep into tips of conditioning with compost, compost tea, aeration, etc. but really drives home the point that you should understand your soil (by digging in and examining it, and by conducting a soil test) to see where you may be lacking. I may try the soil test and compost tea thing, btw. Updates to come if/when I do.

• Use water wisely: And even though we don’t water our lawn (thank goodness for all the fall storms that seem to tide it over from year to year after such hot Virginia summers) there’s a whole chapter on watering with great tips like: water between midnight and 9am, so it can soak in before the sun evaporates it (did you know evening watering could over-moisten things and lead to fungus?). Also you should aim for fewer, deeper waterings (which encourage deep root growth) rather than frequent, light waterings (which leave roots more vulnerable on the surface) – though always stop to let water soak in if you see it pooling anywhere. And who knew the best sprinklers where those spinning rotary kinds? We used oscillating ones (with the gradual swaying fan of water) back when we established our yard, but apparently they don’t distribute water as evenly as they should.

• Be wise when water is scarce: His discussion of droughts was most pertinent to me, so I liked little explanations like a browning lawn is just the grass going dormant and conserving its energy. While your instinct may be to continue to water every 4 to 8 weeks-ish to keep your yard from browning, watering too much before the drought could unnecessarily “wake up” the lawn before the drought is over (and it’s more protected when it’s brown and dormant than “awake”). He also suggest leaving grass a bit longer during droughts because it will create its own protective shade. We always cut our lawn on the highest setting (except at the very end of the season) because we heard it was best, but now we actually know why!

• Imperfection is okay: Perhaps my favorite lesson from the book is that an imperfect lawn is okay (if it’s okay with you). While Tukey does spend a lot of time talking about how to crowd out, cut out, and even burn out weeds – he also makes the point that a plant in our yard is only bad if we say it is. If you can live with a patch of clovers or a few dandelions on your lawn, leave them alone (clovers are actually good for the soil, believe it or not). In fact the first step of his RILE approach to weeding is “Relax” (the others are “Identify,” “Listen” to what it’s saying about your lawn’s health, and “Eradicate” if necessary).

• Mowing can be an art form: Tukey reminds us that cutting any plant is an unnatural activity that the plant has to recover from, so grass is quite amazing in the way that we shave it constantly and it comes back more often than not. He offers a lot of tips like mow in the evening for minimizing wear on your lawn and your equipment. Alternate directions each mowing so you don’t encourage permanent tire-track lines. Oh, and of course never cut more than a third of the blade on any one day or else you could shock it too much.

There’s a bunch of other interesting stuff in there (at least by my standards), including a nice collection of how-to guides. He also covers a lot of options for non-grassy yards like gardens and xeriscaping. And hopefully in the next few months I’ll be able to try out some of the things he suggests in an effort to green up our lawn both literally and figuratively.

Do you guys have any earth-friendly and lawn-friendly tips or tricks to offer? Any organic lawn care suggestions that you care to share? Or have you tried some of these things with much or limited success? Please share because we’d love to learn more – especially me, since I’m clearly a card-carrying member of the grass geek society.

*BONUS FREEBIE! When reader Alee spotted The Organic Lawn Care Manual back in our office post, she was delighted to see her company’s book in our house. When I told her I was planning to blog about what I learned she and Storey Publishing offered to give away FIVE copies of The Organic Lawn Care Manual to you guys! So if you want a shot at one of the free copies, head over to our Facebook page where we’ll be accepting entries today (and announcing the winners on Friday, so be sure to check back). Thanks Alee and Storey Publishing for the bonus freebie!

Image credits: “Lethal Lawns” image from here because I recycled my issue before photographing it (d’oh!), wildflowers from bratjerm on Flickr, sprinkler from here, clover from here.

How are you liking cloth diapers? How many do you have? What brand are they? Did you get the kind with the liners/inserts? Do they work? Does Clara like them? Are they difficult? Do you regret it? Is it annoying to wash them? Do they really get clean? Are there times when you don’t use them and opt for disposables? How long will they last? Are they bulky? What do you do when you’re out running errands? How exactly do you wash them? What colors did you get? How do you store them when they’re dirty? Does Clara have a lot of blowouts with them? Do they give her diaper rash?

Who knew Clara’s bodily functions (and how we tend to them) could be such a hot topic? But we’re happy to address the many (many) questions that we’ve received right here in this surprisingly exhaustive post. So fasten your seat belts and get ready to read the word poop at least once. And by all means, if you’re not a parent and have no interest in hearing about baby bodily functions, skip this post and stay tuned for more house-related fare tomorrow. You have been warned…

And here’s the beanette now in her very first cloth diaper ever (we love matching them to tops or dresses and skipping the bloomers since they’re so cute on their own):

After a lot of research and chats with family and friends who went the cloth diaper route, we settled on the Bum Genius Elemental One Size All In Ones - the ones that are organic with snaps instead of velcro. They’re so easy to use and should last us through multiple kiddos. We’ve heard that velcro can wear out after tons of washings but snaps are good for the long haul so that’s why we opted for that feature. As for inserts or liners, the ones that we chose don’t have them. We figured if we were going to have to wash part of the diaper we might as well get all in ones and wash them all (instead of dealing with liners/inserts). It seemed simpler and so far we have found them to be extremely easy. Plus we love that they’re one-size-fits-all, which will save us a ton of money (they adjust with some easy snapping to accommodate Clara as she grows).

The dozen that we purchased should not only last us through Clara’s potty training days but we expect to use the same dipes for future bambino(s) as well. We picked up 12 and have never needed more than that thus far but we wouldn’t mind 18, which seems to be the magic number for many other cloth diapering parents. We might grab six more someday, but we’re definitely getting by with 12 so far. Oh and as for diapering duty, you might be shocked to hear that John changes way more diapers than I do around here. He sweetly decided that if I would be feeding her multiple times a day, he could be the go-to diaper guy, which is such a big help and actually really cute to watch (Clara loves to pee on him from time to time).

And as for washing them, we’ve found that with a baby you’re always doing laundry anyway. So tossing in one big load of diapers every day-and-a-half or so is no trouble at all. Really, we anticipated the switch from disposables to cloth diapers to be waaay harder (Clara didn’t fit into her cloth diapers for the first 9 weeks so we had some time to get used to disposables and were shaking in our boots about making the switch). Thankfully it was really easy and fun. They’re just so darn cute on her, and she seems really comfortable and happy in them too. Speaking of the aesthetic factor, we got three orange ones (clementine), three green ones (grasshopper), three light blue ones (twilight), and three yellow ones (butternut). That way they’re gender neutral for any bambinos down the line.

How has our experience with cloth diapering been so far? In short: we love them, they’re no harder than disposables (the time we spend tossing them in the wash seems equal to the time we used to spend trudging out to the store to buy disposables before Clara could fit into her cloth dipes). Clara seems to love them more than disposables too (she sleeps longer at night, never appears uncomfortable, etc) and she has experienced 95% fewer blowouts and zero diaper rash since trading up from disposables (where those occurrences were a tad more frequent). Oh and the only time we don’t use them is when we travel overnight somewhere, since it’s more of a challenge to wash them while road tripping.

And have we mentioned that they’re hugely cost effective? Especially thanks to our Energy Star front loading washer and dryer (which make the cost of cleaning them negligible and keep our water/energy usage extremely low). We also often line dry our diapers out in the sun to save even more energy and keep them looking mint (more info on that in a minute). For around $265 (for a 12-pack of cloth diapers) we have unlimited dipes on hand for the rest of Clara’s diapering days. Plus we’re not sending tons of disposable diapers to the landfill so that makes us feel good. In retrospect, the only thing we would have done differently is purchase some newborn sized Bum Genius diapers as well. The one-size-fits-all versions are a bit loose on most newborns, so they also make cloth newborn-sized dipes, which we opted to skip since we didn’t know how big Clara would be at birth (the doc estimated she’d be 10lbs (!) but she was only 7lbs 10 oz in the end). So since we skipped the newborn sized cloth diapers, Clara’s first nine weeks were spent in Seventh Generation disposable diapers- and we learned just how expensive the non-reusable diaper route really was.

We’re actually happy we experienced life with disposables so we have some point of comparison. If we hadn’t relied on them at first, we never could have kept track of the money we spent on them (and the money that we would thereby be saving moving forward). After nine weeks of disposable diapering we had spent more than $180. That’s only a bit less than we spent on our entire stock of Bum Genius diapers that will easily last through the end of Clara’s diaper days and hopefully through future babies’ as well! And by our $180 for 9 weeks estimation, we could have easily spent another $3000+ on disposable diapers to last her until she turns two. Crazy, right? We also hope to make the change to cloth wipes sometime soon for even more savings in the future (we’re currently using Seventh Generation ones, which we like a lot).

As for our dirty diaper system, we have a pail for dipes and a smaller pail for wipes in the nursery (we snagged both pails at World Market). We rinse the dirty (read: not just wet) ones with the diaper sprayer that we mentioned a while back (pictured above). Some people say that you don’t need to spray dirty diapers when a baby is exclusively breastfeeding but we have found that a quick spray helps them come out a lot cleaner and less discolored so it’s worth it to us (and for what it’s worth, our friend Katie Bower also had the same experience). What can we say, we’re pro-spray kinda girls. And it only takes a second. It’s kind of fun too (but I won’t get into that as I’m probably one of the weirdest people on the planet since I get an inordinate amount of joy from cloth diapering).

After spraying the dirty ones, we place them in the larger pail, while only-wet ones go right into the same pail without a spray. The dirty wipes go straight into the smaller pail for disposal (both pails are lined with “recycled” plastic bags that we have laying around from places like Target when we mindlessly forget our reusable ones). Note: we hung the pails off of the hard-to-see corner of the dresser with coat hooks and anchors, which keeps them much easier to reach than placing the pails on the floor. Then we added small strips of weatherstripping on the bottom edge of the pails (where they meet the dresser) to keep them from scratching the wood.

We haven’t experienced any issues with odor thanks to the lids (of course we hear that things can get stinkier once we transition to solid foods but we have a few family friends who still use the pail method so we don’t anticipate having a problem as long as we continue to wash our diapers every day and a half or so). Which brings us back to dirty diaper laundering. As recommended by Bum Genius, we prefer to launder them at least every other day. We usually wash 11 of them in one big load every day-and-a-half while Clara wears the remaining 12th diaper- that way we’re not washing just a few at a time.

And as for our detergent, we use Seventh Generation Free & Clear (update: we learned our diapers would last even longer thanks to Charlie’s Soap Laundry Powder so that’s now all that we use) and we just wash them once on the warm heavy duty setting and either machine dry them or lay them out in the sun. We have heard that you can do a cold pre-wash before the warm heavy duty wash, but so far that hasn’t been necessary (possibly because we pre-spray the dirty diapers into the toilet as soon as they come off).

Oh and we learned that occasionally one may come out of the wash with a slight orange tinge (very rarely, this isn’t an everyday thing). The good news is that it’s 100% clean and sanitized, sometimes one every few weeks is just a bit discolored from breastfeeding poop (since the pure organic cotton liners are awesomely absorbent). It’s kind of like how old tupperware containers can get stained from tomato sauce and even if you run them through the dishwasher and they’re totally clean they can still have that tint. Luckily we learned if you lay them out in the sun while they’re still moist from the washer it bleaches them white again- it’s like magic! Seriously, you might want to cross your fingers for that tinge every once in a while just for the fun of seeing the sun undo it in a few hours. We wish Clara was old enough to watch in wonder like we do. She’d probably make this Zoolander face:

Oh and they’re also pretty easy on the go (we only use disposables when we’re traveling somewhere overnight, but for day trips and errands and things we stick to cloth). If we have to do a diaper change while we’re out – at Home Depot for example, haha – we just slip the dirty cloth diaper into a plastic bag and rinse it when we get home. We hope to upgrade to a reusable zippered wet bag for dirty diapers while we’re on the go (we currently just reuse Target bags and stuff that we have laying around) since we’ve heard those work well and contain everything nicely (no smells or leaks).

Now for the bulkiness question. They’re definitely a bit bulkier than disposables but nothing too terrible. In fact we think they’re super cute! Clara can still fit into a few newborn sized outfits with them on and she’s almost three months old! So they can’t be that huge, right?

So there you have it. Over 2,000 words on cloth diapering. Can you tell we’re enthusiastic? Of course this is a completely personal parent-how-you’d-like-to decision, so we’re just sharing our experience when it comes to diapering. And we’re not anti-disposable by any means! Tons of our family and friends opted to go that route because it worked best for their household and we still rely on disposables when we travel. If there’s one thing we’ve learned in three months of parenting it’s that there’s no right way to raise your wee one, and it’s all about sussing out what works best for you and your family. So go forth and diaper your beans and beanettes any way you’d like with a smile on your face. Or am I the only weirdo who grins every time I snap a fresh diaper on those cute little buns?

UPDATE: We switched from diaper tins to wet bags a while back (since they’re super easy to toss into the laundry with our diapers too keep things smelling fresh – here’s that info for ya). As for how cloth diapering is going, we still love and use the same 12 cloth diapers that we purchased over a year ago! That’s it (we haven’t purchased any more or tried any other brands). They still look mint, work well, and don’t smell or anything. Best money we ever spent.

We had thought about the possibility of lead paint during our bathroom reno (you can read about a bunch of protective just-in-case methods that we used here) and even checked an old thrift store chair for lead after we decided to use it for our nursery (read about how we did that simple lead test here) but I can’t believe I never stopped to think that our home’s original plumbing might have more than just water running through it on a daily basis.

The good news is that after further research I learned from the EPA that “the age of your home is a major contributing factor. Older homes with plumbing installed prior to 1930 are likely to have lead pipes. In addition, plumbing with copper pipes installed before 1988 may contain lead solder. Today lead pipes and materials are prohibited from being used in plumbing that leads to drinking water taps.”

That’s comforting to hear since our house is a product of the 50′s and has galvanized steel piping (as opposed to lead or copper ones). But your home’s pipes are only half the battle. Did you know that lead can actually be present in trace amounts in your city’s water? Not the most comforting thought. Doctor Oz actually urged his audience to call their local jurisdiction and request a copy of their annual water quality report. Being the paranoid mother hen that I am, I was on the phone before Dr. Oz finished his sentence. For any locals wondering exactly who I contacted, I called the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services at 804.648.4480 and later talked to Gigi Meyers at 804.864.7491 to help me decipher my results.

No matter where you live, a few calls to your city council or any other office (just google around for the main number) should hopefully direct you to the right department (I was bounced around about ten times before getting the right person, so it felt like a mini victory just to find someone who knew what I was talking about in the end). I may have had to work for it a little, but it was well worth the effort and the piece of mind. A few days later my official water analysis arrived in the mail and although I couldn’t understand a smidge of it (lots of greater than and less than symbols with abbreviations like PMCL and SMCL), calling Gigi Meyers at the lab for help interpreting the data finally put my mind at ease. So once you receive your report you might want to call the number on that report to get someone to help you descipher your results.

The fabulous news is that our county’s water met or exceeded all EPA guidelines, so although it may possibly possess trace amounts of a bunch of scary chemicals (arsenic! lead! mercury!) they were all well below the limits that are known to be dangerous (basically Gigi explained that they couldn’t definitively say zero for any category so they select a range like “less than .002 PPM” which is super minute amount and possibly zero). Whew.

Plus we can’t forget that we installed an under-sink water filter a while back, which “reduces sediments, chlorine tastes, and odors” just like a Brita pitcher would (it’s also NSF and ANSI certified to be super safe and free of phthalates and other leeching hazards). I guess we were doing more things right than we realized (although we can hardly take credit for our house being “new” enough to avoid lead piping and our county being lucky enough to have water that exceeds all of the safety standards set in place by the EPA).

The lesson: if you fear that there’s something in the water at your house, there’s lots you can do. There are kits you can buy at any home improvement store to test your water for lead. You can also install a filtration system to further cut down on unwelcome toxins. And of course you can call your county to get information and make a stink if your water doesn’t meet the standards that it should (the county is obligated to send you an honest report, but the shocking thing is that it’s just mandatory that they tell you what’s in the water, and not necessarily mandated that they do anything immediately to rectify any high levels of anything – apparently budget issues and review boards can take years for any clean-up efforts to take effect). So that means if you see anything on your results that don’t sound good it’s definitely worth writing to people and even starting a local petition to educate and empower everyone in the community and hopefully get your tap water cleaned up quickly!

Oh and if you’re looking for more information, the Environmental Working Group recently put together a nationwide database of drinking water test results where you can go to look into the water rankings in your area (the New York Times even asked to use it in a series about what’s wrong with America’s drinking water, so it’s a trusted source for this sort of info). The good news is that they found that “when the Environmental Protection Agency sets mandatory water quality standards, the tests show that local water suppliers meet them 92 percent of the time.” Plus they ranked all the big cities for water safety so you can see where your area falls among the spectrum from best to worst (Richmond actually made the top 11- wahoo!). The bad news? They still think “standards need to be tougher to protect young children and pregnant women.” We’re glad they’re fighting the good fight and providing lots of enlightening info along the way.

We also learned a few more simple “rules of thumb” that should be used in protecting your family from contaminated tap water (as listed here):

1. Flush your pipes before use. Prior to using water for cooking or drinking, run the tap water until it becomes as cold as it will get.*
2. Use only cold water for drinking & cooking – hot water is likely to contain higher levels of lead.
3. Inspect your plumbing system to detect lead. Lead pipes and solder are dull gray, when scratched they will look shiny.
4. Test your water with a lead detection product, such as PRO-LAB’s Lead in Water Test Kit, that utilizes U.S. EPA recognized laboratories. If your lead test comes back positive, the best way to handle the problem is to determine the source and remove it.

*The worst part of the tips above was the whole “flush your pipes” since we hate watching wasted water literally go down the drain. We have found that whenever we feel the need to flush our pipes (if we’ve been away on a vacation for a week or so) we use a big basin to catch the water we’re “flushing” and then use it for everything from watering the plants to washing the car and even doing other household cleaning like windows/floors, etc.

So that’s what we learned in our little foray into what I like to call “find out what the heck we’re ingesting on a daily basis.” These days I’m chugging water like nobody’s business (nursing will do that to ya) so you’ll have to excuse me for getting all Erin Brockovich on you. We just thought our witch water hunt might help anyone else out there who squints at their glass and wonders what the heck is in there. And now we know… sort of.

Of course we’d love to know what you guys do to keep your water as pure as possible. Do you use filters or check out your annual water report? Do tell.

Sherry’s interest in being green comes from a health & safety standpoint. That usually means limiting unnatural chemicals around our house, on our bodies, and in our food whenever possible. She’s the driving force behind things like filtering our water, gradually shifting into organic food, switching plastic tupperware for glass, cooking with Greenware instead of Teflon, and trading our personal care and cleaning products for their more natural alternatives (we use Tom’s of Maine, Dr. Bronner’s, and Mrs. Meyer’s to name a few).

I, on the other hand, come from a place of energy and waste conservation with my green ideas. Perhaps because my dad, a retiree from the U.S. Department of Energy, has been a big influence on me (which is why an elementary school project of mine featured solar panels and a family vacation once included a stop at a wind farm). So beyond  being the nag about turning off lights when we leave a room or turning off the water while brushing, I’m also the reason that we have a rain barrel, a compost bin, and a dual-flush toilet here at Casa Petersik.

Of course neither approach is more or less valid than the other, because we both agree that each has merit (and together they have some pretty nice overlap). But it does cause some sticking points here and there. For instance, despite Sherry’s warnings, I’ve yet to go cold turkey on the “refuse those BPA-laced register receipts” tip because I just find myself being awkward with checkout people. And I’m awkward enough as it is. So after a bit of debate (and many promises of hand-washing on my end), she decided to go easy on me for this one. Gotta love my flexible and understanding lady-wife.

And if it were up to me, we’d have two more rain barrels in the front of our house too. But when Sherry delicately pointed out that the neighbors probably wouldn’t appreciate that aesthetic (and neither would she) I conceded that we didn’t need to line the entire perimeter of our home with giant plastic rain-catchers. If I lived in a dream world we’d also bike more of our errands – but alas, our narrow roads don’t make this very safe (or even very possible) so I’m glad Sherry tamed my inner risk taker on this one.

Clearly, being green around here involves a fair amount of compromise. Just like all aspects of marriage now that I think about it. The bottom line: I respect her reasoning, she respects mine, and we both do our best to be supportive of the other. So even if it’s not a decision that we’d make for ourselves, we’re happy to put in the effort for our other half if it makes them happy. For example, I’ve been willing to use natural deodorant, as long as Sherry’s been willing to put up with me smelling a bit less fresh after working in the yard. And she’s willing to walk our food scraps out to the compost bin even though the garbage can in the kitchen is a few hundred feet closer- just because composting puts a smile on my face. In the end we figure we’re better off having two sometimes-opposing viewpoints because it actually helps us to embrace more green practices in total. We like to think of it as some sort of wide-range eco approach – you know, like a venn diagram with two overlapping circles.

But enough about us. What goes on in your household? Does one of you push the green envelope more than the other? Or for differing reasons? Tell us all about it. And if you want to witness another couple coming to terms with being green together, we recommend a documentary that we watched called No Impact Man. Let’s just say it raises the be-green bar (and involves a husband telling his wife that she can’t use toilet paper). I don’t think Sherry and I are there yet…

Dr. Bronner’s image from here, receipt image from here, and No Impact Man image from here.

Oh and just to demonstrate how easy and speedy they really are, we’re including a handy little timetable, so you can pick a cleaning time span (either 7 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or 45 minutes) and follow our minute-by-minute guide below:

If you have seven minutes…

• Place a bowl of coffee beans or a box of baking soda in a musty closet, cabinet or drawer and leave it overnight to absorb the odor (1 minute).
• Quarter a lemon and place it in a bowl of water. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Then wipe down the entire microwave with a moist rag, which is easy thanks to the lemony steam you created (3 minutes)
• Take your quartered lemon and slip each part into your sink’s garbage disposal while it’s on with the water running- this will freshen the air as well as cleanse the actual disposal line (1 minute)
• Use a vinegar soaked rag to remove hard water stains from your shower head, faucets, etc (2 minutes)

If you have fifteen minutes then do all of the above PLUS…

• Sprinkle baking soda on a musty carpet, let stand one minute, then vacuum the baking soda up- along with the odor (3 minutes)
• Pour one part baking soda followed by one part vinegar down the drain, let stand for one minute, then rinse to clean out the pipes in an 100% natural way (3 minutes)
• Open all the windows to air out the house (2 minutes)

If you have thirty minutes then do all of the above PLUS…

• Add one part vinegar and one part water to a spray bottle and spray down mold or mildew, then just scrub it away with a textured sponge or rag and rinse it clean (6 minutes).
• Wipe down your stainless steel appliances with a vinegar soaked rag (9 minutes)

If you have forty five minutes then do all of the above PLUS…

• Dust with a microfiber cloth- see how we get ‘er done right here (15 minutes)

Then you pretty much just have regular maintenance like toilet cleaning and vacuuming to do. And look at all the bonus super-thorough cleaning projects you were able to bang out in just a smidge of time. We’re rarely “inspired” to clean, but seeing that it can be done simply, on the cheap, naturally, and in less than three steps per task really makes it not-so-bad. And it’s amazing how good a clean microwave or a shiny new-looking shower head can make you feel. But now we’re turning it over to you guys. We’d love to hear your affordable and easy house cleaning tips. Do tell.

Psst- Wanna keep your cleaning mojo going? Check out a slew of homemade cleaning recipes, peep our own housekeeping habits, and peruse some super easy home freshening ideas from Real Simple.

First image from here, all following images from here.