Hi Shawn,
My garden is completely organic, I do not use any pesticides and I use only organic compost I make my self. I am also in the process of making rain barrels to collect rain water from my down spouts. It is really an easy project I found on line.

Hi Sally, what organic materials do you use to make your compost?

my how you’ve changed sally you got your hair dyed didnt you..lol. I do the composting, at least in summer. would do it in winter but my garden is at the end of my property and usually several feet of snow, dont like trudging through snow to get to the compost area. hopefully the weather will break soon and I can start again. I even use shredded newspapers in my compost, as well as for making papercrete bricks which I am thinking of using for the side walls of my garage which I plan to finish this summer.

by the way, what is up with this site, logged on today and everything was mixed up, forums and posts are all mixed up and avatars missing?

Hi Ed, I use all the scraps from the kitchen and grass clippings. I mulch with grass clippings too. I tried to get my friend to get me a cow pie over the summer (great fertilizer) it really should be composted over a season before use though.

Shawn, you like the new look LOL!!! That’s is my youngest Mona, she is 1 1/2 yrs old.

my friend back home has a degree in forestry and agriculture from WVU he used to compost everything(scraps, meat, paper, organic) in a plastic barrel, by mid summer it would be green slime(the neigbors didnt like the smell though) but he grows more in a 50’ by 50’ area than many can grow in four times that area. best garden in the world. of course unless you are out in the middle of nowhere youre better with the traditional way. mixing manure with compost works well, and add newspaper to it as well (though takes a while for it to degrade) helps retain moisture.

mona isnt smiling though..lol

I don’t use any meat scraps. I do use egg shells and mainly plant based scraps. My compost pile doesn’t smell bad, it smells kind of earthy and sweet.

Mona is a very sweet girl, she is not smiling because she is behaving at the moment:-)

used coffe filters can go in the pile too :-) I have never heard of meat. I was taught not to put meat in it. Maybe it’s because of the smell?

We use all the right lightbulbs, are redoing the house we moved into, so all things being done are geared for the environment. Dual flush toilets, some kind of film on windows that keeps the sun rays out in the summer and the heat inside in the winter.

This year is the start of the garden veges and fruit bushes. We were going to get chikens, but I changes my mind because I don’t want to deal with the poop :-)

If hubby could put a series of wind turbines on the land and solar panels all over the roof, he would. Then I say good luck selling the house in a year when I want to move ;-)

We recylce and the city forces it here. People are not allowed to simply go to the landfill. It’s monitored and if they see something that can go to the recycle or re-use center, they are made to go there.

most sites dont recommend meat, mainly the smell and also attracts animals. possibly could also lead to diseases such as ecoli or salmonella but if compost is complete and allowed to degrade sufficiently this shouldnt be a problem. also should wash veggies anyway before use. I put everything into a hole in the ground and then rotate the hole every so often. often see animals dig up. coffee grounds(i throw filters in too) are great. I hope to have my garage at least powered in part by wind, but that depends on whether I can afford to finish my wind turbine and my garage this summer. something always comes up to slow things down and the economy isnt helping either.

Tania, Isn’t chicken poop a good fertilizer?

chicken poop is excellent fertilizer, just go to moorefield west virginia where i used to live and work, poultry is the biggest business there and in summer you can smell ammonia for miles after they spread it.

yes it is a great fertilizer…but I don’t want to make fertilizer. I like to buy fertilizer lol. Like composting, they say chicken poop needs to sit for a bit before using it.

I do not want a pile of poop in my garden :-)) what would your son do with a pile of poop and a big dump truck Ed? hmmmm…

""you can smell ammonia for miles after they spread it.""

I think this above says it all hahahaha

I’ll be drinking green beer on St. Patrick’s Day soon…does that count for something?

Shawn…very admirable working on a wind turbine. I would like to see what I can do in wind energy somewhere down the line….probably will only be able to blow hot air though…maybe get some energy out of that somehow.

I’m working on a wind turbine idea as well. I know it’s unlikely to be better than what’s already out there, but I want to try anyway. Also working on a low-loss energy storage system, very safe and green. It would be nice to get my house off the grid.
Tania, these days turbines and solar panels might help sell the house.

I built a two-story passive solarium on the back of my mom’s house— with a grant from the Department of Energy / Utah Energy Office. The project ran over budget a bit, so my mom picked up the extra 5 Grand in costs.

She loves it, and her heating bills during the winter have dropped dramatically!

I used a some red bricks for the thermal mass wall that I got for free when they were tearing down a motel nearby.

I got some of the east and west facing windows at the local thrift shop. I got a great deal on the two story bank of thermal windows that face south, just by shopping around…

“Don’t be fuelish” is my motto, along with " They’ll never raise the price of sunshine"

My next project is going to be a total solar retrofit on my home—- radiant heat floors utilizing heliodyne gobi collectors, etc. … with a big solar addition for growing my own organic food, and sharing with the neighbors.

I want to get a totally electric car, too. Check out www.zenncars.com
They have a new battery / ultra capacitor system that is revolutionizing battery storage / range of vehicle / quick recharge times. I’m hoping to buy a zenn car soon.

We eat organic, recycle, etc….

And I just prevented a car from being sent to the junk yard…

I bought a 1962 Chrysler 300 – that we are restoring – and should have it back on the road this summer…

My own version of ‘OVERHAULIN’

Joey
ps – you can watch the ’drama’’ unfold here:
http://www.1962chrysler300.blogspot.com

Pretty awesome, Paul. How did you go about the grant process? I’ve got an idea or two that I’ve considered trying to get some funding to at least develop a prototype…but it seems like a redtape jungle.

Hi MIke:

The story of how I received the grant is kinda interesting, and I will post soon when I have time to write it…
but here is a great place to start to search for tax credits, incentives, etc.

http://www.dsireusa.org

It’s well worth the effort for you and the earth : )

“the sun never goes on strike”

also check out heliodyne.com for award-winning solar collectors

~Paul

Paul…very cool projects you got. You should share all you can about them…they deserve much respect!

this is one area thinking small can have a big impact, just like putting plastic on windows in winter, even changing outside lights to solar could make a difference. I am actually thinking of changing all of our night lites to use solar, perhaps by placing the collectors outside the windows, or even just up against them. allof our lights are now compact flourescents. just a little bit multiplied by all the people makes a difference.

Those are some great links! My daughter Molly has a website – MollySavesTheWorld.com – and we are looking for green links, etc to put on there.

Paul – I love your sayings. Mind if we make some shirts out of those?

as far as recycling goes, we take a truckload of plastic, paper, cardboard, glass, and metal to the bins every few weeks.

hi bill:

they’re good sayings, that’s why i’ve remembered them for over 30 years : )

my sister (who was a 70’s environmentalist— and still is… had those stickers in our house when she was
getting her masters in engineering at utah state university— she’s now an environmental engineer)

i googled the “don’t be fuelish” quote, and found this-

http://commercial-archive.com/commercials/ad-council-dont-be-fuelish-1975-030-usa

i couldn’t find the “they’ll never raise the price of sunshine” quote on google

i’ll bet they would love for you to promote the sayings on t-shirts. maybe try to give ’em a call or check with a copyright atty?

P.S. WaY TO gO MoLLY!!! Great Website and goals!!!!

Generally speaking, names, titles, and short phrases or expressions are not subject to copyright protection. Even if a name, title, or short phrase is novel or distinctive or if it lends itself to a play on words, it cannot be protected by copyright.

The Copyright Office cannot register claims to exclusive rights in brief combination’s of words such as:

*Names of products or services
*Names of businesses, organizations, or groups (including the name of a group of performers)
*Names of pseudonyms of individuals (including pen name or stage name)
*Titles of works
*Catchwords, catchphrases, mottoes, slogans, or short advertising expressions
*Mere listings of ingredients, as in recipes, labels, or formulas. When a recipe or formula is accompanied by explanation or directions, the text directions may be copyrightable, but the recipe or formula itself remains uncopyrightable.

Copyright Protection Not Available for Names, Titles, or Short Phrases
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ34.html

We recycle all metals/plastic/papers as our town mandates, and have a compost heap to feed our vegetable garden, which never gets pesticides.

However I did like the quote from one fellow that;

“If I hear one more company claim that they’re green I’m going to start burning tires in my backyard”.

The point being that many companies are jumping on the ‘green bandwagon’ when in reality they’re been polluters or whatever all along.

thanks alot Sir Edward for the trademark info – Molly and I came up with a variation on the sayings anyway just to avoid any issues