I have been trying to sew the best, most useful cloth diapers for a few months now. I think I finally got a good pattern that has most of the perks. I will be posting up the pattern this week with instructions. If just can’t wait  I can mail it to you if you send me a comment. My favorite one is a one size fits all that can be easily altered in size, can be used with any type of fasteners and can be used with any type of fabric, made to be all in one , pocket of used with pre-folds… Along with the diaper pattern and instructions for each I will post a bloomer pattern or two that can also be used to make covers, as well as, a leg warmer/crawler pattern. Hope this helps any of you still looking for the best pattern! If you are a newbie to sewing tis will be the one for you because it can be made super simple and I will show you how I use with all cloth no PLU or plastic fabrics that don’t breath and can be made from old clothing, towels, sheets or whatever cloth you have laying around
Cheers!
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Earthy House is now ready for products in the classifieds! You can post your used for sale or free items here, jobs, community events and businesses ad’s. New products will need to be mostly made of sustainable and/or made from recycled, reclaimed or reused products. If you are selling a new products, you will need to put in your ad, why your product is sustainable. J Spam advertising will NOT be tolerated. Ad’s will last for 45 days and then will expire, at that point you are welcome to re-advertise. Once we get more ad’s posted we will drop the length of time an ad stays up so that ad’s are refreshed sooner. Only one ad for a particular item at a time. If you have any trouble posting your ad or you do not see the category you need, please, contact me and I will help. Thank you!
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I have been doing some planting, all over the place, this last month. I didn’t really have a plant budget so I looked around for what I could get for free.. I found that it is quite easy to get new plants, of all sorts, for little to no money at all. Most neighbors are more than willing to give you clippings if you just ask for them. I was able to get some clippings of a ground cover I liked in a parking lot. One of my neighbors moved out and I was able to take some of their plants that they could not. What I couldn’t find for free, I was ale to get in seeds at the local discount store for about $10. Most herbs, mints, vines, ground covers and many other plants can be easily started from clippings and sprout quite nicely if you just give them a little TLC.. For a few dollars I was able to get an indoor culinary herb selection going in my kitchen window seal.
The kids love to get in on the planting action also and often will remind me to water daily. Do something fun and go on a free plant finding field trip with your kids around the neighborhood, they’ll love it!
Peace
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So I tried composting again for the first time in years this last spring. I tried the container compost and my sister-in-law tried the open compost with chicken wire around it. The goal was to see who’s looked like what and what one was the easiest to maintain. Well, needless to say mine was a mess! I had the most unsightly, disgusting worms just coming out the holes of the bin by the dozens. These were not your everyday worms but these gross humongous maggot looking things and the bin react of this terrible stench. I did exactly what I was supposed to do according to all the information I could find on bin composting so I am not sure what went wrong. We are vegetarian so there was no meat and no cooked items in the bin and I layered it with greens, brown and food, coffee grinds and all that.. My sister-in-law did the same a s I did except her’s was outside in the open air with chicken wire around it.; She had the best dark brown soil come out of her’s and tons of earth worms (the good ones). Her compost broke down so fast and clean it was great! And, no pest or critters came after it at all.. So I would love to here anyone’s comments on this one and if you have had any luck composting and how, please share. This season I am doing the outside compost and I am liking it much better so far. I find that things do break down a lot faster, even the paper goods I put in there seem to break down in about a week or so, and it doesn’t smell at all.. Happy Composting!
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My seeds are starting to come up! Yeah! I have little seedlings about 2 inches high and just popped up a day ago.. The weather has taken a colder turn here so I am curious to see if they do well out side, but I will wait a couple weeks if I can to plant them. Next venture is to start some herb plants inside. I would like to keep those in the kitchen so they are easy to get to for cooking.. Would love to hear from any of you that have had success and what you plant and when..
Until next tomorrow, cheers!
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.. Is’t that what the older folks used to say..lol.. Well it’s that time again. My grandpa was just telling me he hasn’t seen times this bad since he was younger growing up in the Great Depression. I have to say, even though times are hard, I am blessed. We always seem to have what we need, not want always, but need. I am learning as I get older to not ‘fight’ life. If you need it and believe, I find it comes one way or another. Just when I am sure there will be no grocery money, walaa, I end up with some..lol.. I have learned to have faith…
On that note… I have also learned to waste not want not. If you really take a moment to think about all that you throw away on a daily bases and truly find a way to use things you would ordinarily throw out; You can save a lot of money and save some space in the local landfill.
Here’s an idea; Take your mounds of plastic bags to make rugs for your door steps.. loop the bags together by the handles ans then braid them in a three strand braid to make long ‘rope’ like pieces. You will make a piece long enough to form into the size of rug you want, usually square of oval shaped. When you have a piece long enough, take another strand of bags and ‘weave’ the braid ropes together to form a solid rug in the shape you choose.
You can use this same idea for left over fabric also. I will post a video about this in the future for those of you with a less vivid imagination..lol
Have a great day!
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Posted by Shawna in Around the Yard, Around the house, tags: Add new tag, eating, eco garden, egg cartons, greener gardening, planting, Reclaim, Recycle, Reuse, SEEDS
LOL.. Well I’m back after a baby and a new year
It is a NEW YEAR and a great one at that. So now that I am here I will be posting to Earthy House everyday, great information to help us all live a little better and healthier and leave a little less impact. There are many things that I do around the house, that I am sure many of you do, that I will share with you. If anyone out there has anything they want to share, please, write in and let me know. I would love to post your great ideas for everyone also.. I hope everyone has a blessed year and lives a little better this year! Hopefully our new president can make some good strides in getting this place a little more on track for greatness
Well, I started my seeds inside last week, following the Farmers Almanac guide for planting. And I found some great uses for trash..lol.. I have been saving our egg cartons for months now in anticipation for my seed planting.. They really work better than I even expected.. Here’s what I did,
1)took my old cardboard egg cartons and filled them half full with soil.
2)laid in my seeds, 1 or 2 in each cup and filled the rest of the way with more soil.
3)cut the lid off the cartons, laid a thin layer of batting from an old pillow in it and set the other half of the carton, with the seeds in it, on top. The batting acts like a sponge and pulls water up if the container get too dry.
4) Set the cartons in the plastic lid of a storage tub so it plays like a tray to catch any water spill. and set the whole thing on the shelves of an old book case positioned near the glass sliding door in my kitchen.
I water them twice a day and they get the morning and afternoon sun from the window.. When it is time to plant you should be able to easily separate each little cup and just place it in the ground with the piece of egg carton still attached. The carton will degrade and you will have been able to plant your little seedling without disrupting the roots, helping it to better take hold.
This is working great for me, I hope you have good luck with your seeds this year also
Please write me with any planting ideas you have.. Happy planting!
Shawna
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Hello its Garrett from techNstuff
Since Shawna is still out for a few more days with her new baby. I found this news green news that everyone would love to read.
From the Orange County Register
For the most part, LCD TVs use less power than plasmas, CRTs and other types of TVs. But still, when I walk past my own 48-inch Vizio LCD TV, I feel the heat emanating from the screen. In fact, when I’ve plugged the TV into my Kill-a-watt electricity usage monitor, it was registering around 300 watts, or eating up as much energy as three 100-watt light bulbs!
Vizio, the Irvine TV company that began the trend of selling big TVs for lower prices, sa
 id today that all of its TVs use less power by meeting or exceeding the new Energy Star 3.0 requirement for lower power consumption. In addition, it announced a new TV, the 32-inchEcoHD TV (pictured above), which uses 44 percent less energy than a typical 32-inch LCD HDTV.
Curious, I took a look at the new Energy Star 3.0 qualifications, from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The maximum energy a 50-inch HDTV can use while powered on is 318 watts (click chart below for larger image).
Well, that’s about what my two-year-old TV was coming in at. So, I’m not sure how much energy Energy Star 3.0 TVs will truly save when compared to older LCD TVs. They were already more efficient than other TVs. But there are other requirements to get the logo, including using less than 1 watt in standby mode.
The EPA requires that TVs that get the 3.0 logo must be “30 percent more energy efficient than conventional models,” according to the EPA press release. Since the standard just started rolling out on Nov. 1, I’m sure we will see a ton of other TVs meeting these new energy requirements.
 For Vizio, at least nine models exceed the 3.0 requirement by as much as 25 percent. Also, all of its 22-inch and 19-inch TVs use less energy than a conventional 60 Watt light bulb.
The new Vizio EcoTV is $499.99 and will be available online later this month at vizio.comand select stores like Costco, Sam’s Club, Target, Wal-Mart and Dell.com.
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