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Archive for January, 2010

Discover how to support a great cause

A cute tee for a great cause.

A cute tee for a great cause.

Everyone's mind has been on Haiti and its recent devastation. I just received word on a great way to support Haiti and help the country get back on its feet.

In order to raise funds for Haiti, JACOB has designed a special T-shirt (pictured above) that will be sold for $15 at all of its JACOB and JACOB Connexion stores across Canada as of February 5th. One hundred per cent of the $15 will go to Oxfam for the reconstruction of Haiti.

JACOB hopes to raise $150,000.

If a friend's birthday is approaching, one of these T-shirts would make a perfect gift.

In what ways have you and your family supported Haiti?

Getting excited about gardening

Is it because it's barely gone below zero in the past few days that I can't get gardening off my mind? Is the same thing happening to you? Well, it's sort of a blessing because, as a gardening novice, it's time to start thinking about planning out my garden plot. I'm very nervous as it's the biggest space I've ever worked ... what if I fail miserably?!?!

Good thing I got a copy of Grow Great Grub in the mail. It's a great book by Gayla Trail advising on how to garden successfully (and organically) in small spaces. Trail discusses growing an edible garden in any area where there is space - no matter how small. Though there is a heavy focus on container gardening, Trail's gardening tips and tricks are useful for everyone. Her book gives advice on planting specific edibles (a run down on sowing and planting, harvesting, predicted size, space and depth), plus, she includes tasty-looking recipes. She also recommends useful gardening tools, pickling necessities, freezing tips, composting tricks, container sizes, mulching info, soil info and sooooo much more. I can't wait to give this baby a thorough read!

Are you thinking about gardening?

Grow Great Grub has great advice for both the novice and seasoned gardener.

Grow Great Grub has great advice for both the novice and seasoned gardener.

Ecoholic Home contest winner

Congratulations to ... (more...)

Learn how to cut your gas usage

Yeah that's right, this is my car. My dream car.

Yeah that's right, this is my car. My dream car.

Though we drive infrequently, we're always trying to find more ways to conserve fuel. In doing some research, we've found some pretty useful tips. I thought that you would all benefit by leaning about maximizing your fuel economy. Boy, that sounds boring, but when we talk about it in terms of saving money, it becomes incredibly interesting!

Watch that lead foot. Most cars work at peak performance when they're driven at the proper speed. Once you start driving over 90 kph, your car starts using more fuel. Also, it's important to drive at a consistent speed. Continuously accelerating and hitting the brakes uses up a lot more gas. My boyfriend always tells me that a good driver never needs to use her brakes, which reminds me to keep a safe distance from the cars in front of me.

Don't idle. Nothing irks me more than seeing a car idling because I know the damage it's doing to the environment. But idling also wastes gas.

Inflate your tires properly. Did you know that if your tires aren't properly inflated you could be wasting gas? Keeping them properly inflated can improve your mileage by over 3 per cent.

Take a load off. Driving around with a trunk full of useless junk is equivalent to throwing money out the window, so clean out your trunk often. The only thing that should be in there is an emergency kit.

How do you maximize your fuel economy?

Also, don't forget to enter my current book giveaway.

Green reading for 2010

Oh, the "to read" list. It grows and grows, making me feel like I never accomplish any reading. But whenever a book review piques my curiosity, I instinctively write it down on my little list. Does the same thing happen to you?

Below are my green must reads for 2010. They've been on the list for a while now, so I'm vowing to get them read this year.

Hopefully I'll stick to my reading list this year! I'd love some time to lie around the house, catching up on my reading.

Hopefully I'll stick to my reading list this year. I'd love some time to lie around the house, catching up on my reading.

• Food Not Lawns, by H.C. Flores

• From Seed to Table, by Janette Haase (this will be a perfect read, now that I have my community garden plot to think about!)

• Tar Sands, by Andrew Nikiforuk (I saw environmental journalist Andrew Nikiforuk speak about the tar sands in November, and now I can't wait to read his book.)

• The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan

What green books are on your reading list for 2010?

Don't forget to enter my current giveaway!

Green tips (and a giveaway!)

Before the holidays I blogged about Adria Vasil's new book, Ecoholic Home. She has some great tips to share. I thought I'd share some of my favourites with you. The following is about safe microwaving (get rid of your plastic, folks!):

So we’ve finally woken up to the fact that microwaving plastic baby bottles is plain tantrum-worthy. Not only does estrogen-mimicking bisphenol A (BPA) leach from polycarbonate plastic during regular use, but studies have found that one zap in the microwave can cause as much leaching as 60 to 100 rounds in the dishwasher. Kind of erodes your confidence in the whole “microwave-safe” label, doesn’t it? Especially when you find out that no one regulates the term. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that when the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in the fall of 2008, lab-tested 10 plastic food containers for microwave leaching, they found even plastics Nos. 1, 2 and 5 had BPA leaching. These included frozen food trays, microwaveable soup containers and plastic baby food packaging. What? Isn’t BPA only in No. 7 polycarbonate plastic? Guess not.

Stay safe and follow these tips:
• Never microwave food or drinks in any plastic. Period.
• Never microwave or heat plastic wrap.
• Don’t put plastics in the dishwasher. Heat (including hot water from dishwashers) boosts leaching from purportedly dishwasher-safe polycarbonate, so who’s to say your dishwasher-safe plastic won’t leach when someone decides to test that too.

Excerpted from Ecoholic Home Copyright © 2009 by Adria Vasil. Excerpted by permission of Vintage Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited. All rights reserved.

Now I have some great news. I have FOUR copies of Ecoholic Home to giveaway. Just leave a message here telling me why you need Adria Vasil's help in greenifying your life. Remember, you must be a subscriber to my blog to be able to win. I will randomly select four winners on Monday, January 18.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all. I hope you enjoyed a peaceful and festive holiday. I had a busy few days around Christmas, but enjoyed sitting on my couch for the rest of the holiday. It was glorious. Now it's time for me to get my life back on track. I've vowed to stay away from the treats for a while (I've eaten my fair share of cookies) and up the amount of exercise. My dog should be happy to get back to running, but me: not so much.

Is exercise on your New Year's resolution list? If so, you have to check out Canadian Living's Boot Camp. It's a free six-week program focused on you and designed to help you lose weight, get fit and feel your best in the new year. Though Boot Camp kicked off yesterday, it's not too late to join. You can sign up here! You'll get a daily newsletter, access to motivating and fun at-home workout videos and a daily menu featuring Canadian Living recipes.  And, you don't have to go through it alone. CanadianLiving.com's senior editor is blogging about her Boot Camp trials and tribulations here. Boot Camp makes getting fit fun and easy!

What New Year's resolutions have you made? What tips can you share about sticking to your New Year's resolutions?



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