Excerpt from The Knot Garden Fall Newsletter

Thank you, Carole Ball, for your glowing review of the 3R's Living Green Seminar.  (You can read the entire Fall 2014 Newsletter by clicking here.)

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle

by Carole Ball

The Wiregrass Master Gardener Association sponsored the Living Green Seminar at Ricketts Hall, Dothan Botanical Gardens on Thursday, August 21. Kimberly Ylitalo from Tulsa, Oklahoma, presented the seminar to approximately 100 attendees from the surrounding area. Kim introduced Claybank Master Gardener (CMG) members and the neighboring community to the 3R’s (Reduce, Reuse & Recycle) while serving as President of the CMG Association. Well, she’s at it again

The seminar on August 21, bought people out of the woodwork. Needless to say, many remembered her visit from a few short years ago that left a lasting impression. They were all anxious to see what new and clever ideas she would offer. Well, they were not disappointed. Two long tables were lined with everything imaginable from bags, no-sew tank tops, tote bags, water bottles etc. It is exciting and brings us back to a time when this was all necessary to older generations. I’m sure not much was thrown away back in the day; however, we generate so many disposable products that it defies the imagination as to how best to “dispose of all this stuff." The United States leads in the production of waste worldwide. According to FORBES:”The U.S. accumulates at least 236 million tons per year of municipal solid waste.” “Americans purchased nearly 31 billion bottles of water in 2006 and spend $11 billion on bottled water every year, says the environmental conservation dept of New York state.”

Kim says you can end the bottled water habit. End the routine of buying cases of bottled water and instead. buy good hard-plastic bottles and reuse them. Sheer genius, simple, easy, convenient and reusable. She was able to end the habit of purchasing bottled water and at the same time cut down on the plastic bottle explosion. “I am only one, but I am still one. I cannot do everything but I can do something." -Edward Everett Hale

Buy a package of wash cloths and cut back on the paper towels you use. This is one of my very favorites and so easy to break the paper towel habit.  From an interview with staff writer Peggy Ussery of the Dothan Eagle, Kim says “ The Internet and sites such as Pinterest and Etsy have opened up the world of living green. There’s so much information out there now . . . “There is a whole market out there now for recycled, upcycled, refashioning, repurposing and there are magazines that are all about that.”

Kimberly’s homemade laundry detergent is the absolute best. I won a bottle of her concentrate and began using it right away. To my delight, it cleans like a dream, smells so fresh and cost a fraction of what market detergent does. You can find a tutorial (in pdf format) and recipes on her living green website: krylivinggreen.blogspot.com

Kim planted the seeds in the Wiregrass and surrounding communities with her wit and creative ideas and she leaves us with this thought: "A society grows when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in." -Greek Proverb.