Living Green AUGUST 2016

It was gratifying to find a way to share one of my favorite stories illustrating the power of one.  This story has been around quite awhile but I still remember when I first read it and how it made an impression.  The starfish represent different ideas, depending on how we want to interpret the it. I chose to apply it to the choices we make when trying to reduce, reuse, recycle.

Check out the latest Living Green column in this August edition of South Tulsa Living HERE!

Cancel catalog subscriptions

Reuse food safe plastic bags for storage of leftovers

This bag even has a zip lock closure for retaining freshness

So many options for Meatless Monday

Living Green AUGUST 2016

It was gratifying to find a way to share one of my favorite stories illustrating the power of one.  This story has been around quite awhile but I still remember when I first read it and how it made an impression.  The starfish can represent different ideas, depending on interpretation. I chose to apply it to the choices we make when trying to reduce, reuse, recycle.

Check out the latest Living Green column in this August edition of South Tulsa Living HERE!

Cancel catalog subscriptions

Reuse food safe plastic bags for storage of leftovers

This bag even has a zip lock closure for retaining freshness

So many options for Meatless Monday

More about recycling household container trash!

South Tulsa Living July issue has knocked it out of the park again! Couldn't be more pleased with the layout of this Living Green column.  If you have been following this blog, the topic will be familiar to you. Many of these ideas were featured during one of our Camelot Park Neighborhood Ladies Night events at the beginning of the year.  They've also been displayed on the "show and tell" table during a couple of my previous seminars.

If you are not familiar with the idea of morphing household boxes and fruit baskets into your next 'gift wrap' bag/box/container, then this article is for you!  Click HERE for the easy-to-read full article and HERE for a close up of the photos in the column!

Simple Cheez-It box turned into gift box for Gavin's Birthday gift of "Captain Underpants" books!

A cardboard box, covered with some colorful wrapping paper and used as a festive Easter 'basket!'

Learning the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - DothanFirst

This brief interview was conducted during the 3 R's Recycling seminar in Dothan, AL, in summer of 2014.  Wanted to post it here for archival purposes.


Click the following to view video clip: Learning the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - DothanFirst

May's column in South Tulsa Living magazine

Terri and Candy really made me look good in this month's issue of South Tulsa Living.  Everything about May's publication was terrific.  One of our Camelot Park's neighborhood families was featured on the cover.  (And a lovely family they are, too.)

The design of my 'hand holding a water bottle' came out even better in print than it did in the original drawing.  :-)  Could not be happier with the layout.  Putting my smiling mug at the top of the column was a bonus --kudos again to Brenda for making me look good and to Candy for wanting people to give my words a face.

Want to read the article in full?  Click here! 

"3 R's Living Green Seminar" Mini Style

How fun was it?  Very!  These ladies were so kind and supportive to attend the Camelot Park Ladies Night at my house in January.  Up until then we had gathered monthly for Bunco and the annual Christmas ornament exchange.  How many would be interested in learning how to brew a batch of Williams-Sonoma Signature 'store scent' or investigate how to reuse and refashion some common household recyclables? 

Thanks, Candy, for snapping this photo!  I think the smiles say it all. (Missing Valerie and Candy T.)

Here is a list of some of the things I demonstrated after our social hour:

1. Williams-Sonoma signature store scent on the stove top (with a take-away jar of the magical elixir for all who attended the evening's festivities)

2. How to upcycle cardboard boxes and plastic fruit/veggie baskets into gift boxes

3. Make your own refill for that hand soap foam pump

4. Refashioning a simple tin can into a whimsical container for holding smaller gifts

5. Turning junk mail envelopes and food carton cardboard into altered note books and note pads

6. Steeping citrus rinds with vinegar to make a DIY veggie and fruit cleaning spray

7. Converting 'salt tops' and 'milk container spouts' into 'easy pour' jars

Every time I share ideas with others, I learn, too.  Comments from several of these women lead to creative discussion and idea sharing.  After Debbie asked me if they could add essential oils to unscented Castile liquid soap to make the foam soap refills, I got to thinking what a grand suggestion this was.  And when talking about making 'fire starters' from cardboard egg cartons, dryer lint and paraffin wax, Candy G. commented that their family used toilet paper tubes stuffed with dryer lint and they work great.  I love it when people get together and bring something fun and new to the table.

And perhaps some of the best feedback ever was receiving these two photographs after our Ladies Night.  Connie shared this only one night later, saying she needed to wrap a gift for a friend's birthday and looked to her 'recycle bin' for ideas.

Such pretty coasters getting the full-on tissue paper/plastic fruit carton treatment.  Whoohoo!

And Candy T. shared this tip with her hubby, Ralph.  Good job, Candy and Ralph!  Isn't this the perfect foil to keeping those chia seeds under control while pouring?  I love it!  So proud!

  

Upcycling idea for your pantry

So why is it that when I blogged about the salt container tops I didn't mentally shift gears and think of doing the same upcycling trick with milk and juice containers?  It wasn't until my mother-in-law sent me a website link for recycling/upcycling/refashioning ideas that I discovered this other great reuse idea for those milk and juice carton tops.

The photos I've posted here illustrate the 'how to.'  Nothing hard or fancy about this and the results are fab!  

I had just purchased some hemp seeds and every time I poured them from the flimsy plastic bag, they escaped and scattered all over the kitchen counter and floor. Problem solved!

I love this.  It's the little things in life that really make me happy. (Oh, all right.  And a few of the big things, too.)

Reduce.  Reuse. Recycle.

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.

3 R's: Living Green Seminar

Getting ready to hit the road and head east today!  Got my car packed with all the goodies I need to give the workshop in Dothan, Alabama, on August 21.  Hope to see you there!

Read interview by Staff Writer Peggy Ussery of the Dothan Eagle HERE!

Another use for old t-shirts

Before learning of this recycling tip, t-shirts were an easy item to reuse after wearing for the last time. T-shirts can be refashioned into tote bags or simply cut and used for soft cleaning cloths.

This is my latest favorite thing to do with a t-shirt and I tell everyone who will listen about this amazing use.  Cut lots of strips using the tools shown above or lay the shirt on a flat surface and cut strips with a sharp pair of scissors.  You will want to have lots of these on hand.  Once you start using them you'll wonder how you've lived this long without them.  If you cut a strip 1"-wide and pull to stretch the fabric, your tie will be approximately 1/4" thick.  If you cut 1/2"-strips, your ties will be smaller in width, not quite as strong but good for other uses.  Think shoelace.  Whatever width you choose, these make the best soft ties for a million different uses.  

Here are several new uses I've discovered for these t-shirt cords:

Tie pants legs with soft ties to keep them from getting caught in bicycle spokes and gears.

Need to run in the house real quick and don't want to take off your muddy shoes?  Quickly step into plastic bags to cover your shoes and tie with soft t-shirt cording.  It's a great way to protect your floor and carpet...

...tie leaf compost fencing to stakes...

...staunch the flow of blood from a sewing machine needle wound.  Worked like a charm!

Saving another phone book from the city's land fill...one phone book at a time.

Do you have an extra phone book taking up space?  Many of us use the internet to find local phone numbers these days. Even if we use our phone books, these information gems become extinct the moment the new and updated  book arrives.  So, where does a phone book go when it is no longer needed?  If you recycle and your program accepts phone books, you're one of the lucky ones!  Many programs do not take these weighty tomes.

Idea #1:  If you are someone who enjoys pressing the occasional flower for a craft project, phone books are ideal for this.  The paper in the book helps absorb the moisture in the plant and if you have several books...the extras can be placed on TOP of the book you're using for pressing.  The extra weight helps expedite the process.

I pressed some hydrangea leaves taken from the yard of a gardening friend in Alabama (thank you, Chuck) with the idea of using them like paper.  This idea never really came to fruition but it worked as I imagined it would and I was even able to use my punches on the leaves, just as I use them with paper:

Idea #2:  Keep an old phone book handy and use the individual pages, crumpled, for packing material.  The holidays are coming up and if you are someone who sends gifts from your home, these thin, light-weight pages make good packing material and will help keep your gifts safe during their journey over land and sea. If possible, refrain from buying  plastic bubble wrap if your gift can be wrapped in paper instead.

Idea #3:  For the gardener, here is a better solution for reusing your old phone books.  Tear off chunks of pages up to 1/4" thick and lay down on top of areas where you would like to suppress weeds.  Cover paper with several inches of mulched leaves, pine straw or other mulching materials.  Whenever you find weeds growing up in between your paper and through the mulch (and you will, as the weeds struggle to reach the light), lay old newspaper on top of these new weeds and cover with additional mulch.  This works like a charm and easier than pulling the weeds.  The paper and leaves will break down over time, conditioning the soil and adding carbon-rich materials as well.   It's a lot easier than pulling weeds!  I'll  leave that chore to Sisyphus.

Now you see it...

...now you don't!

Pesky Hand bills REUSED

These annoying pieces of junk mail bother me more than your average unwanted solicitation.  Just look at them!  They tend to be a graphic designer's dream in both layout and craftsmanship.  They are heavy duty, plastic coated and have high ink coverage. Very expensive little artworks, these babies.  What to do with them? 

Okay, so maybe I am stretching it a bit to call this 'recycling.'  But the hand bill, in heft and flexibility makes the perfect base for these whimsical duct tape wallets.  I feel better knowing I can use these for something...since they do not break down in my compost bin.  The variety of duct tape patterns and colors offered in the store today is so much more than our grandmother's silver duct tape.