Off the Urban Grid

Lawn & Garden Waste: Eliminate Mowing with Eco-friendly Turf Substitutes

Mowing is the enemy. For one thing, the very activity can be a hassle depending on what type of lawn mower you own. Secondly, the gas required to fill a lawn mower is getting more expensive by the day, and it’s polluting the environment. However, your lawn does need maintained so the grass stays healthy and your neighbors don’t complain. So what is the solution – is there a way to never mow again?

Fortunately, there are some eco-friendly turf substitutes out there that can prevent you from ever having to mow again! Now you can spend your summer days in bliss, and you don’t have to worry about nagging your son or daughter to do the deed for you.

Korean velvet grass is an ideal option if you live in Zones 9-11, and it’s important for this grass to get sun or at least light shade. This grass is interesting as it becomes billowy and grows into hills and bumps after it’s left unmowed. It definitely doesn’t look light traditional grass you might be familiar with, but it doesn’t require maintenance.

Other options include silver ponyfoot, clover, moss and creeping thyme. These ground coverings don’t need mowed, and they can turn your yard into a wild retreat as it was meant to be. If you’re tired of perfectly manicured lawns, rebel against this trend and add silver ponyfoot to your stone path so you don’t have to maintain much. Or, create an earthy, woodsy look with moss. This velvety carpet thrives in shade, and it requires much less water than other grasses.

Incorporating these alternatives into your existing yard can be a challenge, but once you make the transition and stabilize the new turf, you’re better for it in the long run.

Tags: eco-friendly turf substitutes, eliminate mowing

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Emergency Preparedness for Off the Grid

Emergency preparedness is important whether you’re living on or off the grid. Recently, the weather has been erratic all over the world. From flooding in the Midwest to the tsunami in Japan, people are dealing with harsh elements. When you’re living off the grid, it might be even more important to be prepared for emergencies.

Depending on how far away you live from urban society, it could be days before any paramedics could get to you and your family. Living out in the country is ideal, but there are some disadvantages when it comes to emergencies since you can’t get to the hospital as fast. Packing an emergency preparedness kit with essential supplies like antibiotic ointment, sterile bandages and water is important.

It’s also wise to pack a safety kit in the car too. What if you have to leave your home due to flooding or a storm? Canned goods as well as bottled water is important. You can can vegetables and save water from your well to start a kit. It also doesn’t hurt to put towels or blankets in the car too in case you need them during cold weather.

There might also be things that you have learned from living in your house all of these years. Maybe if you don’t maintain the backyard, you could have flooding in the basement. It’s a good idea to write these things down and create an instructional booklet. What if you were injured and your son or daughter had to resolve the situation?

Planning as much ahead as you can is beneficial, but sometimes Mother Nature can surprise you even when you think you’re the most prepared.

Tags: emergency kit, emergency preparedness, weather safety

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Ways to Engage Your Kids in Living Off the Grid

Raising children to live off the grid isn’t an easy task, especially when they’re going to be around other kids who don’t live like your family does. Whether you have younger kids or teenagers, you’re going to have some issues along the way. However, the more you make living sustainably fun, the easier the experience will be for your children. In addition to having a fun childhood, you will also be positively encouraging to carry the concept of permaculture into their adulthood.

When you have young kids, it’s easier to engage them, because things like gardening will be new to them. Plus, your son or daughter is like a sponge, and you can take advantage of this by teaching them important lessons. Start with simple tasks. For example, show them how to plant seedlings and let them decorate the container  and get dirty with their hands. The more hands on the activity is, the better!

As your child ages, the teenage years can be challenging. Getting them to pick their clothes up off the floor is a chore in itself, so how are you ever going to get them to reduce their energy consumption or pick fresh vegetables out of the garden for dinner? You might want to consider a rewards system or negotiate with them. For example, if they maintain the compost bin every day, you will allow them to have a sleepover every two weeks.

It’s not easy training your child to recycle and compost, but the sooner you start the more chances you have at passing down your green legacy.

Tags: eco-friendly children, raising sustainble kids

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Start Gardening in the Kitchen

Having the garden in the backyard seems common sense, right? But when you’re busy and need to prepare dinner in 30 minutes, wouldn’t having the garden next to the kitchen be more convenient? Of course, an herb garden is simple to design and make room for, but you could have an elegant potager instead.

Potagers are common in England and France, and these kitchen gardens include a variety of goodies like herbs, edible flowers and even fruits. With a more elaborate indoor garden, you can grow, cherry tomatoes, podded peas, scallions and other vegetables. These types of foods are perfect for salads and stir fry dishes, and you usually prepare these meals in your kitchen.

In addition to growing foods that flavor your meals, it’s also important to grow ornamental plants that are edible as well. Blueberries and edible rose hips can make your indoor garden beautiful and functional. If you have a room with windows, the possibilities are endless — what about growing pomegranates or citrus fruits? It’s definitely an option.

With fruits, veggies and herbs right within reach, you can prepare incredible meals that are healthy and delicious. Instead of having to run outside and search your backyard garden for ripe foods, you can pluck, rinse and fry in seconds! If living off the urban grid isn’t easy in some ways, you’re not going to want to stick with it.

Tags: indoor garden, kitchen garden

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Add Edible Flowers to Salads

Salads taste better when you add a variety of extras to them. From almonds and shredded carrots to cheese and garbanzo beans, those details can make a salad — then there’s the dressing to finish it off. However, one colorful detail you might be missing is edible flowers.

Edible flowers are truly the final accent to a salad. You can sprinkle the petals on top for a unique look, or you can strategically place the flower heads in the bed of lettuce. However, they can have strong flavors so it’s best to use them sparingly.

Which edible flowers can you grow in your garden?

The Nasturtium is golden yellow and even red, and these flowers have a peppery flavor. The Calendula is a beautiful blossom that grows quickly, and chive flowers can also make a yummy statement. More of your favorite herbs also bud flowers including basil, dill, fennel and arugula. In addition to color, you will also experience a pleasant aroma. Purple violas and blue star shaped Borage can really add a striking accent to your mixed greens, and they will stand out among the red tomatoes.

Adding edible flowers to your garden is easy, and for the most part, these species grow fairly quickly. The one downside is that you might have to put up more netting or fencing to prevent deer and other animals from eating your delicate flowers. One thing is for sure that your salads will be more fun to eat, and guests will enjoy fresh cut flowers.

Tags: backyard flowers, edible flowers

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Starting a Roost: Choose the Right Breed

Yes, chickens can provide us with protein rich eggs, but they are more than just egg layers. These birds have beautiful plumage, lay precious eggs, and are extremely intelligent and social creatures. If you’re considering raising chickens in your backyard, it can be a wonderful opportunity to get to know this bird up close and personal. If you have children, it’s a great way to teach them responsibility as well as appreciation and compassion for animals. To get your roost started right, it’s beneficial to learn about the breeds.

There are two different breeds of chickens: standard (large breed) and bantam. Bantams are commonly one-quarter the size of standard birds. Regardless of their difference in size, either breed does well in the backyard. However, if you want larger eggs, than you should go with a standard chicken. Also, the larger breed tends to fly less, so you don’t have to be as concerned with them flying far.

For large families, it’s important to have eggs on a regular basis. In this case, you might be better off with a Black Australorps. This breed is known for reliable egg laying. If you’re going to be consuming the meat and eggs of the chicken, a Buff Orpingtons or Silver Laced Wyandottes are more appropriate for your needs.

Most of the chicken breeds lay either white or brown eggs, but the shade of the egg can vary. Welsummers lay dark brown eggs while Araucanas and Ameraucanas lay colored eggs in greens, blues, olives and other tints — Easter like eggs.

In addition to meeting your needs, it’s also wise to consider the breed’s behavior and physical characteristics. Is the breed going to survive well in your climate? How aggressive is the breed your considering?

Once you narrow down the breed for your backyard roost, you will have more knowledge and understanding of the type of chickens you’re raising.

Tags: chicken breed, chicken breeds, chicken coop, raising chickens

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Rescue Flowers from Early Frosts

The transition from winter to spring isn’t always seamless. Sometimes you will have freezing and thawing cycles that cause damage to plants and even aggravate your sinuses. The rising and lowering barometric pressure can become irritating. However, it’s the days on end or round-the-clock freezing temperatures that can cause damage to your promising tulips.

Tulips are most at risk when they’re blooming. This is a fragile state for the flowers to be in, and when freezing temperatures enter the picture, it can cause your tulips and even daffodils to die. Once these flowers have bloomed, often a foot of snow doesn’t even affect them. But if there is a prolonged frost or freeze, it could mean the end for your tulips even if they’re already in bloom.

When you know that an extended frost or freeze is on it’s way, you can try to protect your tulips and daffodils from the harsh temperatures. One way is to cover them with a sheet during the evening. Use plant stakes to keep the sheet off of the flowers. Another helpful tip is to use a sprinkler and spray water on the flowers to prevent damage. This is a similar method that fruit tree growers in Florida use.

Tulips are hardy yet beautiful flowers that can endure snow, sleet and even overnight lower temperatures. For the most part, these flowers are easy to maintain and manage, and they’re a popular image of spring. From pink ones to purple and white tulips, you can create the perfect setting for enjoying the milder temperatures of the new season.

Tags: early frost, save flowers from frost

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How to Maintain Compost in Winter

Everything slows down when the temperatures decrease and snow covers the ground, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that your compost bin has to follow suit. You spend all year aerating and keeping your compost pile moist, and it’s important to stay on top of it when everyone else is hibernating. So how do you keep your compost on the right track during the wintertime?

If you don’t see steam rising from your compost pile in the winter, the materials aren’t breaking down as quickly as you might have liked, which means the compost probably isn’t going to be hardy enough for growing seedlings in the spring. In order to achieve the perfect temperature, you need a balance between carbon- and nitrogen- rich materials. These include vegetable and fruit scraps as well as coffee grounds and trimmings from houseplants.

Next, you need to be a little more proactive. Instead of throwing all of your food scraps and other organic materials into the mix, chop them up into smaller pieces. This makes the materials more manageable and easier to decompose. Also, more layers in the winter can keep the warmth inside. So use brown and green colored materials like hay and grass to trap in gases and heat.

Lastly, your compost needs moisture. Similar to how your skin becomes dry in winter, your compost can also lack moisture. Help it out with some water but don’t drench it. Another tip is to avoid aeration. This is important in the other seasons, but in winter, it’s imperative that you disturb your pile as little as possible.

With these tips, your bin will be steaming in no time!

Tags: composting in winter, maintaining compost, winter compost

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What to Look for in a Greenhouse

Want to extend the growing season to all year round? Then you need to invest in a greenhouse so you can have better control over your plants’ environment. A greenhouse can be a simple structure that provides shelter to your vegetables plants and ornament flowers, but if you want to install eco-friendly heating and cooling systems as well as be able to maintain the ventilation without having to be in your greenhouse, you’re going to have to purchase a more complex design.

When you’re looking for a greenhouse, it’s beneficial to consider what you’re going to be using it for. If you simply want to grow flowers, you might be alright with a smaller greenhouse. However, if you want to feed your entire family all year round with fresh crops, you want a larger space that is functional for planters, seed trays, watering systems, etc.

Next, you need to figure out how much yard space you can designate to the greenhouse. You might only be able to fit a lean-to or conservatory in your small yard or off of your back porch. Freestanding structures are fine for larger backyards, but they will be more expensive to maintain, unless you setup solar panels and a water recycling system.

In addition to various designs and shapes, greenhouses are made from many different materials. Wood ones are easy to build on your own, but you have to treat the wood properly so it doesn’t rot. Galvanized steel and aluminum are sturdy materials, but they can enhance the cold or hot weather outdoors. PVC are nice for lightweight structures. When it comes to glass, there are even more options, but it’s important for the glass to be glazed to block out harmful UV-rays.

Once you decide what you’re going to be using the greenhouse for and how much space you want to designate to it, the rest of the details are easier to decide on.

Tags: greenhouse buying guide, guide to greenhouses

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Tomorrow Is Another Day

Try as we might, but we’re not perfect. Every day we have good intentions to start the day on the right foot and ensure that we’re creating the least impact on the planet. However, sometimes there are circumstances or even personal obstacles that prevent us from achieving the goals we set.

Whether the cause for using more gas in the car was simply due to laziness and not wanting to walk to pick up groceries or you want to indulge and fly somewhere for a vacation, there are ways to make up for some of these bad habits and luxuries. Although you should try to reduce your carbon footprint every day and set the bar high for yourself, there are going to be times when you fall short of your goal. Instead of beating yourself up over it and spiraling into more bad habits, do something to offset this action. Every action has a consequence, but you can fill in some positive consequences for ones that ended negatively.

For instance, if you’re going to spend time away from home and take  road trip or a business trip via an airline, purchase a carbon offset. Many companies out there provide offsets and your money goes to aggressive conservation efforts. However, do your research to ensure that the organization is a reputable one.

Another option is to try to make up for the behavior at home. What green activity are you not participating in? If you don’t have a backyard garden or don’t compost yet, get started now. Or, try to do more good for the environment by picking up litter or planting trees.

These small efforts can help to offset those bad behaviors. Being environnmentally responsible isn’t always easy, and it’s something you have to take day by day.

Tags: carbon offsets, living green

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