That’s right, folks, the 5th Annual Tour D’ Coop is this Saturday in Raleigh (inside the beltline, of course) from 10AM-5PM. I went to the third Henside the Beltline Tour D’ Coop two years ago, but sadly had to miss last year’s. I plan on going this weekend though, come heck or high water.

Raising chickens can help you get free-range, local eggs. It cuts down on your food eco-footprint, saves you money, and gets you the freshest eggs you could ever imagine.

What is the Tour D’ Coop?

Hey, thanks for asking. It’s a tour of 20 houses with chicken coops, all inside the Raleigh beltline. If you’re interested in chickens, or just want to see some cool houses and gardens, I heartily recommend going on the tour.

When is the Tour D’ Coop?

I already said, but it’s this Saturday, May 15, from 10AM – 5PM. So be there or be square.

Where Can I Get Tickets?

You can pre-order a ticket on the !nt3r3n37, or,
early Saturday morn, getcho chicken tour tickets at one of these places:

• Steven B. Andreaus, DDS , PA
  1637 Glenwood Avenue , across from the Rialto Theater
• Ornamentea: 509 N. West Street, one block south of Peace Street
• CupAJoe: 2109-142 Avent Ferry Road, in the lower level of Mission Valley Shopping Center
• Whole Foods Market: 3540 Wade Avenue, in the Ridgewood Shopping Center
• Seaboard ACE Hardware: 802 Semart Drive, across from Logan ‘s Nursery

How much a Ticket Is?

In return for a ticket, all they ask for is non-perishable food items or monetary donations. 100% goes to Urban Ministries of Wake County.

Official Site: http://hensidethebeltline.blogspot.com/

Holy moly, it doesn’t seem that long ago that I last hosted the Carnival of the Green, but it’s been almost a year! Truly, time waits for no man. Just last week, Eco New Mexico hosted the Carnival, and next week it is moving on to good ol’ Enviroblog.

But enough talk of time and such; let’s take a look-see at this week’s Carnival of the Green submissions:

Health

Surbhi brings the ruckus with this in-depth look at natural ways to stay healthy.

The venerable Fake Plastic Fish continues her one-woman war against plastic with a shocking exposé on a nasty chewing gum ingredient: plastic. After reading that, I think I’ll steer clear of gum for awhile and maybe check out Glee gum, made from natural chicle.

Gracy Queen wins the award for best blog post title, with her piece on vegan food choices entitled, I Can’t Has Cheezburger. I, myself, am not a vegan, but if you’re gonna be, here’s some good tips on what to eat.

Jourdan asks if being “green” makes you feel stressed out, and breaks it down to the basics to show that you can make some small, simple changes to be greener.

Climate Change

Dr. Kneidel exposes the plight of the noble trees, brought about by recent climate change.

Green Linguistics

Colin Doyle is trying to export a linguistic gem from Australia; calling fossil fuel energy “black energy“. It might make it a lil’ easier to have talks about green vs. black energy.

Beverly decides to make a New Year’s resolution to “grab a tiger by the tail” and go green. However, she then delves into what exactly this mysterious saying means.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The aptly named Mrs. Green contributes 11 ideas on how to reuse coffee grounds. I’ll be using some of her tips, since I do enjoy the occasional coffee.

Stuff With A Purpose has some good tips on how to reuse plastic bags. The best thing to do is avoid them altogether, but barring that, he has some good ways to reuse them.

A shorty named Renee that I met one day has some good tips for how to compost during these frigid winter months. Since my current compost bin is overflowing, I plan on using some of her advice to figure out what to do.

Do It Yourself

Emily Moser, of the strangely named Becoming A Radiologist website, has listed some good resources for making some homemade soap.

Around the House

Brenda Pike got herself a Kill-A-Watt (I got one of these a year ago and it’s great!) and ran around her house measuring how much electricity various appliances used. Very interesting, and it convinced me to fully turn off my Wii instead of putting it into standby with the Wiimote.

Stacey Doyle decides to look at some easy ways to live in a more eco-friendly way.

Case examines the pros and cons of compact fluorescent light bulbs, including examining just how green these CFLs are.

Mark Donovan show us some easy yet effective ways to reduce your home’s ecological footprint while also saving money. Sounds like my kind of post, if you know what I mean.

Pure Natural Diva has some general tips on how to go green for today’s on-the-go diva.

Transportation

Vihar tells the world of how St. Louis has opted for a tiny tax increase to help fund its public transportation system. Kudos to Vihar for breaking this story.

Phew! Welp, that about does it for this week’s Carnival of the Green. Hopefully we all laughed a little, cried a little, and, just maybe, learned a little. I leave you with the Top 5 EcoJoes Posts of 2009:

• How to Make Homemade Cat Litter from Newspaper
• Homemade Granola Recipe
• How to Clean Up Litter in Under Five Minutes
• How to Make Homemade Paper
• Art from Litter: Glass Creatures

Happy Carnival!

In celebration o’ Earth Day (Fun Fact: Earth Day was started by someone named Gaylord), Swaptree is planting a tree for each trade completed today. “‘Old on a tic”, you might exclaim, “Just wot is this ‘Swaptree’ thing, anyway?”
READ MORE »

Bienvenidos al Carnival o’ the Green!. Last week Evangelical Ecologist did a fine job hosting it, and next week GreenDealsDaily is ‘posed to host it.

But enough idle chit-chat; let’s get this show on the road.

Organic Mess

Have you ever wanted to compost, but it just seemed too dang complicated? Then you’re in luck, for Talia has provided some tips on simple composting.

Neighbor Nancy shows y’all how to get some free vegetable seeds and how you can grow a ton in small containers. I’m about to go plant even more plants in old containers now.

Julie has ten reasons why organic lipstick is the way to go, to get that special bee-stung look that’s all the rage.

Jennifer took composting to the extreme and even composted her finger! What a true eco hero!

Ed Biado spouts off about organic this and that. While I approve of most organics, I don’t think they’re always the best option.

Go Green and Save Green

Ah, helping the environment whilst helping your wallet. That’s what EcoJoes is all about.

ishan is all about that, too. He dared to ask the question “Do hybrid cars really save you money?“. His conclusion is much the same as mine.

JT has some leftover stuff, but doesn’t want to throw it away. Here’s how he makes money by selling used mess.

Energy

FreeOrganicNews ponders what exactly is solar energy? His findings may shock you; then again, they may not.

Big Mack has found some zany CFL designs, and he brought them for show-and-tell.

Nancy Miller has found 50 blogs that have good info on energy. Not to be one to judge, but her site is kinda weird and spammy.

Getting out and Enjoying the World

TravelCat4 has some handy eco-tips for how to travel in an Earth-friendly manner. My favorite tip was the ‘grow a beard’ one; zero effort required, plus you get that rugged look that draws all the ladies in!

All our new-fangled technology is no substitute for the real world and real life. Get out and enjoy the real world now, people!

Global Warming

Not content with one submission to the Carnival, Mack also wrote this Debbie Downer article about global warming. Heed his warnings, people.

Sally decides to go all the way to the top, and ask Mr. Barack Obama to help prevent future extinctions.

Other Green Mess

Another post by Ed Biado gives some tips for living a greener life.

The aptly-named Mesquite Pete is all about some DEET. He has had enough mosquito bites, and decided it’s time to fight back.

Earth Day is right around the corner (April 22). Astrid Lee has provided this handy chart of ways to celebrate this planet we live on.

Beth Terry contemplates the pros and cons of recycling plastic into oil. I think it’s great that they’ve found a way to do this, but I do understand Ms. Beth’s concerns.

Ryan and Leslie help us visualize the huge number of plastic bottles used in the U.S. in just five minutes.

Alex has some easy ways to save car fuel, and it looks like he’s from England, talking about “tyres” and “boots”.

Scott is eager to let you know that this recession is a great time to start a green business.

Dang, that about wraps it up for this Carnival. Thanks for all the submissions; hopefully I didn’t forget anyone or mess up a link. Until next time, this is EcoJoe, signing off.

I shall make this short but oh so sweet. Today, dozens (if not hundreds!!) of people will be celebrating Earth Hour the way it has been celebrated since way back three years ago. If you want to join them, here’s how…

From 8:30PM to 9:30PM, local time, turn off all your lights and appliances (unless you work in a hospital or something). Apparently, this is how you “Vote Earth” (I’m not quite sure who Earth is running against). Also, feel free to sign up for this event at this site.

Will turning off your lights for one hour make a huge difference? No. But, it’ll be interesting to see how many people do this as symbolic support of a greener future.

P.S. I wonder if Google will show their support for Earth Hour again this year. Last year they went black, but then they went back, thus disproving the popular adage.

Welp, here we are for the “Festival o’ frugality“, a mish-mosh of different ways to save money, many of them having to do with the environment. Without further ado, I present to you, the festival.

DestroyDebt has compiled a whole 76 ways to save money while helping the environment.

Condo-Blues is on a mission to seal up his ducts and save some electricity and cash money.

Here’s yet another way to save money by cutting electricity costs from DepositAccounts.

BargainBriana has some good tips on how to cheap out on your various holiday parties.

Carole takes some time out of her busy day to teach us all how to make a natural birdseed wreath. Cheap, and it helps our animal friends.

The Well Run Dry shows just how dang easy it is to save money (and lower your eco-footprint) by riding a bike.

Here are some handy dandy ways to save money on groceries, brought to you by Fire Finance.

Here be some timely Thanksgiving leftover tips from A Simple Walk.

Stolen Moments has some easy tips for sticking to her grocery budget.

When you’re traveling for this Thanksgiving weekend, Savvy Frugality says why not think of the good ol’ train system?

Madison shares some free mess for this Black Friday.

Here are some frugal ways to have Family Fun© with your children, brought to you courtesy of Grey.

Oh snap, mom n’ dad have found out how to get Legos cheaply. Kudos, y’all.

LuluGal has written a beautiful piece about how to “magnetize money”. Give it a looksie.

David Mitchell dares to ask the age-old question: real or fake Christmas tree?

Martin Dasko flips it on everybody and explores when it’s NOT okay to skimp on money.

How in the world can you save money AND the planet whilst remodeling your abode? Aahz knows how.

vh waxes philosophical while also thinking about potential money savings.

Heather Levin shares some ways to save money on laundry day (many of them are “green”, if you will).

Wow, that was a LOT of submissions. A big muchas gracias to everybody who submitted to this week’s festival. Sorry to anyone who didn’t get posted, there were HUNDREDS of submissions, so don’t feel bad. Until next time, this is Joe, signing off.

Last Saturday, me n’ Tiff went on the Henside the Beltline: Tour d’Coop around Raleigh. All’s we had to do was turn in two cans of food, get a map of the 20 urban chicken coop locations, and we were off on a journey of knowledge and wonder.

The Tour d’Coop turned out to be really cool. When people think of raising chickens, you think of a farm out in hickville, but it turns out a lot of people in Raleigh raise chickens. Each house we went to was in a “normal” neighborhood. Most of the houses had really nice backyards, with little vegetable gardens, water cisterns, homemade chicken coops, and rain barrels.

There were probably around 10 visitors at each stop, and the yellow-t-shirt-clad owners were happy to dish out folksy nuggets o’ chicken-raising wisdom.

Fun Facts about Raising Your Own Chickens

I learned these here chicken facts during the amazing Tour D’Coop.

• Heat is more dangerous to chickens than cold (most can survive outside in winter)
• Make sure the chicken fence goes at least a foot into the ground to keep out burrowing predators
• Protect chickens from hawks, raccoons, dogs, cats (some dogs and cats can get along with them)
• At night, the hens get sort of “dumb” and slow, so make sure they’re safe
• Chicken poo is a good fertilizer
• Basically an egg a day per chicken!
• Easy to take care of, “like an aquarium”
• No rooster needed, so you won’t be waking neighbors up at the crack o’ dawn
• Orange yolk instead of yellow, because of more beta carotene

After all that learning, I think I’d like to raise me some chickens in my backyard one day. All the eggs I can eat (and give away), plus I get to watch chickens run around. It’s a win-win situation, I tell you! On that note, I will leave you with some pictures of the homemade chicken coops that I laid my eyes upon that fine day.

More sources:
Make Magazine – Backyard Hens
News Raleigh