Is a Tiny House Right for Me? Little House on a Small Planet

May 10th, 2011 Posted in books, construction, eco footprint, green construction, green living, save money | 2 Comments » Make sure you like EcoJoes on Facebook to stay updated on green ways to save money and help the environment. Just click the "like" button below. Muchas gracias!



A few months back I came home to find a nifty book on the front stoop of one of my houses. After becoming intrigued by the title, Little House on a Small Planet: Simple Homes, Cozy Retreats, and Energy Efficient Possibilities, I dove into this tome.

I have to say, I enjoyed reading it a lot. If you have any questions or curiousity about living in a tiny house (or even just a smaller-than-normal house), then I recommend this book. It examines this lifestyle from many different angles, and covered some questions I didn’t even have a clue I had.

I’ll go into some of what’s inside Little House on a Small Planet here, in bullet point form: READ MORE »

How to make Compost Lasagna

December 15th, 2010 Posted in gardening, green living, plants, reusing | 4 Comments » Make sure you like EcoJoes on Facebook to stay updated on green ways to save money and help the environment. Just click the "like" button below. Muchas gracias!


Hey, lasagna! Who doesn’t like that? But there’s a special ingredient in this lasagna: compost. ¡Delicioso!

Compost lasagna is not something you eat, believe it or not. It’s basically a really easy way to soup up your garden’s soil. It’s called “compost lasagna” because, like lasagna, it’s built up of layers.

Also called “sheet composting”, it’s a great way to reuse your kitchen waste instead of sending it to the landfill. It’s best prepared in fall or winter, so let’s get to making this compost lasagna, shall we?
READ MORE »

Chicken Pictures from the Raleigh 2010 Tour D’ Coop

June 5th, 2010 Posted in animals, event, green living | 1 Comment » Make sure you like EcoJoes on Facebook to stay updated on green ways to save money and help the environment. Just click the "like" button below. Muchas gracias!



(Polish Mophead chicken from 501 Mial Street)
Welp, last Saturday was the 2010 Henside the Beltline Tour D’ Coop, a big chicken-coop tour in Raleigh. Me and the lovely EcoTiff donated some non-perishable food at Cup a Joes, got us a chicken tour map, and away we went on a journey of chicken knowledge, touring other people’s eco-friendly yards, and homespun wisdom. READ MORE »

Raleigh Chicken Tour: Henside the Beltline Tour D’ Coop

May 13th, 2010 Posted in animals, event, green living | No Comments » Make sure you like EcoJoes on Facebook to stay updated on green ways to save money and help the environment. Just click the "like" button below. Muchas gracias!



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:

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/

Carnival of the Green #211

January 18th, 2010 Posted in energy conservation, event, green living, health, plastic, reusing, transportation | 1 Comment » Make sure you like EcoJoes on Facebook to stay updated on green ways to save money and help the environment. Just click the "like" button below. Muchas gracias!


Welcome to the Carnival

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:

Happy Carnival!


Yet Another Free Tote Bag

May 7th, 2009 Posted in free, green living, reusing | No Comments » Make sure you like EcoJoes on Facebook to stay updated on green ways to save money and help the environment. Just click the "like" button below. Muchas gracias!


NO TOTES FOR YOU
Edit: I received an email from the owner of the site that was giving away bags. It turns out that their sponsor backed out at the last second. So no bags for anyone 🙁 If you want a free tote, try this. I do apologize for any inconvenience.

Remember, all these free tote bags don’t do any good unless you actually bring them to the store and use them instead of plastic bags, so get on that!

Quick City Gardening Tips Right Before Earth Day

April 21st, 2009 Posted in food, green living, organic, plants, projects | 1 Comment » Make sure you like EcoJoes on Facebook to stay updated on green ways to save money and help the environment. Just click the "like" button below. Muchas gracias!


Kick off Earth Day by starting a neighborhood garden. Gather around a bunch of neighbors and locals, find a vacant lot, and help “green” it by cleaning it up and turning it into a majestic garden. Here are some great tips for community gardens…
City Gardening Wisdom
Hopefully those tips will aid you on your journey to your very own community garden.

From the incomparable Onion.