Seed Starting Tips: Start Your Sustainable Garden Today

A great article on how to start your garden indoors before planting outside. It isn't necessary to have a home with land to garden. If you have a balcony or window box you can garden, if you have a sunny apartment, you can garden. Herbs do very well in apartment windows and lettuce can be grown in a container on a shady balcony. I grew my own lettuce last summer and it was delicious. Plus it was fun getting up in the morning to pick it, the best time to pick lettuce, and I had a nice bunch of organic greens to put into my sandwich. I have a home with a garden although this year will be a time to replenish the soil and plot out what to do with what we have inherited. My green thumb is going to be itching to garden and I hope to container garden some lettuce.

We are a bit past the point of being able to do starter plants now, but start thinking about next year. During January start looking at the seed web sites, Salt Spring Seeds is a favourite of mine http://www.saltspringseeds.com/ and visit Victoria's Seedy Saturday event http://www.bcseeds.org/

Seed Starting Tips: Start Your Sustainable Garden Today

Pesticide free BC

Viewing of this important film is coming this week. Unfortunately I cannot attend due to a prior committment. I hope BC does become pesticide free. We need to take action to protect ourselves and our children. I believe that our use of pesticides and all the other crap in our food is causing many conditions we are seeing on the rise. Besides our American lifestyle.

VICTORIA
Jan. 21 — 7 p.m.
(doors open at 6:30)
David Lam Auditorium
University of Victoria
Admission by donation
Book signing to follow
For more information, contact:
Nancy Falconer
nfalconer@bc.cancer.ca
or 250-380-2358

Fake vs Real Tree Debate

As Christmas time rolls around again the debate between a real tree and a fake tree starts all over again. This year will be the first year I've had a tree in a long long time. Normally I use a table top tree purchased on sale and probably after off-gassing in the store. After a bit of a debate my partner and I purchased our first tree, and yes it is a fake one. If I could have gone a more eco-friendly route I would have. Maybe I should have done more research? Today, Sweetspot newletter delivered to my email inbox a lovely note on a PVC free tree. Yeah, great idea! My favourite quote in the article is "And while they're a touch on the expensive side, they're guaranteed to last for years" Yes, they are a touch on the expensive side, check out http://www.sears.ca/ (search Christmas trees). Considering the tree I got was $150 and will last for years too, I think these are priced out of most people's range. Why do I have the feeling eco-friendly products have become so expensive? It is because it is now chic to be eco?? Hopefully not!!

Although with the proposed rise in the cost of a monthly bus pass by BC Transit I have to question the sanity of penalizing green initiatives.

Toothpaste, Shampoo and Body Wash - Are They Worth Harming Your Health

Toothpaste, Shampoo and Body Wash - Are They Worth Harming Your Health

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Going Green with lunches

I don't mean green food, although that wouldn't be a bad idea, having more salads and vegetables.

This month school started and I hope parents as well as brown baggers are thinking about bringing their own cutlery, lunch boxes, storage bins and reducing that handy plastic wrap.

Great finds are easy to come by in Canadian prices:

http://www.fenigo.com
http://www.lavishandlime.com/ (Vancouver location)
http://www.goneshopping.ca

I've got my lunch bag, spork and stainless steel containers. Now all I need is to make some interesting lunches.

EWG Healthy Home Tips

Today my EWG (Enviromental Working Group) newsletter arrived in my mailbox. EWG is our watchdog in the United States, pushing to ban harmful plastics and working towards safe cosmetics. Although working in the United States, EWG has an impact on Canadians, their neighbours to the North, as a lot of cosmetics arrive on our doorstep from the U.S. I believe that the toxins in our products, the harmful plastics and our love affair with oil have contributed to the situation we are now facing, our own demise. For now, all I can do as one person is to pass the word...

Next time you head to buy your personal care products, read the labels. Besides avoiding parabens, other preservatives should be avoided to:

•DMDM hydantoin
•Imidsazolidinyl urea
•Methylchloroisothiazolinone
•Methylisothiazolinone
•Triclosan
•Triclocarban
•Triethanolamine (or “TEA”)

Also look for words with "PEG" or “-eth” in them such as: sodium laureth sulfate. Fragrance, FD&C, or D&C are also not friendly to our human systems.

EWG has a wallet sized list to carry when you go shopping at: http://www.ewg.org/files/EWG_cosmeticsguide.pdf

The next step is to sign petitions and keep pushing for safer products for ourselves and our children.

Pure Radiant Energy - BC products

A few years ago now I mentioned in this blog Pure Radiant Energy a Vancouver based skin care, hair and body line of products. I had tried some myself and was impressed as the products were SLS free. I didn't reorder due to the debate on parabens at the time which PRE was using although in small amounts. Caroline and Maury the owners of PRE had been working at the time on trying to find an alternative to parabens and have recently announced they are PARABEN FREE!

http://www.pureradiantenergy.com/

If in Vancouver visit the store.

Make my day...

I woke up early this morning...obviously sleeping in on vacation is not working and I suppose 7:30 is two hours later than my usual 5:30. I turned on the computer to find Yahoo News (I know not CBC) has on the front page an article that one product in food was making us fat. Hmmmmm...another one than the one I already know is the culprit? Nope, just an article finally published and for the general public to see...high fructose CORN syrup is making us fat. No kidding! Hard to avoid and not only causing us to be fat, but some of us are allergic to corn.

If you need to cut this out of your diet and really want to lose weight go here:

http://www.accidentalhedonist.com/index.php/2005/06/09/foods_and_products_containing_high_fruct

The article on Yahoo was written by Shelagh McNally, the editor of Green Living Online

I still think we the people need to start putting our foot down and demand better food. We have a huge food industry that is making us sick, we then take drugs from companies who do not have our best interests at heart and would like us to remain sick because it is profitable. All I can say is for now, read labels, cut these foods out of your diet, support your local organic farmers and do all you can to obtain better food and better health.

Not a Green Christmas

Not having a Green Christmas does not refer to my being eco-friendly. It refers to the fact that Vancouver Island is covered in snow. It will be the first time since 1971 that Canada, in every province and territory, will experience a white Christmas.

On the other hand I tried to have a green Christmas. I confess I have a fake mini tree which I've had for many years. My cat is 10 years old and I haven't had a real tree since she was a kitten.

I do recycle my wrapping paper. Last year I was handed all the paper my mother has recycled and now have a supply of paper, gift bags, bows, ribbon and gift tags to which I do not need to add to for many years.

I did shop. Some gifts I got at fair trade places, some at eco-friendly places and a lot on sale. Each year I try to be a more responsible consumer and do my part to cut down in some way and spend less or make a list of green gifts.

If anyone is still shopping, Juliet's Room offers lovely body butters, skin care, hand creams which are organic.

One thing I have noticed. In bringing my own bags all the time I now find I do not have bags for garbage. Unfortunately the apartment building does not compost and I still have garbage no matter how much I reduce. I've been searching for a garbage bag that will decompose quickly when it goes off to the landfill without it falling apart by the time I take it out. My paper bag solution did not work very well and I ended up with a soggy mess in the garbage can. Any ideas?

toxic toxins

Thank you to Food That Matters for directing me to this YouTube clip. I know there are a lot of issues out there, but we really need to stand up and demand better food, better health!!!

The Story of Stuff

There is a great site with information on how we consumer called the story of stuff and can be found at http://storyofstuff.org/index.html

King Corn get 3 1/2 kernals

Although not entirely sure, and thinking I will be tested for allergies and intolerances, I am almost postitive I have an intolerance to corn. I stopped eating beef due to not feeling well whenever I ate it and I know cattle are corn fed. I know taco chips also don't digest very well, as does popcorn or corn-on-the-cob. When I heard a documentary had been made about corn I decided I needed to investigate. On a Saturday night I sat with John and my friends Cat and Jon to watch King Corn. King Corn is about two friends who grow one acre of corn, the subsidized corp that drives the American fast food nation. Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis take us on a venture that raises some very disturbing questions about what we eat and how we farm.

If you're into Fast Food Nation, Super Size Me and ask the question "what are we eating" then you need to see King Corn.

A good reason to drink tap water

Canadians wanting to do something about the environment can start by drinking tap water, environmentalist David Suzuki says.

I have purchased 3 stainless steel canteens to use for my water--filtered TAP water. One is for kayaking, one is for work and one is for using at the gym. I've given up spending money on bottled water not just because of the price of paying for what may be filtered tap water, but for the following reasons:
Bottled water generates up to 600 times more CO2 than tap water

Most plastic bottled water bottles are not recycled but end up in landfill Drinking a bottle of water has the same impact on the enviroment as driving a car for a kilometer

A Swedish study calculated that the environmental impact of bottled water was 90 to 1,00 times greater than tap water and could be higher

Britons use 275,000 tons of platic bottles (includes drinks other than water) each year. 15 million a day in the UK, 3 billion litres of bottled water every year. The plastic bottles left over would fill the new Wembley Stadium three times over. Imagine how much Canadians produce in plastic bottle waste.

Bottled water costs more than gasoline per litre.

And just because I like this Canadian study statistic (and I have some university but certainly am not earning a ridiculously high salary plus I live in an apartment) University-educated households were less likely to drink bottled water than households with a lower level of formal education. The lower rate of bottled water drinking among university-educated households, set against the higher rates seen in high income households, shows that behaviours associated with income are not necessarily also associated with level of education. (full article at: http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/16-002-XIE/2008002/article/10620-en.htm)

Environmental Working Group & Skin Deep

Don't go shopping for personal care products without first checking the EWG site http://www.ewg.org/ and especially Skin Deep http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php. I had a spa party on Tuesday night and afterwards I checked Arbonne products. They tend to be in the moderate range with a rating of 3-6. Which isn't bad considering 7-10 is high and many of the common products found in most pharmacies fall into the hazardous zone. A lot of the US cosmetics companies and personal care products are in the database, which was a huge undertaking to develop. Thankfully it is the EWG that is pushing for all ingredients to be listed and for safer cosmetics to be on the shelves.

In Canada the push for the same standards isn't really underway. Still the Skin Deep site can be used to find products available in Canada. Suki's lemongrass facial wash/scrub is listed with a rating of 2. I purchased a sample box of all the Suki products. Most are in the low to moderate range, Transformative Facial Clay has a rating of 4 and Velvet Facial Cream has a rating of 3, the two highest ratings this line obtains. Available at Planet Organic, or online at http://www.upurea.com/

Nadarra (see previous post) is another Canadian line in the database. Highest rating is a 3, which is in the low end of the moderate rating zone. I recommend this line and hope one day Nadarra will be available in a shop in Victoria. Available online at http://www.nadarra.com/

Juliet's Room Organics, a BC company in Vancouver, is currently entering their products into the database. If you search their name they do come up which means they are registered, and I emailed them to which they responded putting all the ingredients into the database takes time. Available at http://www.julietsroom.com/ or Safura 635 Fort Street Victoria BC. I haven't tried this line yet.

I will admit, once you start using this site you might just throw out everything in your medicine cabinet. Not a bad idea really, with all the other toxins in our food, water, etc, maybe making changes in your personal care is reducing the exposure. It certainly is another step towards going green.

http://www.safecosmetics.org/ the campaign for Safe Cosmetics

Green your Campbell Dollars

I thought this was the best contest I've seen yet!! I've spent my $100 already, I purchased a stainless steel water bottle from MEC and the rest went to food.

Check this out http://contest.thetyee.ca/greenyourcampbellcash/

I voted for the Madrona Farm, a productive, biologically diverse urban farm on Blenkinsop Road in Victoria, under strong development pressure.

We truly need to save our urban farms, we need to support local producers of food, we need to have 95% of our food grown on the island rather than 5% and the rest shipped in. There is a looming food storage coming and I don't see municipalities or the provincial government doing too much about planning for it.

A new location

June 30, Moving Day:

The move was rescheduled for an hour earlier. Which was great. A two man crew showed up instead of the three man crew booked. Still I think Steve and Doug did a great job going from the main floor of a house to the third floor of a walk up, on a day of extreme heat. Everything has arrived, a few nicks and scratches, but that is the norm for moving. Which I haven't done in 10 years. Hard to believe really. I know some people think I should have done this a long time ago, but moving is not cheap. What cost me $300 approximately 10 years ago cost me over $500 this time. My deepest thanks and love to John who cared for my cat during moving day, helped provide boxes, packed items for me and gave me moral support to keep going when I felt that burning everything and starting over would be a simple solution, minus items with sentimental value of course. He also, got popsicles, bottles of water, dinner from Subway and did a multitude of other little errands that added up.

Thank you to Leslie for grabbing boxes and packing material.

A deep thank you to Paula J. for being there on moving day, baking cookies, having bread and apple for a snack, suggesting making the bed first and just being a great friend.

Gratitude to my parents, for moving us around a lot. During this move I kept thinking of the 68 times my mother has moved house and survived. I knew I would get through this too.

July 1, Canada Day:

John treated me to breakfast.

I started unpacking and piling up boxes to take to recycle. Neatly folded newpaper from each box and took to recycle. Noted we have 3 bins for paper which is a good thing.

My friend, Leah dropped by to view new place. Stamp of approval received.

Went to bed. Did not sleep well. Cat still prowling around. Another hot day and apartment is very warm. Noise from Cadboro Bay disturbs my sleep.

July 2:

Shaw Cable showed up between 8-10 am as booked, eventhough Shaw Cable don't book 2 hour windows but rather 4 hour windows so customer is not disappointed. TV and internet hooked up, phone is hooked up but phone number has not been released from Telus yet. Due to have same number by July 9. Cat was terrified by front door buzzer and hid for the duration of Shaw connection.

Had coffee with Paula and we did some shopping for local raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb and local vegetables at Ambrosio.

Went home, more unpacking. Box collection is flattened, but now need to take them away.

Went to bed. Did not sleep well. Noise from Cadboro Bay still not use to yet. Finally fell asleep only to wake up to flashes of light. Seems we had a storm. Cat prowled again and meowed several times.

July 3:

Apartment is much cooler today.

Changed address on car insurance. Got car insurance reduced too and have $5 refund coming. Not bad.

Had coffee and my free snack from Serious coffee. Won the free snack on a scratch card on first neighbourhood coffee!!

Went to Surroundings in Cook Street Village. Did not purchase over $500 teak table and chairs that slide apart from small to large. However, did see new desk, walked away, came back, looked again, measured, perfect apartment desk. Teak sliding desk with a lot of options. Made the plunge and bought it. Now to sell my old desk and Ikea table I have.

Did first load of laundry. Couldn't dry any of it in machine. Realized I had one loonie and all quarters. Machines take $1.25. Definately needed the drying rack today. Next item to purchase for household.

Hopefully will sleep better tonight and will get used to noise of traffic. Although I'm not directly on Cadboro Bay, the noise travels to my windows. Hope cat is settling down and she will not prowl tonight but will sleep too.

Still more boxes to tackle, unpack and break down.

Looking forward to kayaking this weekend, picking up desk and going to Organic Food Festival. Need some time to feel this week has been vacation.

Will be heading back to work on July 7th.

Ottawa does it again

Although I left Ottawa 13 years ago, I am still impressed when it comes to recycling. This city operates in the right direction regarding garbage. When I lived there I was able to put out my recycling bin along with my garbage same as here. However, when I wanted to recycle clothing, I could put this out too as long as I tied a shirt, scarf or other visable indicator onto the bag. Appliances could be put out on the street too, just remove the door on the fridge or stove.

Now Ottawa is going even further and I'm impressed again....wish muncipalities in Victoria would get on the bandwagon to reduce what we are sending to Hartland Landfill.

Here is what is happening in Ottawa:

City Council today approved the next step towards implementing aresidential curbside organics collection program to begin by fall 2008. Under thisnew program residents will be able to annually compost over 100,000 tonnes of kitchen scraps and other organic materials that otherwise would go to local landfills. "City-wide composting means that the residential sector will be able to meet the provincial target of keeping 60% of our garbage out of landfills. It is a huge step forward compared to the current 33% diversion level," stated Councillor Peter Hume, Chair of the City's Planning and Environment Committee. "Investing in this program now will benefit future generations and will add years of life to our local landfills." This program lets residents put fruit and vegetable peelings, food scraps, meat,bones, egg shells, vegetable oil, paper towels and napkins, waxed and/or soiled corrugated containers, wood shavings, and yard waste into a different container than the normal garbage can or recycling boxes. "City staff look forward to being able to offer residents a new organics collection and composting program," said Richard Hewitt, Deputy City Manager of Public Worksand Services. "We will review proposals from potential private-sector partners to provide organics processing services and bring forward a report for Council's consideration on the preferred partner with complete costs and details about the new program by fall 2007." The City's Compost Plus+ pilot project, which is in its sixth year of operation,offers a voluntary program of collection of household organics to nine communities comprising 5,300 households. On a yearly basis, the program has successfully captured and diverted approximately 2,000 tonnes of residential organic waste that would have gone to the landfill. Experience gained with this pilot project will be used to design the city-wide program.The City is also exploring new technologies as an alternative to landfills and is pursuing increasing recycling rates in the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors, which currently generate approximately 70% of the city's solid waste. Formore information on all the City's recycling programs visit ottawa.ca/rethinkgarbage

The Next 200 Days

I'm reading, or rather scanning, Gillian Deacon's Green For Life, 200 Simple Eco-Ideas for Every Day. Good thing I'm moving as it will give me an opportunity to do more towards having a green home and taking more steps towards living green.

One step I took on my computer, although I should have purchased a laptop...is to change my search engine to www.blackle.com rather than using Google or Dogpile.

I no longer us my Swiffer..well I don't buy the dry or wet cloths for it. I still use it but I use it with old facecloths attached. Works just as well if not better at cleaning the kitchen and bathroom floors, and the facecloth gets put into the laundry to be used again. Next time I cut up old tshirts or flannel pjs to make rags, I will cut some made to measure the Swiffer.

A great book with loads of tips, which I will probably share in the next months...

A walk along Oak Bay Avenue

I was on vacation from March 21 to March 31. A 10 day hiatus to stay on the island to kayak, read, enjoy a few days before back to work and the rush.

Friday morning I had to myself, planning to meet John later for DVD movies and dinner. It was my errand to purchase items for our dinner. Although chilly it was a nice day and I headed out at 9am. My first stop was the Fairway to pick up the basics, then over to Ambrosio to get cherry tomatoes, organic turkey and swiss cheese which made a delicious sandwich later for my lunch.

Next door to the Fairway is Oak Bay Florists with some of the best flower prices in town.

After stopping at Ambrosio I peeked into Nicholas Randall, an interesting array of items but nothing that I needed this time around. Passed on Starbuck's as I am trying to avoid drinking over roasted bad tasting coffee. Instead I went to The Village Patisserie where Susanna Dery and her cheerful employees make delicious cakes and pasteries. My favourite muffin (apple ginger bran) had already disappeared, which saved me making a purchase, although later I did get something else at the other place.


I wandered down past the shops, noticed a new tea bar will be opening in the former wine shop location. Not that I will miss the wine shop--I won't! The two occasions I went into the wine shop for their advertised wine tasting I found the staff to be unhelpful and rude. Not at all like the Penny Farthing liquor outlet across the street whose employees are very helpful and polite.

Another new shop on the Avenue is Art See eyewear where I met Trina Mendria and Janet Joynson. Art See eyewear is the candy store for people who wear glasses! Wonderful frames in great styles and two people who are saavy fashionistas to help with the selection. I am pretty sure I'm going with new frames instead of new contact lenses.

As I had forgotten an item for our dinner, John and I had to return to the Village. We went to Cobb's Breads to get dinner rolls and he got a ham&cheese crossiant and I got an iced cinnamon bun. Yummy!

I'm glad I have a great neighbourhood to explore. Of course, there are some great shops further up Oak Bay Avenue and a few blocks in the other direction from me is Estevan Village and the few shops at the corner of Estevan and Cadboro Bay Road.

A trip back in time

When I left home at 19 and went off to college in Winnipeg I remember my first apartment hunting in the downtown area. The streets were lined with huge old oak trees and the apartments ranged from 1930s to 1970s. My first apartment had warped floors and the standard white appliances. I didn't stay there long before moving into a great apartment on the top floor of a walk up, with built in china cupboards, hardwood floors, lots of light and a pink and black tiled bathroom. Of course I moved a few more times as other apartments in the neighbourhood became available or had more space.

However, I do remember one whole apartment block that I looked at and considered had the appliances in pink and turquois. I never rented in the apartment block, but I always liked those appliances. I even had a friend who rented on the other side of the Assinoboine River and had the pink fridge and stove. Her kitchen was so cute, with pink & lemon teatowels, pots of pink and yellow flowers and other pink or yellow kitchen items she found. Really retro!! Well folks the look is back, only in modern energy efficient versions. Dreams can come true...now if only I had a house...