Got Hobbies? One of ours is Eating with a capital E: and on summer weekends it’s especially fun to shop around at local farmers’ markets to get inspired. You’ll be happy to know that this earns 20 points on Practically Green! 10 for Energy, 10 in Stuff.

Why is this action green? Check the action page:

Mollie Chen, the director of Birchbox* content, is a food and wine afficionado. We loved her thoughts on Pick an Eco-Friendly Wine. This time she’ll get you psyched to visit your local farmer’s market — watch out, Wishing Stone Farm!

I’ve never met a farmers market that I didn’t love, and I’m excellent at spending money on fragrant peaches, tender lettuces, and ripe tomatoes. Eating local, seasonal food is healthier and more exciting than eating stale, grocery store fare. But these days, the problem is finding the time. To ensure that I don’t grocery shop at the bodega, I signed up for my neighborhood CSA with two friends. Every week we get a mix of fresh vegetables and fruits from a local farm, and we often end up cooking the fresh-picked fruits and vegetables together. Sharing with friends also ensures that I avoid wasting produce. The weeks that I can’t pick up my share (which is often), one of them can get it and use it.

Since CSAs don’t let you pick what you get, you often end up with a bounty of produce that doesn’t necessarily go together (case in point: last week I got wax beans, onions, cucumber, snow peas, sour cherries, among other things). To get the most out of your share, you just need to get creative. I have food sites that I look to for inspiration, including Smitten Kitchen, Bon Appetit, and 101 Cookbooks. If you’re in New York you can always try Basis, a service that will deliver fresh farm fare directly to your home or office. And, if you were wondering: last week’s CSA share (plus additions) turned into an heirloom tomato, corn, and wax bean salad, pasta with pea pesto, and sour cherry Old Fashioneds. Delicious!

* We’ve enjoyed having the Birchbox team’s posts all week at Practically Green! Here’s their deal:

Who doesn’t love having beauty delivered to their doorstep? Each month, Birchbox subscribers receive a selection of 4-5 deluxe beauty samples that range from skincare to makeup to cult beauty tools, from well-known brands as well as emerging gems. If you like your samples, you can buy the full size from our Shop and earn Birchbox loyalty points with every purchase that you can put towards buying more fantastic products.  The online magazine Haute Box is designed to help you make the most of your new discoveries and the ladies of the content team are guest blogging this week. Mollie is the director of content, Meredith is the editor and content strategy manager, Lorelei is the assistant editor, Alicia is the production manager, and Shana is the summer intern. Don’t forget to check out Birchbox’s blog, and be sure to follow them on Twitter (@birchbox) and Facebook, too!

Today’s no-brainer easy action:

Turn up the thermostat 4 degrees in hot weather

Who knew a simple adjustment could be so significant: you get 50 PG points, save money, and reduce energy waste by dialing back the A/C!

Today's guest blogger: Shana, a savvy intern at Bichbox.com

We just moved into an extra huge space to accommodate our growing team, and unlike our old office, the temperature at this one was initially similar to a cruise through Alaska. We were freezing, and decided that turning up the thermostat for the rest of the summer would help out our shaky hands and save a ton of energy. (Meredith was even sporting a cashmere sweater in July—that’s how cold it was.)

The Practically Green website informed us that changing your thermostat by even one degree cuts energy use by 4-8% and avoids releasing harmful pollutants. We upped the temp at least seven degrees, so we’re feeling like ultimate green activists now. It’s amazing how one little tweak can help the environment out so much—try turning your thermostat up by just a degree or two, most likely you won’t even notice the difference.

Thank you, Shana!

But what if everyone in your office (or restaurant, or apartment building) does not agree on what the air temp should be? I am wondering about A/C etiquette. If it’s way chilly in an office/restaurant/hair salon/post office, is it okay to request an adjustment? And how? To what extent do one’s personal green standards translate to a public place? Today I gingerly mentioned to the salon receptionist that it was absolutely freezing, and he just shrugged. I slunk off. Is it okay to mention that it might be perfectly comfortable if the thermostat were set 4 degrees higher? We’d love to know what you think.

We love introducing Practically Green to great people who want to live healthy & green — and who better than Birchbox, a hard-working team of NYC start-up whizzes with a genius delivery scheme for beauty brands. They chose ONE action for every day this week.

Today: Walking to Work by Lorelei Orfeo, assistant editor at Birchbox. She’s got 200 new points for this action!! For inspiration, tips, and product ideas on Walking to Work Regularly, click here: http://practicallygreen.com/walk-to-work-regularly .

Photo: Bill Cunningham, "On the Street," The New York Times

Living in NYC, I’ve never really considered my transportation a big energy concern. I never drive, rarely take cabs, and rely on public transportation for all my day-to-day activities. Easy access to the subway and busses is something I’ve come to expect and love about living in a city. For all the advantages though, it can be a pretty uncomfortable situation.  There’s nothing like being squished into a subway car with 100 other sweaty people during rush hour to make you appreciate the privacy of a car. And while the MTA in New York is making some excellent energy improvements, they still have a ways to go to transition fully to more energy efficient trains, escalators, and maintenance systems. These things don’t happen overnight, of course.

So when a big move brought the Birchbox office closer to my apartment, I knew it was time to switch to a healthier commute. Instead of a 5-minute walk to the subway and a 10-minute ride, I take a 15-20 minute walk. In the last week I’ve taken a new route every morning, discovered a cute little park on the way, and stopped to run errands on after work at night. It’s reduced stress in my mornings because I know exactly how long it’s going to take to get to work and I get a little energy boost while walking. If you aren’t lucky enough to live quite so close to your office, try walking home in the evenings when you have more time or driving part-way and walking the rest. The only downside? I miss the time I used to spend reading on the train! I may have to invest in some good audio books to make up for it.

In case you’ve been unplugged in the wilderness for the past ten months, Birchbox is the new beauty-sample subscription: a trim box of curated contents that arrives monthly. This genius business was created by Harvard Business School ’10 classmates, Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna. We’ve enjoyed getting to know them at Practically Green; we think of them as a start-up sibling, er, big sister.

Hayley & Katia, Birchbox Founders

This week, Practically Green hosts the Birchbox ladies as they take on five PG actions:

Meredith, today's guest blogger

1. Switch to a Reusable Coffee Mug, by Meredith Stebbins

I have definitely put a few Starbucks employee kids through college with the amount of money I’ve spent at the coffee chain. An avid latte drinker, I cringe at the thought of tallying up my monthly sum spent there and I literally wince when I think about how many coffee cups I must have thrown out in the last year alone. Given that nearly 16 million coffee cups are used in the U.S. annually, and that you can reduce your environmental impact by almost 22 pounds of garbage a year by toting your own reusable coffee cup with you each day (thankyouverymuch for informing me, Practically Green’s database), I realized that I needed to make a change.

Birchbox just moved offices, because we’re growing so quickly, which makes this the perfect time for me to kick my old bad habit and get into a new morning routine. Luckily, I can still walk to work each day, but instead of searching out a local Starbucks on my way the first day, I went to Bed Bath and Beyond the night before and bought a reusable plastic cup. Since it’s the summer and I’m drinking my lattes on ice, I opted for a large cup one with a straw, but as soon as the first fall chill rolls around, I will definitely be investing in a more traditional to-go mug. What’s particularly nice, aside from all the money and trees I am saving is that now I make my drink exactly as I like it each morning—no need to correct the barista because he or she missed my skim milk request!

Meredith is the editor and content strategy manager at Birchbox.

Note: we like all the reusable mug product recommendations on Practically Green, but frankly we do not * L O V E * them. So if you have a favorite to recommend, please do not hesitate!!

P.S. Don’t forget to check out Birchbox’s blog and be sure to follow them on Twitter (@birchbox) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/BirchboxMonthly), too! Last week on Birchbox’s blog, three of us from Practically Green picked products for face, lips, eyes, and body to show that safe cosmetics are gorgeous. (If you missed it, no worries: we’re updating these posts for PG in September.)

Switch to an all-natural toothpaste: 10 points

When it comes to toothpaste… why go natural? by Bridget Burns

I don’t really remember when I first heard the benefits of natural toothpaste, but I do remember first learning about Tom’s of Maine. Before moving to Maine, my family and I used to vacation in Kennebunkport. Each trip we would stop by the Tom’s of Maine outlet store for factory seconds of dented toothpaste tubes. But the truth is that my family bought the tubes because they were a bargain, not because the product was natural. The fact that Tom’s products are free of artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners and preservatives, was a perk, but not yet a requirement.

Fast forward about twenty years to a time when those standards are a requirement for me, and it is clear that my own loyalty is still similar to that of my parents. Now that I have regular access to every formula and flavor toothpaste Tom’s has to offer, I can’t choose a favorite. Take a look at my bathroom sink!

But one thing that has changed since my childhood is that – lack of flavor preference aside – I can’t ever go back to using conventional toothpaste.

Working as a Citizen’s Advocacy Representative at Tom’s, I spend my days chatting with consumers over the phone, via email, on Facebook, and even through Twitter. My varied interactions have helped me to learn that people switch to Tom’s of Maine natural toothpaste for all sorts of reasons.

• Some, like my family, find it for a bargain and decide to give it a try.
• Others discover that they are allergic to fluoride, and appreciate our fluoride-free options.
• Many are parents who feel their children get enough sugar in the world without adding artificial sweeteners to their toothpaste.
• Some suffer from chronic canker-sores and find our SLS-free variety to be the only thing their mouth can tolerate.
• Many appreciate the fresh bite provided by our use of spearmint leaf oil and peppermint leaf oil instead of artificial substitutes.
• Others turn to us for our wide variety of mint-free options, often harder to find in conventional lines and a requirement for homeopathic diets.
• Some don’t care as much about our ingredients, as they do about our ingredient sourcing and our company’s strict stewardship standards.
• And more and more, consumers are referred to us by their dentists, who appreciate that many of our all natural alternatives carry the ADA seal.

But the one uniting factor is that like me, once our consumers really go natural, they stay natural.

I see goofy posts on Twitter all the time referring to the taste of natural toothpaste. Apparently the lack of saccharine makes a great punch line. But it is true that when switching to natural toothpaste for the first time, the flavor will not be familiar. After all, saccharine is a synthetic chemical that is 200 times sweeter than sugar, and the only natural sweeteners Tom’s of Maine uses come from plants.

If you tried natural toothpaste before and decided it wasn’t for you, I challenge you to try it again, and stick with it for two weeks. Then, brush your teeth with your old favorite variety. I think you will be surprised at how much you prefer your new natural toothpaste option.

Whether or not you choose to stick with Tom’s of Maine toothpaste, I bet you’ll join me in deciding to stay natural. Especially when you realize that no artificial dyes means no more pesky blue globs in your sink!

Is it hot enough for you?

(Delectable photos from EatingWell.com)

We’re craving ice cream. YUM. But we do not want to be eating chemicals and nasty dyes, no matter how scorched we are! So we asked a pro: Brierley Wright.

Brierley is nutrition editor at Eating Well in Charlotte, Vermont. She writes the “Fresh & Nutritious” column for the magazine, and you can read her Eating Well blog posts here. EatingWell.com has a new article about ice cream that gives the nutritional skinny on various choices. Great info — and we’re drooling — but we wanted to know more… so we asked Brierly:

Which ice cream/ice creami-ish product should we select if we want organic dairy ingredients, no high-fructose corn syrup, no artificial colors or other sketchy ingredients? We are less concerned about calories than we are about possible concerning ingredients from an environmental health standpoint.

1) Read labels.

“If someone is concerned about unfamiliar ingredients and additives, I’d suggest picking a product that delivers as few ingredients as possible and one that has a list of ingredient names that are recognizable. The only way to find the best product is really to just compare labels.”

mmmmmmmmmmmm

2) Look for local ice-cream makers.

“Fillers and additives seem to be included for two reasons: to either deliver the same delicious mouth feel as a full-fat ice cream, but in a lower fat version or for the ice cream to remain “stable” and not separate and crystallize during transportation when temperatures aren’t as easily controllable.” (When we’re in Vermont, we always look for Blue Moon Sorbet….   and of course, Stonyfield Farm.)

3) Don’t be a piggy!

“As a dietitian and nutrition editor, I’d be remiss not to mention the fact that if/when you’re selecting a higher fat or full-fat ice cream variety, it should be eaten in moderation. I typically order a small or kiddie sized scoop at a shop—and at home I check the nutrition facts panel to see how many calories and grams of fat I get for a serving and either stick to that serving size or something smaller.”

How about you? Do you have a favorite ice-cream tip, recipe, or local creator? We’d love to try them all this weekend!

Brierley Wright

99% of Practically Green’s registered users already use reusable shopping bags.

Most have switched to a reusable coffee cup:

But bringing your own “people towel” on the go? To use instead of a paper towel or paper napkin when you’re at work or out and about? This is a novel idea – and it’s a good one!

“I know, checking your carbon offsets is a wonderful thing, but honestly I can’t really get into it,” says Linda Lannon, the Founder of People Towels. “I believe people want to do small, personal things that cumulatively add up.” Linda says bringing a reusable personal hand towel is the next popular eco-habit, “de rigueur for the savvy, eco-minded individual.”

It’s a new addition to the B.Y.O. roll call of eco-accessories: on-the-go, reusable personal hand towels designed to replace single use paper towels used outside the home. In Japan people do this all the time.  Remember, they’re living on an island and they’re really thoughtful about throwing garbage into landfills when they don’t have to…. most public rest rooms are not stocked with disposable paper towels. Personal hand towels are ubiquitous in Japan, where everyone from business men to school children carrying personal hand towels in public.

I clicked on over to PeopleTowels and ordered a set of very cute three feather-weight, organic cotton cloths. They have 25 designs to choose from. Now if I can just train myself to remember to take it out of my purse when I go to the ladies’ room! Grrr to Self: how long does it take for a positive habit to form? Linda says to chill: “It’s just a matter of getting used to it. Give yourself a chance!”

See our new Bring Your Own badge for 9 ideas on how to eliminate the use of single-use disposables, such as paper towels, napkins, plastic bags, and coffee cups. And, get a 15% discount code to order your own People Towels!

Pet-owners will want a stash to clean off damp paws:

Follow @PeopleTowels on Twitter, join them on Facebook/peopletowels.

View this quick video from the Daily Grommet and you’ll want to switch asap!

We’re celebrating On-the-Go summer actions and can’t think of a better guide than Megan Ramey, shown here biking to work with her daughter, who gets off at the first stop for childcare…. Check out these 7 biking actions – and their points! Megan gets 150 points on Practically Green for biking to work regularly!

credit: Kyle Ramey

“We’re a car-free family. This is how I function the best: using a bike for my transportation. It gives me peace of mind.”

Peace of mind? Biking in Boston, headquarters for extreme drivers? We asked Megan to please explain.

“Bike maintenance is so easy compared to auto maintenance. It’s not like a car that breaks down. Once you buy a bike, for maybe $400, you have a dependable means of transport. You’re in the fresh air. Second, it’s a built-in gym workout. I’ve lost 25 pounds over the course of five years. Third, it’s extremely easy to get around on a bike. I go door to door, don’t have to look for a parking pace. Don’t have to look for a gas station!”

What about blizzards? Thunderstorms?

“In bad weather I take the T.”

What about attire. This can be a challenge, right? Not for Megan:

“I don’t wear special clothing. I just think about it, don’t go too fast so I don’t get sweaty. I’m careful to stay four feet from car doors, I do not use roads that busses are on, and in Massachusetts it’s legal to take the lane. Google maps has a new biking option for directions, so it’s easy to figure out a route.”

Have to say we’re getting pretty interested. Maybe biking to work one day a week is possible.

More tips from Megan:

credit: Kyle Ramey

• The bike you ride is very important. You need a rack or a front basket – you do not want to carry stuff on your back because then you will get sweaty.

credit: Mother Nature

• Make sure you have a chain guard.
• And a bell.
• I ride a three-speed Phillips, it’s easy and durable.

“Hey, if you want to include some great resources for ‘on the go’ biking with kids: www.totcycle.com and www.2wheels1baby.blogspot.com.” {this is Megan’s blog}

What about helmet hair?

“Not a problem for me. I have a Bern helmet and it even has detachable earflaps for colder weather!”

Hmmm…. this crisp white one might be perfect for summer:

Psst to Megan, submit this product idea right on the action page!!    

Why not give it a try?

Okay, I just added Bike to work one day a week to my plan!!!!

What about you? Do you bike to work? To school? To shop? For fun? What are your tips and what might encourage you to bike more?

Note: Megan is the Sustainability Programs Coordinator for A Better City, which organizes partners around the city of Boston’s vision for transportation, land development and environmental sustainability.

A Better City is a new business partner at Practically Green, with a customized PG platform created to support their member and employee programs. If you work for a company that’s interested in creating a robust interactive tool for green initiatives, RSVP to Linda Natansohn, linda@practicallygreen.com.

Stressing about your holiday plans? Take a deep breath and consider a Staycation! Anna Rabhan’s guest post has me absolutely itching to…  stay home!

(P.S. In addition to all of Anna’s excellent suggestiuons, I want to share this one from my friend Tamara: the JBF America’s Classics. It’s a collection of amazing and little-known locally owned restaurants. See if there’s one near you!)

Stay Put: Make Your Vacay a Staycay this Year, by Anna Rabhan

It wasn’t until I left my home state that I realized how much I hadn’t seen of it. That’s a good place to start. Ask yourself, “What would a tourist to my area do?”

The term “staycation,” referring to saving money by eschewing the air travel, hotel stays and frequent restaurant meals long-distance travel requires, popped up in the U.S. during the 2007 financial crisis. However, growing climate concerns have caused us to also consider the detrimental effects of long-distance travel. The 3,000 gallons of fuel an airliner burns just on takeoff and the 50 tons of trash and over one million gallons of wastewater produced during a one-week cruise give us pause when dreaming of our getaway.

Staycationing is a greener option because eliminating air travel means not contributing to the significant emissions and fuel and energy consumption involved. Eliminating a hotel stay means not contributing to the several million gallons a year of water that a large hotel can use, the massive energy consumption its constant occupation causes, or the huge amount of waste it produces. Aside from those obvious environmental impacts, one must also consider that the food vacationers eat is generally not produced or distributed in a sustainable way, that vacationers produce much more waste than when they are home, and many more factors that aren’t as in-your-face as a jet.

Besides, planning a fabulous staycation is so easy! A good starting place, especially if you’re new to the area, is the local or state tourism bureau. Type “Visit(State or City)” into your browser and you’ll find tons of them. It’s a great way to discover local festivals and interesting things to do like the garlic festival in Gilroy, CA, stand-up paddleboard eco-tours in Florida, and Samuel Adams Brewery tours in Boston.

Virginians and Marylanders: Have you ever actually been *inside* the Supreme Court building?

It wasn’t until I left my home state that I realized how much I hadn’t seen of it. That’s a good place to start. Ask yourself, “What would a tourist to my area do?” Chances are that you know of a lot of cool stuff to see and things to do that you’ve never actually seen and done yourself! A Texan may have been to Paris, but has he seen the Alamo? Been to the Space Center in Houston? We tend to overlook what’s close to us, perhaps thinking that we’ll get to it someday, in favor of what seems exotic. On a staycation you can explore those hometown treasures.

If you’d rather not hang out with all the other tourists, break the mold and search out the secret spots. There are several publications, like Hidden Portland by Carye Bye, designed to help you find these places. But part of the fun of these little American cubbyholes is finding them yourself. So, Oregonian, go on a solitude treasure hunt led only by Ev Hu’s vague clues. Just promise not to reveal the locations if you do find them!

Florida boasts parks other than Disney World! Ravine Gardens State Park in Palatka is historic and beautiful

Another great way to plan your staycation is to theme it up. Think about what you’re interested in. A Kansan history buff can follow a bit of the Santa Fe trail, learn about the intersection of Native Americans and European settlers, experience pioneer life, and sample everything from American Indian to vegetarian fare all in the little town of Council Grove. Check out USA Today’s “10 great places to discover Midwest charm” for more inspiration.

Boston is awesome, but nearby Quincy’s offerings include John Adams’ home and stone library

If you are a seasoned staycationer and it seems like you’ve exhausted your options, it’s time to get weird! How about visiting the remnants of The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices in Minnesota? Consult the Weird series of books to get started. With rocks that move all by themselves and a submerged town that rose up again out of Lake Mead, there’s way more weirdness in Nevada than just Las Vegas.

Check out Practically Green’s action pages on reducing leisure air travel and other travel-related topics, and start planning your awesome staycation today!

Anna Rabhan is a freelance writer, editor, educator and consultant. She writes a column about green issues as the Organic Adventurer and is a green home and living consultant. She enjoys taking her dog to the park, traveling, kayaking, photography and anything else that gets her close to nature. Check out her green actions on her Practically Green page!

Wondering how to keep your lawn, gardens, and pots watered even when it’s an inferno outside?

We have over 16 suggestions for you on Practically Green — simply type in the word “lawn” in search.

This weekend’s action: Use drip-irrigation system. (50 points!!)

Even urbanites can get into it with amazing container gardens or by joining a neighborhood garden; drip irrigation can be used in both situations. Read this recent post: Container Gardening: Perfect for City Foodies — and Everyone Else! for amazing tips.)

Our inveterate Green Gorilla @jandev dove into the topic for us last week. She spoke with Jessie Banhazl, the owner of Green City Growers and an advocate of drip-irrigation techniques. Jan’s report:

How & When You Water is the Key to Success

Jessie Banhazl with her dog Stella, Green City Growers’ mascot

When considering your garden’s location, factor in its proximity to a water source, usually an outdoor faucet. One new client asked Green City Growers to make a house call when her garden didn’t seem to be thriving; the problem was easy to diagnose – she had forgotten to water! “The success of your garden hinges on daily watering,” Jessie says, and she strongly recommends installing a drip (or “micro”) irrigation system. “The drip method is far more efficient than using a spray hose, because the water drips right onto the roots instead of evaporating off the leaves. Plus, if you go out of town or forget to water for even a day or two, you risk losing your whole crop,” she says.

If your yard already has an in-ground sprinkler system, you can ask your contractor to create a separate zone for a drip system in your vegetable bed, or you can install a basic drip system yourself. Jessie says it’s unwise to rely on a nearby sprinkler to water your vegetable bed, because water falling on the plants risks burning their leaves in the summer heat.

The components of a drip system are readily available at garden centers or online, and are simple to assemble – no special tools or engineering degree required! A basic system for one 4×8-foot garden bed shouldn’t cost you more than about $75.

Step-by-step instructions and a shopping list for installing a drip irrigation system.

Jessie adds a few tips on watering efficiently:

• Set your faucet timer to drip for about an hour at dawn every day (the length of time depends on your water pressure and other factors like time of year and hours of direct sun). Do not water in the heat of the day (unless you are trying to waste water!), or at night, as damp plants invite pests.

• Mulching a vegetable garden to prevent evaporation is unnecessary if you are using a drip system, unless your bed is on a roof where the sun is much stronger. Straw can help keep the weeds down in a vegetable bed, but wood chips are too acidic. Avoid mulches treated with dye.

• Fruiting plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, eggplant and zucchini are water hogs and may require additional hand watering in extreme heat and drought conditions; leafy greens, broccoli and root vegetables don’t need as much water to thrive.

With unprecedented drought across much of the U.S. this summer and restrictions on outdoor watering in many areas, home gardeners are thirsty for water-saving strategies. Here are a few ideas:

1. Plant drought-tolerant crops like garbanzo and pole beans, sweet potatoes, rhubarb, corn, eggplant, spinach, chard, mustard greens, okra, black-eyed peas and cantaloupe. When buying tomato and squash seeds, look for drought-tolerant varieties.

2. Shade your garden with a light-colored 50% opaque cloth to reduce heat and evaporation.

3. Collect clean bath water by placing a bucket in your tub while waiting for the cold water to warm up. You can do the same in your kitchen sink when rinsing vegetables and fruit before eating.

4. Double dig your garden so plant roots can make use of water deep in the soil.

5. Lay down flat stones to absorb heat or use grass clippings as mulch.

Gardeners in drought zones, what water-saving measures do you use? Please share your suggestions in the comments section. Or tweet them to @practicallygrn with the hashtag #savewater.

What are the top 3 things to understand about your lawn in hot weather? Check out our latest recommendations on Practically Green:

Switch to an electric lawnmower

Switch to an organic lawn and landscape service provider

Switch to a push mower

For more advice, we went to the source: Mark “Coach” Smallwood, the charismatic expert who knows-everything/without-being-a-know-it-all Executive Director of the Rodale Institute. He gave us 5 tips — and then some!

1) Understand that turf actually has growing seasons. Here in Pennsylvania, and in much of the country, it’s spring and fall. That’s when the grass grows best. In the summer, when it’s hot and dry the grass goes dormant. Be cognizant of this. It’s not going to die. Be happy about it, and you do not have to run your lawnmower over it once a week. Raise the mower deck and keep the grass 3” high. Do not scalp it!

What if you have a lawn service that comes when you’re away at work or someplace?

2) Sit down with them and say, look, I understand this is your job, this is how you make a living. But we don’t want our grass cut in this hot dry weather! Let’s find something else for you to do instead! Weed the garden beds, mulch, put compost down, edge. There’s lots to be done besides mowing!

3) If you can mow, leave the grass clippings on the lawn. They’re a source of nitrogen and a source of food for the microbes in the soil.

4) When the weather cools off, overseed your lawn. That’s the way to establish a good long root structure. I advise grass seed with a bit of clover in it. This encourages life: honeybees! And clover is a nitrogen fixer.

5) Best case, then put down a good ¼” of compost to encourage the roots. Look for a good organic compost., with beneficial bacteria, and beneficial fungi, which are living organisms and very important for lawns.

Why is Rodale considered the guru of organic healthy living?

J. I. Rodale was the first person in the United States to say the words organic and agriculture together. He began Organic Gardening magazine. Whenever you see an organic product [whether it's something to eat, or put on your skin, or fertilize your garden] it’s ALL children of J. I. Rodale.

Corn in the organic-legume (left) and conventional (right) system during the dry summer of 1995. Both were planted on the same day, with the same variety but only the conventional corn is showing signs of water stress. Organic corn yields that year were 29% higher than those of the conventional corn.

Check out the Rodale Institute to find out more about the Rodale — its history, and its amazing projects today, largely conducted on the 333-acre farm in Emmaus, PA:

We have 16 different research projects right now: soil health, weed control, cover crops, carbon sequestration, organic matter… We’re preparing to publish the findings of a 30-year project comparing organic to conventional crops. The news: organic crops outperform the conventional when there’s drought! Now we’re moving into nutrition, to prove that organic food is more nutritious than conventional, and use the proof to mitigate and prevent health epidemics in this country – e.g., diabetes, obesity. We want to take this message out into the mainstream.

Hooked on Coach? Subscribe to his monthly newsletter! Follow @rodaleinstitute and check them out on Facebook and on YouTube.

Do you have city friends who grow basil, arugula, star-gazers in pots on their tiny balconies? Then you already know how much fun and downright pleasurable container gardening can be. Alison Abbott blogs at GreenWithRenvy, was discovered by our green gorilla @jandev. One thing led to another, and here’s Alison’s post for us!

Easy Container Gardening with Big Impact

Container gardening is for anyone.  Even small spaces can pack a dramatic punch with potted plants. No matter the size of your lawn, deck, or apartment balcony, building a selection of pot grown plants can be one of summer’s greatest joys.

I always ask my clients what they are trying to achieve with the planter.  Is it to fill a space, soften a fence, provide some veggies, or just look pretty? Choose your plants based on what you want for the final result.    

Let’s begin with the planters. Many recycled pots are available on the web. One of my favorite sites is www.terracycle.net. Their motto to “outsmart waste” is something Practically Green readers share. Terracycle has a national recycle and up-cycle system taking traditionally non-recyclable waste (tooth brushes, drink pouches, chip bags) and making it into a wide variety of products available at major retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target as well as on-line.  In addition, planters are usually available on Craig’s List and FreeCycle, as they are cumbersome items for people when moving. Note to Practically Green newbies: get going on your container gardening actions for an easy 5 points!

Whenever I receive a shipment in the mail, I save any packaging materials {peanuts or foam padding} to use at a later date. I put these to good use and fill the bottom half of the pot when initially planting the containers. They help with drainage, make the planter much lighter should you need to move it around, and save on the amount of soil you’ll need to fill the planter.

A favorite trick I have found is to take a plastic bottle from your recycle bin. (see photo above) With a nail or push pin, put 3 or 4 small holes in the bottom ring on the bottle. Bury the bottle in the soil as you are planting, leaving the top neck of the bottle exposed.   Fill the bottle with water and it will act as a drip hose for your planter. This is especially helpful if you are going away for the weekend.

Always use a soil especially made for container planting. These usually have extra nutrients and moisture retaining elements to make them more efficient. Miracle Gro® Moisture Control ® Potting Mix is widely available around the country. If your family eats a lot of eggs, rinse the shells, crush and mix into the top layer of the soil. Along with releasing a steady stream of calcium for your plants, this discourages damaging slugs and cutworms.  Apparently, they don’t like to move across the sharp edges of the shells. In most areas, the container will be seasonal and the plants you use should be consistent with the zone you live in. One of my favorites in the Northeast is the chartreuse colored Sweet Potato Vine.  It provides a striking contrast to other plants and is very heat-tolerant.  I also like the Proven Winner ® group of Superbells®. Again: hearty, heat-resistant and take full sun.

Succulents are also very tolerant of the heat.

And of course, you must plant at least one pot with cherry tomatoes and any combination of herbs.

Once your plants are tucked in their beds, mulch the top several inches to retain water. Feeding the plants will insure healthy growth.Terracycle (www.terracycle.net ) does it again with a fun and natural plant food made from feeding organic matter to worms and mixing the resulting “worm poop” into a nutrient rich plant food packages in – yes — a used soda bottle. Can you tell I love this company?

I encourage you to check out their web site to see all the different efforts of the company. Many involve school fundraising.

Finally, to finish off this project, I would suggest installing a rain barrel. Many cities and towns that have active recycling programs offer them at a discounted rate to encourage water conservation, so check with your city hall.

Having several watering cans or buckets strategically placed around the house will help a lot with cutting down on your water usage to keep your plants healthy.

Here is a list of PG Actions that container gardening can accomplish:

• Check on Craig’s List or Free Cycle for containers: 5 points
• Plant containers for herbs or vegetables: 10 + 10 points
• Using bath (or kitchen) water to water plants: 10 points
• Installing rain barrels and using for lawn and garden watering: 50 points
• Use drip irrigation in your containers (the buried plastic bottle will accomplish this): 50 points
• Place a bucket in the shower and use grey water for plants: 10 points
• Switch to organic or natural pesticides/herbicides: 50 points
• Compost kitchen food waste (egg shells are a step towards your 100 points) (Yes, you CAN compost if you live in an apartment!)

With a little planning and effort, potted containers are an easy and inexpensive way to dress up your outdoor space. Thoughtful anticipation can help you to be efficient with water conservation while enjoying your outdoor space. Tasting that first cherry tomato with chopped basil, balsamic & EVOO in your space, surrounded by plants… you’ll know in a second that any effort was worth your while!

Find Alison on her blog: www.greenwithrenvy.blogspot.com and follower her on Twitter @greenwithrenvy

With drought conditions and torrid weather punishing much of the country, we’re glad for a focus on water strategies this week. Today’s guest blogger lives in Jacksonville, Florida, where it’s, well, hot and humid:

It’s Automatic: Add a Rain Sensor to your Sprinkler System, by Anna Rabhan

In my home state of Florida, water is everywhere. The peninsula is surrounded by it, lakes and springs are among the state’s claims to fame, and Florida sits squarely on top of one of the major sources of fresh, clean water in the United States, the Floridan aquifer.

Waterscape w/ bird (in Anna's neighborhood??)

So you may be surprised that this soggy paradise suffers from many of the same water woes as the rest of the country – drought, wildfires and, because the aquifer is being drawn down faster than it can replenish itself, a dwindling supply of fresh water. In spite of those motivators and the nationwide trend toward xeriscaping and other water-saving techniques, we still use a huge amount of water on our lawns. And up to 50 percent of what we use is typically lost to wind, runoff and evaporation!

Practically Green offers a number of ways you can take action that are easy, effective and immediate. One of them is to add a rain sensor to your automatic sprinkler system. While automatic sprinkler systems have made our lives much easier (No more standing around for hours holding a hose!) sometimes it’s too easy to forget about them. One of my biggest pet peeves is passing sprinkler systems watering away during and after a downpour!

Rain sensor in its element

A rain sensor is a small device attached to your automatic irrigation system. The device is installed in an open area so that it can measure rainfall. The user sets it to between one-eighths and one inch and, once the rainfall level reaches that preset, the device interrupts power to the valves so that irrigation water isn’t wasted when rainfall has already saturated your lawn. Once the rain sensor dries to below the preset level, it returns power to the valves so that the automatic irrigation system can operate. There are also newer, smart technologies that can do much more.

Obviously, using a rain sensor saves fresh water. But there are other benefits. Using a sensor helps prevent runoff that can carry fertilizers, pesticides and other pollutants into waterways and groundwater. It saves the homeowner money by reducing water bills and wear on irrigation system components. It can also prevent the need for fungicides by reducing disease caused by overwatering, which, in turn, also saves money and a lot of aggravation.

The benefits of using a rain sensor on your automatic sprinkler system are so great that several states, cities and local governments have instituted laws, codes or statutes mandating their use. Florida’s reads, “Any person who operates an automatic landscape irrigation system shall properly install, maintain, and operate technology that inhibits or interrupts operation of the system during periods of sufficient moisture.” The existence of such requirements means that  rebates or tax credits may be available in your area for installing a rain sensor. HydroPoint, one of the higher-tech irrigation system manufacturers, has links that may be a research starting point on its website.

Rain sensors can be found online and in your local hardware supply store. It’s fairly easy but if you’re not comfortable doing the installation yourself, you may want to contact an irrigation specialist. Having a rain sensor on your automatic sprinkler system will make it so easy to live a little greener that you might find yourself forgetting all about irrigation. It’s a good idea to periodically check your system, though, to make sure the sensor and control unit are still working properly. Also, check all sprinkler heads as a watering cycle runs to make sure they are positioned correctly and aren’t broken.

Visit Practically Green’s action page to get matched to a sprinkler system contractor and to check out other water-related actions. Also, look for a green living consultant in your area who can help with the research and personalize a plan for you!

Anna Rabhan is a freelance writer, editor, educator and consultant. She writes a column about green issues as the Organic Adventurer and is a green home and living consultant. She enjoys taking her dog to the park, traveling, kayaking, photography and anything else that gets her close to nature.

It’s “Cross Off An Action” Summer Spruce Up Weekend!

This week’s Newsletter from CEO Susan Hunt Stevens:

Have you visited your Practically Green action plan lately? You know — that list of healthy green actions that you haven’t done yet, but you REALLY want to do. What a great weekend to pick something, anything that is going to reduce the toxins in your home, save energy (or water!), clear out that stuff piling in your closets, or add a touch of beautiful eco-design to your bathroom, front porch, or walls!

One of many rain barrels at gardeners.com

Here’s what I’m going to do (finally!): Install Rain Barrels

What are some of our “most popular” summer spruce up items?

1. A paint project: give new life to piece of furniture, fix a chipped wall, or that peeling porch.
By choosing a no-VOC, non-toxic paint for this project, like from our partner Mythic Paint, you get great colors, no nasty stuff in your air, and a whopping 75 points!

2. Spruce up that porch with a touch of renewable, sustainable design.
Vivaterra is one of my favorite eco-design sources and I saw this perfect back porch mat made from coconuts husks! How easy is this 10 point action!!

Learn more about Vivaterra from our blog interview with their founder.

3. Get an energy audit.
What? It’s 90 degrees out?! Yes, an energy audit isn’t just key to saving money on heat, but also keeping the cool air in and saving on electricity related to air conditioning.

Waiting for your audit? We added a new action about closing the shades to save energy!

4. Clean out the closet! Your trash is someone else’s treasure.
We all have that nagging closet filled with clothes, furniture, toys, and stuff we don’t use. Clean it out and donate it! To your neighbors via Freecycle, to a charity), or make some extra money on Craigslist or eBay. ReCrib is a new company especially for baby gear; check them out on our blog.

5. Plant a flower basket.
You may feel overwhelmed by the work associated with a garden, but it’s never too late to plant flowers! Want some great ideas, visit our friend Kerry’s section on About.com for inspiration.

Amazing Echinacea from White Flower Farm

Please let us know what you cross off your list! We’ll post your spruce-up photos on our Facebook page next week!

Best,

Susan

PS: We have more great summer spruce up ideas on our blog…

We love all ingenious ideas for reducing, reusing, and recycling Stuff*. Especially when it comes to baby gear, which tends to be carefully chosen, gifted in sweet beloved tears, pricey — and quickly outgrown!

Daniel and Michelle Lehmann decided to make a business out of it, and here’s their story. Join their reCrib.com community on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @reCrib.

Daniel, Michelle, and their family

* Practically Green suggestions:

• Buy antique or secondhand furniture and home goods
• Get something on Freecycle, instead of buying it
• Buy something used on eBay or Craig’s list

The reCrib Story, by Founder Daniel Lehmann

Picture this – strollers, cribs, changing tables, bouncy seats, excersaucers, swings, car seats, table and chairs, toddler beds, walkers, toys, toys and more toys: all in one NYC apartment that doesn’t seem to be growing. But two kids that are.

Yes, I’m talking about the fun world of baby and kids gear, which at some point, if you are a new parent, takes over your life.  Lots of it, lots of money, and a limited time for use.

My wife and I used to think of ourselves as design junkies (and still do) but our living room was transformed into a playroom before our eyes somehow.

It was a year ago and we were moving to a new apartment. Here was our chance to de-clutter. I brought our endless collection of kid stuff into our basement and noticed that every family’s storage area in the building was filled with more kid stuff. Stroller upon stroller, bike upon bike. I thought: I’m ending this cycle, and I marched upstairs to find the best site for baby and kids gear. Except that it didn’t exist. And so we set out to create it. A website for parents to buy and sell the best (and the best-designed) baby and kids gear. A place to recycle your kid stuff, regain your space, recoup your costs.

The baby and kid gear world has changed in many ways for the better. So much of it looks so good, is well-designed, with more and more of it green. Designers caught on to the fact that parents wanted to enjoy looking at this stuff that adorns their home and followed suit with beautiful pieces that are as coveted as the must-have hybrid car or designer shoe. That’s good for the eyes.  Not so good for the wallet. These items are now often as expensive as our grown-up furniture, wheels and toys.  The worst part is that you use it for MAYBE two years.

This life phase screams for recycling. At the low end of the spectrum, a bouncy seat is used for a few months; at the high end, a changing table is used for two years. That’s it. So you spend all this money, and poof, your kids are in preschool and no longer use it all.

With reCrib, we created a place where parents who want the best brands for their kids – as well as to be environmentally responsible – can meet like-minded parents. Soon after launch, there was much abuzz about reCrib on the mom and family blogs.  People were immediately into it, and we soon saw new postings every day, and we heard story after story about this or that easy and exciting sale.

It’s been so much fun starting a business with my wife and focusing on an idea we are passionate about — and even more fun seeing how happy it actually makes people who use it.  It feels good to know that something that meant so much to your family at one time, is now being happily used by another.  It’s just as rewarding to score a great bargain, a top brand for more than half the price. And it certainly feels good to know that you are doing a very simple yet smart thing for our planet.

www.recrib.com

“If I could snap my fingers and Vivaterra my whole house, I would,” says our Founder Susan Hunt Stevens — and we listen when Susan talks about design because 1) she’s completely redone her house, 2) she has a graduate degree in Sustainable Design, and 3) she is very very particular/thoughtful/thorough.

After all, Practically Green has twelve Home Design actions; the Healthy Home badge rewards you for completing any eight of them.

Pressed to name her favorite Vivaterra purchase, Susan picks the Lotus Flower Chandelier. Her dining table has three of these hanging overhead!

You can find out more about Vivaterra here. We decided to get in touch with the creative brain behind it, Bonnie Trust Dahan. Bonnie has written several lifestyle books including Living with the Seasons: Creating a Natural Home and Garden House, Bringing the Outdoors In. She’s a veteran of Banana Republic and Smith & Hawken, and she is passionate that “we do not have to sacrifice style for natural resources.” Her mantra: “Distinctive design that’s eco of course.”

The main thing is, you don’t buy something that’s disposable. And if you don’t need it any more, swap it. Put it on Craig’s list. Your trash is someone else’s treasure. As a last resort: donate it.

We asked Bonnie for three easy tips on how to revive your home this season.

“First: use vivid color. I don’t mean BIG. Accents are fine. It’s easy because vivid color works in every room: kitchen, bath, bedroom. For kitchen, bright plates and glassware. In the bath: change out your shower curtain. Look at this one made of an authentic spinnaker sailcloth! In the bedroom: Pick out a fresh toss pillow or coverlet. Just change the top of your bed! And please don’t neglect the utility closet! You can use color in even this ugliest room you can think of! Who would mind sweeping with this broom, or mopping with that bucket? See? Suddenly all that color makes you happy!”

Cheerful Chore Tools

Spinnaker sailcloth shower curtain

“Second, assuming you can, make the outdoors another room. Even if you live in a tiny apartment, you might have a fire escape: put a plant out there! This can be inspiring, and it will brighten your life. I encourage people to show personality, have fun.”

Fun? “Try some temple bells or a gong!”

A couple of Bonnie’s favorites that had us drooling:

But don't leave it out in the rain!!

“Very very chic teak chair, very oversized and comfy. It folds, it’s easy to move around, it can be left outdoors.”

One last concept: “Rotate your collections every season. By ‘collection’ I mean small things that are easy to put away. You might have a set of placemats and napkins you use for winter, in deep jewel tones… Switch them out for the warmer months! And please, please! Change the soap in your bathroom!”

A final indulgence, plant-dyed towels….

Botany pairs with beauty in these towels. Kusaki-zome, a Japanese technique that extracts pastel pigments from plants – chamomile, larkspur and olive leaves – creates an exquisite tonality of hues. Super-sized and dappled with slightly raised puffs, these color-safe, organic cotton Japanese originals offer extreme absorbency and sublime softness.

Join Vivaterra on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vivaterra and follow them on Twitter @vivaterra, sign up for the newsletter, and request the catalog. Perfect hammock reading.

It’s Summer Spruce-Up Week!

You might be overwhelmed re-doing your bedroom or cleaning out your closet…. Imagine sprucing up an entire ballpark!!

Scott Jenkins of the Seattle Mariners

That’s exactly what Scott Jenkins set out to do at the Seattle Mariners stadium, Safeco Field.

“I got here five years ago and we only recycled 12% of the trash. I said, we’ve gotta do better than that. Now it’s up over 80%!”

HOW did this happen? In a word: Compost. No surprise there…. after all, Compost Kitchen Food Waste is worth a whopping 100 points on Practically Green — and Use Compostable Partyware is another effective action.

“We looked at all the trash and we said, what if all of this were compostable? For Earth Day 2009, we said Let’s try zero-waste.”

Major League Options: Compost, Recycle, or Toss

Scott and his team worked with the concessionaire to get compostable service-ware: plates, utensils, straws, cups, even hot dog boats. They launched a kitchen compost program. “We repurposed our garbage cans and now we have 17 zero-waste stations and 500 compost containers! We’ve saved nearly one million pounds of compostable material from the landfill.”

Mariners Mascots "Kid Compost" and "Captain Plastic"

“We work with Cedar Grove Composting here in Seattle – we’re their favorite customer. On Earth Day this year we gave out bags of the compost bagged as Safeco Field Soil and the fans are pretty amazed: It’s not garbage any more!!”

Watch fans react as the Mariners handed out 5,000 bags of compost: http://www.king5.com/news/local/5000-Mariners-fans-leave-Safeco-Field-with-soil-120182309.html

Note: Cedar Grove’s website includes a zippy compost calculator: enter the dimensions of your garden and it tells you how many bags you’ll need!

“On the energy front: we took a look at our natural gas and electric bills, and we set a goal for 10% savings. I challenged my team, and in 6 months we’d saved $274,000. We’ve saved $1.2 million over a 4-year period. It’s ALL low-cost stuff like shutting equipment off when it’s not being used, using aerators on faucets, window-stripping the doors. Lots of this energy waste is invisible. It’s leaving the fridge doors open, doors ajar, lights on. And now we’ve invested in energy conservation: improved our HVAC system, lighting retrofits, and we refit urinals to low-flow.”

“Sports provides an exciting opportunity to change behavior because you’re reaching the public when they’re having fun at an outing,” Scott told us. “When I saw Practically Green I said BINGO! This is a great way to engage people.”

The Mariners are founding members of the Green Sports Alliance, a spanking new non-profit organization that hopes to influence all leagues, all sports.

Join the Mariners on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @mariners.

Our Founder/CEO Susan Hunt Stevens is a Mom. She’s also an expert on green living, energy, family environmental health, and so much more. When she talks, people listen, laugh — and they take notes.

Trust me on this one… Immediate example: note yesterday from the editor of New York Family:

Since hearing you at the Mommybites Summit, I decided that I’m going to be a great big cheerleader for Practically Green.

*  *  *  Well, thank you!  *  *  *

Every week Susan writes a special Newsletter brimming with do-able ideas and amazing facts — (She is SUCH a digger for facts! See the bit about unknowingly eating 488% of the recommended amount of mercury at dinner!)

Bottom line: the Practically Green Personalized Newsletter is a great reason to sign up! (And it is utterly free of charge.)

This week’s theme:

Top Five Healthy Summer Treats

I’m sharing my Newsletter here:

Hello, SARAH!

In our house, July and August are the months of watermelon, clam bakes, ice pops, salty chips, and lemonade. But if we’re not careful, we can also ingest all sorts of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), artificial food dyes and flavors, and even toxins. I found out that my tuna steak the other night may have exposed me to a whopping 488% of the EPA recommended amount of mercury exposure!

So to help navigate to healthy and green options, here is my personal Top 5 List of Summer Treats. Isn’t it great that you can even eat your way to higher points on Practically Green?

1. Fizzy Juices and Lemonades

Yes, I’m a fan of making my own seltzer, but I also love Izze Clementine and Pear!
Replace soda with fizzy all-natural juices or sodas (10 Points)
Make your own sparkling water (10 Points)

2. Yogurt Parfait
Mix in some organic yogurt, honey, berries and granola for a delicious parfait treat, free of hormones and antibiotics.
Buy organic yogurt regularly (10 Points)
Buy organic granola regularly (10 Points)

3. Icy pops
I am a fan of Whole Foods strawberry fruit bars, which recently won a taste test from a well-respected women’s magazine and are free of HCFS and food dyes.
Find out what food you buy regularly that contains artificial colors & flavors (10 Points)

Want to make your own? Here’s a great article from Inhabitot on best ways to do that.

4. Summer Seafood
We’re in New England and nothing feels more summery than a clam bake, lobster or fish and chips on the beach. Unfortunately, seafood, health and sustainability can often be at odds between overfishing and toxins. So learn more from our team of science and editorial experts–who just added an action that rewards you for choosing safe seafood. And you can find out how much mercury was in the last fish YOU ate.
Choose Safe Seafood (40 Points)

5. Summer Salads
Our CSA is in full force so we are eating tons of salads. My favorite is tomato, basil and mozzarella and the kids are loving just picking leaves straight from the garden. However, I get in a rut so was thrilled to stumble upon the New York Times Well Blog’s article about summer salads as a main dish.
Buy organic vegetables regularly (50 Points)

If this list doesn’t provide enough inspiration, our blog was full of ideas this week from amazing people. Here are just a couple:

Fresh Local Summer Eating with Family Dinner Chef Kirstin
Snacks & Picnics for Summer Moms

Happy Fourth of July weekend!

Best,

Susan

Practically Green, Inc., One Cambridge Center, 6th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02142