Green As You Can Be

There’s not been much work here in the mountains for the past few weeks so my husband started a new project. He has wanted a bar down by the pool and I told him he could start on it IF he used recycled materials. He was more resourceful than I thought. He helped his friend Mike take down some old tin roofing and ask if he could take it home. (free) Next he did a screening job at Pat and Lena’s and they had some old siding sitting around. He offered to take it off their hands. (free) He had some 2×4’s he had reclaimed from our workshop. (former owners had built a lot of storage shelves we didn’t need) (free) He had been wanting a new nail gun to make the work go faster but that wasn’t in the budget yet so he traded a work jacket his friend Thomas had given him (free) for a used nail gun from his friend Larry. (free)  The only thing he had to buy was a few 2×6’s.

He’s not done yet but he is on the right track. He’s already trying out names for it.  So far it’s the “Smelly Cod” “One Hand Jax” and “Rio Bravo”

Jax

Most of you have already sent out your cards but there are still a few folks like me that put off everything to the last second. For those of you who wait…go green. There are lots of cards out on the market that are made from recycled paper but personally, I think making your own would be soooo green.

Re-use your old cards by cutting off the front of the card into smaller pieces to use as gift tags.

You can also re-use an old card by cutting off the front of the card and pasting it to a blank, folded piece of recyclable cardstock.

Make this a family project. Gather all the papers, glue and other odds and ends. Set out a plate of yummy Christmas cookies, make some hot cocoa and create a new Holiday tradition.

Jax

As I was thinking about what all I had to be thankful about this year, I thought about just how lucky we are to be able to choose “green” products. Never before have there been so many different choices.

You can have Organic turkeys or Tofurky, fresh organic veggies and if you are really lucky like my friend Tipper, you can serve food right from your garden.

Instead of buying a center piece for the table, decorate with naturals from your yard. When the kids were small, I would send them out to pick a centerpiece.  Or you could purchase small gourds from your local farmers market. They could be composted later. (save the seeds to grow your own next year)

I read somewhere that you should cook only what you intend to eat at that meal but for some reason, I can’t do that. I need Thanksgiving leftovers.  We’re going to my son’s for dinner but I’m taking re-usable containers to bring home some leftovers.

Remember to compost table scraps.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Take time to give thanks for all the wonderful things in our lives, especially our families.

Jax

A couple of weeks ago I was driving thru a parking lot in town and came upon an unusual site. I had to stop and take a picture. This “home” had it all including wheels to take them on to new sights. I wish I could have met the person or persons inside. I’ll bet they have wonderful stories about there little home. Jax

When I craft, I never have everything I need in one place. Makes me so crazy. I discovered a cool way to recycle, reuse and be organized. I just put everything I need for a project in a cardboard drink carrier and off I go. One more thing saved from the landfill.

Jax

Happy Halloween !!!

A lot of you’all have made jack ‘o lanterns for Halloween night. Don’t let them go to waste. If you live in a rural area, remember deer really like pumpkin. If you don’t, break it into smaller pieces and put it in your compost heap.

Hope you remembered to save some seeds from when you carved it out. Plant them next year.

I didn’t carve mine so I’m going to cut it up, save some seeds and feed the deer.

Jax

Jackie talks with Mary Jo Dyre, the director of The Learning Center a “green” school in Murphy, NC. Mary Jo shows off her school and her students learning how to be green by using a hands on approach.

Click on “Watch Our Videos” in the side bar to see all our shows.

Cooler weather has come to the mountains. Hopefully, short lived.  In the mean time, it’s cold. We are like most folks here and do not want to turn on the expensive heat. We have a wood burning stove that I love. It does a great job but it just didn’t seem to get the heat out beyond the 6 foot range. I had a great idea of adding a small fan behind it to push the heat out into the living space. It worked. We’ve been toasty warm the last few days. Using the fan saves more energy than turning on the big heating units.

During all the rain we had this past summer, a neighbor lost a tree (right across our drive) The tree had been dead a long time so we have chopped it up and now have a fair amount of free firewood.  We really need to spend a day getting all the dead wood off our land. We have 6 acres littered with fallen trees. Lots to do !!

Jax

Sometime being green is so easy you don’t realize that you are. I have been caught up in the Fall craft season here in Western North Carolina. All I have time to do is work on crafts and hope I have enough for the next show. I made these cute little pumpkins that have sold REALLY well this year. As I was sitting out in the warm Fall sun, painting yet another 50 pumpkins, my mind was searching for some green projects to write about. I looked at what I was doing and realized I was doing one. I had painted scrap lumber from other projects, I was using half of a soda blottle to keep my brush water in, I was using the cap of said bottle to put the paint in. The ribbon and raffia was from some craft materials someone had given me. The stems of the pumpkins were from branches that had fallen on our property. How much more green could I be. (yes, I recycled the bottle after I was done with it)

Jax

In our latest video Ford Hall owner of Heirloom Timber Framing, Inc. in Brasstown, NC demonstrates how to put together a timber frame home. Also Jackie gives us an update on the “greening” of her home. Click on “Watch Our Videos” in the sidebar.