Barbara's blog

I hate to see anything go to waste.  I also hate to see my life cluttered up with useless crap.  After we had the exterior of our house redone in Certainteed Fiber Cement board, there was lots left over.  Lots and lots.  We found several small

Dishwashers vs hand washing is one of those debates that rages though the green community and you can find plenty of facts, research and evidence to support both sides.

Trouble is, that most people try to compare apples and (some un-specified fruit that proves the desired outcome) so we here at greenknowe.org set out to do our own first hand practical kitchen analysis.

Camamu Shampoo Bar 

Rosemary Nettle Bar

Many of you are already familiar with my on going battle with Tetra Pak.  Here is a new project for everyone.  I thought this would be a good project because I found very little in the way of recycled pencil boxes when looking for products for the eco school supply product list.  Most pencil boxes were small, kitsch and over priced.

You will need:

So being part of the riot4 austerity and just generally wanting to live a better, healthier life has led us to try and spend more time biking around.  Most of our local errands we accomplish on foot but what about errands that take us out of town but arnt so far that we need to take the car?  What about those intermediate distance shopping trips?  How to get the goods home?

First came incandescent bulbs, then CFLs now we are onto LEDs.  With this we have changed what sort of lighting fixture we look for in our home.

Windows, even double and triple pane are still one of the weakest parts of a building envelope.  A typical wall may be R13 while a good double pane window is only R-4.  Adding good insulation to your windows can greatly improve your over all insulation.

These instructions are for DIY insulating roman shades.

Happy Holidays 2010

This year we have held true to our principals of 2009 and exchanged just a few second hand gifts of things that were needed plus a few new toys for our son from the grandparents.  I ended up needing a few new things myself while we were traveling by train in the week leading up to our holiday so I put the empty packages under the tree so I could remember to be thankful for receiving the things I needed when I needed them.

This project has an aspect of do as I say (or would have done if I had planned better) not as I did.

What to do with the accursed Tetra Pak?