A short Down and Dirty tip on how to make your freezer more efficient, save energy and plan for natural disasters….all by doing one simple thing. And as we enter hurricane and tornado season, I think this tip is pretty timely as well.
Well, summer arrived ahead of schedule and with a vengeance! We broke a record today here in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. 98 degrees. Hasn’t been that hot on this day since 1899! And we’re going to grow gills if it stays this humid for the rest of the summer. We wait until the candles melt in the house before we turn on the A/C but we finally broke down and turned it on. The water dripping out of the condensation pipe inspired this video. I hope you enjoy!
Its raining in the southeast and when it does, we gets lots of hits from people looking for information on how to buy rain barrels I decided to do a short post so that the information is easy to access. If you live in the Charlotte NC metro area, there are two easy ways to order rain barrels in April. In Charlotte, order your rain barrels through Mecklenburg Soil and Water Conservation District but hurry, deadline to order is April 7. If you miss that deadline and live near Matthews, Habitat and Wildlife Keepers (HAWK) and the Town of Matthews have teamed up to sell the same rain barrels at the same price as the county. Send an email to HAWKncwf@gmail.com to order yours today, deadline April 15. And if you don’t live close enough to the Charlotte area to take advantage of these sales, contact your local county extension office and ask where you can get a rain barrel .
Here in the drought stricken Piedmont Area of North Carolina, its raining! And if you live in the Charlotte/Matthews, NC areas, you can order a rain barrel now for pickup at the Matthews Earth Day Festival on April 26 10a-2pm. 60 gallon rain barrels (like the one shown in the video) are $85 and the 80 gallons are $100. If you would like to order your rain barrel and start saving water, send an email to HAWKNCWF@gmail.com with your name, address, phone and indicating how many and what size rain barrels you want. And then I’ll look forward to meeting you at the Earth Day Festival on April 26th.
Over the last couple of days here in the drought ravaged Southeast, we have been experiencing a rare occurrence……RAIN! And fortunately, its the best kind of rain: a nice, gentle rain that is soaking into the ground versus a “gully washer” that runs off before the plants have a chance to take a drink. Its also a great reminder to install a rain barrel to keep some of the water for use later on when we are back in a dry spell. Mecklenburg County’s annual rain barrel sale will be January 26th, so I hope you will consider buying one for your garden. Deadline for ordering is January 14, 2008. And in case you haven’t seen our video and how to install a rain barrel, here it is again!
We’ve uploaded a new video on installing a rain barrel. With the drought we are experiencing in the Southeast, its important to save every drop of rain we are lucky to get. Special credit to Lauri Shubert of Lake City, Florida, for risking malaria and West Nile Virus in getting the mosquito photo used in the video. Great job, Lauri! Ah, what friends will do for each other………
"In Spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." --Margaret Atwood.
I believe we are losing our relationship with nature and with it, the understanding that how we live impacts the world around us. This blog will explore ways to reconnect to nature: Gardening with native plants, creating a haven for wildlife in your backyard, tips on living green and fun ways to experience our abundant natural resources. Its time to get outside! I smell like dirt, do you?
Smell Like Dirt 