greening my way

i have a google reader which by the way i think the most exciting thing that happen since google was invented. ( that's just me) i love apartment therapy. i have the book and i subscribe to their newsletter and to their articles. 

i love apartment therapy green. they give us greener ways to help our precious mother earth.

here's a few things i have adapted in greening my world:

low flow shower heads - installing these plus limiting my shower time into 10 minutes/shower will save hundred of gallons of water per year.

coffee grounds - i love brewing  my own coffee and i used to dump it into the trash, now i dumped it outside in my garden to become a fertilizer

home baked bread/rolls - i was fascinated with the no knead bread of mark bittman but the thing is i am not a fan of crispy on the outside chewy on the inside bread, i am more of a soft bread/roll kind of person. nevertheless, i try to bake my own bread/rolls during my days off.

cooking at home - being a filipino we always cook at home, our moms will do the grocery/market shopping and will cook us our all time favorite meals. living alone will tell me that i will save more if i buy combo meals but most of the time i miss my mom's unique way of cooking. so here i am trying to cook  the best i can. more nutritious and frugal at the same time.

planting vegetables - last spring i planted a summer squash, it bore 6 squash. i cooked one and gave away the 5.  i planted it on the wrong side of the garden it climbed on one of the roses so i have to take it out. i did reserved the seeds from the one that i cooked so i will plant it again near the retaining wall. i have a tomato that has 4 fruits now and a lot of blossoms, i can see marinara sauce in the future. my lemon tree is bearing three fruits and steadily growing.

my future plans of greening includes:

a rain barrel - california doesn't have a lot of rain so i really need water during summer to water my edible garden.

a compost - this is really hard for me because i can't stand it's smell but i will do it to decrease my carbon footprint.

install a whole house fan - having these will decrease my consumption of air condition unit by 50% during summer time.

do xeriscaping on my lawn  - this needs a lot of research and there's money involved so i have to study it before pursuing it.