Um, where has summer gone?? How is it that the beginning of the school year is only 2 weeks away? (my kids are starting a week before labor day this year - outrageous!) Just thought I'd fill you in on a few random things since I clearly won't have time to write a separate post on each.
The Garden: Remember when I was lamenting my pest-ridden garden? Well, I'm happy to say that my broccoli is flourishing and I've got a bumper crop of basil!! But have you seen the price of pine nuts lately? I think I'll be using walnuts in my pesto next time. How is your garden growing?
The CSA: Joy of joys - we got sweet corn in our CSA yesterday!! A huge wind storm damaged the corn crop at our CSA farm in Wisconsin and I wasn't sure if we would be getting any. It's kind of wild having a vested interest in the well-being of a farm that I have never even visited (yet). Each week we get an update on what's coming in the box and what's going on at the farm. This week we learned about various ailments that have hit the vegetables: purple leaf blotch that causes onions to go rotten and alterneria blight that has hit the tomatoes. Right now I'm feeling very thankful to the farmers who grow my organic vegetables and I'm more than happy to take on my (very little) part of the risk.
The Green Moms Carnival: I'm hosting this month and the subject is back-to-school!! Do you have any ideas to share about eco-friendly ways to head back to school? Feel free to contact me and submit a post for the carnival -I'd love to hear from some new voices! It's going live on Monday, August 23rd.
(Speaking of back-to-school, be sure to check back here next Monday for a review and giveaway of the Healthy Snacks To Go eBook from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship. It's a back-to-school must!)
The House: We are gearing up for a major remodel of our 100+ year old house. I almost don't even want to tell you about it because it involves lead paint and some eco/financial trade-offs. Thankfully the lead paint will be gone soon and the plan is to re-side our house in eco-friendly Hardie board. We'll be adding a lot of insulation too. Meanwhile, does anyone have a recommendation for a good vacuum with a Hepa filter?
On another note, I did a radon test in our basement awhile back and it came back a bit above normal. They suggested doing a 3 month test so I did. Just got the results back and they came back normal! Big sigh of relief. (FYI - you can order test kits online and they are super easy to use)
That's all for now! See you next week.
I love my Miele. I only have the Neptune, but they have higher models with HEPA. They are pricey, I'll warn you, but the website states that they design products to last 20 years. Mine works great on my laminate, is quieter than most vacs and I know I will have it when my kiddo goes to college. That's part of what makes them green - not having to buy a new vac every 5 years is a good thing! They also have bags, but even with my mountains of sand (think beach sand without the ocean) I only go through one a month or so. You can order them on Amazon, too. I went all the way into the city to buy it, but I should have just bought it on line. Same difference. Hope that this helps!
Posted by: genie | August 18, 2010 at 05:16 PM