Going Green

The miracle of powerwashing
Fran
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
Several years ago I wanted to rent a powerwasher to clean the deck at the Media house before refinishing, but since the rental fee for two days was considerably more than half the cost of a new unit, I ended up buying one instead. It turned out to be a great investment. It cleaned that deck twice. Then I used it once on the front patio after moving to Friendship Road.
Reconnecting with nature: gardening at the White House
Fran
Friday, March 20th, 2009
The news broke this morning that the First Family is planting a First Garden.
One car, two full-time jobs
Paul
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

Becoming a one-car family may not seem like much to write about.  But it represents an intentional transition to a life style that is relatively rare for a two-income family. When our very-used 1987 Volvo died in the spring of 2007, we decided not to replace it but stay with Paul’s 2002 Ford Focus as the sole family car. There have been work-related changes for us beginning in 2009, but here is how things were at that time. We live in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Solar dryer in action
Fran
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
It's 26F at the moment, but it's sunny and there's a light breeze -- a perfect day to use my new solar dryer. Everything should be dry when we get back from our hike.
Farm Fresh Express in Lansdowne
Fran
Monday, January 26th, 2009

Farm Fresh Express in Lansdowne offers locally, organically, sustainably grown or raised food items. Customers order online on a weekly basis (the owners deliver) or visit the store Thursdays or Fridays 4:00 to 7:00 pm, or on Saturdays 8:30 am to 2:00 pm.

A clothesline
Fran
Thursday, January 15th, 2009

When we were children, clothes were hung on the line to dry, and sometimes instead on a wooden rack. Automatic dryers were introduced as conveniences, but over time they have become viewed as necessities of modern life. What a shame. Dryers are expensive to operate, increase the temperature in the house, and stress fabrics, decreasing the useful life of clothes. What's more, clothes from the line smell like sunshine, something you can't fake with a detergent or fabric softener.

Haverford's single-stream recycling
Fran
Thursday, January 1st, 2009

Haverford Township begins single-stream recycling with the new year. Details are on the Township website. All plastics #1 through #7 are accepted; Earth911 has a list of which plastics are of which type.

Thursday is recycling day in our neighborhood. The only exception in 2009 is Thanksgiving Day. There's no recycling that week, but regular trash pick up will be on Monday.

Gardening like it's 2009
Fran
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

In 2007 we had our first experience in community gardening, with a plot at Swarthmore, which turned out to be fairly successful, overall.

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