What to do with mint

Our Mint Eradicator
This past summer I havent spent much time in my garden. I was out of the country for work several times, a family member passed away, and I had a big project that caused any number of late nights.

In the mean time, my aquaponic garden grew like gangbusters. Unfortunately, I let a friend give me some mint. Shes a kind-hearted soul who hates to let any living thing die.

Luckily for me, my daughter acquired a rabbit this fall named Silver. Hes a chinchilla colored rex buck (for those of you who know rabbit terms). Luckily for me, Silver loves mint. So I can pull it out in big handfuls and hell happily munch it down. We have enough mint from this past summer to keep Silver happy for quite a long time yet to come.

My last post was about making emergency lights for Hurricane Sandy. Luckily, our power didnt go out for long and the storm passed us by. I had a chance to spend a long weekend up in New York helping clean up homes in Queens, which was hit particularly hard by the storm.

Hope you have a great holiday season! Ill be back posting about aquaponics again in the new year. Greenhouses, solar heaters, and more!

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My Front Porch Makeover for Under 100 with Curtains!

 

 

We moved into our house a little over three years ago, and here is what the front porch looked like until just recently:

 

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Since we rarely use our front door, updating it was not high on my list of priorities.  I would think of it only when had new visitors knock on our front door, and regretfully wish it looked nicer. 

 

I finally forced myself to focus on updating the porch, and little by little, I was able to make it over for less than $100. 

 

1.  Front Porch Skirt $25.00

 

The porch looked more like a deck to me, and you could see all the way underneath it from the road.  We bought some deck boards, cut them, and screwed them in around our porch to give it a more homey look. 

 

 

 

2.  Paint & Stain ($40.00)

 

The least fun part of this whole project was prepping the porch for new paint and stain.  I recruited our two oldest daughters to help me scrape as much of the old paint off of the porch railings and floor.  I bought a very dark resurfacing stain called Behr DeckOver for the porch skirt and floor, and a white exterior paint for the railings. 

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I also painted our front door in a red oil-based paint.  Let me tell you, that was a MESS.   But it turned out better than I expected.  This picture doesnt do the color or sheen justice.  Id do it again if I had to, but beware, oil paints are messy!

 

 

3.  Curtains and Rods ($30) 

 

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My favorite part of this whole project was adding curtains to our porch.  Because I was on a budget for this project, I knew I would have to make my own curtains.  I even found an idea on Pinterest how to make my own curtain rods with eye hooks and electrical conduit.

  

I got really lucky and found four white panel curtains at a local resale shop.  Then, I found four sheer panels to sew to the bottom of the solid panels to get the length I was looking for.  All of the curtains and materials to make the rods cost right around $30.

 

 

Im really happy with how the porch turned out, and Im not ashamed anymore when visitors use our front door!

 

If youd like, please take a minute to watch my video below to see just how it all came together.

 

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This post was shared at:  Homestead Barn Hop, Simple Lives Thursday, Simple Saturdays Blog Hop, Front Porch Friday, Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop, HomeAcre Hop, Backyard Farming Connection Hop, Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop

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My new Green car

Youre probably looking at this picture and wondering how an old 1999 Ford Escort is a "green" car. Let me explain. Ive been in the market for a new-to-me car and spent a fair amount of time doing market research on the new cars on the market these days.

I particularly love the Fiat 500 because its cute and reminds me of the two years I spent in Italy in the 1980s. The minimum advertised price for one of these is $15,500 and it gets 30/37 MPG with premium fuel. I even kow all the old Italian songs about the 500 or "cinque cento."

The engineer in me loves the Toyota Prius, starting at about $24,000 and getting 51/48 MPG. Some family members have Priuses, so Ive had a chance to drive them and check out the features (video showing reversing, keyless entry, trip computer plus GPS). Prius is definitely a nice car.

Ive really liked the smart car since the Smart Fortwo came out in the US in 2008 (starting at $12,500 and getting 34/38 MPG). Alas, my husband requires we have cars that can fit the family, so he wants a car with four seats.

Harrumph.

In a few months the first all-electric version of the Smart Fortwo will be available for individual consumers. The cars have a range of almost 85 miles, based on data from the Car2Go carsharing service, which has been using the Smart Fortwo vehicles in their fleets since November 2011. In fact I got myself an account with the Car2Go service in the city where I work. Unfortunately, I live outside the city limits, so the carsharing idea doesnt meet my commuting requirements.

So why buy an old car, when all these new cars are so awesome and "green?" Though a new car saves any amount of gas money and emissions for the owner, theres always the fuel, water, and emissions incurred in creating the car in the first place. In 2010 Mike Berners-Lee and Duncan Clark at The Guardian said it takes about 17,000 metric tons of CO2 to produce a new car. By comparison, the US EPA estimates the average passenger vehicle produces 5,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.

So if I buy an older car and drive it for 3 1/2 years, its the same CO2 impact as purchasing a new car and leaving it in the garage for 3 1/2 years. Itd take a powerfully fuel-efficient vehicle to get me a ROI in less than, say, 10 years.

The 1999 Ford Escort I just bought has less than 65,000 miles on her. She could stand getting aligned and no doubt needs a tune up. But she cost me about $3000 and this year/make/model routinely gets ~30 MPG based on actual customer results (based on 50+ fill-ups). It would take a really, really long time before I could earn a return on investment for any of these new green cars in terms of either money or CO2 emissions relative to this old but new-to-me vehicle.

There are other perks. My insurance rates will be lower, as well as my local car taxes. Repairs will be less expensive when required, and this car has the old-fashioned keys that can be copied at the store for less than $2.00.

And you know the really funny thing? The car, itself, is actually painted green. You cant get more "green" than that!

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