Practical information for consumers on going green.
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Monday, May 12, 2003
Artful Recreations #2
On May 2-3, the Eco-Cycle/Broomfield Recycling Center had its second annual recycled art gala and sale, called Artful ReCreations. The gala and auction were held at the Renaissance Suites Hotel this year, which was great fun, and the sale was held at The Village at FlatIron Crossing, both of which are located in Broomfield, Colorado, halfway between Boulder and Denver.
Some of my favorite items at the gala and auction were a purse crocheted from VHS tapes, a cheese board made from an old wine bottle that was heated and then flattened in a kiln (www.patsfunkyart.com), a poster from the first annual Artful Recreations show in 2002 that was framed with old bicycle tires (www.allterrainframes.com), and wall hangings made from old dresses.
I must get to work now, but I'll write more about the sale in later blogs.
posted by Beth at 9:37 AM
bapartin@yahoo.com
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Spring Storms and Indecision
Last night our cottonwood was trashed by a late spring snowstorm. I had just made an appointment the day before to have Eco-Lawn come out and fertilize the poor thing. Now I may just cut it down.
I've made up my mind not to replace my entire back lawn with buffalograss this year. By the time I added up $750 for the turf and $400 for the delivery and installation (not to mention the cost of getting rid of the old lawn), it seemed far too extravagant. Plus, just yesterday I went to the Denver Botanic Gardens' plant sale and was entranced by the way they mixed grasses and groundcovers in one area of the gardens (see www.botanicgardens.org). This year, I'm going to focus on getting rid of the old wood-enclosed garden beds and installing new (smaller) ones on the other side of the yard. Then I plan to develop innovative ways to reduce my huge, oddly shaped lawn.
Besides getting ideas from visiting Botanic Gardens, I also was inspired by an article in Environmental Defense's May-June 2003 newsletter. For those of you unfamiliar with that organization, it was founded in 1967 to ban DDT in the United States, which it accomplished in 1972. (Go to www.environmentaldefense.org.) I like this organization because it concentrates on practical environmental solutions.
The article in question was subtitled "Our Suburban Scribe (like me!) Cultivates His Own Garden." It was full of ideas for feeding birds naturally (for example, growing sunflowers instead of putting sunflower seeds in feeders) and for developing a butterfly garden. But I think the most important message was the last heading in the article: "Caution: Not everything works." Maybe, just maybe, if Americans got over the idea that their yards had to be perfect, they would stop using so many chemicals on them. That would improve water quality.
For more information on creating backyard wildlife habitat, go to the Natural Resources Conservation Page (www.nrcs.usda.gov/feature/backyard/WildHab.html).
posted by Beth at 3:43 PM
bapartin@yahoo.com
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