Compost Bins

One thing we’ve done to support recycling in our community, in addition to the can, plastic, glass and paper recycling done by our town is to compost our kitchen and office waste – coffee grounds, tea bags, fruit skins and seedless cores, peels, egg shells, shredded white paper – these all go into our compost bins. We constructed these bins using wooden pallets that may have otherwise gone into the landfill. A little chicken wire around the sides to keep varmints out and you have a use for waste and a source of great compost to add to your garden and landscape plants.

Three ingredients very important to composting are adequate moisture, good drainage and heat. Start your compost on bare earth to allow the worms to visit your bins and help aerate. Another aeration helper is to place a think layer of straw or twigs at the bottom. Water occasionally if it seems dry or allow the rain to fall on it. However, you do not want your compost pile to be soggy. Place a covering of plastic sheeting, trash bags or even a wood cover to keep it from getting soaked and to keep the heat in to help cook your compost pile.

Our compost station at our Virginia home. Our dog Tucker thinks composting is cool!
 

Rain Barrels

A rain barrel is a system to collect and store rainwater from your roof that would otherwise be lost to runoff and diverted to storm drains and streams. It is FREE water and can be used to water your plants, clean up after a day in the garden or wash off your garden tools. We used two 55-gallon plastic barrels and purchased DIY kits from Aquabarrel to construct our rain barrel system.

Gutterless Rain Barrel - a Drain Barrel - great new spin
on collecting water from Instructables.

Instructables is a great site that offers step-by-step instructions on how to do just about anything. We have listed a few green projects from their site that you might find interesting to try:

Make Your Own Energy Meter
Recycle Your Tshirt Into a Tote Bag
Make Your Own Paper Planter Card
Universal Solar Charger
Plant Markers from Mini-Blinds
Make Your Own Greenhouse from Recycled Materials
How To Build a Solar Panel
Build a Folding 15-Watt Solar Panel
Make An Adirondack Chair From a Shipping Pallet
Cardboard Chaise Lounge
Re-Use Your Extended Reach BIC Lighter
Barbeque Thai Chicken with beer bottle, can and hay
[ok, this one is pretty darned funny - had to include it]

Fun Instructables for the Kids

Make Fun Green Jewelry
Recycled Pizza Box Boomerang
Solar Boat Kit
Little Love Bug
Pop Bottle Snowman

Do you have your own green DIY projects you would like
to share on our website?

Contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to submit your photos and
description of your DIY project.

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