If you’re struggling to find green ways to keep your property looking nice, or just looking for new ideas to expand your eco-landscaping repertoire, the Tri-County Carolina Yard Experience might be the perfect event for you (March 13, 9-2pm, Charleston Exchange Park) Tri-County Carolina Yard Experience is based on the Carolina Yards & Neighborhoods program, [...]

Like a lot of you, we try to buy local seasonal food as often as possible. Sometimes when cruising the Farmers Market or Whole Foods, it’s hard to tell what is actually seasonal AND local. And then there’s the problem of what to do with certain items, as any participant in the Ambrose CSA will [...]

November is a great time for composting – the sudden influx of pumpkins and leaves will make your backyard pile a happy place. If you’ve been wanting to start a compost pile, now is definitely the time. It’s like you can actually take Fall and stuff it in your pile! Take those pumpkins, break them [...]

Thank goodness for the wonderful stores and markets where I am able to conveniently purchase food for myself and my family. I am being sincere. Thank you Whole Foods, thank you Harris Teeter, thank you Mt. Pleasant Farmer’s Market, thank you CSA, the Norman’s really need you. Without you, we would starve, as my bleak [...]

Eating locally produced food is a key ingredient to a sustainable future. The authors of Plenty learned that while eating only food from local farmers can be rewarding and delicious, it was also exstremely difficult in our world of Magellean-like meals.  Lowcountry Local First advocates for all local businesses, and knows that true sustainabilty requires all [...]

*** EDIT: Down to Earth has closed *** Most artificial Christmas trees are full of bad things like PVC, so getting a real tree might be the greener option. But if you want to take it up a notch this year, Down to Earth is offering a Living Christmas Tree Program that will let your [...]

If you’re already composting, then you know this is the most bountiful time of year for your pile – the greens and browns are everywhere, especially if you carved pumpkins. If you don’t have a compost pile, then think about starting one – this is the best time! Composting is all about managing the balance [...]

My goal to go emissions-free in my yard was put on hold this summer when I decided not to purchase that reel mower I had my eye on. I did, however, go through with my plans to seek an alternative to my loud, gas-fueled weed eater. It’s now August, so I’m calling it – my [...]

A couple months ago, we asked our readers how they were buying local food. With oil prices at an all-time-high, cooking with locally grown food can greatly reduce your impact on the environment (and save some serious cash too!) We had 99 respondents at the time of this writing, and over 40% were shopping at [...]

Green, green, green, green…Spring is here, and everything is green. I love it, but my compost pile likes brown too. That’s why I took the opportunity after last week’s hail storm to rake up all the green leaves that were in my yard. But instead of putting them directly into the pile, I am letting [...]

Every day my boys and I take notice of the trees and flowers blooming in our yard. This season, we are also watching vegetables bloom and grow in our backyard. The reasons for adding a vegetable garden seemed only natural, and exciting, to us. Chad and I are avid gardeners. We truly enjoy planting perennials, [...]

Two weeks ago, I went out with the boys to turn the compost pile we started last fall. As soon as I flipped the first forkful, a haze wafted into the air. At first I thought it was bugs, but then I realized what was going on: we had steam! This is good news, and [...]

We’ve started planting some new flowers in our gardens, so I’ve noticed a buildup of empty plastic plant containers in the garage. Because these containers are typically make from non-recyclable plastics (#4, #5, or #6), most folks just toss them into the trash. But this year we can help you make a change! Last June, [...]

I’ve been slowly raking the live oak leaves as they fall, because I know my compost pile won’t see a bounty of browns like this until later this year. Having Spring-molting trees like live oaks gives Lowcountry composters like us a definite advantage, making it easier to maintain the proper chemical balance while our garden [...]

In my composting update last week, I mentioned that Jen has been bringing home bags of used coffee grounds from our local Starbucks. On Friday, five more bags arrived. Heavy moist bags of expired grounds might gross some people out, but the inner-composter in me knew this would be a windfall to the pile. Coffee [...]

We’re now into February, and the compost pile I started last fall is really coming into it’s own. Here’s a quick update. The pile is about 2-feet deep now. And except for the edges, it has an even consistency throughout. Jen has started bringing home used Starbucks coffee grounds from the Longpoint Road location. They [...]

Turning landfill-bound kitchen waste into rich gardening soil is a very sustainable practice, even in tiny suburban-sized doses. I love the idea of using free homemade soil to enrich the garden plot I’m using to grow some summer veggies, all while learning loads about biology, chemistry, and patience. Composting is a green activity that’s a [...]

Well, things have been going according to plan over at the Norman Family Compost Pile. It’s been a great experiment, and I’ve been getting advice from all over the place. And since sharing is what this blog is all about, here are some juicy tidbits: I need to water the pile more. It’s so dry [...]

The other day I was wandering around the yard with my plastic watering can instead of my hose. I’ve been doing this to conserve water, where as before I would have just been spraying down everything as if I was trying to save the Towering Inferno. When I got back to the garage, I set [...]

Jen was about to pitch the pumpkins when I yelled, “Wait! We’ve got a compost pile now.” I really had no idea if you could add pumpkins to compost, but I had sent them to the landfill every year in the past…enough was enough. A quick Google search shows tons of pages urging readers to [...]