Author Archive | Jennie Lyon

Be More Self-Sustainable by Creating a Vegetable Garden

March 11, 2020 0

Imagine being able to harvest over half a ton of beautiful vegetables from a garden that is only 20-foot-long. Yields like this are far easier than you think to achieve and the secret lies within the strategy you use. If you want to make sure that you get the best result out of your garden, then take a look below.

Plant in Raised Beds

Expert gardeners all agree that it’s super important to build up the soil. If you are able to have a deep and organically rich soil then this will encourage the growth of extensive roots. These roots then have a higher chance of being able to reach a lot more water and nutrients. The vegetables that you can then harvest will be extra tasty and way more productive. If you want to be able to take advantage of this then you need to make sure that you have some raised beds. Raised beds are able to yield up to four times more produce when compared to plants that are in spaced rows, not to mention that you have way more room to grow them as well. When you do have a raised bed, you will also find that they can save you a lot of time. Your plants will grow much closer together and this will crowd out any competing weeds. That means more produce for less time! If you are wondering what you are going to do with all of your extra vegetables then why not grow tomatoes and make this sugar free tomato sauce recipe? You can also plan out a home-grown thanksgiving dinner if you start early enough too.

Round out the Soil

The shape of your beds can make a huge difference. If you want to make more room, then try and gently round off the top of your soil so that it makes an arc. A rounded bed that is just 5 feet wide then becomes 6 feet wide. This might not seem like a lot but when you do it across all of your beds, you will soon find that it makes a huge difference. You can expect to gain around 20% more space when you do this, and if you want some plants that are good to sow on the edges then simply focus on spinach, lettuce and other greens.

Pay Attention to the Arrangement of your Crops

If you want to get the maximum yield from every bed that you have then you need to pay attention to how your plants are arranged. Try and avoid planting in a square pattern or even in rows. Instead, try and stagger your plants by arranging in triangles instead. If you do this then you may find that you can plant up to 10% more plants in each bed. Be careful though because you don’t want to pack your plants too tightly. If you do, then you will compromise the yield. If you crowd too tightly then this will also stress your plants out, making them way more susceptible to disease.

Grow Climbing Plants

It doesn’t matter how small your garden is because you can grow way more if you choose to grow vertically. Grow-hungry crops include peas, tomatoes, melons, squash and pole beans. Growing vegetables vertically will save you a lot of time because it makes maintenance way easier too.

Think of the Planet For Your Next Celebration

March 10, 2020 0

When it comes to celebrating, it’s tempting to throw everything you can into it and make it an event to remember. You want your guests to talk about it for years to come, and the only way to make this possible is to go all out.

However, going big, whatever the event can have a disastrous effect on the environment. From the harmful consequences of regular air travel to the amount of leftover waste you can get from big family dinners once, twice, thrice, or even more every year, these occasions can seriously harm the world we live in.

Air Travel

Jumping on a plane to celebrate an engagement, honeymoon, or just because you feel like a vacation seems like a great idea at the time, and if everyone’s doing it, then why shouldn’t you? Well, if you are conscious about air pollution, you’d understand why more and more earth-conscious folk are abandoning air travel.

While it’s true that you should never settle for less when it comes to engagement rings, you don’t need to go all out for a big proposal, and this is doubly so if you’re planning a destination wedding. Bigger is not always better—the more intimate, the more memorable and unique.

It’s always wonderful to celebrate anything by catching the next flight out there; no one is disputing that, but with a more substantial focus on the environment than ever before, it’s useful to understand that you don’t need to jet-set around the world to prove your love.

Car and Emissions

The same goes for car travel and the emissions that they will cause. Air pollution caused by exhaust fumes from thousands of cars on the road every year is astronomical, and this is why, rather than renting a car for your next celebration, maybe suck it up and embrace public transport, whether you go abroad or stay at home.

If you are seeking solutions to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle that is better for the environment, abandoning your car for the bus or even a train (especially if it’s electric-powered), is a fantastic first step to take. You can still see everything you want for your celebration, whether that’s a birthday or treating the family to a Christmas adventure. Nevertheless, you will need to make sure you know the timetables before embarking anywhere.

Food Waste

Who doesn’t enjoy getting the family together for the big holidays throughout the year? It’s a great chance to bond and reconnect, especially if you haven’t seen certain relatives in a while.

However, with a lot of guests means there will always be food leftover, and this means this food will go to waste, especially if it is contaminated with sauce and other food. You can, however, take steps to minimize this with smaller portions and a more modest meal. It may take some getting used to, but it will be better for the planet overall.

Celebrating More Consciously

We’ve been conditioned to believe that if something is not a huge event, then it doesn’t matter at all, and while there is nothing wrong with celebrating, it’s vital to realize just how much is too much. Whether you’re thinking of tying the knot, taking a vacation, or bringing everyone together for the holidays, it’s worth considering how this will impact the planet before setting anything in stone.

How You Can Make Your Coffee Use More Sustainable

February 25, 2020 0

Coffee is an ancient art. In the 16th century, it was being grown in places like Persia, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey. As far back as the 1600s, iced coffee and cold brew were being made in Japan; by the 1800s, Algeria also produced iced coffee and cold brew. In the 17th century, coffee finally made its way to Europe as well.

These days, coffee is everywhere and comes in many forms. But that is part of the problem. In modern times, we’ve become more aware of the impact of our disposable coffee cups, as well as the impact of certain planting and harvesting techniques for the coffee itself.

For those with an eye for sustainability, here are six tips to help make your morning coffee more environmentally-friendly.

1. Be Picky

Consider shaking up your routine by looking into coffee alternatives. Did you know 35% of people miss discovering a business because they don’t see their sign? It’s sort of the same with coffee. We can miss alternatives or more sustainable options simply because we’re not reading labels carefully.

Next time you are at the grocery store to buy coffee, take an extra minute to read the signs right before you. A lot of producers will include labels that indicate their coffee is produced more sustainably.

Look for indicative phrases like fair trade, rainforest alliance, organic, and bird-friendly. These are all certifications based on different criteria. For example, fair trade coffee tries to ensure growers and producers are treated fairly and helps protect land and waterways near where the coffee is grown. Decide what is important to you and find the labels that match that.

2. Find Local Sources

If you can get your coffee locally, that is always going to be a big step towards sustainability. The more your coffee has to travel to get to you, the more pollution and waste is involved in producing it.

Depending on where you live, you may be able to find local growers, independent farms, and regional roasters who can make you the perfect cup. As a bonus, you’ll be helping out a local small business.

3. Make Your Own At Home

Going out for coffee is always going to produce more waste than brewing at home, even if you’re buying coffee from a small local cafe. Brewing your own coffee at home is one of the best ways to reduce waste and it should save you some money too.

When making your own coffee at home, stay away from disposable, one-time-use cups. Instead, use a fair trade brew that you can scoop out of a bag. Those one-time-use cups are convenient, but incredibly wasteful.

And while you’re making coffee at home, use a mug! Invest in a great coffee mug that you can use every morning. By doing this, you will not only be reducing the waste from the coffee, but also from the disposable cups you tend to get at coffee shops.

4. Compost the Waste

One last tip for brewing at home: Compost. Tea leaves and coffee grounds are excellent compost. Coffee is actually a superb fertilizer because of the nitrogen content.

By composting leaves and grounds, you will keep waste out of landfills. You can even spread used coffee grounds directly on your garden if you don’t have a way to compost.

5. Reuse Your Filter

While you’re making your coffee at home, find ways to minimize your waste. You can not only reuse your mug and avoid single-use cups, but you can also get a reusable filter to cut down on wasteful paper filters.

Those paper filters aren’t just bad because they fill up landfills; they also sometimes contain things like dioxins that can get into watersheds. Reusable filters are much better for the environment.

However, if you do need to use paper filters, search for ones that are “total chlorine-free” or “processed chlorine-free.” This indicates that they won’t be full of dangerous dioxins that can get into water systems.

6. Tell a Friend

You don’t need to do this alone! Get a friend to go with you for your morning coffee run at a local restaurant or cafe. You could even buy mugs, reusable filters, and more sustainable and environmentally-friendly coffee together.

As you continue trying to change your coffee drinking habits, having a friend to commiserate with can be a huge help. Talk about the best brands or cafes you’ve found, what your long-term goals are, and tips you discover along the way. Sharing the experience can make it more like a fun challenge and less like a burden. You could even try some composting tips together.

A Better Routine for Everyone

No matter how you choose to go about having a more sustainable morning routine, even small changes can end up making a big difference. Don’t be afraid to start small before working on larger lifestyle changes to increase your positive impact.

Tips For Going Green With Your Fashion

February 24, 2020 0

Fashion can be bought. Style one must possess.

—Edna Woolman Chase

Fashion trends come and go quicker than ever; by the time you get to the shop after seeing an advert, There will likely be a completely new selection in. Stores like Primarkare perfect for when you need to buy a quick item, and their basics can be great; but they are one of the top contributors to fast fashion.

Everywhere you look, you are being advertised the current trends and styles from Instagram shop links to cool videos on Twitter. It has never been easier to change your entire wardrobe in minutes if that’s what you want to do.

But being a hyper consumer causes a range of issues not just to our own wallets but the living conditions of people around the world. Not only that, but fast fashion has a huge impact on the globe.

It is not always easy to be eco-friendly when it comes to your wardrobe. Even more so if you have a family to take care of two. It is estimated that more than half of the products that are used to create your clothes are destroying the environment. This doesn’t mean that every clothing manufacturer is doing the same many are taking huge steps to make sure that they are producing ethical clothing.

But it’s worth bearing in mind that many of the workers are underpaid and overworked, in dangerous factories.

But you can make a conscious choice with your next fashion purchase, without compromising on style and quality.

Here are some suggestions on how you can do it.

Eco-friendly

So the first thing you can do is actually when you go clothes shopping, use a recyclable shopping bag. Or a high-quality tote bag. This is a simple and easy thing to do; all you have to do is remember your reusable bags. A small change that makes a huge difference when it comes to how much plastic is floating around in our oceans.

Most stores now have their own eco-friendly shopping bags; they are commonly known as bags for life.

Washing Your Clothes

So we have all had that moment where our favorite new T-shirt has shrunk in the wash. Bluejeans suddenly don’t fit you anymore. And that is because washing your clothes will make some shrink. Even if you are only washing them at a low temperature. So it’s really recommended that you wear something more than once, and in fact maybe even a lot.

This won’t reply to your gym gear, and not anything that you want to do walking or exercise or inspired and slightly too much. Think about how often you are there in your close in the wash after you’ve only worn them for just a couple of hours. You can buy an eco-friendly washing detergent and hang your clothes out to dry as an extra added step.

Go Vintage

There are so many huge vintage kilo sales now. As well as hordes of amazing vintage clothing, bags, accessories, and shoes are a bunch of thrift shops. It is better to plan what you want to buy before you go to thrift shop shopping, though. Or are you going to end up with a lot of clothes that you won’t wear? And this can be just as detrimental unless you are donating them.

Have a goal in mind do you need a new shirt, are you looking for a new tote bag, what about a crossbody bag, when you buy from charity shops you are not only donating to a worthy cause you are giving close a second life. Try not to buy vintage items that will only last one or two washes; these are things with excessive beading or very light silk. Although most of these can be dry cleaned if you have time to do that.

Research

There are so many amazing brands that are now there that are fully dedicated to sourcing and supplying ethical clothing made with a brilliant range of new and cool materials. Your tip is it looking for Tencel, which is being seen more often in High Street stores. Coconut leather is also an option too.

These can be slightly more expensive, but they tend to last longer, and you know that you have done the right thing for yourself and the environment. You can read a fashion brand ‘about’ page to try and find more information about what steps they are taking in sustainability.

Repair

Because we are so used to the fact, we can buy jeans for under $10, or a T-shirt for $2 and they are brand-new we don’t have to think about the fact that we can just repair clothes when they tear. It used to be more common practice to do things like darn socks and put patches on the knees of jeans.

But now it seems more common to throw the item out and replace it with a new version. You can find so many instructional videos on YouTube and even tips on Pinterest and other blogs about how you can repair any tears in clothing.

This can include silk shirts, patching jeans, or turning jeans into shorts. This will make your clothing last longer, save you money because you don’t have to buy anything new, and one of the main goals is great for the environment.

All of these are relatively simple steps that can help you be more aware of what you purchase and where you purchased it. You don’t have to spend a lot of money changing into a more eco-minded wardrobe. It can be small things like buying eco-friendly washing detergent. Washing on and a colder setting and washing and less often.

There is a balance to be found, of course. We all need basic things, socks, pants, bras, and T-shirts, and when you have a growing family, you don’t need to do what’s best for your budget.

But where possible, try to make small changes, and all of those small changes will add up to a big impact.

The Top Three Wellness Trends to Kick Off 2020 the Right Way

February 5, 2020 1

As 2020 kicks off and we start this new decade many wellness trends have appeared as more people resolve to take care of themselves. These trends show that personal wellness is much more than going for a jog every week or cutting back on the amount of ice cream you eat, which the average American consumes 28.5 times every year. If you’re looking to start this new decade right and focus on your own personal wellness, here are the top three popular trends that you need to be aware of.

Massage and Acupuncture

Firstly, massage and acupuncture are a potentially beneficial combination that everyone should take note of. Stress can build up and take a toll on the body leaving you with pain and tight muscles that make daily activities uncomfortable. Worst of all this stress can also contribute to headaches and poor moods that add to the stress and further perpetuate the cycle! Currently, 14 million Americans are using or have used acupuncture. Here’s how massage and acupuncture can help.

Encouraging Healthy Energy Acupuncture has long been used to treat neck and back pain, as well as headaches, nausea, insomnia, anxiety, and depression. This is because acupuncture helps promote natural healing which can then improve how the body functions. By stimulating specific places — acupoints — proper energy flow can be encouraged throughout the body which can in turn ease pain and discomfort, and improve sleep and digestive functions. Massage can work in a similar way to stimulate these points and release tension to promote better circulation.
Relieving Chronic Pain With six in every 10 Baby Boomers expected to be managing a chronic condition by 2030, solutions such as massage and acupuncture will be more important than ever. While both are great for relieving chronic pain, acupuncture can be used in places where massage would be uncomfortable. That said, massages can be great on their own for relaxing overtaxed and tight muscles. Some studies have even found that massages can help reduce inflammation and boost the overall immune response making your body more effective at keeping itself well.
The Sense of Wellness While both have tangible physical benefits that can be felt and experienced, they also can work on a mental level when it comes to soothing stress and making you feel more centered and calm. By encouraging energy flow, acupuncture can encourage feelings of stamina and emotional release making you feel more content and alert. Both of these options can be used as powerful healing methods that, with continued use, can help you feel healthier, calmer, and happier in 2020.

Medical Body Modifications

More specifically one such modification that acts in a way similar to acupuncture: the daith piercing. These piercings have been growing in popularity as an alternative way of mitigating migraines both in frequency and in severity. A daith piercing involves piercing the innermost cartilage of the ear and usually is maintained with the use of a clicker, curved barbell, or captive bead rings.

This type of modification is usually sought out by those who have seen an impact in their migraines with the use of acupuncture and see the daith piercing as a more permanent solution. This is because the piercing itself goes through the place there the acupuncture needle is usually placed. By replicating this with a permanent piercing, the hope is that the benefits of acupuncture treatment can be longer-lasting and more significant. While there haven’t been very many scientific studies on the effects, in a survey released by MigrainePal, 47% of those polled say that they have experienced a lower number of migraines after obtaining a daith piercing, and 50% reported the piercing reducing the severity of migraines when they did occur.

If you’re looking for a way to reduce migraines in 2020 a daith piercing might be for you; however, you could try using acupuncture first to see how the less permanent form of control works for you. That said if you do choose to seek out this type of piercing, know that the healing process can take around 2 – 3 months on average, and taking care of the piecing via regular cleanings is imperative. It’s also recommended that you speak with your piercer to ensure it is fully healed before you switch out the jewelry or stop any aftercare.

Alcohol is often put on a pedestal by many who see it as a way to unwind or let loose; however, a new movement is on the rise, one that aims to put the benefits of sobriety into the limelight. Ruby Warrington, a British writer and founder of Club Soda NYC, an alcohol-free event series, states in her book Sober Curious that reducing alcohol consumption is “the next logical step in the wellness revolution.” While the liver is the second largest organ after the skin, Warrington is on to something when she links lowered alcohol consumption with wellness. Overdrinking is a problem that many Americans face and addiction is something that is easy to fall into. An article released by Medical News Today in 2019 states that consumption of alcohol has risen globally by 70%, a statistic that is too large to ignore. The short-term risks of excessive drinking can include:

Injury from falls, burns, drownings, and motor vehicle accidents.
Increased violence, suicide, and sexual assault risks.
Alcohol poisoning.
Increased risky behaviors such as unprotected sex.
Increased risk of stillbirth, miscarriage, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

If those weren’t enough, the long-term effects of excessive alcohol consumption can include:

A greater risk of heart disease, liver disease, high blood pressure, and digestive problems.
A greater risk of cancer in the throat, mouth, esophagus, breast, and colon.
Increased memory and learning problems that can include poor school and work performance and a higher dementia risk.
Increased risk of developing anxiety and depression.
The potential for family issues, unemployment, and loss of productivity.
Increased risk of alcoholism and alcohol dependence which further contributes to the above.

What Ruby Warrington is advocating for is not the abstinence of alcohol forever and always, a glass of wine once and a while with dinner is not frowned upon, it is the dependence on alcohol as a prerequisite for having a good time and being happy. While some of this is ingrained in us by Hollywood culture, the wellness movement now is challenging how we think about drinking.

Consider how much alcohol you consume regularly and see how much you can cut back. If you find that you’re struggling to go without, it could be a sign that you’ve become too dependent. In order to achieve a better sense of wellness in 2020, look seriously into the sober culture and see if it can make a difference in your life. If it’s problematic and you need to get sober, you can always look into Jewish substance abuse programs and similar areas to help put you on the path to sobriety.

A New Decade, A New You

With 2020 getting into full swing, these three wellness trends are something to consider if you want to feel better and take better care of yourself as a whole. Used together or separately, you could see benefits from these trends such as a stronger immune system, which can help you recover from a cold more quickly than the average 10 days. Acupuncture and regular massages can help you unwind from the day-to-day and help keep your stress down at a manageable level. Those suffering from migraines could also benefit from acupuncture, and by extension, daith piercings, as a way to manage painful migraines and decrease them in frequency and intensity. Furthermore, cutting back on the amount of alcohol you consume can help you stay focused, take care of your body, and discover that you can, in fact, have a great night out without being under the influence. Each of these steps can contribute to making you a healthier and more wellness conscious individual ready to tackle the new decade without harmful habits.

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Author Archive | Jennie Lyon

Be More Self-Sustainable by Creating a Vegetable Garden

Think of the Planet For Your Next Celebration