Sweet Greens

How To Encourage Your Kids into Gardening

November 15, 2021 0

As part of your desire to help the world heal, encourage the next generation into similar lifestyles. By fostering eco-conscious feelings in the next generation, you ensure the future of the planet.

Gardening is a great place to start when teaching your kids about the benefits of leading an eco-friendly lifestyle. It helps them get to grips with the earth and feel the benefits of seeing something they’ve put effort into coming to fruition.

Gardening is a great hobby for children outside of eco-conscious goals. Gardening teaches patience, persistence, and attention to detail. Kids learn to see a project through to the end and learn several interesting scientific facts about plants.

But kids can be fussy and resist doing things they don’t want to do, even if you explain the benefits of them. For this reason, you might be looking for some tips on how to encourage your kids to gardening. Luckily, you’re in the right place.

Give your kids their own space

One of the most rewarding parts of gardening is seeing the fruits of your labor. To foster this feeling in your kids, it can help to allot a section of your garden solely to your child. In this plot, they can plant all of their plants and flowers. It should give them a sense of ownership and pride and set in their mind that gardening is a fun activity.

Give your kids choice

In a similar vein to the last tip, giving your children choice over what they plant can help kids want to garden. First, have a conversation with them about the types of plants: what effort level they will require and what they will look like when sprouted. Once you’ve given them this information, allow your kids to choose what they want to plant. This will provide them with ownership but also self-motivation to look after their plants.

Make the garden a nice place to be

When kids feel comfortable in a space, they are more likely to want to spend time there. For this reason, making your garden attractive is key to keeping your kids’ attention. Comfy outdoor chairs, fun lighting for the evening, even outdoor toys—are all great for keeping your kids happy in the garden.

Take your kid shopping for tools

Buying tools for gardening can show your kid how seriously you take their passion for gardening. Plus, picking out their own trowel and gloves can help your child to invest emotionally in gardening as a hobby. After all, when kids use adult tools, they can feel dwarfed by their size and out of place in the garden. We don’t want this!

You can also take the opportunity to invest in some fun and exciting garden tools that will spark their interest and inspire them to want to get outside more often. Drawing them in by showing them just how enjoyable and innovative their gardening experience can be will ensure they learn to love spending time under the sun.

Show Them It’s Safe

If your child is a little bit intimidated by gardening and being outside as a whole, then you need to show them that it’s totally safe! They will look to you for inspiration in everything they do, so if they see that you are unwilling to touch mud or run at the sight of an insect, then they will too. Show them that in fact, there are very few threats in your garden that they need to be scared of! Most bugs are not predators, and they won’t do anything other than give you a little painful sting in the worst-case scenario, so make sure your children know they’re out of harm’s way even if a creepy-crawly comes along! Encourage them to get mucky outdoors, immersing themselves in nature without a care in the world.

Taste what you grow

Once you and your child have grown many fruits and vegetables, eat them! Whether raw—like a strawberry—or cooked into a meal, eating what you’ve grown will show your kids how worthwhile gardening is. You can also use these moments to teach them important messages about produce and the environmental impact of growing your own food.

Teaching Your Little One About Sustainability Through Fun Projects

November 12, 2021 0

Taking care of our environment has become a top concern around the world. If you have children at home, it’s time to start teaching them about sustainability so they can grow up with knowledge on how to make the world a better, greener place.

Here are a few fun projects you can do as a family that’ll give your children a solid foundation for sustainable living.

Learn How to Care for Indoor Plants

If starting a vegetable garden in your backyard isn’t a task you’re up for just yet, you can teach your children how to care for plants in an easier fashion by adding indoor plants to common living spaces in your home. With over 28 million small businesses throughout the country, you can surely find a greenhouse or two in your area that sells an assortment of plants to choose from.

Start with plants that don’t require a ton of upkeep. Aloe vera plants, snake plants, cacti, spider plants, baby’s tears, and prayer plants are a few easy types of plants your kids can handle. Go over how to pot, repot, water, and care for the plants on a daily and weekly basis. You may have your kids write down which days they need to water the plants on their personal calendars so they can own the responsibility of caring for them on a regular basis. Once they’ve mastered the easy plants, you can move to plants that require more care.

Turn Cardboard Into Art

Between cereal, pasta, and other snacks in your pantry, you likely have a lot of cardboard boxes filling up your recycling can. While recycling is the best way to dispose of these boxes, you can also turn this “trash” into art.

Your kids can turn flat pieces of cardboard into their own board games, create a painting for their playroom, and even create themed pieces of art during the holidays. For example, you can create cardboard turkeys for Thanksgiving festivities and snowmen and reindeer for the December holiday season. By creating art with cardboard, your kids will learn how to make a product useful for something other than holding food.

Create Nature-Themed Picture Books

If your children attend one of the 87% of private sch ools that have fewer than 300 students, they likely have an excellent selection of kids’ books to choose from on a daily basis. Your children probably spend a good amount of time reading and writing at school, but how can they bring these skills home and learn about the environment at the same time? Creating handmade nature-themed picture books is a unique idea you can get started on right away.

All you need is your cell phone or another type of camera, a printer, empty scrapbooks from a craft store, glue or tape, and colorful writing utensils. Take your kids outside in your backyard, around your neighborhood, and to local parks. Have them take a bunch of pictures of the nature that surrounds them. Then, get their photos printed. Create a crafting station at your dining room table and let your kids get to work gluing or taping their photos in the scrapbooks. Encourage them to a write caption for each picture. Not only will your kids love their handmade books outlining their naturesque adventures, but they’ll get in some writing practice, too!

Encourage Your Kids to Become Leak Investigators

Did you know that fixing easy-to-fix leaks can save you about 10% on your water bill? Dripping faucets and worn toilet flappers are among the easy-to-fix leaks everyone in your family should be aware of. To help avoid water waste in your home, encourage your children to become leak “investigators.”

Show your children the signs to look for in a bathroom, the kitchen, and the laundry room that indicate there’s a leak. For example, if your children notice damp or damaged flooring, strange noises when the water is on, reduced water pressure, or water stains, there may be a water leak in your home that requires some further investigation.

Teaching your children about sustainability and how to better take care of the earth around them is a responsible parenting move. Consider these fun projects as you teach your kids the best ways to take care of our environment and reduce waste at home.

The Best Way To Take Care Of The Planet? Take Care Of Yourself

November 4, 2021 0

The desire to adopt a greener lifestyle is something that unites millions of people across the nation at this time. However, finding the motivation to stay consistent in those endeavors is often a fairly difficult task. Learning to focus on the personal benefits will change this forever.

Many aspects of self-care will bring eco-friendly rewards as a by-product. Here are four of the best solutions that will deliver stunning results for you and the planet.

#1. Improve your diet

A healthy relationship with food is one of the most beneficial lifestyle changes you’ll ever achieve. The fact that it will boost your well-being is the main focus. Still, many of the steps will actively reduce your carbon footprint too. After all, the key attributes of a winning diet include eating more fruit and veg while reducing your reliance on processed foods. Cutting your meat intake can also support the bid for a greener lifestyle while also delivering physical health rewards. Drinking more water is another positive step, just be sure to avoid plastic bottles.

#2. Boost the home setting

Creating a positive home atmosphere can work wonders for your health. As well as boosting your mental wellness, it can actively support your physical wellness. Adding insulation and upgrading your HVAC systems will make illnesses less likely. This is due to improved heat efficiency and air quality. Those steps will also aid the environment and your long-term bank balance. Switching to eco-friendly cleaning materials and a solid cleaning schedule will work well too. Again, the focus is on your breathing health. Yet, your carbon footprint will fall.

#3. Seeking Quick Physical Recoveries

When you get injured at work, during sport or in daily tasks, focusing on your recovery is key. It’s OK to be self-centered at this time and worry primarily about what will bring the fastest return to normality. In reality, though, a faster recovery will put less strain on resources both at home and in medical centers. Therefore, quick responses with suitable wound care will help your body heal quicker and avoid infections. Once again, the main reason for doing this is that you will get back to your best far sooner. Still, the fact you’ll use fewer materials and make fewer trips to the hospital will lower the carbon footprint.

#4. Spend more time outside

Spending more time outside is one of the best ways to support the planet. Whether actively taking on tasks like planting trees or just enjoying the great outdoors is up to you. Either way, embracing nature and the simple things in life will mean that you use fewer resources like gas and electricity. Crucially, ideas like nature walks are great for your physical and mental wellness. Outdoor activities are also a great outlet for creating magical memories with friends and family. Better still, it’s a good way to maintain social distancing from large groups inside. Right now, that’s as big an incentive as any.

Simultaneously looking after yourself and the planet is a truly beautiful thing. You’ve got this.

Practical Ways You Can Keep Your Home Pest-Free

October 29, 2021 0

Pests are not only annoying, but they can also carry diseases and wreak havoc on your home. They’re also expensive to exterminate, so it’s in your best interest to keep them out in the first place.

Here are some practical ways you can keep pests out of your home.

Deal with Stagnant Water in the Compound

When it comes to keeping pests at bay, water is a common culprit. Pests are attracted to stagnant water so avoid leaving any open containers outside the house or in your property for too long.

If you have an outdoor area with lots of vegetation and ponds or pools, keep them clean as this would help reduce possible mosquito infestations by getting rid of their breeding sites. Also, if your home is highly infested with mosquitos, you may want to consider a mosquito trap outdoor. This will be more effective compared to other ways of getting rid of mosquitos.

Trim All Trees and Bushes

Trees and bushes can be a breeding ground for pests such as ants, cockroaches, ticks, termites, and mosquitoes, to name a few. By keeping them trimmed away from the house, you are reducing their access points into your property, reducing the likelihood of having an infestation or being bitten by mosquitoes.

Seal Holes and Cracks

It’s advisable to seal holes and cracks, such as in the home’s foundation. Sealing gaps around windows and doors is a great way to prevent pests from entering the home. There must be no standing water or moist areas where bugs can breed and spread throughout your house if you have a crawlspace.

Cover All Trash

Cover all trash cans completely, even if you only throw away some paper towels or empty boxes. This will prevent rodents from getting into your home. You can also sprinkle cayenne pepper around your doors and windows to keep pests away.

Use Natural Products

Natural products are great for keeping pests away from your home. Peppermint oil is a great way to keep ants and other little bugs at bay as they hate the smell of it. Try putting some on cotton balls or even around windows.

You can also mix peppermint with water in spray bottles and use them as an all-over body spray, too, if you’d like. The pungent smell will work wonders against insects that come near your house.

Evict All Mice

Mice have been a nuisance in homes worldwide for centuries, and while some may consider them cute, they are more of an annoyance from a homeowner’s perspective. Mice can spread diseases through their droppings, so it is vital to get rid of mice quickly before things go downhill.

To evict mice from your home, you need a multi-pronged approach that will also affect any of their offspring or other family members they may have hiding in the walls and other hard-to-reach places.

Keep Your Home Clean

Keep your home clean to keep pests out, as they prefer dirty and moist areas. Be sure to clean your kitchen counters daily and sweep or vacuum the floors every day.

Wash dishes straight away after use, rather than letting them sit in the sink overnight. Keep food covered when you’re not eating it and be sure to throw out any rotting fruit that falls onto the ground since this will attract insects such as ants.

Residential Cleaning

For many people, the thought of cleaning their home is enough to send them running for the hills. Fortunately, there are eco-friendly residential cleaning services that can take care of the dirty work for you. These companies employ experienced and trustworthy cleaners who will clean your home from top to bottom, leaving it spotless. In addition to saving you time and energy, residential cleaning services can also help to improve your indoor air quality by removing dust, pollen, pests and other allergens from your home. If you’re looking for a hassle-free way to keep your home pest free, consider hiring a residential cleaning service.

The above are some of the best ways to keep your home pest-free. Be sure to use them for excellent results.

Should You Invest In A Home Battery?

October 27, 2021 0

Just ten years ago, home batteries weren’t even an option. While the technology existed, no companies were offering homeowners the option of hooking them up to their mains systems. Instead, if you wanted backup power during a power cut, you had to invest in a polluting and loud diesel generator.

With the advent of home battery packs, though, that’s changing. These systems collect energy from solar panels during the day and then distribute it around your home when you need it.

Battery packs solve a major problem of the solar panel industry – the fact that solar arrays can only collect energy when the sun shines. With a battery in your home, you can collect solar energy during the day (perhaps when you’re out at work), and then use the energy in the evening to power your TV or kettle.

In addition, installing a home battery lets you overcome some of the technical constraints of a traditional solar electric system. You get to keep the energy you produce, instead of having to sell it to the grid or let it go to waste.

The Benefits Of A Home Battery

As you might expect, there are multiple benefits of a home battery beyond just providing you with a steady supply of electricity that you can use in the evening,

Power During An Outage

Home batteries essentially make you entirely self-sufficient. So long as the sun continues to shine, PV panels will continue to collect energy and your battery will continue to charge. Therefore, during a power cut, you can continue using your lighting and appliances. You may even be able to ration your use of electricity, allowing you to survive adequately off-grid for weeks at a time.

Power Your Electric Vehicle

If you have an electric vehicle, you can also use your battery to charge it. During the day, solar panels collect electricity and store charge in the home battery. Then, when you charge your vehicle at night, you can hook it up to your mains, drawing down on your home battery reserves. Some systems may also allow you to draw power directly from solar panels themselves

Reduce Your Costs

Home batteries lower your costs. Once you purchase the battery, the energy you use it to store is essentially free. You’re able to use it later.

Furthermore, your meter stops running backward. You no longer have to sell your collected energy back to the grid at a lower rate. You simply collect and use what you store without having to pay premium prices.

What’s amazing about battery technology is that you don’t even need solar panels to benefit. You can simply use your battery to draw energy from the grid when it is cheap and then use it to power your home when prices rise again during peak hours (such as the evenings).

Better For The Environment

Lastly, battery technology is generally better for the environment. It reduces the size of the supply chain and impact on natural resources.

Battery production is not entirely eco-friendly. Many chemistries contain chemicals which can harm the environment. However, the impact is orders of magnitude lower than it is for conventional energy production. Coal-fired power plants require enormous quantities of resources, including capital and raw materials.

Estimates suggest that with battery technology, people consume an average of 70 percent of their own electricity. That means that they essentially slash grid demand by a whopping 30 percent – quite considerable.

What To Consider Before You Invest In Battery Technology

Before you invest in battery technology, you’ll want to consider the following.

The Cost

How much you spend on home batteries depends largely on the size of the battery. Most batteries offer somewhere between 3 and 20.5 kWh. Price per kWh is around $700. So the price of your system will depend on how many kilowatt-hours you get installed.

The Lifespan

As you might suspect, batteries don’t last forever. In fact, over time, they degrade and lose capacity. Right now, there isn’t much that manufacturers can do about this. Battery chemistry features mean that most batteries will eventually require replacement, no matter how well you look after them.

However, ten years is still a long time – enough to make savings.

Physical Size

You’ll also want to think about the physical size of the battery. Some are quite large and heavy and usually require a service room where engineers can hang them. They tend to be around 1 meter long and 15 cm deep, though designs and styles vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Batteries contain a range of components. The majority of the weight and volume is taken up by lithium-ion cells. Other components include the electronic control system which allows the battery to charge and discharge automatically, as well as the inverter to produce an alternating current that you can use in your home. High-performance batteries also require a cooling system to keep them at optimal temperatures during operation. Current batteries do not convert stored energy into electricity with 100 percent efficiency.

How You Want To Use Your Battery

Another consideration is how you actually want to use your battery. First, you’ll need to check whether the built-in inverter is suitable for your purposes. Inverters take direct current from the panels and transform it into alternating current for your devices.

If you want your battery to work in the home, you need a two-way inverter. This will allow the battery to both charge and discharge in the correct manner. You may also need to invest in a backup system or grid-forming inverter if you want to use your battery during blackouts.

Some batteries offer integration with vehicle-to-grid technology. For instance, you might want your battery to act as a buffer to regular flows. You might also want to connect your home battery to your car battery for powering your home at night and avoiding high grid tariffs.

In summary, whether you invest in a home battery is very much a personal choice. Given the current economics, however, the vast majority of people stand to benefit.

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