Eco Friendly House And Garden

I know that net curtains are a bit old fashioned these days - but they protect what’s inside!

So, how about a modern alternative: Blinds.

In winter, an uncovered glass window is just asking to let heat escape 24 hours a day.  So why let it?  Here are some great benefits and tips for modern window coverings - and it’s not just about heat either, but we will start there:

1) Escaping Heat:
If your window isn’t protected from the inside, all the heat from your room is going to head for the outside.  Nature likes to keep everything equal, so if the nice warm air can get outside and mix with the colder air - it will, just like cordial mixing into the glass of water.

If you don’t give the warm air a chance to get cold - all the warm air will stay in your home and keep your fuel bills down.  Blinds and curtains are the equivalent of insulation in your roof: without them the heat just escapes!

Close your blinds as soon as it gets dark outside to trap most of the daytime heat inside.  

2) Letting In The Sun:
In summer it is quite the opposite!  You want all the sunshine you can to come in the windows - flooding your home with warmth.

A net curtain in the way could be a hindrance to this - so blinds are perfectly designed to roll completely out of the way - allowing you room to fill with the sun’s rays - and keep your home warm into the evening.

Use natures power when you can! (and it’s free!)

3) Security:
Closing your window blinds when it’s dark outside is also essential for good security.  Once you lights are on and it’s dark outside - everyone can see straight into your home - with all your electrical goodies on show.

Walking in the streets when it’s dark is a great opportunity for thieves to ‘case the joint’.  They can see everything you are doing - and more importantly - they will know when you are not in!

4) Privacy:
Linked to above, but for those people who have a window actually on the street front - you don’t want people looking in, but you don’t want to shut out the sunshine - so why not fit a half-blind at head height. 

Alternatively you can now order blinds that open from the top rather than the bottom.  Ideal for letting in the light without letting in the nosey parkers!

5) Conservation:
Sunlight and UV rays can damage precious materials and paintings over time, so sometimes you would want to block out the light when it is directly shining onto a certain piece of furniture or art work.

Net curtains won’t do the trick and full curtains will make the whole room pitch black - however blinds can be adjusted to cover only the articles you want to protect, letting the rest of the room stay in sunlight!

6) Style:
And finally - why should saving energy be boring?  It isn’t, you just have to look in the right places.

There are many suppliers of trendy, fashionable, traditional, plain, black-out, bamboo and wood blinds, either fitted into the frame for extra heat and light control, hanging loose - so you can still peak around them, or top opening for privacy.

So, maybe consider using blinds to save money, save energy, protect your property and look great!

I just took my nephews out on a fungal foray in the local woods!

What a great idea for a day trip with the family that is only a short walk from home!  And, as mushrooms only really come out for a few weeks of the year - chances are your kids will see something different every year.

And, mushrooms are so bright - particularly the wax caps - that they are great to photograph too!

Bright Yellow Mushrooms

Where To Look:

Well, you don’t always need to head out to the woods - as many mushrooms prefer old lawns, particularly lawns that haven’t been treated with chemicals or have been dug up a lot.  So maybe you know someone with a large ornamental organic garden you can trawl for fungus!

They are not a easy to see as you might expect from afar - so don’t just look across a lawn of woodland and expect to see them sticking out - you have to walk the land and look at the ground.

You can come across all sorts of delights, including bright pink, red, orange, green and even blue ones - and there was more than one occasion where I thought a lawn was clear until I quite literally stepped on them!

There are also ‘mushrooms’ that look like little yellow, white or pink worms coming out of the lawn which you definitely can’t see from afar.  And of course there are plenty of mushrooms that only grow on trees and old logs - great for the kids to find!

Yellow Finger Mushrooms

And, the fun thing is you don’t even need to know exactly what type they are - you can just enjoy them as they are - and take only pictures home with you.

So, get yourself a camera, a basic guide book, a warm thermos of coffee and go get wet knees taking some great pictures!

Give your kids the chance to become involved in their future.

I know this blog is mainly about your home - there is no reason to think that the outside world isn’t connected to that. You chose your home for it’s location and everything that came with it - but you don’t want to just live in your house for ever.

You want to go out to the local parks and woods, even travel further to other regional areas and zoos - maybe even to the other side of the world to see wildlife and natural landscapes that are unique. And that’s where the biodiversity comes in.

Without this variety, there would be no beauty in the world. Imagine if all animals were either cows or dogs, or only brown or white in color. Imagine if zoos and nature reserves only had squirrels and rabbits in them! It would be awful - and it would not inspire kids to explore the world around them.

The world needs the kids out there discovering things for themselves - as this is how things happen and changes are made. If young people don’t become involved in their surroundings and the amazing variety of wildlife and plants that it supports - then they cannot have a say in their own future or that of their own children down the line.

This Is Biodiversity.
The way that animals and plants interact to survive keeps the status quo. The classic example of ‘the plants feed the herbivores and the herbivores become food for the carnivores’ follows the basic principles but it is not a chain so to speak - it’s a web.

So add to the above that insects are needed to pollinate the plants - but they in turn need other plants for their young to live off and those plants might need to be in a certain location to thrive. They may also (in the case of bees) need to nest in tunnels dug by mice or voles which survive by eating certain other plants and insects.

The list of connections goes on and on through animals and plants of all shapes and sizes - and they all have their part to play in the natural world that we see every day. Everything has changed it’s appearance or shape of needs to fit into a gap in the web so it can survive.

The Competition:
So, why not help your kids to get active and try to capture these connections and these differences with a great photo.

You don’t even have to travel anywhere to get involved as your garden could be home to mini-beasts of amazing colors, butterflies feeding on your plants, birds looking for an easy meal and even small mammals creeping around your garden furniture.

Of course, the further afield you travel the more variety you can find. Bold patterns and bright colors are found in the tropics and larger mammals need a lot of space to thrive - but a simple brown bird can steal the show if it has a specialisation - something about it that makes it different from other birds - like really long legs or a really long beak.

Take a look at the short video on their website to get the finer details - and to find some photo-taking tips - and to see some inspiring shots that have already been added. Your entry could mean that your image is spread across the globe as the best of them all. Not only winning the first prize - but also inspiring the next generation of wildlife protectors.

Something our world is in great need of.

Here, we continue from yesterday, with the final 3 tips on making those small steps to running a healthy eco friendly house!

5) Don’t Do Disposable!  Try to reduce your consumption of disposable items - they are everywhere.  Pens, sticky note pads, razors, toothbrushes, cotton-buds, cotton wool balls, facial pads, tissues, baby wipes, hygiene wipes, even personal ‘lady’ items.

Try to find the longer lasting equivalent - it’s not less hygienic if you do it properly.  For example facecloths instead of wipes or cotton wool is perfectly clean and gets the job done - then gets washed - and does the job all over again!

Toothbrushes with changeable heads and razors with replaceable blades all go towards reducing waste - and reducing your consumption of new materials.

Feminine hygiene products now come unbleached, and in smaller sizes to help reduce waste and resources - but now even come in washable versions.  There is even the menstrual cup today (a small insertable item that will ‘contain’ rather than ‘absorb’) that does away with the need for cotton products altogether!

Similarly, the contraceptive device known as The Coil (an IUD) works perfectly well as a contraceptive device for most women - reducing the need for wasteful alternatives.

In sexually active individuals and couples, one Coil could reduce the need for a continual supply of ‘the Pill’ - filled with either/or both oestrogen and progesterone (which eventually leave our bodies and enter the water system and affecting animals and plants) and could stop the rising tide of used condoms filling landfills or floating down the beach!

6) Buy Big!  Make sure that you buy the largest pack size of your products that you can.  Not only does this reduce packaging per unit - it should also save you money and reduce your weekly trash pile! 

Therefore, not only will you need to shop less as a result, the container is more likely to be re-used for storage.  (You can keep a smaller bottle for decanting into if space is an issue).

Don’t be tempted by promotions or buy-one-get-one-free offers for the smaller products.  They usually work out the most expensive way to buy your products, weight more with the extra containers, use more ink and labels with their individual wrapping or information, take up more room in your house and create more waste.  Therefore their overall ‘cost’ is not actually any cheaper!

And Finally (7):
Try something new if it’s eco credentials impress you.  Remember that advertised brands in commercials and magazines, pay $$$$$$$’s to advertise - and it’s you who pays for it.

You pay for that model to walk along tropical beaches for an ice cream, or that famous person to fly a plane for some anti-aging cream, or a mountaineer to climb a high mountain for a washing powder.  That must mean that they are making a huge profit from you somewhere - and that means that their products are made a lot cheaper than the price you pay!

Unadvertised products usually put a lot more into their products as they sell by word of mouth saving advertising costs.  And, in all honesty - noone recommends a product that doesn’t work, taste good or fit properly. 

So trust a brand that has been recommended by people you know sometimes instead of just believing what you are told on the TV!

Let me know how you get on, or have any other tips…….