Tag Archives: crafts & hobbies

How to Share Extra Bounty from Your Garden with the Community

by LuciaCajigas Posted on August 19, 2017

You?ve frozen, dried and canned all the fruit and vegetables you can use over winter. But your garden keeps on producing. Now what?

Your extra fruit and veggies can easily find a loving home. And there?s good reason to make sure your entire harvest makes it to someone?s table.

About 50 percent of all fruits and vegetables grown worldwide go to waste. This staggering number is especially tragic considering that one in nine people in the world suffer from chronic undernourishment, including one in approximately 650 people in developed countries.

You can make a difference in your community by using some of the following suggestions to share the food you grow.

Donate to Charitable Organizations

Many different organizations will welcome your extra fruit and vegetables, such as food banks, homeless shelters, community or seniors? centers, spiritual groups and churches, or home-delivered meal programs.

AmpleHarvest.org has an extensive listing of different organizations throughout the United States that will accept extra produce. You can search for one near you on their website.

FeedingAmerica.org also has a searchable listing of food banks throughout the U.S.

Contact Your Local Gleaners

Gleaning is the act of collecting fresh foods from farms, gardens or other sources to share it with those in need. Many communities have a gleaning group that can come to your home and collect your excess produce.

Food Rescue has a listing of groups you can contact in the U.S., or you can search the internet for groups in other countries.

Can?t find any gleaners near you? The United States Department of Agriculture has published a good guide on how to start your own gleaning program.

Put Up a Stand

A simple table on your front lawn with some veggies and a ?Free? sign on it should encourage most of them to find a new home.

A more elaborate option is to build a stand or booth to shade your fruit and vegetables. You could also add a basket or lockbox for donations to your favorite charity in exchange.

Feed It to Your Pets and Livestock

Your animal friends don?t need to miss out on your harvest. Many pet birds, rodents, horses, goats, reptiles and other animals would appreciate your extra produce. It?s even been shown that some vegetables are healthy for dogs.

Advertise Your Bounty

RipeNear.Me is a great site designed for home growers to share their overabundance with others. You can choose to give away your produce or charge a fee for it.

You can also advertise to trade, give away or sell your extra fruit and veggies in your local newspaper, community newsletter or online at sites like Freecycle.org, Kijiji.ca, EbayClassifieds.com, or Craigslist.org.

Community sites like Nextdoor or your community Facebook page are other excellent places to post.

Organize a Group Cook-off

Cooking big batches of food is a fun excuse to get together with friends and try making something new. And the best part is, everyone has some healthy meals to take home for later.

Check out MamaBake.com for suggestions on organizing group cooking and some big batch recipes.

It?s also a great idea to donate extra prepared food you make to a neighbor in need.

Host a Meal

This can be as basic as inviting a few friends over for a meal featuring lots of your home-grown fruit and vegetables.

If you?re interested in something a bit more ambitious, try hosting a pop-up restaurant. You can register on sites like EatWith.com that matches up hosts and diners to share meals worldwide.

Swap with Other Gardeners

Ask your friends, neighbors and around your community to find people interested in trading their excess fruit and veggies with yours.

You can also throw a produce swapping party and invite guests to bring their overabundance to be redistributed.

Check out programs like Food Is Free that helps communities grow and share fresh food.

Donate to Animal Rescue Organizations

Certain animal shelters can use excess fruit and veggies to feed plant-eating animals like rabbits, guinea pigs, parrots, iguanas and turtles. Check with your local shelters to see if they have these types of animals before bringing over your produce.

Save Your Seeds

It?s not a loss if your crops have become over-mature or gone to seed. That?s a great time to keep them for harvesting seeds for next year.

You can also give your seeds to organizations like Seed Savers Exchange or Seedsave.org, who work towards saving and distributing non-GMO, heirloom and organic seeds for now and into the future.

Another option is to start a seed library for your local community. Shareable has detailed instructions on how to create your own seed lending library.

Recycle Your Produce

There?s no shame in rounding up your bolted lettuce and the zucchinis that somehow grew 3 feet long, and tossing them on your compost pile. All their goodness will go towards nourishing next year?s bountiful crop.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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How to Share Extra Bounty from Your Garden with the Community

Posted in Everyone, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, organic, PUR, Seed Savers Exchange, Uncategorized | Tagged agriculture, crafts & hobbies, food, garden, gleaners, Landscaping, united, What | Comments Off

Getting Started with Terrariums (Infographic)

by ClairePatrick Posted on May 27, 2016

Terrariums are the perfect way to bring a little bit of easy greenery into a room. Rather than having high maintenance houseplants or purchasing yet another succulent, a terrarium is a hands-on alternative that is still easy to take care of. Part of the art form is arranging them in fun containers. Not only will they bring nature into a space, but it’s an artistic twist on gardening! This infographic from Desima goes into greater detail about how to make your very own.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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Getting Started with Terrariums (Infographic)

Posted in alo, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, PUR, Radius, Uncategorized | Tagged alo, artistic-twist, author, crafts & hobbies, desima, gardening, green, Ona, succulent, terrariums-are | Comments Off

How to Make Cut Flowers Last Longer

by ConradCarranza Posted on May 17, 2016

While supporting the behemoth known as the factory farmed flower industry is no way to celebrate a special occasion, there is nonetheless an undeniable beauty in having cut flowers around. Their fragrance and color and intricate grace are sure-fire happy makers. Thankfully, there are sustainable flower farms! As well, it’s a pleasure to grow flowers in one’s own garden that can be brought inside when the desire calls.

Whether you grow your own flowers or get them from acertified sustainable flower farm or you received flowers as a present making them last as long as possible is the best way to give them the respect they deserve. They may just be flowers to some, but they are a gift from nature and should be regarded with some reverence!

So with that in mind, the following steps can help keep your flowers fresh. These come from the folks at the non-profit scientific group,American Chemical Society, who approached the task through the eyes of science. Basically, follow the process outlined below, but be sure to watch the video for details and extra tips.

1. Clean the vase.
2. Use warm water that has been allowed to sit for a few minutes.
3. Feed the flowers using the food provided.
4. Cut the stems.
5. Keep the arrangement away from fruit.
6. Keep the flowers cool.

Written by Melissa Breyer. Reposted with permission from TreeHugger.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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How to Make Cut Flowers Last Longer

Posted in alo, Casio, Everyone, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, PUR, Radius, Uncategorized | Tagged american, american-chemical, crafts & hobbies, Flowers, home, king, nature, sustainable flowers | Comments Off

Use an Old Sweater To Make Two New Wardrobe Pieces

by Daisy49F7358 Posted on January 30, 2016

Ugly sweaters are not a waste: Theyre an opportunity.

Consider this lowly knit mock turtleneck. It was buried in an old clothes bag in my closet, about to be sent off to the local thrift store, when I saw one of its dark green sleeve cuffs peeking over the top of the bag. For a split second I thought it was the edge of a boot sock, but when I found out that it wasnt, I decided to turn it into one. Except that it turned out to be more than a boot sockin a couple of hours, Id stitched that unloved sweater into a pair of boot socks and a cozy casual sweater skirt, too.

And I promise, it took very little stitching skills. The biggest challenge for me was being able to stitch in a straight line around the top hem of the skirt and around the edges of the boot socks to keep them from unraveling. Apart from that, if you can sew on a button, youre good to go!

Step 1: Cut off the arms

It really doesnt matter if you cut on one side of the hem or around the sweater shoulder. Since youll be cutting this part off anyway, just cut a clean line alongside it.

Step 2: Cut off the excess

Youll see that the top of the sweater arm is wider and curves outward a bit. All you need to do here is cut that curved bit off so that its even.

You can actually stop here, if you want to. For a simple boot cuff to wear on the inside of your boot, or a leg warmer to wear slouched over your short boots, this is really all you need.

Because this was so easy, though, I decided to take it a step further and add a little bit of embellishment a la turn-of-the-century Victorian boot fashion: buttons!

Step 3: Cut along the sleeve hem

Again, it doesnt matter if you cut on one side of the hem or the other; just make sure you keep it consistent.

Step 4: Hem the cut edges

This is where that awesome stitch-in-a-straight-line skill comes in. Find the two edges of the sleeve that have been cutand could potentially unraveland fold them in about half an inch and use a straight stitch to hold it in place. You could even iron the hem down beforehand to make it easier to stitch straight.

Step 5: Stitch on the buttons

I used six buttons on this one, but I have another boot sock that used 10it just depends on your style, and frankly, how many matching buttons you can find to evenly spread between both socks.

Step 6: Cut the button holes

To do this, I pinned the top and bottom of the sock together so that they wouldnt move, and then placed the button-free side over the buttons, cutting a very, very small hole above each and then working the button through it. It doesnt take much to make a button hole! Also, if youre worried about fraying at this point, you can add a dab of fabric glue to the edges of the buttonholesthis should keep it from unraveling any more and will give the buttonhole a better hold and shape.

Youre done! Show off your fashionable boot glory now or, like me, put them on with some slippers and whip yourself up a cozy sweater with the excess materials.

Step 1: Using the instructions above, cut off the sleeves and make boot socks!

Step 2: Trim the trunk

Again, I lay no claims to being any kind of a seamstress. To get the shape I wanted, I just turned the sweater trunk inside out, placed my favorite sweater skirt over the top of it and trimmed around the edges until it was the same shape, making sure the bottom hem of the sweater was the bottom hem of the skirt.

Step 3: Sew

Next, I stitched the edges where Id cut it all the way to the top, then folded over the top about an inch and a half. Inside this fold, I ran a length of elastic band, stitching one end to one of the side hem edges to keep it in place and then just stitched beneath the band all the way around. By not actually stitching through the elastic band, it allows the band to pull the skirt in around your waist without cinching up awkwardly.

And now, really, thats it! Boot socks, simple or buttoned, and a cozy sweater skirt from an outdated sweater. I think I need to dig through my husbands closet a little more and see if there are any other sweaters hes not using! Of course, Ill ask first

Kristin Hackler writes about the intersection of fashion, home and sustainability for eBay, one of her favoriteplaces tobuy or sell lightly worn clothing. Follow Kristin’s adventures on hereBay profile, oron her blog,Cardboard and Cloth.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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Use an Old Sweater To Make Two New Wardrobe Pieces