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Backyard chickens

Backyard Chickens Need A Moveable Coop

If you’re planning to raise backyard chickens, it makes sense to have a moveable coop.

Backyard chickens

 

CREATIVE SOLUTION | The 100 Mile Diet is becoming the 100 Foot Diet as increasing numbers of urbanites turn to growing and raising food in their backyards. Many of them will discover, however, that there’s a reason for leaving food production to farmers—it’s a serious amount of work. Read more

Stack Of Cloth Napkins shutte

Why You Need To Use Cloth Napkins Daily

Here’s why you should use cloth napkins every day—and how (and where) to sew beautiful mitered-corner ones for yourself. (VIDEO)

Stack Of Cloth Napkins shutte

 

MONEY WELL SPENT | You should be using cloth napkins every day not only because doing so will save you money by cutting down on paper waste but also because you deserve nice things, and cloth napkins are nice all around: better next to the skin than paper ones, generally larger and more absorbent. Read more

Water running down the drain.

Sink Clogged? Try The Drain-o Volcano

Here’s how to clear clogged drains without commercial drain cleaners. It’s simple science, really.

Drano-Volcano-Sample-select

CREATIVE SOLUTION | Try as I might, I can’t seem to keep hair out of the bathroom drain, where it diabolically wraps itself around greasy soap residue to form stubborn, icky clogs. Since I dislike using harsh (and expensive) drain cleaners, I tackle drains first with a simple kettle full of boiling water,* hoping to dissolve the hairy sludge. But when hot water doesn’t dislodge the muck, I revisit my seventh grade science project—The Erupting Volcano.

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Using Products at 1/2 Strength Makes Sense

Using everyday products at 1/2 strength is often more than enough.

 

WASTE NOT | It all started with my first highlights. My stylist swung me around to the mirror for the reveal, and I basked in the glow of my glorious, glittering bangs, confident I would gleam forever in a radiant halo. Then he pulled me back to earth with a thump: “You’re going to have to stop washing your hair so much.” My wise stylist explained that daily washing strips the hair of colour and leaves it dull and dry.

I’d spent big bucks on my hair and was determined to protect my investment, so I cut down on the number of times I washed, and I revisited everything I thought I knew about shampoo. Instead of Shampoo, Rinse, Repeat, it became Shampoo, Rinse for me, all the way. Then one day it occurred to me—not only was my hair looking just as good or better, my shampoo budget had been cut in half. Read more

Batteries - iStock

Yes You Can! Recharge Your Alkaline Batteries

Don’t even think about recycling: used AA and AAA disposable batteries can now be given new life.

Batteries - iStockIf you’re like me, you probably have a bunch of dead AA and AAA batteries rattling around in a drawer—possibly scattered among several drawers. You can’t throw them in the trash or even in the blue box. And even though since July 1 all household batteries (alkaline and rechargeable) can be recycled at almost 1,500 collection locations across B.C., you still have to take them there. Read more

Hydrotherapy

Spa Like A Finn At Scandinave In Whistler

The eco-conscious Scandinave Spa at Whistler focuses on traditional treatments instead of gimmicks—and it costs less, too.

HydrotherapyBACK TO BASICS | Say goodbye to spa therapies that only go skin deep. Thermo- therapy and hydrotherapy, practised throughout Europe, are showing up across the country. These therapies use extreme heat and profuse sweating to flush out deeply lodged toxins, relax muscles and improve heart health. Read more

Nepeta, 'Walker's Low'

This Variety Of Nepeta Is A Bulletproof Plant

A gorgeous, indestructible, low-maintenance, high-performance, cost-effective garden: Is that too much to ask?

Nepeta, 'Walker's Low'

 

MONEY WELL SPENT | There are people who derive tremendous satisfaction from garden chores, but I’m not one of them. I love garden design and history, and enjoyed researching and planning our own garden with my husband, who is a garden designer. I loved choosing the plants and installing them, and I don’t mind occasional watering or weeding. But after that, I want to spend my time doing other things. I need my garden to be bulletproof: a gorgeous, indestructible, low-maintenance, high-performance environment—and of course I expect my investment in plants to be cost-effective. Read more

This Little Teapot Can Relieve Allergy Symptoms

This little contraption is a time-honoured tool for the relief of allergy symptoms.

CHEAP + GOOD | It’s great when you can find a simple and inexpensive item that actually does what it claims it can do. I’m talking about the Neti pot, that little contraption that looks like a mini Aladdin’s lamp, only instead of rubbing it, you use it to engage in a strange water dance with your nostrils.

The practice of nasal irrigation, which is what the Neti pot is used for, is old as Shiva and pursued by yoga practitioners in India to clear their nasal passages for enhanced breath control, controlled breathing being central to yoga. Read more

Coreen and Heike - Martin Tessler

Heike and Coreen Do YVR On The Green Side

Top casting directors Heike Brandstatter and Coreen Mayrs explore Vancouver (and Bowen Island) on the green side.

Coreen and Heike - Martin TesslerEmmy Award-winning casting directors Coreen Mayrs and Heike Brandstatter spend most of their days casting feature film and television shows, having worked on such past projects as Juno, Battlestar Galactica, Capote and Diary of A Wimpy Kid. Their current projects include This Means War (starring Reese Witherspoon), Hellcats, Smallville and the soon-to-be-released Tron: Legacy. In their spare time they can be found exploring sustainable design, green building and cooking with organic ingredients.

Heike and Coreen’s 5 free, cheap or worth it things to see, do or buy in Vancouver (or beyond) Read more
Clothes line with colourful pegs

Why You Need A Clothesline In Your Life

Save your clothes, cash and the environment with an indoor or outdoor clothesline.

Clothes line with colourful pegsWhat is it with us? We can’t wait to air our dirty laundry in public but scorn hanging clean laundry outdoors to dry. Years ago I lived in the heart of Montreal’s Latin Quarter yet had a clothesline running from my back balcony to a post on the lane—and so did everyone else. Here in Vancouver, I can’t remember the last time I saw laundry flapping in the wind. A 2007 StatsCan Environment Survey shows the percentage of B.C. residents drying clothes on a line or rack at just 54 percent; in P.E.I. it was 75 percent. Read more