Sustainable May Day Baskets

It's nearly May Day! Can you believe the year has gone so quickly already? This year change up your May Day basket by making it sustainable! There are lots of fun ways to do this!

Reuse for your Basket
Even the basket itself can be sustainable! Weave a basket out of old news paper or use an old tin can, both are a great way to reuse and still have some fun! Check out this tutorial to weave a newspaper basket!

Give the Gift of a Garden
What better way to incorporate a sustainable theme than to give the gift of growth? Either buy some potted flower or plants, rather than the traditional cut ones, or give seeds. We love this plantable paper as a seed gifting idea! 

Find an Upcycled Gift
Ever since sites like Etsy started popping up it's never been easier to find upcycled gifts. Give a fork ring or a bracelet made from old tires, it's a gift nobody will soon forget!

Go Homemade With Treats
Rather than sticking tons of wasteful wrapped candies in your basket, try a homemade good instead. Cookies, banana bread, and muffins all make great May Day goodies! 

Do you have any other ideas to make your May Day basket a little more green? Be sure to share in the comments!

Feature: Greenhouses made from old windows and doors

We love combining things we love- which is why we're loving all the reclaimed item Greenhouses we've seen popping up everywhere this year! Today we're featuring an article that has gathered some of our favorite ones made out of old windows and doors. 

These greenhouses keep materials out of landfills and give them a wonderful new life- helping grow new things! What do you think? Would you put one of these up in your backyard? We certainly would!

Read the full article here.

Coe College Continues to Pioneer for Composting

Tom Wieseler started composting food waste from the Coe College cafeteria five years ago.  To say that it was an act of love is an understatement.  Every 10 days, or so, he would personally load his van and take the food waste to the Linn County Solid Waste compost site.  This effort would keep 75 tons of food waste out of the landfill.  Today, he has help.

“Before GreenRU came to us with their turn-key solution for organic collection, we were on our own.  Now, we have a partner that will take our food waste with regularity and we know it is going where it should.” 

Wieseler, the General Manager of Sodexo Campus Services at Coe College, learned about a commercial composting operation in the St. Louis area.  Fascinated with the idea, he was disappointed that similar services did not exist locally. He had even discussed composting food waste on the Coe College campus.   “I am very glad that GreenRU has solved our composting concerns.  Let’s say they have taken a load off my back,” Wieseler said. 

GreenRU began collecting food waste from Coe College at the start of the 2012-2013 school year.  They have already diverted over 8 tons.  The collected food scraps are delivered to the Cedar Rapids Linn County Solid Waste Compost Site, where they are conducting a compost pilot program to test the long term practicality of composting.

On April 9 GreenRU presented Coe College with a certificate noting their total 2012 tons diverted and celebrating their commitment to sustainability.      

GreenRU has diverted over 1,800 tons of organics from the landfill, with the help of over 30 customers located across Iowa. For further information contact GreenRU at 855-RU-VERDE.

Feature: 9 Ways to Save In The Kitchen

Earth Day is Monday! Can you believe it? Tomorrow we'll be at the Earth Day Trash Bash at Nollen Plaza and we hope we'll see you there! We're always eco-focused here, which is why today we're featuring an article about 9 ways to save in the kitchen. This list is centered around reducing food waste, a subject we're very interested in!

These tip may seem common sense for some of you, but for others they may seem revolutionary. Either way, we hope you all read them and learn! They're great and simple ideas that make a large impact.

Read the article here.

Don't forget- if your business wants to start composting their organic waste- contact us! We'd be happy to help.

How To Find Quality Compost

Maybe you don't compost. Maybe your work does, maybe your neighbor does. Either way, all you know is that you need some for your tomato plant this year. Where do you go?

The U.S. Composting Council is answering that question! This year they rolled out their new site Buy-Compost.com. It is a complete guide to finding a compost provider near you, so you can have locally made, U.S. Composting Council approved compost!

Not only does this site include a map with the locations of compost sites, it also has some helpful tips and tricks, regardless of the scale of your compost use.  We love the Compost/Mulch Calculator, because often times it is all too easy to not know how much you will use for your garden. This calculator gets rid of the guessing game!

Have you looked around on the site yet? What's your favorite feature? Let us know in the comments! 

Feature: Preparing Onion and Leek Seedlings to Go Outdoors

Can you believe we had snow in Iowa today? Snow! In April! Good grief.  For today we're back to garden planning, and the article we found for you today should help if the weather goes back to normal in the coming days! It's all about transplanting Onion and Leek seedlings outdoors!

This process can be kind of tricky, as it's a big game of timing. We appreciate how the blogger on You Grow Girl explains it though, makes it easy to follow and low stress! Plus she puts a good reminder at the end- don't throw away the trimmings. She gives you a couple different ideas for ways you can use them now.

Don't take our word for it though, read the article and get prepared for your transplants.

Read the article here.

Feature: 3 Minutes To Your Best Garden Yet

Today we're featuring a helpful video guide- 3 minutes to your best garden yet. These videos, put together by Ben Gould, shows you a few different tips to helping your garden be better than ever.

We especially like the last one about how to properly add compost to your garden. We recommend all of you add compost to your garden for larger, more nutrient rich plants.

Which segment is your favorite? Did you learn something? What's your biggest takeaway? Share in our comments!



Read the full article here.

Feature: Wonderful Wallflowers: Vertical Gardening Supplies for Small Spaces

Vertical gardens are a great option available now for the urban gardener. Many of our customers are in rural areas and green thumbed, so we hope that this article will inspire you all the create your own vertical garden! With all these lush, green photos we definitely were inspired! 

We'd love to get your take on the recent vertical gardening craze! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think- are you in love or are you more into the classic approach?

Read the article here