Easy Ways to Preserve the Harvest

Thursday is green:eats day, when we give you tips on how to green your diet.

If you’re a gardener, whether you have a huge garden on several acres or a small balcony garden, chances are that once the end of the gardening season nears, you still have some produce that you haven’t gotten around to eating. We’ve all heard of canning and pickling, but those are activities that take a little more time and some specialized equipment. They can be a lot of fun, but we’ll cover them another time. All you need to preserve some of our favorite crops are ice cube trays, freezer bags, and an oven or stovetop.

To Preserve Garden Herbs:

You can try drying them, either out in the open or in the microwave, but you get a fresher taste from your preserved herbs if you freeze them. Simply chop your herbs (any herb will work) fairly small, and drop about a tablespoon into each section of an ice cube tray. Add water to fill the tray, and pop it into the freezer. Let it freeze overnight, and then pop the herb cubes out and put them in a labeled freezer bag. You’ll have the taste of fresh basil and parsley in the middle of winter!

To Preserve Tomatoes:

There are two easy ways to preserve tomatoes: freezing and drying. You can freeze tomatoes whole to use later in sauces and soups; simply wash them well, pop them in a freezer bag, and use them as needed throughout the winter. Here are instructions for how to oven-dry tomatoes.

To Preserve Dark, Leafy Greens:

For crops like kale, spinach, beet greens, and the like, the easiest way to preserve them is to blanch them for a few seconds in boiling water, then shock them in an ice water bath to halt the cooking process. Place blanched, cooled greens in a freezer bag or plastic container. Don’t worry about drying them–the water will help prevent freezer burn.

To Preserve Green Beans:

Harvest beans when they are thin and tender. Wash, and trim off the stem end. Then, pop them into a freezer bag, and store until you need them.

Who needs overpriced, well-traveled produce? With these tips, you can go to the freezer and relive a bit of summer all winter long.

Empty Cereal Box as Organizing Tool

Saturday is green:organizing day, when we give you eco-friendly tips for how to take command of all your stuff.

This is a fantastic idea from Martha Stewart Kids. Empty cereal boxes seem to multiply, especially if you have kids in the house. You could recycle them, but why do that when you could reuse them as attractive, free, organizing tools?

The gist of the project is to cut a cereal box into a variety of shapes and sizes, depending on your needs. You can make magazine holder-style organizers or file boxes out of standard size cereal boxes, and index card files or pencil cups out of small, single serving size boxes. The article recommends using contact paper or decorative papers to make the boxes more attractive—you could make this really green by reusing wrapping paper or wrapping the boxes in newspaper pages.

Check out marthastewart.com for the full instructions.

Power Down When the Workday’s Done

Friday is green:work day, when we give you tips for greening up your work life, whether you work from a cubicle or your own home office.

Millions of office workers leave their computers on, even after they’ve gone home for the day. According to Kiplinger’s, a mid-size company spends about $165,000 per year in electricity costs for computers and peripherals that have been left on overnight. Besides the obvious economic cost, the environmental cost is equally grim: across the nation, approximately 15 million tons of CO2 are released into the atmosphere. Not good, to put it mildly.

So why don’t the computers get turned off? Excuses ranged from “so software updates can be installed overnight” to “it takes too long to start up in the morning.” Really, people. Are we in that much of a hurry to start working that we can’t wait a few minutes for a computer to boot up? Have a cup of coffee or something.

Maybe the most depressing stat from the polling done by Kiplinger’s is this: 53% of those polled didn’t care what their company’s carbon footprint was. This level of apathy is the biggest hurdle in making positive change for the environment.

So, what’s today’s tip? Turn off the computer when you’re done working, man! And while you’re at it, shut off the printer, copier, and monitor, too!

Make Your Own Organic, Chemical-Free Microwave Popcorn

Thursday is green:eats day, when we give you tips for healthier, more eco-friendly eating.

The past few days have seen leading microwave popcorn producers, such as Reddenbacher, Pop Weaver, and Act II, changing their popcorn recipes to remove the chemical additive diacetyl, which is what gives most microwave popcorn that buttery flavor and aroma. Diacetyl has long been suspected of causing lung disease in factory workers, but the story that a man who ate microwave popcorn every day and developed “popcorn lung” as a result finally spurred the industry to act.

So diacetyl will be gone, but there are still plenty other chemicals in microwave popcorn. Why risk it? Make your own organic, chemical-free popcorn, and it’ll taste better and be healthier for you. You can find organic popping corn at many health food and Whole Foods-type stores. Follow these instructions from Instructables  to make a batch of your own microwave popcorn. You’ll be enjoying your movie in buttery, salty, chemical-free goodness in no time!

Cold Water=Clean Laundry + Less Pollution

Wednesday is green:home day, when we offer simple tips to green up your home life.

Most Americans wash their clothing in warm water. The energy it takes to heat all of that water results in around 500 pounds of greenhouse gases per household being released into the atmosphere every year. And, it costs you money to heat all of that water! A better, and more Earth-friendly, option is to wash your clothing in cold water. Cold water will get your clothing perfectly clean, even without the addition of any special “cold water” detergents. Only items that are very dirty or grease-stained will need to be washed in warm water. For the vast majority of us, our daily lives don’t result in incredibly dirty laundry.

Another green point here is to only do laundry when you have a full load. This way you save water in addition to energy!

Make Your Family Barbeque a Little Greener

A barbeque is a great, fun way to spend a day with family and friends. Unfortunately, the disposable plates, cups, and flatware, as well as the copious amounts of charcoal lighter fluid many of us use are not exactly Earth-friendly. With a few simple, painless changes, your next cookout can be fun and green.

Use Reusable Dishes and Utensils

Disposable dishes and flatware are convenient, but they clutter our landfills and take hundreds of years to decompose. A better option is to use normal, everyday cups, plates, and flatware at your barbeque. If you’re worried about breakage, you can purchase inexpensive plastic plates and cups, and simply wash and store them until your next cookout.

Kick the Lighter Fluid Habit

What’s a cookout without some burgers and hotdogs sizzling on the grill? There is a greener way to barbeque, too. The lighter fluid that so many of us use to start our charcoal is petroleum-based, which means not only is it non-renewable, but it releases harmful compounds into the atmosphere as it burns. A better option is to buy a steel charcoal chimney. This is basically a metal tube with a handle. You fill the  top part of the chimney with the charcoal, and crumple a couple sheets of newspaper and put them in the bottom part. Simply light the newspaper, let the coals get red hot, dump them in the grill, and you’re good to go. The chimney is virtually indestructible, so you’ll have it for years to come.

These tips will help you have a greener cookout. And, don’t forget to recycle all of those bottles and cans!