And it also means we’re coming up quick on planting season. Even if you’re not seeing it out your own front window, I assure you it’s coming . . . and soon!

Last year I offered a green alternative to plastic seed pots, with a recycled newspaper version. This year I present a new twist on the same concept – this time using your spent toilet paper rolls!

And once again, it’s just so easy. Like so:

Begin with your TP roll. You’ll need one per plant.

Cut! You’ll want a series of cuts around one edge, maybe 1.5 inches apiece. I did 5-6 cuts per roll.

It’ll look like this.

Fold down the tabs to make a nice flat bottom. No need to fasten or anything fancy – it should stay put on it’s own. Fill with potting soil and proceed with starting your seeds as normal.







When you’re ready to transplant, just unfold the bottom tabs and then cut the cardboard away. So start collecting those TP rolls! (and don’t forget to recycle or compost them once you’re done)

Don’t you love how the green DIY method is also always the most efficient, most practical method? I love that!!

#17

So the holidays are over and you’ve got a pile of greetings and gift cards, on display and collecting dust in a corner of the living room. But they’ve got to come down eventually, and unfortunately most will find their way into the rubbish bin.

Of course you, diligent Bonzai readers, would never trash that precious card stock, I’m sure. We’re all recyclers here, are we not?

But what about doing one better? Instead of tossing them in with the newspapers and tomato tins, why not hold on to them for later use? Simply remove that pretty (and valuable) front! (leaving the back, inscribed with your relative’s well wishes, to recycle) Now you have a brand new post card, a clever thank-you note, or a lovely gift tag!

You can also wrap a gift in simple brown paper (re-use a paper grocery bag), then tape the recycled card front to it, to add a festive image.

So save your holiday cards for the next years festivities! But don’t forget to save other cards throughout the year – this works equally well for Valentines, birthdays, and beyond!

BONZAI!

After investing a minimal amount of energy into the setup, I finally ’sat down’ to give it a try. With a little apprehension and a little bit of doubt, I did what I needed to do (NOT doo-doo, haha) . . . and then reached for the cloth.

Okay, the second I actually did it I was like, “wait, really?” It was a similar feeling as when I switched to cloth pads. As in, WHAT THE HECK TOOK ME SO LONG??

May I be blunt?
1) Cotton *feels* a lot better than scratchy paper.
2) It’s really a relatively dry affair, if you know what I mean. There’s very little that’s actually transfered to the cloth. There’s no associated odor and cleaning them is just not an issue.

So all in all, I think this is one of the easiest, one of the most successful missions to date. I don’t know what I was so afraid of, and there’s no way I won’t keep doing this. I encourage you all to give it a try!

BONZAI!

If you’d like to learn more about why one would want to do such a thing, you can get the background story at this month’s Mission post. Now, you can go about getting started in one of two ways: buy them or make them. Since one of the major themes of this exercise is reduction, I opted for the DIY approach. A couple of my husbands old softened tee shirts was all it took!





An old sheet, flannel PJs, dish towels or bath towels – pretty much anything can stand in here. No sewing required! I just cut the fabric into strips the width of regular TP. Then, cut them into lengths so that when they’re folded in half they’ll make a perfect square.





From there you just need a place to store ‘em and to stash ‘em, close to the scene of the crime. I picked up this lovely secondhand basket at the thrift store, and found the perfect plain plastic waste bin for catching wipes. An empty drawer would also work great for storing the clean ones. I considered getting the biggest, tackiest vintage cookie jar i could find for used wipes. Ha!





There are really a million variations here. Highly customizable. Now as far as actually *using* them, that’s a whole other story.

We’ll revisit that at the end of the month.

#8

You’ve all been so amazing joining me in these grand experiments each month, willingly committing yourselves to new, sometimes drastic life changes. And I think, this month, I’m really going to test your faith in me! Eek!

Okay. So, this month I’m going to switch to family cloth. “Now, what is family cloth?”, you may ask. “That sounds so sweet, like a big warm blankey for sharing”.

But yeah, no.

Family cloth is cotton toilet paper. Basically, you replace your standard bleached, chemically-treated paper TP, with reusable wipes made of fabric (bought new or upcycled from old clothes/towels). Keep your clean cloths near the toilet, in a drawer or a pretty basket or bag. Keep a ‘dirty rag’ receptacle near the toilet as well, a bin with a lid or a hanging drawstring sack. Launder the used wipes as necessary.

Sound crazy? I thought so too, at first. It’s honestly taken me a while to warm up to the idea. But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Obviously, it’s a great environmental gain. We already know from our research into paper napkins, that washing reusables is much more resource/energy efficient. And I remember from the switch to cloth menstrual pads, how surprised I was at the comfort that came with cotton. I hope to get the same benefit from the family cloth.

I’ll be spending this first month using family cloth for #1 only. So I’ll keep some TP in the bathrooms, for guests and for #2.

And what about you, my dear green go-getters. Is this just too extreme to be gotten? Or, are you with me? Will you accept this mission?

BONZAI!

#11 We can all agree on the profound importance of recycling, right? For example, if each US resident would recycle 1 newspaper / week, we could save 36 million trees. How’s that for profound??

I think it’s safe to assume you readers are avid recyclers. (right?!?)

But what about the flipside? Recycling won’t mean a thing if there’s no use for recycled paper. It’s up to consumers (us!) to speak with our dollars and create a demand for post-consumer products. This does double duty environmentalism, as it saves both resources and energy. For example, newspaper made from recycled newsprint only requires half the energy input!

When buying recycled writing and printer paper, try to find the highest post-consumer content. 30% is a good ratio to aim for. Make sure the product is made without chlorine, as this toxin is a major pollutant. Also seek out sustainable fibers such as bamboo.

BONZAI!

#9 You know what thrills me more than it rightfully should? Brand new, freshly sharpened, perfectly pointy pencils. HA!

In college, the first day of class was always my favorite – lining up my new notepad, cracking the spine on whatever tome of a textbook, and all that hope and potential harnessed in a brand new, at-the-ready yellow #2.

So I just had to share this fabulous find, for the geeky and graphical among us. Tree Smart is a little green business that uses old newspapers to make little green pencils (literally!), without any mulching or toxins in the process. Starting with the graphite core, newspaper is wrapped around and around and sealed with adhesive. The binder dries as hard as wood so these pencils sharpen just like normal!

BONZAI!

#8 So, we’ve all agreed that wasting paper is bad. We’ve canceled our newspaper subscription and we recycle all our mail and our ‘brown bag’ lunch comes in a canister. But unfortunately, 90% of our households are still reliant on one of the worst wasters of this limited resource: napkins.

It’s time to end it, guys! Paper towels and their ilk account for 3,000 tons of landfill waste each year. That’s millions of trees – trashed. Is it really worth the perceived convenience?

Instead of traditional paper products, try using dishrags around the kitchen. Rip up old towels for dirty cleaning jobs. Dine in style with cotton napkins. Stash a hankie in your satchel (or your back pocket, for fashion and for function!) so you won’t ever get caught unawares. Add a small cloth to your packed lunches (or your kids’), and keep a supply in the glovebox, too. It’s so easy to cut out unnecessary paper, and once it’s habitual, you’ll wonder why it took you so long.

And just in case you’re wondering, it takes less than half the energy of paper production, to fabricate and then re-clean a cloth towel over its lifetime.

BONZAI!

^^^  Way back in springtime, I planted some potatoes. It’s a simple strategy: as the foliage grows, more tires and dirt are added to the stack. This converts stem into root and produces more potatoes, as the leaves continue clamoring skyward. This intensive small-space system is supposed to yield 25-30 pounds of potatoes.

I planted mid-April 2 tires high, and here’s what has happened since:

^^^  Almost a month later, in the third week of May, the spuds had finally sprouted and were just starting to shoot up. Almost ready for the third tire . . .

^^^  In the last few weeks they’ve skyrocketed! This was the start of June, after I’d added the third tire to the Yukons and the Reds. The Russets are always about a week behind.

^^^  2 1/2 weeks into June. The fourth tire’s been added and the leaves are big and bushy, reaching out for more space and more sunlight. I could even add another tire on each stack, two on the Yukons. I can’t keep up! 

And look, the Reds are beginning to flower. Ain’t they beautiful?

I can’t decide how high to go. Five tires? Six? When do I stop?

Wish me luck!

#7   How green is your hygiene regime? Specifically, what’s washing those pretty veg*n chompers?  No, I don’t mean the homemade baking soda scrub (although we’ll be covering that soon!) – I mean the toothbrush itself.

Uh-oh, it’s probably plastic, right? Well lucky for conscientious consumers, there’s a few progressive products out there to take your pearly whites to a whole new shade of green!

I use Preserve, available online as well as nationwide at Trader Joe’s. Each brush comes with a small postmarked pouch, so that when it’s worn out you can mail it back to the company. They recycle old brushes into brand new tools. So cool!

But you want a mechanical model? Radius has you covered. Their Intelligent electric toothbrush has a replaceable head, and they’ll even help you dispose of the batteries.

And don’t forget, those old brushes make great additions to your DIY cleaning kit! 

BONZAI!