Monday, May 11, 2009

row boats and new plants

This weekend I got up on Saturday morning and wanted to do something outside. I also wanted to keep from spending a bunch of money on something entertaining to do, and somehow avoid an allergy attack for Matthew as well. What to do?

River Park North. Greenville people - support River Park North!! I've been talking about going for a while, so Matthew mentioned it Saturday morning and we called some friends to see if they felt up to some outdoors-y fun. The four of us [five, if you count their puppy, Daisy] drove out there and rented a couple jon boats for $5 a piece - and that's for four hours of use! We got to paddle around and enjoy the sun while staying cool since the wind was coming across the water at us, Matthew's allergies were fine because of the water. We got some fun pictures, Daisy got her first boat ride, it was excercise, it was inexpensive, and I got some sun [finally!] without having to sit outside and sweat. We now also know we can go rent canoes and pedal boats, dig in the fossil pit, walk down three different trails, have picnics, go camping, rent fishing equipment, and paddle all the way down to the Town Commons from their outlets. If you don't live in Greenville, look up the website for the city you live in or a few surrounding cities - parks like this are not uncommon. It's a great thing to support, it keeps you healthy without feeling like exercise, and you can enjoy nature and spend less money than going out to dinner or to the movies. That's what Michael Scott would call a win-win-win scenario. :]

I also found some cool stuff I wanted to share, but instead of typing it all out I'll just post the link to this other guy's blog...pretty fun stuff.

I LOVE baking soda. It's useful for everything! I already use it for a lot, but here's a list of some good ideas[the comments are useful too!]:
http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/154/1/30-baking-soda-tips.html

Lemons are super useful too. I'd like to get more into using them.

And my new favorite thing : Guerilla Gardening. I don't know where to get these supplies, but the seed ball idea sounds super fun.

That's about it...trying to stay short and sweet. :]

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

good finds in g-vegas

It's been a crazy weekend, but I'm back now. Friday we had a big event called Day Seven, and we've just been settling back down from that all weekend, so I skipped yesterday too. But I'm back! :] So here's what's been happening.

1. Free Planters
You've seen the picture of our indoor garden, and it has now just about tripled in size. However, planters are not super cheap, and I did not want to go spend $60-$100 on plastic pots. So Matthew and I went driving around, and after one very disappointing night, we decided to drive through a friend's neighborhood just to look and jackpot! We got about 10 different sized planters all big enough to give our veggies room to grow, and we paid nothing for them. A neighbor was throwing them all out, and we just grabbed them from their trash pile. And now our garden has outgrown our apartment! Half of it's downstairs [getting lots of rain right now, actually].

2. COMMUNITY GARDEN!
This just about made me do a dance. We were looking at some apartments downtown for when we move to make room for the baby, and across the street there was a big vacant lot with a large garden. I didn't know what it was, but it looked fun, so when the girl was showing us the apartment, I asked her about it, and she said it's a community garden where you pay $40 a year for a plot and can plant your own garden. And she said they're really cool about sharing stuff that they grow too! I am so excited. I can't wait to transplant our garden over there.

3. Froggs.org and Uptown Greenville.
Join Froggs.org! We did today. Look at their 5 year plan for Greenville- they're already starting on it. Greenville apparently just got this big grant to put in parks and implement green building, and they're pushing the revitalization of existing properties over the wasteful practice of tearing them down and starting over - super exciting! And Uptown Greenville is going to also start a Farmer's Market DOWNTOWN! Not to mention all other kinds of beautifying and greening of the area. This was a good find by Matthew!

So...bottom line is...Greenville, NC is no longer the worst place in the US to live. Haha. And we're starting to live up to our name!