Cocktails with Medicinal Roots
A toast to your health [via Mother Nature Network] Although tonics and bitters made of herbal extracts, spices and the bark of exotic trees have faded from pharmacy shelves as elixirs, they live on in cocktails, grandfathered into drinks in splashes and dashes to create some of the most memorable and enduring cocktails imaginable. Here […]
5 Tips to Cut Your Electricity Bill
From Expert David Johnston Cutting back on your energy usage is one of the best ways to bring down your electricity bill. But did you know that making simple changes to not just your wattage consumption but the way your home retains and expels air can dramatically transform the way you experience your spaces and […]
Are “Natural” and “Organic” Cosmetics Necessarily Better for You?
Navigating the beauty industry isn’t unlike watching an episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County—you’re equal parts baffled and alarmed, there are flashes of self-loathing, and although you have a sneaking suspicion that it’s bad for you, you can’t help but breathlessly indulge. Throw in abarrage of mostly meaningless buzzwords like “natural” and “organic,” […]
Your Healthy Gardening Guide
There’s nothing like heading into your yard on a warm spring day and getting your hands dirty — in a good way. “Gardening can be great for reducing stress,” says Alexis Chiang Colvin, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. “You’re […]
Stevia: Good or Bad?
Sugar is one of the most dangerous ingredients on the market. It’s addictive, added to almost every processed food, and will make you overweight, depressed and sick if you eat too much. In fact, Americans eat close to 130 pounds of the stuff per person per year (4 times more than the recommended daily allowance), […]
Companion Planting
May 15th is the traditional cut off date for a final frost. Meaning, starting next week, everything goes – in your garden. I will be seeding watermelons and transplanting chile peppers. As you prepare to fill your summer plot, consider not only what you’re planting, but where you’re planting. The logic and tradition of companion […]
10 Easy & Inexpensive Tips for an Eco-Friendly Home
Simple yet effective ways to green your home. Outfitting your home with the latest and greatest environmentally friendly appliances and accessories may make you super trendy, but it can also stress your budget and actually end up being bad for the environment. How can that be? Throwing out one appliance or accessory to replace it […]
HerbDay 2013 set for May 4
The eighth annual HerbDay, an event sponsored by the HerbDay Coalition, which includes the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), is set for Saturday, May 4. HerbDay is an internationally coordinated series of independently produced, public, educational events celebrating the importance of herbs and herbalism. HerbDay was conceived to raise awareness of the significance of herbs […]
The 2013 Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen Produce Guides
For the ninth year, the Environmental Working Group has released its popular Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, which includes the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists of the most and least pesticide contaminated fruits and vegetables. As always, the samples tested by the EWG are thoroughly washed and peeled so that the areas being […]
Green Cleaning Recipes
After a long winter, it’s time for spring-cleaning. Unfortunately, the ever-expanding arsenal of home cleaning products now includes several dangerous weapons, loaded with strong, artificial colors and fragrances and harsh cleansing agents like bleach, ammonia and acids. These chemicals can produce indoor air pollution by off-gassing toxic fumes that can irritate eyes and lungs. (Children […]
10 foods that fight spring allergies
Work vitamin C-rich foods (like citrus and broccoli) into your diet and turn to stinging nettle as a potent natural form of allergy relief. Thanks to climate change, every allergy season is the worst allergy season ever. Warmer temperatures have led to earlier springs and longer allergy seasons, while higher levels of carbon dioxide […]
Building a Covered Greenhouse Garden
If your garden is subject to a lot of wind activity, try building an above-ground covered garden. Building a little green house to protect your vegetabeles from the wind and to elevate the temperature during the colder days. This should also help with the “year round” gardening. Start out with 2x12s at 8 feet […]