Monthly Archives: February 2009

Office Store Recycling Services

Did you know that some office supply stores do recycling for you? Both Office Depot and Staples have recycling programs. You may be familiar with the various ink and toner cartridge recycling programs, but more is available.

You will sometimes have to pay for it, though. But for electronic waste recycling that’s not all that bad a thing, so long as you are certain that the recycling is done correctly.

Office Depot, for example, sells boxes in their stores for you to put your old electronics in. They do all their recycling in the USA, which takes care of one of the big concerns of tech recycling. Too often it’s done wrong. They have a PDF of acceptable products.

Also important, they carry a lot of products with recycled content.

Staples also recycles ink and toner cartridges, computers, monitors, cell phones and more. And of course recycled content products.

It’s good to see companies that are working on offering both green products and services. Most of us come up with quite a bit of electronic waste that is just not that easy to recycle other ways. Even if you have to pay to recycle them, it’s good to have a way to get rid of old electronics properly.

Thinking Baby Sling

With two other kids around, I’m thinking this time around I really need to give a baby sling a serious try. The only thing I’m not sure of is… which one?

We had a sling with my oldest, but it really didn’t work out. It was one my mother picked up, and we just couldn’t get it to work. I don’t recall which type it was, but we just couldn’t get the adjustments right.

This time around I’m thinking with two other kids a sling sounds really nice.

Something other than a stroller to push when I pick my daughter up from school.

Something to keep my hands a little freer while still holding my baby.

We had a front carrier with my daughter, and it was pretty nice too, but not always comfortable. I’m thinking about comfort as well as practicality here.

I’ve heard good things about Maya wrap and Moby wrap, but no idea what’s best.

Any opinions out there?

Are You Planning Your Garden Yet?

It’s still winter, and cold in many parts of the country, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be getting your garden ready to go. Not that you want to start planting in most areas yet, although some people do like to get an early start indoors.

This is a great time to figure out what you want to grow and figure out when you need to plant everything. Some seeds can be started earlier than others. How early you should start depends on where you live, but an early indoor start can nicely extend your growing season. It’s nice being able to avoid frost or freezes while getting your garden growing.

Check your local library for gardening books specific to your area. That will help you to figure out what you should be trying to grow and when to start. It’s pretty variable by region.

Square Foot Gardening is very popular, and a great way to keep your planning of your garden space under control. We do something similar, although much of our garden space is limited to where our landlord’s decorative plants died in a freeze a couple years back, and goes along the border. But the principle is in there.

It’s also smart to look up companion plants and plants that don’t get along so well. Tomatoes and marigolds are classic companion plants, for example. The right companion can keep pests away or fix more nitrogen in the soil for another plant. There are plenty of online companion planting resources too.

Your compost bin or pile can be used pretty much anytime. If it gets too cold for composting to happen, don’t worry. It will start up again as the weather warms. You can add some soil and/or compost starter when things warm up enough if you want to kick start things. If you’ve been neglecting it, get moving again.

It’s not too early to get things moving right now. The sooner you get things started, the sooner you can enjoy home grown produce.