Have a GREEN, black and orange Halloween this year!

With Halloween approaching, and consumerism at a spike, consider how you can green up your home and festivities by reusing, reducing, and recycling. Below are some ideas for a green black and orange Halloween and below that some ideas for seasonal staging of your home.

The Daily Green, a great newsletter for green living, says: "By choosing natural materials to accent your home or office, you'll also be supporting American farmers and open space, as well as bringing a little slice of nature (not to mention history) indoors. The best choice is locally sourced goods, which you can pick up at a farmers' market, farm stand or charity drive. Read more at: http://www.thedailygreen.com/going-green/tips/natural-fall-decorations?src=rss#ixzz0UhBb8AUJ"

Here are my ideas:

• Get costumes from your local vintage clothing or thrift store and not only will you feel better about your choices, you will be supporting local business owners and charities (who really need it now!!!)


• If you string lights be sure to use strands of LED lights, not traditional twinkle lights.


• Illuminate carved pumpkins with candles made from beeswax or soy, so harmful toxins aren't burned into the air.


• Give out only fair trade, organic treats. Or small items made from recycled materials.


• Don't forget your reusable grocery bags instead of plastic trick or treat bags.

For Seasonal Green Staging, here are some ideas:

• Use produce from your local farmer's market for decoration. A few pumpkins and gourds by the door and a spray of Indian corn on the front door, create a festive entry.


• LED lighting in the trees or on your patio or balcony can go far to set the mood that your home is a wonderful magical place, without using much electricity. With the days getting shorter towards winter, lighting is crucial for safety as well as ambiance.


• Scarecrows (make them whimsical and smiling) made from found objects and old clothes and a few hay bales in the front yard provide a unique curb appeal, and invite the buyer closer.


• Burn a soy or beeswax scented candle just before buyers are to arrive to fill the home with fresh scent.


• If you have any green features, be sure to make a small sign and post it next to them, so buyers can be reminded. For example, energy star appliances, native plant landscaping, air filtration systems, should all be pointed out to the buyers.

Vermiculture? creepy crawlies just in time for Halloween!

I got this e-mail from The Road Less Traveled, one of my favorite stores :

What: Composting Lecture

When: October 25, 2009 3:00 PM

Price: $15.00 per person

Where:The Road Less Traveled

2204 N Main St Santa Ana, CA 92706

714 836-8727

Learn the how, what and where of vermiculture, composting with earthworms, our hungry and efficient friends! Everything you need know plus product to buy to be successful at home! handouts and snacks are included.$15, $10 w/friend

OK, in all my studies for several years now, and in the 70's as a hippie, I have never heard the word "vermiculture". And my friend, Abbot John Drais of Madre Grande Monastery was a Worm Wrangler - he taught me all about worms and castings and how valuable they are, as he spent hours digging up the earth and making the soil a perfect environment for earthworms to sell their poop for organic fertilizer. Apparently it's the shizzle.

Why is it important to green real estate? First, let's properly define it.

According to http://www.vermiculture.com/, it is "The raising and production of earthworms and worm castings"

Well, wikipedia doesn't list it, but they do list Vermicompost: "composting utilizing various species of worms, specifically red wigglers, white worms, and earthworms creating the heterogeneous mixture of decomposing vegetable or food waste, bedding materials, and pure vermicast produced during the course of normal vermiculture operations. Vermicast, similarly known as worm castings, worm humus or worm manure, is the end-product of the breakdown of organic matter by the species of earthworm." That's clear as mud!

So, why is it important to green real estate?

Worm castings used as fertilizer can help your organic garden thrive and not only make your yard a living yard ("greener" than a grass yard - see my blog: Rip up your lawn!"), it can be a profitable yard reaping expensive organic produce and herbs for your family to enjoy. Your family might end up just a little healthier eating fresh and often raw food as you save money on your grocery bill and possibly your doctor bills. A beautiful thriving garden certainly enhances the curb appeal of a home, and last but not least, think of how happy the planet will be when you are not putting toxic fertilizers into it or the storm drains to the ocean.

I suggest if you are interested at all in vermiculture, you do attend the workshop. and you won't be all "muddy" about vermiculture anymore.

ZZZZZZZap !! Do you need an energy audit?

With the ceconomy what it is, many people are looking to save money of course, and lowering utility bills is an easy way to save some money, and be more comfortable living in your house.

Barak Obama understands the value of an energy efficient home, and has pushed for legistlation to help homeowners with this. The weatherization program provides money to qualified homeowners for such things as insulation, smoke detectors and furnace and air conditioner repair or replacement. The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) estimates that residents save about $400 to $500 on energy costs in the first year after just weatherization improvements. And there's so much more...
A home energy audit can assess how much energy your home consumes and evaluate what measures you can take to make your home more energy efficient. An audit will show you problems that may, when corrected, save you money. Pinpoint where your house is losing energy, and determine the efficiency of your home's heating and cooling systems. An audit may also show you ways to conserve hot water and electricity.

You can perform a simple energy audit yourself, or have a professional energy auditor carry out a more thorough audit.
A professional auditor uses a variety of techniques and equipment to determine the energy efficiency of a structure. Thorough audits often use equipment such as blower doors, which measure the extent of leaks in the building envelope, and infared cameras, which reveal hard-to-detect areas of air infiltration and missing insulation. You will need a professional energy audit and a HERS rating to get an Energy Efficient Mortgage where you can finance the cost of the improvements you need to make to improve your HERS rating score and thus your utility bills, and even get a better interest rate.

On the U.S. Department of Energy web site, there is lots of information on - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, as well as instructions on Do-Yourself Home Energy Audits
You can easily conduct a home energy audit yourself. http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/energy_audits/index.cfm/mytopic=11170?print