At the beginning of the month, I was elbow deep in the worm bin, looking at good quantity of castings (compost) ready to be harvested. A staff member had already put in an order to take them to her houseplants, knowing what an excellent nutrient source they are. The end product, for those who haven't seen it, looks a bit like coffee grounds and is odorless.

The bin was started in April and less than 5 months yielded a large ice-cream pail full and more. That was part of the challenge in harvesting...many of the castings were intermingled with shredded office paper bedding and food scraps. We tried the "side to side" method of harvesting, feeding only on the new bedding side and shifting castings over to the other side of the bin, but our worms were so active they continued to frolic on both sides. Method #2 was finally employed, and I put newspaper down on the ground outside and took the mostly processed castings out and placed them on top. Worms shy away from the sun, so spreading it thin allowed me to pick out the worms and leave the wormless castings on one side and the worms and unprocessed material in a bucket in the shade. The worms ranged in length from one to 8 cm and weren't keen to move. It was a bit like herding cats.

Still all in all, the worm bin has been very low maintenance--just the weekly feeding and the odd dampening of the bedding with water. If you start a worm bin up, be sure to freeze your food scraps and use quickly after thawing--in the summer heat, we had an issue with fruit flies in the food scraps one week!

New books on environmental topics arrive every week at your library! Check these out for inspiration and information.

Eco Amazons: 20 Women Who Are Transforming the World by Dorka Keehn

An inspirational and motivating collection of stories of some of the women who are transforming, healing and protecting our world including L. Hunter Lovins, Annie Leonard and Alice Waters.

How Bad Are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything by Mike Berners-Lee

Read this book and get a sense for how our carbon footprint adds up – from text messaging to transatlantic flights and everything in between. (Then use this knowledge to help inform your choices). This book is humourous, engaging and very readable, despite all the numbers.

Climate Capitalism by L. Hunter Lovins and Boyd Cohen

Through hundreds of case studies from international corporations, small businesses, NGOs, and municipalities, Lovins and Cohen show that energy efficiency and renewable resources of a low carbon economy lead to increased profits and economic growth, whether you believe climate science, or not.

The Young Activists’ Guide to Building A Green Movement and Changing the World by Sharon J. Smith

Learn how to turn your ideas for a greener community, country and planet into action through youth success stories and advice from Sharon J. Smith, program advisor of Earth Island Institute’s Brower Youth Awards.

Yesterday night, some of my girlfriends and I got together for a clothes swap. I hadn’t done one since junior high school and had totally forgotten how fun they can be! If you haven’t swapped, I highly recommend it. Swap clothes, tools, books, raw materials, or anything else that can be used for a little bit longer, and kept out of a landfill.

Picture this: it’s a Monday night and 10 sweaty women are in various stages of undress. A woman in her skivvies is trying on a skirt; a few other ladies are clickity-clacking their way up and down the hall – trying to determine if their new old shoes will fit. From various rooms, you can hear the “ooh” and “aww” of a chorus of women endorsing each other’s fashion choices. Good times!

I was able to score 3 pairs of shoes (hooray for vintage!), a scarf, some sunglasses, and a beige kimono. I also took home a few bottles of nail polish and a white ribbon that once belonged to a wedding dress. The cost for this bounty? I merely had to contribute some items that I no longer need. (OK, let’s face it: I never needed them at all!)

Swaps allow you to find one-of-a-kind, vintage, and just-plain-weird items. They’re also great opportunities to shop for upcoming Halloween costumes. Swaps are free, fun, and a great way to spend an evening. They’re also a perfect chance for you to think about what you have, need, and could stand to part with.

For more opportunities to swap, check out some of these websites:

Free Cycle Calgary http://groups.freecycle.org/freecyclecalgary/description

Calgary Bike Swap http://www.calgarybikeswap.ca/Bike_Swap.html

Calgary Seedy Saturday http://seedysaturdaycalgary.shawwebspace.ca/

Also, browse Facebook for a variety of seasonal and one-off swap events.

A final comment: I sometimes find it hard to part with old clothes, because in my mind, it’s like parting with cold hard cash. But this time I told myself: there will be women at the swap whom I may not already know. Swapping clothes will be an investment in new friendships, and therefore, worth it.

And, I was right! After the swap, I walked back to the C-Train with my new friend Angela – each of us carrying a bag of new duds.

Swap on!

My 12-year-old daughter just got her first pair of eyeglasses.

Memories of my own angst-ridden, pubescent experience with glasses came flooding back. Like many teens and pre-teens, I hated how I looked in my glasses. I found dealing with puberty (with its physical changes and skin problems), braces and bad perms was more than challenging enough without adding goofy eyewear to the mix.

Thankfully my daughter's glasses journey has been entirely painless; she found frames she loves and is thrilled to be able to see clearly again ("The world—it's so detailed!")

After coming across a few old pairs of frames recently, I did some research on how to recycle them. I also came across sites debating whether glasses or contact lenses are the “greener” choice. Some eyeglass manufacturers are making eyeglasses from recycled or environmentally friendly materials. Who knew?

So here are some links to sites with more information on seeing more green:

Two places that will recycle your old eyeglasses:

Third World Eye Care Society Canada

Canadian Lions Eyeglass Recycling Centre (CLERC)

Three sites that take an environmental look at glasses and contact lenses:

“Glasses vs. Contact Lenses: An ophthalmic guide to saving the planet” Slate.com

“What Is More Sustainable: Eyeglasses Or Contact Lenses?” Treehugger.com

“Can I wear glasses or contacts and be green?: From 3D glasses to eco-unfriendly frames to disposable contact lenses: keep the environment in your sights” Guardian.co.uk

Now that we can be reasonably hopeful of weather seasonal enough to allow things to grow, I have begun to obsess about my garden and all those green leaves I will throw into salads directly out of my back yard. Having a garden is a commitment, but it is also a great pleasure, and there is nothing more rewarding than eating food grown ten steps away from your own kitchen. Not every garden need be a waiting game for harvest either, my personal strategy is to plant a multitude of greens and herbs, which provided me with a continuous yield of goodies for the entire growing season.

If you have the space, and really want a garden, but are feeling a little daunted by the task, you might be interested in the Calgary duo known as Leaf & Lyre. These charming farm boys will use your prime garden space for SPIN (Small Plot INtensive) Gardening. In exchange for your land, and a beautiful yard full of food, Leaf & Lyre’s charge is 50% of the veggies they produce; that sounds like a good deal to me. Want more info? Check out this profile on the duo in FFWD.

If you are craving the daily dirt and delight of your own backyard plot, the Calgary Garden Coach is a nice little site that will help you get off on the right track. One of the staples of any garden is the compost pile, to figure out how to make one work head over to Composting Council of Canada for some tips and tutorials.

The beautiful thing about gardens is that they are lovely little ecosystems; with the proper use of composting, companion planting, and water management you can create a really amazing little world of your own, that goes far beyond the cosmetics of landscaping, and actually has the potential to improve the environment around you. If that sounds like your kind of heaven, Big Sky Permaculture offers a great array of courses on the subject, and while you are at it, why not give back to your local ecosystem, providing a home for some friendly pollinators through A.B.C. Apiaries and Bees for Communities.

If you dream of a garden but don’t have any space where you live, the Government of Alberta enthusiastically promotes involvement in Community Gardens, check out the Calgary Horticultural Society’s Community Gardens Resource Network.

When harvest time comes and you are wildly over-productive, or simply have a fruit tree you cannot keep up with, the Urban Harvest Project will lend a helping-hand picking, and putting your unused produce to good use.

If gardening is not your thing, but eating sustainably is, head over to Slow Food Calgary’s Local Food Directory, or the Alberta Farm Fresh Producers Association. If you would like to dine out, you might be interested in a new business initiative called L.E.A.F. (Leaders in Environmentally Accountable Foodservice). The Calgary-based business has developed a certification for sustainability in the food service industry, taking into account such things as waste and water management and support of local farmers and producers.

Happy growing and eating!

By Jennifer C.