Save Water Indoors:

1. Install faucet aerators. Faucet aerators are cheap and easy to install, and can quickly improve the water efficiency of your faucet. Faucet aerators come in flows rates as low as 1 gallon per minute, versus the standard 2.5 gallons per minute, which cuts your water use by more than 50% while still providing a good water stream. Here is a step by step guide on how to install them.

2. Check for leaky faucets and toilets. Leaky faucets and toilets are big water wasters, yet they can be very easy to fix. If you are not sure if your toilet is leaking, add food coloring or a dye tablet into the water in the back tank. After waiting for 15 or so minutes, check to see if you see any of the dye color in the toilet bowl. If you do, it means your toilet flapper is leaking, wasting thousands of gallons a year.

Here are some cheap fixes: Toilet Tune Up Kit, DripStop® Valve

(*Note: Does your toilet only leak at night? Many toilets really do run only at night; that’s because people use much less water during these hours and in many municipal water systems, the water pressure rises considerably during this time. It is not uncommon for system water pressure to rise by 15 to 20 pounds per square inch (psi), and by as much as 30 psi in some situations. This rise in pressure could cause “water creep” inside your gravity-fed tank by 1/2 inch or more.

Quick fix: Adjust the float in your toilet tank so that the water level is lower. This will prevent the added water pressure from causing water overflow into the bowl.

3. If you have an old toilet that you don’t want to replace, which uses 3 gallons per flush or more, install a toilet bag. Toilet bags, like the Toilet Tummy, offset water inside the tank, reducing the amount of water used per flush.

4. Shorten your showers by using a shower timer. Even a one or two minute reduction can save up to 700 gallons per month.

5. Don’t defrost food using running water. Defrost foods overnight in the refrigerator or use the microwave.

6. Run the dishwasher only when full (2-4.5 gallons per load)

7. Run only full loads of laundry (15-50 gallons per load)

Save Water Outdoors:

1. Water only before 6am and after 8pm to reduce evaporation and water loss from wind.

2. Plat regional or drought-resistant plants. Whether you are putting in a new landscape or slowly changing the current landscaping at your home, select plants that are appropriate for your local climate conditions. Having a yard with 100% lawn or turf area in a dry desert climate uses significant amounts of water. It takes 55 inches of water per year to keep grass green, yet in drier southwestern US climates, the average annual rainfall is 10 inches or less.

3. Use a broom instead of a hose to clean driveways. Saves 150 gallons each time.

4. Don’t leave the hose running while washing your car. Use an automatic shut-off nozzle. Saves 150 gallons each time.

5. Reduce irrigation time by 1-3 minutes, or eliminate one irrigation cycle per week. Watering every day is usually not necessary. Step on your grass. If it springs back when you lift your foot, it doesn’t need water. Saves 750-1,500 gallons per month!

6. Have a pools and/or a spa? Use an insulated cover to cut down on evaporation. Covers on spas also keep the heat in, reducing the energy cost of re-heating the water to a toast 102 degrees.

7. Use mulch in your flowerbeds and exposed ground. There are many different types of mulch, from wood chips, to rock, to other types of organic materials. It can be purchased cheaply and sometimes can be obtained for free. Mulch reduces water evaporation from the soil, keeping it moist for your plants and flowers, allowing you to water less frequently.

8. Be vigilant about adjusting your sprinklers so that you are watering your grass or landscape, NOT the sidewalk. Saves 500 gallons per month.

For more tips, visit: http://www.mywaterfuture.com

About The Author

I am passionate about creating a sustainable environment, focusing on earth-friendly practices and lifestyle changes that make that a reality.

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Heifer opening museum at Little Rock headquarters – Yahoo! News

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Heifer International has opened a $7.5 million museum at its Little Rock headquarters to illustrate the work it does around the world to help impoverished people feed themselves.

The museum, called Heifer Village, opened in June and will add an important element to Heifer educational programs, which demonstrate the charity’s mission to provide animals and training so the world’s poor can have sustainable nutrition.

Narrative elements run through the museum’s exhibits, showing the effects that fair trade, clean water or mosquito netting can have. Under a ceiling of rich, amber-stained wood, natural light falls on the exhibits as the building itself demonstrates sustainability strategies.

In a section focusing on education, a visitor can sit at a desk equipped with a touch-screen computer to go through a variety of scenarios. The visitor picks from four children who live in different parts of the world, each of them poor. Going from screen to screen, the user makes choices that the child might have to make, for instance, about whether to ask for more food or to see a doctor.

There are no right or wrong answers, but the user learns more about the situations faced by poor families and how one decision leads to making another.

“Each scenario would lead you on a different path,” Heifer Village operations manager Kent Modlin said.

At a nearby stop, patrons can pick items from a grocery basket and run them over a barcode scanner to learn about sustainable efforts behind the products.

The museum is interactive from start to finish. Walking in, visitors see columns that depict different farmers helped by Heifer, each with panels that slide to reveal various facts.

The exhibit hall has exhibits in five main categories: infrastructure, health care, fair markets, education and sustainable agriculture.

Like many contemporary museums geared to young visitors, Heifer Village has wide-screen TVs, buttons to push and plenty of information panels. What sets Heifer apart is the way stories progress as visitors move through its 6,500 square feet.

After the main hall, visitors enter the “Make a Difference Lab” where they can commit to doing volunteer work, saving energy, reducing pollution or any number of other efforts. Visitors type what they plan to do into a computer. A giant computer screen scrolls the different entries.

While the focus at the museum is not on monetary donations, the organization says its fundraising has slowed due to the recession and it recently announced layoffs of 20 percent of its U.S. staff, 68 people. But aid programs overseas will be maintained. Heifer spokesman Ray White says it takes very little money to provide a village with animals and training, and to obtain promises that the offspring of the livestock will be shared with others in the village.

“Heifer is grass roots on both ends,” White said, noting that a few hundred dollars from small donors in the U.S. have an impact abroad, providing enough to start a village livestock program.

“The exhibits will show how easy it is for someone to have food security, to have schools for their children, to have a roof to keep the rain off of them,” White said.

Like the headquarters building itself, the Heifer Village museum is built of recycled and renewable materials, and uses passive solar heat and light. Rainfall at the Heifer campus is collected and flows into a wetland. Visitors to a trail learn how improved environmental conditions can improve living conditions for a community.

Last year, Heifer’s headquarters received the American Institute of Architects’ highest honor for its ecologically minded design.

The main building is curved and the new museum is also, fitting into a scheme of circles and semicircles across the grounds. Amid the immaculate landscaping are native plants and trees, including bamboo, yellow coneflowers and dogwoods.

The design projects a unity, which is within Heifer’s message.

“Heifer Village is an attempt to bring more of that story to people who will help us end hunger and poverty,” White said. “It’s not so much about hunger and poverty as it is about the solution.”

___

If You Go…

HEIFER VILLAGE: At Heifer International headquarters, 1 World Avenue, Little Rock, Ark.; http://www.heifer.org or 800-422-0474. Open Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sundays noon-5 p.m. Free admission.

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Is it true i can use spray paint to outline my landscaping design?

Anyone have any ideas what i can do to outline it? And what are some nice and not cheap and not expensive shrubs I can put around the house?

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Oriental landscaping, when done by someone familiar with its design elements, creates a sense of serenity seldom achieved by any other form of landscaping. And while most of us associate Oriental landscaping with the Pacific Rim countries–Japan, China, South Korea and Thailand–its ability to transform small back yards into relaxing retreats is making it more and more popular with American homeowners.

Some Features of Oreintal Landscaping

Simplicity is one of the hallmarks of Oriental landscaping, which achieves great beauty with a few asymmetrically-arranged small plantings and architectural features. You may have noticed that Oriental landscaping has not straight lines or harsh angles; one of the secrets to its “flow” is that it avoids regimented design.

Oriental landscaping provides a contemplative space using evergreen trees, bamboo, and spring-blooming trees and plants; common ones are cherry trees, azaleas, peonies, and irises, and moss-covered stones, and ornamental grasses.

All the plantings are carefully arranged to create a completely natural look. The final result is that, when you enter a garden with Oriental landscaping, you’ll feel completely removed from the outside world and immersed in the natural beauty around you.

Oriental Landscaping: Waterfalls, Brooks, And Fish Ponds

Water is an important element of Oriental landscaping; koi ponds with their darting, gleaming golden and white fish are one of its trademarks. Home gardeners are now able to install their own back yard koi ponds, with kits available at most home and garden stores.

The kits are reasonably inexpensive, and include all the materials and instructions you’ll need for installation. Before you decide you’d like a koi pond, however, educate yourself in the long-term maintenance of a fresh water pond, and especially in the care of the fish.

If you don’t think a fish pond is right for you, you can incorporate water into your Oriental landscaping [http://www.onlinelandscapedesigns.com/Home_Landscaping/] with a waterfall or sparkling brook. Because most Oriental landscaping uses rocks prominently, you can have your landscape designer put in a stream bed with boulders and rocks; water flowing at different speeds creates visual interest.

If you have different levels in your Oriental garden, you can have a series of descending boulders down which a small waterfall cascades. Even if a brook or waterfall is beyond your budget, Oriental landscaping often includes a dry” streambed” of white stones or sand, carefully raked to resemble flowing water.

The final touches for your Oriental landscaping can one or two “meditations benches” on which visitors can relax and enjoy the surroundings, and lighting carefully hidden among the plantings and rocks, or, if you prefer, from Oriental lanterns.

You can also find more info on Backyard Landscaping [http://www.onlinelandscapedesigns.com/Home_Landscaping/Backyard_Landscaping.php] and Backyard Landscaping Ideas [http://www.onlinelandscapedesigns.com/Home_Landscaping/Backyard_Landscaping_Ideas.php]. Onlinelandscapedesigns.com is a comprehensive resource to get help in landscape issues.

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Faulkner

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Landscaping rocks? I need to know what rocks are best for guiding water toward a drain in my back yard?

This is what happen. I have a pool in my backyard. The pervious owners broke a oval circle in the concrete to install the pool on the dirty instead of just installing it on top of the concrete. So I have a gap between the pool and the rest of the concrete. So when it rains the water just backs up in that gap instead of heading to the drains on both sides of the pool. Anyone know if I can fill that gap with rocks and hope the water will go towards the drains? If not rocks anyone have any ideas what I can do?

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I hope you’ve been enjoying my posts lately. I thought I might do something different today and rustle up a few bits of info from around the WWW. These are some of the news items and blog posts that have been popular over the last few weeks. Leave me your thoughts.

Tap into resources to design a truly sustainable landscape

The 10th annual Sustainable Living Fair takes place today and Sunday, so it's timely to think about what constitutes a sustainable design for the landscape. …  Read More…

Landscaping 101: Things You Must Ask Yourself

Full landscaping you can plan to spend 10 – 20% of the value of your home. What are your priorities? The budget has a way of setting those for you.  Read More…

Damato Landscaping downs Meticulous

Mike Abate threw two touchdown passes and Bobby Trimboli scored a pair of TDs to lead Damato Landscaping to a 20-0 victory over Meticulous in Sunday's East …  Read More…
That’s all the news for today guys, so until next time, thanks for stopping by.

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Ok so 3 more posts today that I’ve dug up – I’m an information JUNKIE on this stuff lately. Give em a browse and let me know what ya reckon. They’re just from a few different sites I’ve been surfing lately that are generally good for information like this…

Are Worm Castings Casting a Shadow on Your Lawn?

My wife and I are a somewhat unusual couple, in that we are both wormophiles. We deeply appreciate what worms do for our soil. In fact, whenever we see a worm in distress, we rescue it by providing a free ride to the compost pile. …

Breast Cancer-Photography-Landscaping Ideas « Diana Digs Dirt

Divine Weddings and Beyond™ are looking for people in the Piedmont Triad Area interested in beautiful landscapes, magical photography, fine wine, wedding vendors, and brides. Families touched by breast cancer are also encouraged to …

Landscaping Logos

However, when it comes to landscaping logos, a different designing approach should be employed in order to convey effectively the main idea of the company it represents. The rule of the thumb in every logo design is if it works on …

Hope you enjoy the read as much as I did and please if you have something to say, use the comments form below to let everyone know your thoughts.

Have a great day!

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Hey Readers! I’ve been comin across some crazy stuff the past few days from a few different blogs around the web which I just had to share with you. Check em out below…

Corralitas Red Car Property: Defensive Landscaping: Alien Succulents

It makes good defensive landscaping. Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 15, 2009. The succulent patch is ultra lime green in the above photo, taken from the Corralitas Drive cul-de-sac, facing Lake View Ave. (Click on photo to enlarge.) …

Landscaping in the Early 1900′s in San Lorenzo Valley | Gardening …

Landscaping in the Santa Cruz mountains in the late 1800's and early 1900's could be lush or sparse depending on the location and logging activities. A picture from the 1880s of the Harmon cabin off Hwy 9 shows many palms that look like …

Election briefings set for landscaping plan in RC – DailyBulletin.com

Election briefings set for landscaping plan in RC.

Hope you enjoy the read as much as I did and please if you have something to say, use the comments form below to let everyone know your thoughts.

Have a great day!

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What are some good landscaping and gardening ideas for a LOW budget?

I don't have a lot of money(not broke!) but I would really like to do some work on our yard. What plants can I buy or yardwork can I do that works for a low budget. If at all possible, can u add pictures please? any help is greatly appreciated.

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We want to beautify our home in any way we can. One of the most common ways of beautifying our properties is through landscaping. There is nothing like planting our favorite flowers and other plants to add beauty in our dwellings. However, before we grab a shovel, let us make sure that we consider our local environment. Remember, that aside from the beautification of our home, helping the environment also matters.

It is essential to consider your environment when landscaping. It will provide you a good starting point. The first thing that you need to do is to conduct your own research. The information you will gather will help you identify the plants you can use in your garden. You have to be informed about the different plants you can use because not all plants are compatible with the weather condition in your area.

After doing their research, homeowners should also contact a horticulturist. Although they may be equipped with the basic information on how to start landscaping, they will surely learn a lot from the expert. Moreover, the horticulturist can give suggestions on how to maximize the resources they have available. The expert can also give them pointers on the possible designs they can use in their estate.

Making use of the existing plants in your area will not only help beautify your surroundings, it will also help you save money. Plants grown in the area are cheaper than those you have to purchase elsewhere. You can also be certain that the said plants will survive longer and will not be difficult to maintain. Some will not even require daily watering as they are already well adjusted in the local environment. This means that the plants in your there will not require expensive fertilizers as well, with this you will be able to save more.

You can also help the local plant growers in your area. In addition to that, you can get free tips from them on how to take care of the plants. If the plants need fertilizers, you can easily find them. Local botanists can inform you of what to do if pests and diseases have attacked your plants.

Among the most important reasons why you should consider your local environment is that using local plants help maintain the balance in nature. You can help uphold that just by utilizing the plants found in your localities. Contrary to what other people think, these plants are not wild. Instead, they are domestic plants grown locally. That is why you can still achieve beautiful sceneries when using them.

If you are new to landscaping and do not know what local plants to use, you can always head to your town’s nearest nursery. There, you will have a variety of flowering and non-flowering plants. They can give you variety of easy to grow flowers and will even provide tips on how to start landscaping.

You do not have to look far when beautifying your home. Make a research of the commonly grown plants in your local environment. This way, you will not only beautify your home but you will also help maintain nature’s balance.

Check Prescott Area Real Estate and find wonderful Homes for Sale in Prescott AZ

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http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roby_V._Pagong

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