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A fantastic resource for gardening...

If you want to go organic with your lawn, garden, farm or in buckets on your porch or rooftop visit www.Dirtworks.net. Folks with organic lawns, gardens, golf courses and farms get their organic seeds, organic fertilizer, organic pest control products including diatomaceous earth, advice and a whole lot more from Dirtworks.

Environmentally Friendly Supplies from Clean Air Gardening

Browse the best in environmentally responsible lawn and garden supplies like push reel mowers, compost bins, rain barrels, gardening tools, organic fertilizers and much more at Clean Air Gardening. They offer free US ground shipping for orders over $50. Don’t miss the unusual Upside Down Tomato Planter, and their incredibly effective, all natural, DEET free mosquito repellent.

A Jellyhead shares a tip.
After years of speedy and unsatisfying showers, I discovered that I could save water and spend a bit more time in the shower by installing a regulator on my showerhead -  and I can still have any kind of showerhead I desire!

Just go to your local hardware store and pick up an extension with a spigot on it, install it directly onto the pipe from the wall and then attach your showerhead of choice.

Now when showering, you can turn off the spigot instead of the faucet!  The water stays hot AND while you're soaping up or shaving, there is a SMALL steady stream of water from the shower head - just enough to wet your razor or help with the lather!

Regan E. Gust

Send us your tips!
 

WAY OUT!
We found out about Way out Wax at the Yoga Festival in LA a few weeks ago. They have been making all-natural candles for eleven years, and they hand pour each one to order to ensure that they are fresh.  Each candle is scented with pure plant based essential oils without the addition of artificial fragrances or perfumes.

They use cotton wicks without metals, and their soy wax candles are guaranteed all vegetable and GMO free.  When you burn Way Out Wax’s aromatherapy candles, and the wax pool is created, the essential oils are naturally diffused!  For more info check out their website.

Furniture you can
feel good about!
Celtic Viking Furniture creates absolutely beautiful furniture from reclaimed timber. They dedicate themselves to the preservation of our environment through art history and culture- and stunning elm that was logged in the last millennium.

Visit Celtic Viking Furniture online!
 

Sleep tight!
Here’s something that might catch many Americans by surprise. Did you know that many Europeans are taken aback by our bedroom ritual of making the bed first thing when we get up? It’s considered standard practice in much of Europe to let the bed breathe in the morning by turning back the comforter and allowing moisture and odors to escape from the mattress by getting some air circulation.

What moisture and odors - not me? Don’t worry; it’s not just you. The average person loses about a pint of perspiration during sleep each night. Fortunately, there is wool - Pure Grow Wool TM to be exact. Due to the porous nature of the cells in wool fiber, it can quickly and efficiently absorb and evaporate moisture to ensure a dry sleeping environment all night long. In fact, wool can absorb up to 30% of its own weight without feeling damp or clammy.

The organic three-dimensional structure of wool-which may never be reproduced synthetically-creates millions of air pockets that provide natural insulation, helping to keep your skin temperature constant. Wool is one of the most versatile and healthiest choices for bedding as it’s sensitive to your body’s temperature. So, whether the bedroom is hot or cold, you will be just right.

Tests conducted at the Polytechnic Institute of Wales that featured wool versus synthetic fibers revealed that the heart rate under the wool filled comforter was significantly lower 100% of the time. In addition, the humidity next to the skin was shown to be significantly lower 71% of the time under a wool comforter. What does this mean to you?

If there is excess humidity under the blanket your heart rate and blood pressure climb, resulting in shallow sleep. Basically, if it is too hot or too humid in your sleeping environment, you will experience less deep (or REM) sleep.

Another nice thing is that due to its unique chemical structure and built-in moisture content, wool is naturally resistant to fire. Interestingly, even with its natural moisture wool repels mildew and dust mites as well. In a sense, wool is an active fiber.

Wool is known to be durable, and that’s a result of the fiber’s flexibility. Wool can bend back on itself 20,000 times without breaking. How does that compare to other fibers? Cotton will break at 3,200 times, silk at 1,800, and rayon at only 75 times. Wool = Return On Investment

The question is, where to find wool bedding that didn’t harm any sheep, or destroy the farm land in the process! Luckily for all of us, there’s NaturalEmporium. They offer a line of natural bedding, including wool mattresses and comforters that have actually helped the environment.

The manufacturer of their products has worked with more than 200 California wool-growing families who have pledged to follow sustainable, humane farming practices. In 1999 the company bought more than 75 percent of the wool produced in Sonoma County, a land of rolling hills along the Pacific Coast just an hour north of San Francisco.

This commitment to the local wool-growing industry has reversed a 20-year decline caused by rising real estate prices and plummeting wool prices. Local farmers receive four times more than market price for their wool in this program, which helps ease the pressure to develop land for houses and industry. In turn, farmers have agreed to adhere to the Pure Grow WoolTM standards the company has developed.

The Pure Grow WoolTM program asks participating ranchers to follow low-impact farming practices, to treat animals humanely and to keep wool scrupulously clean during shearing so that it doesn't need to be bleached or dyed as conventional wool does. Features of the Pure Grow Wool TM program include:

• Year-round rotational grazing and responsible land management
  

• No pesticides on the pasture
  

• No chemicals in the animal feed
  

• No tattooing or dyeing of sheep for identification purposes (tattooing makes it necessary to bleach wool during the production process)
  

• Clean shearing in rooms free of dirt, dust and pests (eliminates the need for chemical treatments to remove impurities)
  

• No chemicals used during cleaning of wool. Shorn wool is soaked to remove loose matter, then washed twice with biodegradable detergent
  

Right now Natural Emporium is offering free shipping on orders over $50.00, and if you mention Redjellyfish by using the code RJF upon checkout you’ll get 10% off your entire order!

For more information, follow the link to NaturalEmporium’s Healthy Organic Bedroom. If you have any other questions, you can email them at: info@naturalemporium.com
 

Continuous, low-level traffic noise can cause health and motivational problems in children, researchers recently announced.

The low noise pollution of local traffic can cause stress in children and raise blood pressure, heart rates and levels of stress hormones, according to the Cornell University study. Boosts in stress hormones are of concern because they are linked to high blood pressure, elevated lipids and cholesterol, heart disease and a reduction in the body's supply of disease fighting immune cells, ENN reported.

“We also found that girls exposed to the traffic noise become less motivated, presumably from the sense of helplessness that can develop from noise they couldn't control,” Gary Evans, an international expert on environmental stress, told ENN. “We found that even low level noise can be a stressor because it elevates psycho-physiological factors, triggers more symptoms of anxiety and nervousness when the children are stressed (by taking a test) and can diminish motivation.”

The researchers studied 115 fourth-graders -- half who lived in quiet areas (below 50 decibels, equivalent to a quiet office) and the other half lived in noisier neighborhoods (above 60 decibels, about the intensity of a dishwasher). A typical US neighborhood has decibel levels between 55-70, the research said.

Andy Summa is a freelance writer in Sugar Land, Texas.

 Let’s face it: sometimes your house just stinks. Be it musty furniture or that distinctive “pet smell,” there are many reasons to combat these odoriferous attacks with incense. Or maybe you just want the soothing aroma of sandalwood or jasmine to melt away the day’s anxieties. Either way, Anna’s Incense is a great place to start.

Ecology meets technology in this Los Angeles home, and the lucky couple who resides there finds it a match made in heaven.

When Colorado-born Jana Montgomery pictured owning a home, a two-story corrugated-metal cube capped by a roof made from recycled petroleum waste wasn't exactly what came to mind. "I'm a little more of a cottage person'', Jana confesses.
Read this story and many more on Natural Home and Garden's website.

BEAUTIFUL FURNITURE MADE
FROM OLD BARNS!

The Wood Duck specializes in furniture made from recycled wood. Their Berkeley, California factory creates a line of functional, yet sophisticated furniture from recycled Douglas Fir.

They also import classically styled furniture made from recycled wood, as well as restored antique pieces from Indonesia, Europe and China. Custom work is also available through their factory.

Visit them online at The Wooden Duck.
 

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Home Staging
Are you selling a home? You can shine it up and get top dollar by using someone who does home staging. They place furniture, plants, prints, etc. in your house and make it look like a showroom.  It's an easy way to go, and one service that usually pays for itself. If you are in the San Francisco Bay area, check out One Two Six Design.