It’s post-Christmas, and soon all of you with live Christmas trees in your house will begin to take down the decorations and then take it to the street curb.  Before you do, that ol’ tree could have a second life, and you could make your life a little more sustainable because of it.  There are literally thousands of things awesome things you can do.  Here are my top ten things anyone can do that go from easy-greasy to challenging to complete.
 
If you have ever wants to do something with your Christmas tree instead of just throw it away, I’ve been doing a little research and have found bunches of awesome ways to give it a second life!  Some of them are easy-greasy and others are very difficult.

1. Houzz has a very interesting message board conversation about what people do with old Christmas trees.  Everything from using it to build a bonfire to using it for planted beds are discussed. 
2. You can dispose of it and have it recycled.  There’s lots of places around the country to do this.  This website has the places for recycling for 2015. It also has info for individual states.  Find out if there’s anything near you in New Jersey to have your tree recycled.  
3. Heal your ills with evergreen herbal teas.  This site has some very interesting and ambitious ideas about how to reuse evergreen trees.  Cedar and Pine trees have medicinal qualities. Check out this site for more info.  
4. Use it for Firewood.  You can chop up your old tree and use it for firewood.  If it hasn’t dried, it might be a bit hard to burn.  First step is dry it out and then use it for seasonal warmth. 
5. Animal habitat.  Animals love extra shelter.  If you have a spot on your property, the tree can be placed there to create it.  You’ll find that birds will visit the tree often and other animals like rabbits and chipmunks will hide in it.  Overtime, as the tree breaks down, it will become habitat for worms.  
6. Make a Didgeridoo. This is one of my favorite things I’ve found that you can do with a old Christmas Tree.  This site takes you step by step to go from tree with lights and presents underneath to a final didgeridoo. If you don't know what a didgeridoo is or how it sounds, check out this 10hr video!  If you don't have 10hrs to listen to a video, here's a much shorter 2min video for you to watch.
7. Coasters and Plant Bed Border.  Two things you don’t thing of in the same way are coasters for your tables and borders for your planted beds. With that old Christmas tree you have the option to do both, and both are made pretty much the same way.  This site shows you how to make coasters step by step. The same steps are needed to make bed borders….only difference is make the pieces thicker (say around 2 to 3 inches) and use exterior stain and sealer.  
8. Make a Model At-At with it. If you are a Star Wars freak and also love to take on nearly impossible wood projects, this is for you.  This site gives you all the details of how to make an AT-AT walker with common tools out of wood.  If you don’t know what an AT-AT walker is, ask any 10-year old boy or 30 to 45 year old man, and you will find out all you need to know. 

​I think I’m going to try number 6 this year.  It’s not like I have a ton of time on my hands, but it would be really interesting to see if I can actually make a handcrafted instrument from scratch.  If I do decide to do it, I’ll post images of my progress on this blog and my instagram account. 

​Happy Holidays!!!

In the midst of a heat wave in December and with the Climate Change Deal from Paris, it’s the perfect time to talk about how to fight global warming with your yard.  As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, your yard is one of the only places you can easily be carbon positive (meaning, it takes carbon out of the atmosphere) in your daily life.  In that blog, I talked about plants you can select to increase carbon capture.  Another excellent warrior for a more sustainable society is the soil beneath your feet.  The dirt in your yard has a great potential to store carbon dioxide while giving you the best lawn you’ve ever had.  Plus, by fighting climate change with your yard, you can stop flooding of low laying areas. Now, that's pretty cool!
 
The main ingredients for making your soil a super hero from climate change is to make sure it is healthy and strong.  Most properties have been inundated with synthetic fertilizers and chemicals for decades.  The grass has been forced to grow in the worst of conditions.  Most plant life in yards I see are often ill-selected and require too many resources to maintain.  The grass type wouldn’t survive without the chemicals and irrigation used on site.  The ground is often compacted and never recharged with the stuff it needs to perform well.  It’s been watered incorrectly and the biodiversity has been shredded due to all of these things.  And these are the good ones.
 
I work with other clients that have thought by doing nothing at all, they have a more sustainable yard.  The truth is if you are doing nothing for your yard, you are still contributing to the negative impacts like downstream flooding.  Usually, yards that aren’t maintained at all show signs of erosion as well as compaction and unhealthy soil.  The grass doesn’t grow well and dirt spots abound. 
 
When treated right, your soil can store huge amounts of carbon within it.  It is by activating the natural relationship of plants to soil that allows CO2 to flow more effectively into the ground.  The amount of carbon you can store by using the right plants is dwarfed by the amount you can store underground and the biology surrounding the root systems. 
 
The Biology of Dirt
The CO2 your plants breathe in along with the sunlight is used to create food for its roots as well as all the little microorganisms that live on and around the roots.  A cup of healthy soil has more life in it than humans on the planet.  The life includes things like worms and bugs, but also beneficial bacteria with names like Rhizobia and Mycorrhizae.  These bacterial families help your plants grow strong and support them in times of stress such as droughts and heat waves.  They help to store nitrogen and carbon in the soil.  They support a whole list of biodiversity such as fungi (aka mushrooms) that fights off disease and other pests that can kill your grass and plants.  The fungi also help to store carbon deep in the soil.  When all of these dirty players are present in your dirt, they naturally aerate it providing the needed airflow and oxidation needed deep down. 
 
The best way to make sure these beneficial agents aren’t in your soil is to add things like synthetic fertilizers and pesticides like Roundup and other products like it.  These artificial additives are so used that the soil is much more a dead zone than a wild world of biology.  As the biology falls, the air pockets they create are filled with sediment.  So what happens? The soil can’t retain water, so when it rains the rainwater runs right off your yard.  Your soil deprived fluids means you have to use irrigation to keep it alive.  All that water you pump onto your lawn takes lots of energy to get there, and all of that energy emits carbon into the atmosphere. 
 
Zombie Earth
You don't want a zombie yard, but that's exactly what you might have.  The lack of water in the soil only continues to kill the biology, so you need more sythentic fertilizer to make it grow.  As you force your plants to grow, you weaken them making them more susceptible to pests, so you add more pesticides. As you add more pesticides, you create a lawn of the Growing Dead.  The Growing Dead is the perfect landscape for weeds. Next thing you know, you're Rick Grimes running around trying to kill a yard of weeds too...and if you've been using toxins, you're pretty likely to just add more chemicals to get rid of weeds  continuing the loop.
 
These factors are playing out in agriculture too.  As soils are devalued for the promise of temporary high yields, we have seen GMOs (genetically modified organisms) explode to offer a solution.  Even time you eat GMOs, you are extending the Growing Dead of the fertilizer/pesticide/irrigation/dead soil dynamic described above.  The same is happening in lawn care.  More and more companies are offering GMO grass seed to help you have a beautiful lawn.  All these chemicals take huge amounts of energy to produce only adding more carbon to the atmosphere. 
 
Worse yet, Atrazine, the active ingredient in many weed killers, is linked to birth defects.  In my community, most people are here to have healthy families and have babies. Studies have found that birth defects are highest during times when pesticides and weed killer is most used – in the spring and summer months. 
 
BUT!  BUT!
But, it’s easy to step out of the dynamic.  We don't have to have a Zombie Earth.  You will need to detox your yard, and rehab the soil.  The first step is to stop using synthetic chemicals – that is the detox.  The second step is to start rehab your soil, and that takes a little more active involvement.  Part of this will mean selecting the right grass for your lawn.  I’ve found that fescue is a great option for northern NJ.  Tall fescue is the most common type available.  You can get it in both sod and seed form.  it likes the sun and shade which is important for most places.  However, if you can, you should use a fescue mix that includes several types of fescue.  Avoid fescue mixes with blue grass seed in it.  I exclusively use a fescue blend that reduces your need for water on your lawn by 60 to 70%, and has a root structure that can extend as deep as 24 inches.  A root system like this means tons and tons of those beneficial creatures.  No Growing Dead with this seed.  As the roots grow, the biology will start to kick start, and your soil will become a carbon storage powerhouse. 
 
Fescue is step three. If you want to turn your lawn into a climate warrior, you’ll need to change up your grass if you don't have the best kind for your space.  Overseeding with an overseeder is an easy, effective way to switch your grass out, plus overseeders aerate the top portion of the lawn as well.

​As you go through the steps, your soil will open and be able to absorb rainwater too.  This means your grass can self-water so you won’t need irrigation.  The ecosystem of life in your dirt will be very happy because of it. 
 
France has called for soils across the planet to increase their carbon storage ability by .04% annually.  If you start to treat your dirt like the true hero it is, you will easily surpass that percentage and create both a lawn all your neighbors and friends will admire as well as a carbon storage forest that can turn the tide on global warming. 
 
An excellent documentary about how soil is formed and how it's a party right under your feet.  The doc is called Symphony of the Soil.  I’ve embedded the trailer below:

​About a month ago, I had the chance to be interviewed by Dustin Dumas for her local television show Dustin’s Kaleidoscope.  This was the second time I have been interviewed by her.  Dustin is a true force in the community of South Orange and Maplewood.  The content she creates with her show is super informative, wonderfully entertaining and highly educational.

We had a chance to talk about sustainable landscape design and why it's important.  We also talked about how I master plan properties as well as install the design...and recently have begun to maintain them as well.  In the show, I explained that the "functionality" of sustainable yards are only one part of my work.  I want my projects to also add style & beauty to my client's life as well as make their yards healthier for their families and the nature that surrounds them.

In the video, you will see rain gardens, bioswales and native plants transform the yards I design with awesome "Before" and "After" shots. It wasn’t just a studio interview.  Dustin and I toured three of my projects in South Orange, NJ.  One was just getting started and the other two were finished during the summer (2015). 
 
It was a ton of fun, and I hope you enjoy the show.  Happy holidays!!