We used to always use the clay clumping cat litter, until I read a few articles on how bad it actually is for the environment and your cat. If you would like to read about it as well, check out these sites:
As you can see from a sample of the above articles, clay cat litter may be cheap and readily available in stores, but it is really bad.
My first attempt at a non-clay based cat litter was: Special Kitty's "Pure Pine Pellets. The cats took to it right away, and it smelled great on the first day. Unfortunately it is a pain to sort all the unused pellets from the pellets that had absorbed the cat urine and feces. Also, it did not do a good job of covering the smell of the urine and my eyes would burn everytime I was changing the cat litter.
After that bag of kitty litter, I went to PetCo and came across Nature's Miracle. This is a clumping cat litter made from corn husks. I have only been using it for a week, but I have already fell in love with it. Changing the litter is back to being a super quick job as the clumps hold together very well and the best part: I couldn't smell an ounce of cat urine. In the 5 years that I have had my current cats, everytime I changed the cat litter, that was all I could smell.
Next time your out buying kitty litter, please check out this one: Odor Control Clumping Cat Litter by Nature's Miracle, trust me, you won't be sorry that you tried it.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Product of the Week: Totally Organic Beverages (T.O. Bevy)
My husband and I like to go to the Rocky Mountain Wine & Food Festival every year to try to see if we can find any new beverages or food that we like. This year, we came across a great company, T.O. Bevy. They make Organic Vodka and Organic Vodka Coolers. They are located in Manitoba, Canada and belong to the USDA Organic and OPAM (Organic Producers Association of Manitoba).
About the Vodka Coolers (taken right from their site):
"Totally Organic Beverages have a 5% alcohol content by volume and are available in four delicious flavours, all of which are certified organic and contain no artificial flavours, no artificial colours, no preservatives, and no added sugar."
The first drink I tried was the Balcur (Black Currant juice and Vodka), my tastebuds went nuts. It tasted exactly like fruit juice -- I couldn't detect any of the vodka in the taste or the smell. I had my husband try some as well, and he thought it was great. He usually does not like coolers, but he said that if he were to ever drink a cooler, it would definitely be one of these. All of our friends also tried some (different flavors) and they were also amazed. This became my favorite booth of the night. As the night went on, I tried the Mang (Mango), Cran (Cranberry) and Pomm (Pomegranate) -- they were all tastey as well, but I had a soft spot for the Balcur. The gentleman that was running the booth also convinced me to try the vodka straight. The vodka had no noticeable smell to it and the taste did not burn like a usual vodka, it went down very smooth.
If you enjoy coolers and were looking for one that is better on the environment and better for your health (all the other coolers have ingredients that I can barely pronounce, which is generally not a good sign), I would highly suggest one of the Vodka Coolers by T.O. Bevy. If you like to mix your vodka or drink it straight - then definitely try their Organic Premium 4 Column Distilled Vodka.
The gentlemen at the booth did mention that it is hard to currently find their products in the liquor stores, as they are very new. But he did say that if you request the owner to order it in, they should have it to you within a couple of days. To check out what stores currently carry it, please check here.
About the Vodka Coolers (taken right from their site):
"Totally Organic Beverages have a 5% alcohol content by volume and are available in four delicious flavours, all of which are certified organic and contain no artificial flavours, no artificial colours, no preservatives, and no added sugar."
The first drink I tried was the Balcur (Black Currant juice and Vodka), my tastebuds went nuts. It tasted exactly like fruit juice -- I couldn't detect any of the vodka in the taste or the smell. I had my husband try some as well, and he thought it was great. He usually does not like coolers, but he said that if he were to ever drink a cooler, it would definitely be one of these. All of our friends also tried some (different flavors) and they were also amazed. This became my favorite booth of the night. As the night went on, I tried the Mang (Mango), Cran (Cranberry) and Pomm (Pomegranate) -- they were all tastey as well, but I had a soft spot for the Balcur. The gentleman that was running the booth also convinced me to try the vodka straight. The vodka had no noticeable smell to it and the taste did not burn like a usual vodka, it went down very smooth.
If you enjoy coolers and were looking for one that is better on the environment and better for your health (all the other coolers have ingredients that I can barely pronounce, which is generally not a good sign), I would highly suggest one of the Vodka Coolers by T.O. Bevy. If you like to mix your vodka or drink it straight - then definitely try their Organic Premium 4 Column Distilled Vodka.
The gentlemen at the booth did mention that it is hard to currently find their products in the liquor stores, as they are very new. But he did say that if you request the owner to order it in, they should have it to you within a couple of days. To check out what stores currently carry it, please check here.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Update on the Patio Garden in Okotoks, AB
May 9, 2008:
5 Days after planting all the vegetables we got a snow storm. As you can see, I had to cover everything with a drop sheet to ensure that the snow stayed off of them. Thankfully most items (the cucumber seeds never did sprout) survived the freak snow storm.
5 Days after planting all the vegetables we got a snow storm. As you can see, I had to cover everything with a drop sheet to ensure that the snow stayed off of them. Thankfully most items (the cucumber seeds never did sprout) survived the freak snow storm.
May 16 - May 31, 2008
We had tons of rain, and even sheltering the plants by moving them closer to the house didn't help. Everything was so saturated with water, that it took a couple of weeks for things to dry out again. This seemed to dwarf alot of the plants, as they didn't grow much during this time period.
June, July & August, 2008
Nothing much seemed to happen with the plants, they grew a bit larger, but it seemed as if they never really did recover from all the bad weather at the start. We were able to harvest a lot of the lettuce - which was definitely nice to have a fresh piece of lettuce in our sandwiches. We also thought that we would be getting a great spinach crop, but one day it looked great and the next, everything was dead and shriveled up. I have no idea what happened to them - it was like a freak accident as nothing else showed any problems.
September 2008
Harvest time! Unfortunately, there was not much to harvest before the frost. All the tomatoes were mostly green (we had a couple that turned red, but they had a black spot on the bottom). We ended up with 5 green beans, 10 pea pods, some dill, cilantro, parsley, a 4-litre pail of green tomatoes and a couple of peppers that were tiny (they were supposed to be yellow Hungarian wax, but they never grew and ended up being a tiny red pepper). The strawberries never bloomed, the spinach and swiss chard died as well as the cucumbers didn't sprout until late July (I replanted it after the bad weather in May) and the catnip/lavender/basil never did anything either.
Unforunately it looks like the location of my patio (on the North Side) doesn't get much sun, so I will need to concentrate on plants that require shade next year and keep my fingers crossed that next years weather will be better than this years.
We had tons of rain, and even sheltering the plants by moving them closer to the house didn't help. Everything was so saturated with water, that it took a couple of weeks for things to dry out again. This seemed to dwarf alot of the plants, as they didn't grow much during this time period.
June, July & August, 2008
Nothing much seemed to happen with the plants, they grew a bit larger, but it seemed as if they never really did recover from all the bad weather at the start. We were able to harvest a lot of the lettuce - which was definitely nice to have a fresh piece of lettuce in our sandwiches. We also thought that we would be getting a great spinach crop, but one day it looked great and the next, everything was dead and shriveled up. I have no idea what happened to them - it was like a freak accident as nothing else showed any problems.
September 2008
Harvest time! Unfortunately, there was not much to harvest before the frost. All the tomatoes were mostly green (we had a couple that turned red, but they had a black spot on the bottom). We ended up with 5 green beans, 10 pea pods, some dill, cilantro, parsley, a 4-litre pail of green tomatoes and a couple of peppers that were tiny (they were supposed to be yellow Hungarian wax, but they never grew and ended up being a tiny red pepper). The strawberries never bloomed, the spinach and swiss chard died as well as the cucumbers didn't sprout until late July (I replanted it after the bad weather in May) and the catnip/lavender/basil never did anything either.
Unforunately it looks like the location of my patio (on the North Side) doesn't get much sun, so I will need to concentrate on plants that require shade next year and keep my fingers crossed that next years weather will be better than this years.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Creating a Patio Garden in Okotoks, AB
I recently read the book, "100 Mile Diet", which I fully recommend as it was a very interesting read. After reading it, I began to think about why I wasn't trying to grow my own vegetables and I kept telling myself it was because I lived in a condo and didn't have the space. Well, after doing some research and seeing some great patio gardens, I decided to give it a try and grow more than a few herbs on my deck. I know I planted the patio garden a bit early, but I wouldn't have been able to start it until June if I didn't start it now (*fingers crossed that it won't freeze like it did two weeks ago*)
Below you will see the patio garden that I planted. There are the following items in our containers:
*Gotta love all spots on the lawn in front of our condo from our neighbours dog pee (hopefully it grows back this spring)
We currently have two empty patio planters which we plan on planting tomatoes and green peppers in (we will be getting another planter so that we can have 2 sets of tomatoes). We should have all those planted by next week (just waiting for the seedlings to show up in our local garden centre).
It was super easy to set up all these and the costs were very minimal (less than $100) and most of that cost will be spread across the next few years as there are tons of leftover seeds and the soil can be used each year as well as the containers. It took about 5 hours, but I'm very slow at this and I had a lot distractions while I was planting/preparing the garden - so it would probably take about 3 1/2 hours.
With the rising cost of food and the fact that fresh food right out the garden is delicious (I grew up with a backyard garden and used to spend summer days munching on peas and strawberries), I would highly suggest everyone start their very own garden (even if its just a patio garden).
Below you will see the patio garden that I planted. There are the following items in our containers:
- Green Beans
- Peas
- Swiss Chard
- Spinach
- Cucumbers
- Strawberries
- Oregano
- Dill
- Cilantro
- Parsley
- Cat Nip
- Lavender
- Lettuce
- Garlic Chives
- Green Onions
*Gotta love all spots on the lawn in front of our condo from our neighbours dog pee (hopefully it grows back this spring)
We currently have two empty patio planters which we plan on planting tomatoes and green peppers in (we will be getting another planter so that we can have 2 sets of tomatoes). We should have all those planted by next week (just waiting for the seedlings to show up in our local garden centre).
It was super easy to set up all these and the costs were very minimal (less than $100) and most of that cost will be spread across the next few years as there are tons of leftover seeds and the soil can be used each year as well as the containers. It took about 5 hours, but I'm very slow at this and I had a lot distractions while I was planting/preparing the garden - so it would probably take about 3 1/2 hours.
With the rising cost of food and the fact that fresh food right out the garden is delicious (I grew up with a backyard garden and used to spend summer days munching on peas and strawberries), I would highly suggest everyone start their very own garden (even if its just a patio garden).
Introducing Myself
Hello All,
I am very new to the blogging world. I'm starting this blog to share my thoughts and hopefully give people ideas on how they can make simple changes in their lives that will make this world a better place to live in for us, our children and all the other creatures we share it with.
My name is Heather, and I live in Okotoks, Alberta. I just started a curbside recycling company with my husband called Littlest Footprint Recycling. We are very lucky that we live in Okotoks, it is one of the most amazing communities in Alberta. The town has an amazing view of the Rocky Mountains, paths along the river, friendly people and a great recycling facility (I know, I'm a geek when it comes to recycling, but they allow all the residents to recycle all types of Plastic at the depot -- this is almost unheard of in Canada where there is not a town run curbside recycling program).
Well, enough about me and the town I live in - don't forget to check back regularly for tips and tricks that I hope you will find helpful.
I am very new to the blogging world. I'm starting this blog to share my thoughts and hopefully give people ideas on how they can make simple changes in their lives that will make this world a better place to live in for us, our children and all the other creatures we share it with.
My name is Heather, and I live in Okotoks, Alberta. I just started a curbside recycling company with my husband called Littlest Footprint Recycling. We are very lucky that we live in Okotoks, it is one of the most amazing communities in Alberta. The town has an amazing view of the Rocky Mountains, paths along the river, friendly people and a great recycling facility (I know, I'm a geek when it comes to recycling, but they allow all the residents to recycle all types of Plastic at the depot -- this is almost unheard of in Canada where there is not a town run curbside recycling program).
Well, enough about me and the town I live in - don't forget to check back regularly for tips and tricks that I hope you will find helpful.
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