In 2010 I was volunteering for the Indian Creek Nature Center and was struck by information that the center’s director, Rich Patterson, shared with us about how simple efforts like reducing water run-off from businesses and residences could have significantly reduced the power of the flood waters.  If the roofs, parking lots and streets of our cities hadn’t been pouring water directly into the river via our sewer system it could have had significant impact on how swollen the river became.

How much impact?  Consider my modest house – it’s just 1200 square feet and 2 stories so we’ll keep it simple and round the size of my roof down to 600 square feet (not accounting for pitch).  For every 1” of rain that falls on my roof, 374 gallons of water are shed.

How do you calculate that rough number?  Square footage of roof x inches of rainfall x .673 = gallons of run-off.  Run the numbers and see what impact your home has each time it rains.

I was impressed, impressed enough that I decided I should make an effort to reduce that number, so I bought two 65 gallon Moby rain barrels at the next Nature Center fundraiser.  While my two rain barrels won’t capture all of the water coming off my roof every time it rains, and I don’t always empty them fully between storms, they do make a significant dent.  The overflow hoses installed on them are also directed towards the roots of a water loving crabapple tree and a bunch of crab grass I can’t control in my back yard rather than the city sewer system.

Best of all, it was an easy change to make.

The rain barrels are a cinch to assemble, you just need a screwdriver

- Use a bit of plumber’s tape to create a tight seal on the screw in spout at the base of the unit by hand.

- Insert a plug into the extra hole in the base (there are two options for the spout).

- Install the screen on the barrel lid with 4 screws into pre-formed holes.

- Attach the overflow hose with a hose clamp.

- Place the lid on the barrel and secure it with two zip strips.

Then it’s a matter of situating the barrels near an existing ran gutter.  You will probably need to adjust your down spouts by removing a section or cutting an existing piece so that the spout ends a few inches above the lid of the barrel, then slide the barrel under the spout so that water flows through the mesh grid.  It helps to elevate the barrel so that you get a bit of gravity behind your water flow when you attach a hose to the spout if you plan to water your yard or garden.  I just used a few bricks with mine, which seems to work out well, but there are several more sophisticated options available.

When I first got my rain barrels I did a hack job of getting the downspouts directed to the barrels.  Since then I’ve had my gutters replaced and I had the contractors build the rain barrels directly into the system on opposite corners of my house.  Now they look great, but it took us three tries before the installation crew understood where the rain barrels were supposed to go.  Sadly, they didn’t seem familiar with the concept – so I’d recommend that if you want to tie your barrels into a new gutter system you walk the installer through exactly what you want.

My rain barrels are situated on the NE and SW corners of my house so that I have access to water gardens in both my front and back yards.  I’m not the most diligent gardener, but even I was able to see a difference in how much less I used the hose tied to the city water system since I started using my rain barrels.  Add a third eco-friendly boost to your project by checking for a local source of rain barrels and reduce the carbon footprint from transporting goods.  Rain Barrels Iowa is one source in the Midwest.

So how does one get from tiny house to garden? Well, I’m glad you asked.

The foundation of the Tiny r(E)volution is stewardship. It is about being fiscally responsible, ecologically responsible, emotionally responsible, and relationally responsible. And somewhere between fiscally responsible and ecologically responsible is the idea of gardening and growing ones own food. It simply makes sense. It saves money on grocery bills while providing incredible sources of natural vitamins and minerals free of chemicals and pesticides. But then the questions arise. I live in a tiny house. I have no land. How do I grow a garden? This is the most logical point where my thoughts turn from traditional plot gardening to container gardening. Want the good news? Almost any vegetable that will grow in a typical backyard garden can also do well in a container. Some vegetables that are especially well-suited for container gardening are tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, bush beans, lettuce, spinach, summer squash, radishes, and herbs. In the right environment others are cabbage, kale, broccoli and cauliflower. See, here is the secret. You don’t need 40 acres or a tiller to garden. In fact, you need very little.

When deciding to abandon traditional gardening (for whatever reason) in lieu of container garden, you will need to think about many of the same things you’d be thinking about if you were gardening on a piece of land; healthy soil, sunlight, water, compost or fertilizer, and pest management. Of course, when container gardening, it is also important to consider what types of containers you will use. And so that is why I am listing below my Top 5 favorite ways to “container garden” when living in a tiny house.

A Planting Tower. Found on the The Casual Gardener blog written by my friend Shawna Coronado, the Planting Tower is a wonderful way to reuse old plastic containers or planters to create a cascading or ascending tower (depending on how you see the glass; half full or half empty) suitable for flowers, edibles, or almost anything in between. Shawna also has a great video tutorial on how to make a tower on your own. So if you are wanting to grow up next to a fence, on a porch post, or even against your tiny house, this is a great idea and an easy one as well!

Bucket ‘o Food. Another good friend of mine, Mike Canarsie, writes a full-on container gardening blog and because he lives in LA has a lot to say about non-conventional ways to grow your groceries. One of my favorite (and one of the easiest) is his self-watering container garden. Comprised of 5-gallon buckets the self-watering containers are both easy to find and easy to make. Use your imagination by spray painting the buckets (with no-VOC paint or non-toxic paint) and find a spot to “landscape” them in.

Painted Cans. Last season I decided we were going to try an herb garden using gallon sized cans that once stored green beans. We got dozens of the cans from a local church who had just hosted a seasonal meal and had lots of tins and cans to be discarded. I got the idea from Gayla Trail’s book, You Grow Girl. If it is edibles you want to grow you may not want to paint them as illustrated but rather peel off the label, soak them in warm, soapy water, and leave them a wonderful aluminum color. You can also use self-tapping screws to screw them onto a fence, into a wall, or just place them on a ledge!

Get Wooly! Perhaps though you want to bring some of that delicious, edible, life into your tiny house. Perhaps you have a wall just begging for some living art. I can’t think of a better way to have a kitchen herb garden or even some sweet, seasonal berries than by using a Living Wall Planter from WoolyPocket. These amazing, mountable pockets are ideal for plants for a few reasons. They are easy to hang. They are easy to water. (In fact, you just water the back panel with a wine bottle or a long spout watering can. The water then wicks down directly to the roots.) They are self-watering. They allow for strong roots. The pockets are eco-friendly (Made from 100% recycled plastic bottles; PET).

A Pallet of Green. Fern Richardson is a published author, a fantastic blogger, a crafty gal, and an amazing balcony gardener. It was from her Life On The Balcony that I first saw pallet gardens. A bit more difficult to put together but still quite affordable and easy for tiny house spaces, the pallet garden is good for almost anything; flowers and edibles alike. With just a bit of stapling, some soil conditioning, and, of course, some plant selection and you can have the biggest garden this size of tiny with almost no effort!

Bigger does not always mean better. Progress does not always mean forgetting our roots in order to forge a new future. Blogger, photojournalist, and hobby farmer Andrew Odom has spent much of the last few years rediscovering the lost art of living, growing, and being truly happy. Visit him online at www.tinyrevolution.us.

Why recycle?

Let’s think for a moment about how much garbage our family generates each week. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that in the United States alone, each person generates 4.5 pounds of solid waste each day! So when you multiply that by the number of people in your family and then think about it as it pertains to the number of families in your neighborhood, number of neighborhoods in your city/town, cities/towns in your state, etc, it’s quite easy to see that there is just too much waste for our landfills to handle. Let’s face it. We live in a disposable world!

I think back to my days growing up. At 33 years old it wasn’t that long ago that I was living in my parents house and throwing away everything from toilet tissue to fruit roll-up packages. We consumed and trashed, day after day. But by in large the message of recycling was a well-kept secret. Heck! Earth Day had just been started 8 years prior to my birth. No one ever expected our planet to get where it is today. Things are different now. We are educated. We are wiser. We are more conscious. And in order for this trend to continue we must educate our children. But how?

Perhaps the most obvious thing to do is to raise our children teaching them about recycling and reducing and recycling. Knowledge is key! Kids are exploratory by nature and always want to learn so childhood is a perfect time to teach them how to recycle. We need to all teach our children proper stewardship and that the earth is our home and must be nurtured and treated with respect.

To that end I have come up with a few tips to help teach kids the 3 R’s of waste management; Reuse, Reduce & Recycle.

REDUCE

• Start out with a tagline. In our house we use, “Easy in. Easy out.” Just as easy as it was for us to buy it and bring it in we can take it out and take it out correctly. No extra energy needed.
• Consider packaging. All kids love “their own.” But do you really need to buy individual packages of snacks? Could you not buy a bulk container and then put it in a food safe storage container? The container gets washed and reused.
• Just say NO! Nancy Reagan may have been referring to drugs but these days we are referring to plastic bags. They are simply unnecessary and other than becoming bathroom trash bags, they server no real purpose beyond the 7-minute trip home from the store. Let your kids have their own reusable grocery bag that you can fill with “their” snacks and such at the grocery.
• Grow your own food.  This is fairly self explanatory. Growing a garden means NO packaging and when you do so organically you can enjoy food straight from the ground. It is like living in a concession stand.

REUSE

• Trash = Treasure. Remember the old adage, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Well, it doesn’t have to be old. Let’s teach our children that we can use what others consider waste. Perhaps you can think of a craft or an art project using discarded items. Maybe this will help.
• Your nose won’t know. Why not try using cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. Or what about handkerchiefs instead of disposable kleenex?
• Donate. Twice a year help your child go through his/her clothes and toys to see what he/she no longer wants/needs and encourage them to donate it reminding them that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure!”
• Go with a nappy. Buy cloth diapers instead of disposable ones as they are better for the baby’s health as well as the environment.

RECYCLE

• Waste not, want not. Designate cans for recycling and for normal garbage. Teach your kids what is recyclable and where to put it for recycling.
• Money makes the world go ’round. Have your child separate recyclables and put them in the appropriate receptacles. If they do a good job reward them with a treat or a few quarters. Remember, money is a motivator!
• Earth Day, every day! Even though we should make every day Earth Day try to remember the date and plan an activity or participate in a community-wide celebration with your family.

No one is perfect. We all have to focus on being better stewards or our planet. What are some tips you use as a parent to reinforce the message of reduce, reuse, and recycle? 

Bigger does not always mean better. Progress does not always mean forgetting our roots in order to forge a new future. Blogger, photojournalist, and hobby farmer Andrew Odom has spent much of the last few years rediscovering the lost art of living, growing, and being truly happy. Visit him online at www.tinyrevolution.us.

If you’re looking for a way to drastically cut your energy costs, consider insulating your attic loft. Most people don’t realize the significant amount of heat that’s lost through an un-insulated attic – this number can be as high as 30% of your heating bill.

Think about that. If your bill is $180 per month in the winter, you’re literally throwing away $54 each month. Over the course of a year, you will be out almost $650. For most of us, $650 is nothing to sneeze at. By installing new insulation in your attic, you could effectively save three and half months’ worth of utility bills.

Imagine not paying your utility bill for three and a half months! If this sounds good to you, you’ll be happy to know that the process of installing new insulation is quite easy. In fact, you can do it yourself without hiring a contractor. All you have to invest is a little bit of research time, your upfront yearly energy savings and a weekend of easy labor. Yes, the upfront cost can be a little off-putting, but the good news is that this is a cost that’s also deductible on your yearly taxes. It’s a win-win!

Now that you’ve made the decision, you must think about what material you will use to insulate your space. Most people choose to use fiberglass or cellulose in their attic. Either is an acceptable choice, as it will accomplish the goal of keeping heat inside your home. However, you might also consider reflective foil, or radiant barrier as it is sometimes called. Radiant barrier is used in conjunction with regular insulation to keep unwanted air out and heated and cooled air inside.

Once the job is complete, you will begin enjoying savings immediately. Within a short period of time, you will have made up the cost of installing the insulation and everything from there will be money in your pocket.

Okay, so I may be a little dramatic.  But it sure is cold in this building.  I understand the floor surface needs to stay cold to keep the ice intact, but surely someone could engineer a system which allowed people in the stands to be a little more comfortable.  We just installed radiant barrier insulation in our home attic and from what I’ve learned about the product, it could do wonders inside this corrugated metal building.

See, radiant barrier is a product engineered from highly reflective aluminum, 99% pure.  Unlike aluminum kitchen foil (which tears easily), radiant barrier contains an inner layer of polyester woven to form a scrim.  The inner layer makes the material easy to handle and helps give it body when installed.

In traditional attics, there are two places to install radiant barrier insulation.  One is over existing mass insulation and the other is along the rafters.  Both serve to block out radiant heat from passing into cooler air spaces.  In the floor application, it keeps the warm air from your HVAC system inside the living spaces of your home (as in winter).  When used on the rafters, it keeps radiant heat from the sun from entering your home during the winter, a process which effectively increases the efficiency of your air conditioning unit.  Both applications save you money in energy bills.

I think if this ice arena had radiant barrier insulation sandwiched between the inner and outer metal wall panels, it would be a lot more comfortable for fans.

We all use our garages for storage, hobbies, woodworking, car repair and whole a lot more. It would be nice to be able to take advantage of this extension of your house all year long but if you live in a cold winter state, it’s usually not practical. It’s way too cold for comfort.  However, there is an easy fix which most people don’t even realize: garage insulation like radiant barrier.

I recently began exercising again after a long lapse, a few years. I have found the garage to be the perfect location to do my running in place and jumping around. No, it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing area but since I exercise at 6 am, I am more concerned about finding a spot where I wouldn’t have to worry about making noise and waking anyone in the house. For me, it was ideal temperature-wise: cool in the fall and in the summer, I could open the doors if it was too hot. But, now it is winter and way too cold to do anything out there.  I don’t want my physical fitness to suffer, and I need an alternative to freezing!

After a little online research and following some talks with our contractor, I found that our garage walls are already insulated although there are no heat or cooling ducts in the area. But the doors were not insulated. That turned out to be our biggest source of cold air coming in (and the ruination of my exercise area). Thankfully, this was an easy fix. Installing the door insulation is a beginner do-it-yourself project. You can purchase the materials separately or in a kit. Basically, all you need to do is cut the pieces provided to fit your particular door and then glue it or staple it in place. It couldn’t be much easier!

Besides restoring my exercise area, this improved garage insulation has allowed me to complete some woodworking projects (instead of taking the whole winter off) and made getting down Christmas decorations a lot more pleasant. No more excuses for keeping Santa up until April!  We hope to see some improvements in our energy costs but even without that it was worth the additional insulation project to be able to use this space more comfortably all year long.  It also has provided a bit more usable living space as well.

There are lots of commonly known ways to help combat home heating costs.  One is caulking windows and doors to block incoming air drafts.  Sometimes, total window replacement is necessary in order to get a good fit and a tight seal.  Another tactic to try is using foam insulation to fill cracks and spaces behind electrical outlets and wall switches.  Remember, little things add up!

If you’re heard of radiant barrier, then you know it’s a great product that can be used in conjunction with existing traditional insulation in your attic.  The radiant barrier blocks the flow of radiant heat generated by your furnace to create a cozy environment in your living spaces.  Once that heat begins to rise, it meets the radiant barrier in your attic and is deflected down to the living space.  You’ll be able to set the temperature lower and remain as comfortable as before.

The same type of technology works perfectly in your garage.  Garage insulation is used on garage doors and the surrounding joints to block the flow of warmer air, effectively keeping it inside where you want it.

Garage insulation also has some side benefits of greater privacy, and possibly even some noise abatement (perfect if you have a “garage band” family member).  For households where the garage is insulated, this product is especially important as it helps ease the burden on your HVAC system.  On cold mornings, especially, you can reduce the risk of your vehicle not starting due to low temps because the garage insulation will have maintained a consistent temperature overnight, despite drops outside.

We were confused.  There’s been a good amount of discussion lately about alternative insulation methods and conserving energy.  After all the hype and conflicting stories, I think we finally figured things out.

Radiant barrier is another name for attic insulation, a product that should be installed in your attic.  The purpose of the product is to block the flow of radiant heat from one place to another.  Namely, from your cozy warm home up through your attic into the big open outdoors.  Paying attention now?

Every day, each minute of the winter months, you’re losing expensive air up through your attic.  Do you know how easy it is to stop?  Do you know how easy it is to save some money for as long as you own your home by simply investing now in a little radiant barrier attic insulation?

When the heated air from your living room (for example) rises, it meets your regular mass insulation.  That stuff slows it down a little, until the insulation absorbs all it can hold.  Then the heated air just keeps rising and heads on out of your attic.  Have you ever noticed how, after a hard snow, some homeowners roofs are pretty clean of snow?  That’s because the roof is so warm from all that escaping heated air that the snow melts quickly.  That’s bad.

When you lay the radiant barrier type of attic insulation – made from 99% aluminum sandwiched over a thin, flexible, polyester woven scrim – down over the rafters in your roof, it effectively acts like a barrier to rising radiant heat, forcing it back into the living space below.  It’s lightweight, flexible, and easy to install.  All you need is a box cutter knife.

The result of using radiant barrier is a warm home, more consistent thermostat setting, and money saved.

The whole purpose of your HVAC system is to allow you to control your indoor temperature despite what the thermometer may say on your patio. Since heat will naturally seek out a cooler place to roam, the proper use of radiant barrier throughout your home can ensure that you get the most out of your heating and cooling system.

In the winter months, when the temperature drops, your goal is to keep heat that has been generated by your heating system or solar heat that may come through your windows trapped in the interior spaces of the home. In the summer months, as the mercury climbs, your goal is to keep heat generated from the sun outside. Optimally, that heat is blocked before ever entering your home.

Radiant barrier is the insulating product that many homeowners are turning to in order to achieve both goals. As a result, many are finding that the life of their heating and cooling systems are extended since they don’t have to work as hard, run as long, or turn on and off as often as before they made the decision to switch to the more effective radiant barrier.

When you are able to effectively direct the radiant heat that is generated through your equipment or by the sun, it puts you in control of where you want that heat to go. For example, a radiant barrier that is stapled to the rafters in the attic has the ability to reflect up to 97% of the sun’s heat back outside. This means that your attic space will be cooler along with the rest of the home.

Conversely, in the winter months, a radiant barrier placed in interior walls or the floor of your attic will direct the existing heat from your interior spaces, most likely generated from your heating unit, back into your living areas rather than escaping to the outside. This keeps the heat right where it will do the most good. After all, “global warming” by heating the outdoors with your heating unit is not your intention, right?

In every climate, the ability to control heat flow through the use of radiant barrier insulation methods is key to controlling the climate inside your home, even though we cannot control the climate outside. With the rising costs of utilities and the concerns over energy and the environment, radiant barrier is becoming the insulation of choice for many homeowners.

The Midwest is known for our corn and our pork.  We’re known for good public school systems and for those bridges in that Madison County movie.  But we’re also known to have some pretty darn cold winters.  And that’s a fact.

As a native of Florida, I detest the cold weather.  Over a decade of living in Iowa hasn’t thickened my blood or made me less susceptible to being discomfited by the frigid temperatures and biting wind.  I stay indoors as much as possible and avoid stepping outside, even into our garage, as much as possible.  That can make for a long five months of a season, for sure.

One thing that’s made Old Man Winter more tolerable has been the insulation project we finished late last summer.  Tired of astronomical cooling bills, we scheduled a home energy audit with our utility company.  He told us that all those faint drafts and cool rooms added up to some significant air transfer, and that’s not a good thing.

He determined we had some decent basic insulation in our attic, but that we certainly had room to add more.  He also suggested we look into a relatively new product (but evidently one that’s getting a lot of press) called reflective insulation.  The product looks a lot like tin foil, the stuff you might use in the kitchen.  But the foil insulation effectively stops heated air from moving into spaces where there’s colder air.  That was a perfect solution for our house, where the warm air we were paying for seemed to keep rising into the attic and out into the atmosphere.