GoingTrueGreen's Blog Postings - Going True Green

Healthy Herb Harvest

7/12/2021

Basil, Herbs, Oregano, Thyme, compost, composting, Mint, Sage, Rosemary, Basil, Mint, Oregano, parsley, Sage, Lavender, sustainable living, sustainability, going green, gardens, veggie gardens

Basil, Oregano and Thyme

A Triple H is always wonderful... Just sharing that my first Healthy Herb Harvest for this year came in last month and the aromas were amazing! They are always amazing each time a new pick is done.

Having your own herbs is something we all can do! From clay flower pots on a windowsill or in a small sunny area of a yard or on a green roof top. Add some compost,* that can be made by us over the winter months, along with appropriate watering, we can all enjoy some fresh picked Basil or Mint or Oregano or Parsley.

NOTE: Herbs such as Thyme, Sage and Lavender are perennials. Parsley is a biennial and Basil is an annual. Use this information to plan for getting seeds.

* Use the SEARCH text box at the top of this page for more information on making your own top soil, aka: Compost. Just type in the word COMPOST.

Bon Appétit !

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

Summer 2020, Soylent Green 2022

9/30/2020

soylent green, Charlton Heston, taylor young, Edward G. Robinson,

Scene from 1973 Soylent Green movie

Summers come and go, but this summer felt like the summertime enjoyment never arrived. Times are difficult, I know first hand how much with the loss of friends and family. We held on and pushed forward. These efforts also included continuing actions for living a more sustainable life.

Food supplies became an issue for many more people this year, especially for those of us who were sick in bed. Now while food is a major environmental issue, we the people must change the tide of reductionist. Our food supply is not an automatic conveyor belt to our dinning table. However, despite our ecological surroundings being resilient, we all still need to review our own efforts for obtaining food.

We cannot wait around for "technology" to solve all of our needs for food. There was a movie made about this very topic back in 1973. The title: Soylent Green and the story takes place in the year 2022!

The plot was straight forward... Overcrowding, pollution, and resource depletion reduced society's leaders to providing an artificial nourishment to the teeming masses. Actual ingredients are not made known and soy is not an ingredient. A homicide detective stumbles onto the secret that is so unbelievable, no one would believe him.

Nevertheless, if you have a yard, terrace, or window shelf, please consider growing some food for yourself, family, friends, and strangers. This year, even now at the end of September, I still have watermelon and eggplant growing.

watermelon, going green, going true green, garden, growing food, planting food, composting, eggplant, sustainable living, sustainability, food issues, food shortages, ecological, food depletion, growing crops

watermelon, going green, going true green, garden, growing food, planting food, composting, eggplant, sustainable living, sustainability, food issues, food shortages, ecological, food depletion, growing crops

This year in my small garden I grew:

Blueberries
Cantaloupe
Carrots
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Grapes - Bluebell Grapes for jam
Grapes - Red Grapes for eating
Red Peppers
String Beans
Tomatoes - Cherry/Plum/Beefsteak
Zucchini

watermelon, going green, going true green, garden, growing food, planting food, composting, eggplant, sustainable living, sustainability, food issues, food shortages, ecological, food depletion, growing crops, grapes, grape vine, grape barber, jam, jelly, eating grapes, red grapes

BlueBell Grapes

In my clay or cedar wood pots I grew:

Basil
Garlic
Mint
Onions
Oregano
Parsley
Shallots
Snow Peas
Thyme

In the long run, we all can grow some food, we can all make the difference, we are the solutions.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

Fertilizers: To Use Or Not To Use?

2/27/2020

FTC Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate Ad link below and GTG will be compensated if a purchase is made after clicking the link. Thank you.

fertilizer, compost, composting, phosphorus, potash, nitrogen, plants, garden, gardening, lightning, garden nursery, Shakespeare, going green, green, flowers, growing plants, soil, sustainable living

Homemade Compost/Fertilizer

Fertilizers... To use or not to use? Yes, that is the question.

In William Shakespeare's time there wasn't any conventional fertilizers at a local Garden Nursery. In fact, there weren't any Garden Nursery stores. People back then, made fertilizer from composting. Today, too many people believe that they must apply conventional fertilizers for plant nutrition. After all, once applied, almost immediate satisfying results are seen.

The Truth of this matter is the fact that conventional fertilizers do provide a fast level of plant growth at the start. However, when placed head to head with natural high-performance plant care actions, such as using your own custom made compost, store bought fertilizers come in last for the long run. Here is why...

Store bought fertilizers have three ingredients: Nitrogen is number one, phosphorus and potash. Potash is the ingredient many of us are not familiar with compared to nitrogen and phosphorus. Potash is an alkaline potassium compound, from potassium carbonate or hydroxide.

Therefore, store bought fertilizers are mostly electrolytes that increase the electrical conductivity of the soil. This will produce fast plant growth and BURNOUT your soil's microbial community. Thus, in the long run, chemical fertilizers can destroy all the microbial life in the soil and decrease the growth process for healthy plants.

Lightning bolt, lightning, fertilizer, compost, composting, phosphorus, potash, nitrogen, plants, garden, gardening, lightning, garden nursery, Shakespeare, going green, green, flowers, growing plants, soil, sustainable living

Free God Made Fertilizer From The Sky

To put this electrical conductivity into an everyday prospective, Lightning storms naturally fertilizes all living plants. The electrical conductivity of a Lightning bolt causes the nitrogen molecules in the air to cling to the oxygen molecules. This bond forms nitrogen oxides. The nitrogen oxides will either fall from the sky, or be collected by the rain drops. That plus all the decaying matter in the soil and microbial life, adds up to dozens of different minerals and trace minerals for the optimal growth of a plant or crop. Have you ever noticed how much better plants and crops look after a thunderstorm? Store bought fertilizer only provides 3 components as previously stated and starts to burnout the additional elements of the living microbial community that help make up all the other necessary factors for long term plant growth.

So in several cases, especially for a Homeowner with room in a yard to compost, buying fertilizer is just buying another Bill Of Goods! Peruse my previous GoingTrueGreen blog posts on composting. The category is on the right of this page. Before you know it, we can all be on our way toward a more sustainable life that saves us money and Earth.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

Check out this Compost Bin for your Backyard at Home Depot...

Easy buy On-Line and home delivery!

Homemade!

5/28/2019

compost, topsoil, fertilizer, growing food, going green, sustainable living, goingtruegreen, saving money,

Homemade Compost!

I have been cooking my own compost all winter and I opened one of my two bins this weekend to find about 400 pounds of enriched topsoil, aka fertilizer.

Immediately I placed some around my grape vines, fig tree, blueberry bushes, flowers and food garden. End results, I am saving MONEY big time. What I created in my compost bin was equivalent to about 12 topsoil bags from the store weighing 40 pounds each. Additionally, since my soil is enriched with nutrients, I didn't have to buy any fertilizer either.

Composting can be done on a kitchen counter, apartment building roof tops, back yards or balcony. We need to stop buying a "bill of goods" when we can make enriched topsoil for free. Here is the RECIPE:

First make your own compost bin or buy one of many designs and sizes. I recommend a bin with a lid that locks to keep out animals. Next, place the following ingredients into your compost bin, but never more than two (2) inches high of the same element.

Scraps and remains of fruits
Scraps and remains of vegetables
Add trimmed plant life, but NO diseased plants or flowering weeds
Add grass clippings like the way you use salt and pepper, but grass is not necessary
Add leaves every now and then, but avoid twigs from tree branches
Coffee grinds and paper coffee filters are great to add into the mix each day

Never compost Meat, Dairy, Fish, Bones, Cheese, Oil, Fats, Diseased Plants, Coal, Cat Litter, Plastics, Ash and Paper with Ink or print.

In about 10 weeks the finished product will be nutrient rich top soil that will nourish plants and keep weeds from growing. So look into cooking your own batch this year.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Cheese Cloth

2/15/2019

Eco Friendly, sponges, paper towels, dishcloth, cheese rags, cheese cloths, sweetgum, swede, threebluebirds, going green, sustainable living, sustainability, going true green, cellulose, cotton, absorbent, streak free, compostable, biodegradable

Swedish Dishcloths

Cleaning up around the kitchen with dishcloths and paper towels always frustrated me since I had my first job at 16 years of age. I was working as a dishwasher and I could not stand wet and smelly dishcloths. Especially when left around for hours where the growing bacteria on the rag creates a rotten cheese smell. Thus the reason why we have the name “Cheese Cloth” used by the restaurant industry. I tried to toss out the old cheese cloths as often as possible, but most of my managers disapproved because of the costs involved and they wanted these cloths used until they tore or were over-ripe with odor.

Paper towels avoid the smell, but are a huge waste. A waste of money, trees and the infrastructure needed to manufacturer them. I tried various alternatives over the years, but I have yet to find a better way. Perhaps now I have received a better way…

Susan, a close friend and colleague, saw these Eco-Friendly Swedish Dishcloths in New York City when visiting on business. Knowing that I would love to test them out, she bought some as a gift for me.

The breakdown on this Eco-Friendly Dishcloth design is below:

These cleaning cloths can be used in the Kitchen, Bathroom, Workshop and all around the house.
They replace sponges, paper towels and “cheese cloths”.
They are made of 70% FSC-certified cellulose and 30% cotton.
Very absorbent and virtually streak free.
Dishwasher (top rack) safe, washing machine safe or boil clean.
100% Biodegradable and Compostable!
Can be used with soaps, spray cleaners or just water.
Each cloth is washable for over 200 times and is bleach safe. Just “air” dry.
Each cloth replaces about 17 rolls of paper towels and lasts over nine months.
They come in plain colors or with any design from dozens of choices.

So the testing has started and I will report back in a future Going True Green blog post. So far so good, and if anyone else can provide me with input on their experiences, please comment below or email us at GoingTrueGreen.com. Thank you!

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

Use this LINK to see testing results and report card...

Benefits To Growing Our Own Food

7/16/2018

blueberries, blueberry jam, preserves, Composting, compost, gardens, top soil, fertilizer, going green, sustainable living, sustainability

Fresh Picked Blueberries

I believe I can safely say that everyone who is reading my Going True Green Blog at this time is blessed to have shelter, an apartment or house of some type. That fact offers all of us a powerful gift where we can grow some food for ourselves!

Perhaps we have a window ledge inside our apartment windows or access to the building’s flat roof that has been approved as a “green roof” by an architectural and engineer firm. Is there a balcony or some space for clay pots? (Try to avoid plastic pots because only glass, porcelain and wax paper do not leach carcinogens into our food or drink) Maybe we are fortunate to have a small back yard, plot of land or blessed to have a half acre or more of property.

No matter what the situation we have, we should be growing food for ourselves and perhaps some to share! The reasons and benefits to do so are numerous and the “How To” is much easier than we think.

Benefits and Reasons:
Save Money
No Pesticides
No Growth Hormones
No Chemicals or Fertilizers
No Genetically Modified Food
Cooking and Eating Healthier
Make Money Selling Surplus Crops
Self Satisfaction when Sharing with Others
Enjoying the Amazing Taste of Fresh Picked Food
Enjoying Time Together to Can or make Preserves
Abounding Compliments when Sharing with Others
Peace Within Ourselves when Giving to others at Church’s Food Kitchen
Less Trips to the Food Store, just Harvest Our Own Freshly Grown Food
Having Homemade Gifts for others at Christmas, such as Blueberry Preserves or Grape Jam

How To:
The first step to growing our own food is to start making our own Top Soil and Fertilizer, AKA - Composting.

Composting, compost, gardens, top soil, fertilizer, going green, sustainable living, sustainability

Compost Strainer in Sink

Placing an open curved stainless steel strainer in the corner of your sink starts us off. When preparing a meal, deposit all fruit and veggie scraps into the strainer, but NO meat or dairy. Never compost Meat, Fish, Bones, Cheese, Oil, Fats, Diseased Plants, Coal, Cat Litter, Plastics and Paper with Ink or print.

When the strainer is full, place contents into the compost bin. Let it be a small one for under the sink in apartments or a larger bin for outside. Compost bins come in all sizes and designs. Building one is also feasible, just make sure there is enough air flow to assist in decomposition. If there are animals about the outdoor area, make sure the compost bin locks tight to keep out all woodland neighbors.

Composting, compost, gardens, top soil, fertilizer, going green, sustainable living, sustainability

Outdoor Compost Bin

Never have any one element in the compost bin build up to more than 2 inches high. A good blend of food scraps, leaves, small twigs, dried out weeds, is the best way to go. Grass clippings should be used like salt. Just sprinkle on a little ever now and then, but grass is not necessary. Egg shells and coffee grinds are great and about 10 weeks later the finished product will be nutrient rich top soil that will nourish plants and keep weeds from growing.

Currently GTG is looking into finding a company to Sponsor an OnLine Class/Workshop at GoingTrueGreen.com about methods and benefits to composting. This OnLine Class/Workshop will operate like our FIRST money and earth saving Inter-Active On-Line Workshop on WATER. For more Info please visit our webpage at:
GTG's WATER Workshop and view our Trailer below.

The end results would be amazing if everyone, who could, started to grow some food. Even businesses and corporations that have big lawns, which cost them money, could be making money by having the land yield a crop such as organic corn. For most parts of America there are two crops of corn per year based on the weather. Every time I see a half acre or more of land that is not used for sports but has grass, grass and more grass, I see a waste compared to what God's Green Earth can yield for us in food. If everyone did what they could, we would have no need for Genetically Modified Food to feed the masses, because the masses will be feeding themselves. Thus we could delete hunger in our country, in our world.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

Video Trailer Above is for Going True Green's OnLine WATER Workshop. For More Info CLICK HERE
Our GTG OnLine WATER Workshop is sponsored by BBV Publishing - Telling the Untold Stories

Airborne MicroPlastic

1/13/2018

slurry. microplastics, horizon-scanning, microplastic fibers, plastic, plastic pollution, plastic air, plastic in our food

Slurry on Farmland?

A very important question came from a reader on my last blog of 2017 titled: Plastic, Water, Air and Food, posted on December 27 of that year. I have written several blogs over the years on plastic and how we are creating a plastic monster in our world. However, we now have data supporting the fact that we have created a serious issue.

The question posted from one of Going True Green’s reader was for more data on an unanswered question that I had posed in my blog post: By what means are these microplastic fibers getting into the air?

My reply was:

As of now scientists are speculating how plastic gets into the air. One possible source comes from Professor Kelly who I spoke about in my previous blog and believes that any microplastics caught in sewage treatment plants could be finding their way into the air. He also reportedly stated:

“When farmers spread slurry on fields, it dries out. You end up having microplastics lying on the surface of the field. There’s a real possibility that some of those microparticles will be entrained into the air and they will be carried around and we will end up breathing them.”

Professor Kelly said the study they were carrying out was a “horizon-scanning issue”. Horizon-scanning studies cover several global issues and is now concluding the eight year of work. I trust, more detail conclusions should be coming forthwith.

As for any questions on my Going True Green blog post, do not hesitate to reply on the Blog page or email me from the GTG’s website.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

Telomeres, Telomere, cold spring harbor lab, L. J. Williams, BBV Publishing

TELOMERE, by L. J. Williams "Telling The Untold Stories™ BBV Publishing

Fertilizer Out Of Thin Air

8/14/2017

Lightning, Thunder Storm, fertilizer, save money, sustainable living, going green, going true green, static electricity, you can't get money out of thin air, or can you?

Lightning from Space: NASA Image

Many of us have heard of sayings such as: “Money doesn’t grow on trees” and “You can’t just make money appear out of thin air.”

Well, let us try this… How would you like to know how you can save money by getting something for Free “Out Of Thin Air?” Too good to be true, right? This time the answer is TRUE!

Do you have flowers, plants, or crops? Do you spend money on buying fertilizer to help your garden grow? If yes, then you are wasting your money on a product that you really don’t need because you can get fertilizer for free out of thin air!

When a lightning storm occurs, that will naturally fertilize all living plants! The science behind this is as follows: Lightning causes the nitrogen molecules in the air to cling to the oxygen molecules. This bond forms nitrogen oxides. The nitrogen oxides will either fall from the sky or be collected by the rain drops. Fertilizer’s main ingredient is nitrogen. So stop buying a product that God provides to us for free.

Now to enhance this Free benefit from the sky, many farmers will run bare copper wiring around copper stakes to form a loop around the flower patch or tomato plants. The copper wire will attract static electricity and add more nitrogen to the soil. However, I found the following to be an easier step and a better solution.

First, nitrogen from lightning will not be enough for many plants to grow as strong or as big as you may like. However, that is seen by some people as one’s own opinion. NASA has data showing that more than 2,000 thunderstorms take place around the world at any given time. Combined, these storms produce at least 100 lightning flashes per second. Yet, in addition to nitrogen helping plant life, so does bacteria. That is the extra step I take to fertilizer my plants and food that I grow. COMPOSTING.

I make my own dirt, aka Top Soil, aka Fertilizer. To read more about how to fertilize for free and save even more money, go to my GoingTrueGreen.com Blog dated 4-7-2015 under the Topic called Composting. The title of the blog is: There Is Money In Composting

These are just two more Going True Green actions to living a more sustainable life that saves you money, energy, health, and our environment! Now that is Going True Green.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Read a Historical Novel that presents data based probabilities proving the truth.
Below, view the original Book Trailer

Wipe Your Mouth!

7/7/2017

sustainability, living a sustainable life, paper napkins, cloth napkins, paper vs cloth, going green, going true green, saving energy, saving water, saving money

Paper Napkins vs Cloth

When I was young I heard that request many times, after all, I was in a rush to get back “outside” and play. If I was playing inside, that meant rain was falling or night had arrived and I was busy inventing a board game or making a motor driven jeep from my Erector Set for G. I. Joe. But I digress…

As an individual and as a family what Napkin is more beneficial to use,
Paper or Cloth?

To present all the different analysis done over the years that worked to determine what is best to use when eating, a Paper Napkin or Cloth Napkin, will be mostly dull reading. So many considerations, such as materials used in production, consumption of natural resources, added costs with color prints on paper napkins, the cleaning impact for reuse (wash and dry), or discarding in the trash.

The number of paper napkins used in America per year is mind spinning and reusing cloth napkins consumes everything from water to energy. However, if used with a few guide lines, cloth napkins are the most sustainable by saving us the most Money, Energy, Health, and our Environment.

So here are the guidelines I recommend so your change over to cloth napkins will save all around:

Buy in bulk and buy around twelve cloth napkins for each member of the family. This will provide enough cloth napkins when company comes over to eat and will avoid running out of cloth napkins in case nobody was able to do the wash on time.
Buy plain White cloth napkins (Not whiten by a bleach process)
Buy Linen napkins, not cotton
Always wash with other clothes
Wash in COLD water
Use a more environmental friendly detergent
Use a clothes line to dry or visit my pervious blog on How to SAVE the most with What dryer!
When the Linen napkins are worn out, wash and then Compost them!

So for all my young followers reading this, when you are done eating, please do the following:
Wipe your mouth, ask for permission to leave the table, place your dish in the sink, and place your cloth napkin in the dirty clothes bin. Then have fun playing Outside!

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

Science Mutilated Watermelons

5/9/2017

Watermelons, viagra, Big Bang Theory, ED, erectile disfunction, weight lost, rind, Trader Joe's, GMOs, genetically modified foods, God, fake fruit, fake watermelons, amino acids, John Pinette

Where are the Real Watermelons?

Springtime and what do my eyes behold as I walk into my local grocery store? The food market already had Watermelons! My favorite fruit since I can remember. I immediately checked for the light tan spot on one side of the watermelon that proves that this melon ripened while still on the vine. These melons were grown in Florida, had a nice sound and look, so I purchased one.

That evening I cut open the melon, set aside the skin to compost later, and sat down with a big bowl of watermelon as I watch the Big Bang Theory. I placed a piece in my mouth and... Science has mutilated our watermelons!

I have had it with Genetically Modified food, also known as GMOs. Science and greed took away the amazing refreshing taste of watermelons! The watermelon had no taste! Yes, the melon was ripe and filled with color, but hard to chew. Watermelons that didn't taste like anything had become commonplace. Believe me, I know watermelons, and I remember what they tasted like once upon a time before all this genetically modified crap.

First, they modified watermelons to get rid of the seeds, but I enjoyed spitting out the seeds and made a game of it when young. Seeds also allowed us to plant our own watermelons in the backyard.

Second, they modified watermelons to give us more melon and less skin. The skin is so thin now, that insects have an easier time getting through.

Third, they reduced the thickness of the Rind so we can have more melon. I loved getting a little Rind in two or three bites per slice. The Rind has vitamins and according to the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, plays a role in fighting toxins and free radicals. Also, the converted amino acid provides heart and immune system protection.

In addition, researchers have found that eating Rind and adding to smoothies, leads to 30% less weight gain, while having the ability to boost blood flow by relaxing blood vessels. This has been referred to as a natural viagra.

But now, these GMO watermelons are always hard, have NO Seeds, virtually NO Rind, and NO taste! What is the use of having more melon to eat when there is no taste to be found, no beneficial Rind, or seeds? John Pinette is crying up in heaven!

Young people of today, have no idea about how they are being ripped off and deceived. They think this is how watermelon tastes... No, no it doesn't. I want my real watermelons back!

So for all of you out there who think science has all the answers, No, no it doesn't. Some things should just be left the way God made them.

Bill Lauto, at Going True Green
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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BBV Publishing, Telling the Untold Stories™