5 Easy Tips To More Sustainable Living for Every Family!

Looking for more ways to green up your life? Choosing a sustainable lifestyle is easier now more than ever.  Bayes was founded on the idea that every home deserves natural, organic solutions. So if you are ready for better in health and home, here are 5 easy tips to more sustainable living for every family!

Compost

Most people throw out old food and scraps from the table and never give it a second thought. But when you have a composting system in your backyard, you can turn those old food scraps into fertilizer or even a material that can help repair damaged parts of your lawn. You can also include lawn clippings and leaves in your composting system to create a comprehensive source of organic material. You can create a compost pile in your backyard, or you can invest in a more advanced composting system that will create the materials you need for your lawn and garden.

Conserve Water

In some parts of the world, there are water conservation laws that dictate how residents of those areas can use water. But everyone should be conscious of water conservation and preserve the water we have. Instead of allowing rainwater to flow into the ground, you can develop a rainwater collection system and use it to water your garden or your lawn. This saves you money by allowing you to water your landscaping without using your house spigot. You can save the dishwater from when you do the dishes and use that to water the lawn or clean up accessories around the home. Conserve water and you will save money and help your community.

Conserve Energy

There are many things you can do to conserve energy in your home. Always be sure to turn off lights and appliances when they are not in use. Invest in new doors and windows when the old ones have become drafty and unable to help regulate the temperature of your home. If your home appliances are 10 years old or older, then replace them with more energy-efficient models. You may also want to think about adding alternative energy sources such as solar panels and windmills. An extreme measure is purchasing an electric car and charging station. These alternative energy sources will reduce your reliance on electricity that is generated using fossil fuels, and it will also help to lower your monthly energy bills.

Recycle

Recycling in the home starts with finding out where you can take old newspapers and cardboard in your community to get it processed into new products. Many communities have recycling programs that make it easy for residents to put their old paper and cardboard to good use. If your community does not have an official paper recycling program, then check with a local church or civic group to see if they are running one. You can also recycle old plastic and glass food containers or reuse them by washing them out and using them as storage containers around the house. Before you throw anything out in your home, make sure that you cannot find another use for it and reduce the amount of garbage that goes into your local landfill.

Green Cleaning 

Sometimes being green at home is not about saving money. Sometimes it is about using supplies that are safe for the environment and safe for the family. For example, home cleaning supplies that use harsh chemicals can get into the water table around your home and contaminate your property. Those harsh cleaning supplies can also leave behind a residue that can get on the hands of your children and possibly cause disease. Instead of using those harsh cleaning chemicals, you should use more environmentally friendly cleaning solutions. There are many different kinds of cleaning solutions you can make from household items that have no dangerous chemicals at all. By learning to make our own safe cleaning solutions at home, you are teaching your children a skill that they can use when they grow up to save the environment and keep their children safe as well.

This is where Bayes comes in.  We know that you have a lot of options for better green living, and we want to make sure it's as simple as possible. This is why we developed our line of organic cleaning products. We want you and your home to be as healthy as possible. Stop by today and see what we have made for you!

Have You Stopped To Find Out If Your Christmas Tree Has Been Sprayed With Pesticides?

Picking out a Christmas tree is a favorite tradition this time of year. The whole family will likely be involved and have a different opinion about just how big to go! Should it have soft or prickly needles? Is it the right shape? Everyone will have an opinion, but finally you’ll all agree on the perfect one. 

Even if you are a family committed to green living, it's easy to forget to consider whether or not your tree has been grown organically. Don't worry, that's normal. Of the 24.5 million real Christmas trees purchased in the U.S. every year, only 1 percent are grown organically. That doesn’t give you very good odds for finding an organic one. And, it likely means the tree in your living room was sprayed with pesticides. Do you really want to breathe that in? 

Christmas trees and pesticides

Conventional growers spray a variety of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides on Christmas trees throughout their long life cycle. (It takes a typical Christmas tree 5 to 10 years to grow to maturity!) Many of the pesticides approved for use by the Environmental Protection Agency on your Christmas tree have been linked to cancer, hormonal disruption, neurotoxicity, organ damage, reproductive/birth defects, asthma, and more, according to Beyond Pesticides, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting public health and the environment.

The big but here though is that with zero studies on the effects, there’s no real way to know if residue from pesticides can harm you. Still, for those of us who try to live an organic lifestyle, it would be nice to find a tree that hasn’t been sprayed with chemicals.

Turns out, that’s quite the challenge. Most trees you see at big box stores, city lots or big garden centers are conventionally grown. The majority of the trees have been shipped from big plantations in Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington State, New York or Virginia.

Finding an organic Christmas tree

If you want to find an organic Christmas tree, your best bet is to check with a local grower. Ask how the tree was raised. If you look at tree farms where you can cut your own tree and farmers markets, you’ll also be more likely to find a sustainably-grown tree. Here are a few more resources to help you find an organic Christmas tree:

Beyond PesticidesThis nonprofit group provides some sources for organically-grown Christmas trees as well as up to date information about pesticides.

Green Promise
This website provides a list of organic Christmas tree farms by state.

Local HarvestFind farmers markets, family farms, CSAs and farm stands in your area. Local Harvest also lists sources for organic wreaths.

Bonus: If you do score an organic tree, it likely won’t have been sheared into the conical shape that’s the industry standard for Christmas trees today. Yours might have a more old-fashioned look, with imperfect branches and a more relaxed frame. There’s something quite nice about that though, wouldn’t you say?

Benefits of a real tree

Don’t worry if you already bought a conventional Christmas tree. Real trees (even non-organic ones) are at least a better choice than artificial trees. Real Christmas trees are often grown on land that isn’t suitable for other crops. And while it may seem like an artificial tree is the most sustainable choice because you can use it longer, the average family uses an artificial tree for only six to nine years before throwing it away, where it sits in a landfill and pollutes the environment. If you do have a real tree, don’t forget to reuse it after Christmas. We have some great ideas to reuse your Christmas tree. Most cities also offer curbside pickup for recycling Christmas trees. (Thank you, Organic Authority, for your wealth of information!)

We at Bayes, are committed to your health, which is why we try to keep you properly informed, for your health and the health of those in your homes.  That's also why we've developed our extensive line of organic cleaning supplies, which happen to make great holiday gifts; like our granite counter top cleaner! We are confident that you will find fabulous gifts and a great tree for your green home this Christmas season!  

Happy Holidays!

Green Roofs Are Amazing! Here's What You Need to Know!

Have you ever thought of installing a green roof?  They are a great option for the family that wants to have a more environmentally friendly home.  If part or all of your roof is flat or nearly flat, installing a green roof may cut your heating and cooling costs during the winter and summer, respectively, and give you a relaxing spot of outdoor space up off the ground! Green roofs are generally more aesthetically appealing than traditional roofing systems, and may help improve local air quality. If you live in an urban area, taking this step will also help mitigate the urban heat island effect which results in higher temperatures over urban areas that retain heat better than surrounding areas which are more vegetated. Increased temperatures not only mean elevated power consumption, but can also negatively impact air quality and public health in general. Here are some things you should know about green roofs: 

Green roofs are mere slabs of nature placed exclusively on the rooftops of corporate skyscrapers and couture-designed architecture?  Think again! Green roofs are practical constructs that should and can be added to all buildings – tall and short, residential and commercial – in various ways, as they provide numerous benefits to not only the environment, but to the architectural soundness of the artifice and even to your health.
 
Regular gardening soil will not work the same way on your green roofing, even if you plant the same flower or vegetable from your backyard. Soil used on green roofs is specifically formulated to make the most out of your green garden-scape without weighing down on the roofing structure or insulation, which is something regular gardening soil can’t provide.
 
Know What You Are PlantingThe types of plant you place on your roof are usually what determine the type of soil you use. Because green roofing structures aren’t able to support plants with expansive root systems, short plants like grass, flowers and easy-to-handle vegetables are perfect for the shallow soil depth that most green roofs are able to sustain. Small, local plants are a great way to take further advantage of being an eco-friendly roof. Larger plants like fruit trees and other small arbors should be placed in their soil pots to prevent crowding root space and over-absorption of nutrients.
 
What to Look For If there is one thing you need to understand about green roof-engineered soil, it’s that is needs to be lightweight. No heavy gardening soil, period! Though some roofs have structures that can handle a bit of extra weight, most will not, particularly residential roofs. It is wise to not take the risk of using regular soil and watching your roof cave in or experience leaking from oversaturation.
 
With that in mind, here are some other things to look out for when soil shopping: water permeability and retention, rot resistance, nutrient saturation, and balanced aeration. Do not be intimidated, as these are all simple concepts that are quite easy to understand once you move past the terminology.
 
No standards exist in the U.S. for green roof soil specifications, but they are generally determined by the depth and weight of plants, climate and roof irrigation. The latter is particularly important, as an imbalance in its structure could lead to all sorts of problems for the rest of the building.
 
So be choosey about your soil!  It can make or break the project!  Green roofs are a great step toward sustainability and green living!  And at Bayes, we are dedicated to green living, which is why we have designed our line of green home cleaning products to suit your family's need for organic options in green living. Come by and see what we have for you today!