Who says you need a sprawling patch of open lawn to get your green thumb groove on? Dump all your old LPs and college text books out of those milk crates, grab some soil and seeds and get planting. You don’t need a ton of space to grow some tomatoes and tasty pesto herbs, just a warm bright area to stash your crate o’dirt.

Eco blog Re-Nest sings the virtues of milk crate urban container gardening. They point to clever post over at Instructables which details how the 14×14 plastic cubes we know and love make great – if not particularly attractive – makeshift gardens. Line them with weed block, dump in some soil, add seeds, and let Mother Nature do her thing.

You don’t have to be short on space to try your hand at container gardening. It’s also a great way to jump start seedlings in the house while you wait for a cold snap to pass, or want to grow crawling plants without risking that they’ll take over your entire garden.

For a unique twist on stacked milk crate gardens, take a look at this homeowner who built a vertical garden that doubles as a privacy fence. Visually appealing organic gardening with upcycled resources – now that’s what we’re talking about!

Image: theihno

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Let’s say you have a terrific natural liquid fertilizer, courtesy of healthy llamas and alpacas. It’s free of additives, preservatives and pesticides, and it’s available in virtually inexhaustible quantities. Green? You bet – in the gardening sense, and also in the way you’re selling it in reprocessed plastic bottles. Your product has Win written all over it.

Now all you need is a catchy name to hook the greenest green thumbs. How about…Llama Brew?

At first I wondered: is it just me that feels a shudder of horror? After all, I’m British, and “brew” is a word that we Brits have bonded with at the molecular level, as evidenced by our universally applicable panacea, “Fancy a brew?” We’re hardwired to associate it with drinking. So, just a personal bias? I did a little digging. Check out this eccentrically-phrased “review” of Llama Brew, and have a look at the Google Ads on the left. As I write this, they’re all selling coffee beans. So Google agrees with me. And if it’s not hot beverages, it’s the cold variety – as this DIY beer recipe demonstrates.

It’s agreed: something with “brew” on the side is probably meant to be drunk. (Just look at this headline. Case closed.) When you add the fact that Llama Brew is sold in plastic bottles and therefore looks like a darker variety of iced tea…well, you can imagine how wrong it can all go on a hot summer’s day. And yet it’s so easily remedied by adding, for example, the word “poop” in there somewhere. Poop is a word that it’s impossible to miss with even the most cursory glance. Llama Poop Brew. You’re safe.

This is a great product for gardeners – but of all the things that shouldn’t look like other things, surely fertilizer’s at the top of the list? Now if you’ll excuse me, I need a nice hot brew.

Image: law keven

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You haven’t replaced that water-sucking front lawn with organic vegetables to share with neighbors, begun hang drying your laundry out by the Infinity pool or sewing your own reusable tampons in your craft room. BFD! You don’t have to be a card carrying member of the Earth Liberation Front to be going green.

We all go there differently. Some, by living the little tree house on the Prairie life; others put themselves on the front lines to brave the political battle of solving climate change; and then there are those I classify as Gruppies, middle class yuppies grappling with the so-called American dream while making strident efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle –  driving hybrids, resisting the tempting sales at Nordstrom, unplugging the 17″ titanium laptop at night.

Many of us are judged cruelly by cynics challenging the eco-friendliness of anyone electing to own a nice home, spawn offspring and use gas-fueled cars as transport.

Are they right? I do aspire to be more of the “real green deal” like a colleague of mine who does fabricate her own reusable menstrual pads and measures a delightfully small carbon footprint. I dream of fleeing urban life where the flow of Feng shui is often disrupted by selfish drivers in heavy traffic, fierce competition in the workplace and private schools, and the exorbitant costs of housing, food and pilates classes.

Do you drive a Prius and have solar panels on your remodel in the gated community? Or perhaps you take the bus to work to save on carbon while you answer emails on your iPhone? If the answer to any of these questions – or the following 10 – is yes, you may be a gruppie. Take this test to find out.

1. You have made the friendly switch to 100% organic cotton and bamboo clothing and bedding, and clean them in hot water and Tide in you new, Energy Star LG rated front loader. Yes (5 points) No (1 point).

2. You own reusable shopping bags can’t remember to take them out of your hybrid SUV when you go to Whole Foods to buy your imported organic produce. Yes (5 points) No (1 Point).

3. You take public transportation to work and home each day and also when you fly in big jets all over the world for business and pleasure each year. Yes (5 points) No (1 point).

4. You would like to resist buying plastic-sealed products at Trader Joe’s where you shop to save money, but it is nearly impossible because almost everything is overwrapped at TJ’s and it’s a hassle to shop at more than one store. Yes (5 points) No (1 point).

5. You love checking out farmers’ markets and the idea of buying fresh and local, but only go occasionally when they feature live music or when friends are visiting form out of town and it’s a cool thing to do. Yes (5 points) No (1 point).

6. You make a habit of recycling all glass, cans, paper and plastics but don’t compost because it’s sort of icky having those smelly food scraps and egg shells under the sink, and the garbage disposable gets rid of it so quickly. Yes (5 points) No (1 point).

7. You cut down on shower time, turn off the tap when brushing your teeth, and refuse to buy individual plastic water bottles, except for Vitamin Water, because at least it is better than soda and so far, doesn’t come in big delivery bottles. Yes (5 points) No (1 point).

8. You have invested in nontoxic household cleaning products to reduce exposure, but are still getting mani-pedis, because, well, it just looks better to be groomed, especially at formal events. Yes (5 points) No (1 point).

9. When shopping, you are discerning about buying free range, grassfed meats, but you accept whatever meat is on the menu at the restaurants you frequent because the food is good even though the owners have not yet switched to safe meat you can trust. Yes (5 points) No (1 point).

10. After watching reruns of Curb Your Enthusiasm at night, you routinely unplug electronics to save on phantom energy, including the computers in the bonus room, toaster and microwave, recessed lighting, heated cat bed, vibrating dog lounger, home theater and music systems, cordless phone adapters, cell phone chargers, digital camera chargers, espresso machine. You yell at your spouse and kids to turn their stuff off, too, but they ignore you.

Bonus Question: You espouse the philosophy that we all need to respect and preserve our planet for future generations and yet, you will never pass this way again and are entitled to fully partake in the “good life” which means all that you can afford (and then some) for your family. Yes (5 points) No (1 point).

How You Rate as a Gruppie

5 points: You don’t really qualify, yet, you earthy-crunchy you. Initiate a Capri Sun Pouch Brigade Program at your kids’ school and we will talk.

15 points: Congrats, you are well on your way to keeping up with the Gores!

50 points: Love to meet you and hook up for a bite! There’s a great new small plates bistro in the Mission and I’m getting a carpool together. Oh, we’re also sharing a sitter. Is that green? My therapist says it is.

More Quizzes: Are You an Eco Snob?

Images: TheeErin, Rabble, Airshow, Prontohome, Scienceline, Greenbag

The post Are you a Gruppie (Green + Yuppie)? Take the Test and See! appeared first on EcoSalon.

As hungry workers nationwide kiss moral-boosting bonuses and office parties goodbye, at least one Minnesota employer is adding rather than subtracting a perk for his people: an organic vegetable garden for enjoying the fruits of their labor.

The Dude Ranch in Delano, Minn. (30 minutes outside downtown Minneapolis) is the brainchild of Fred and Sarah Haberman, Co-Founders of Haberman Public Relations. Based on a community-supported agriculture (CSA) model, the plot is a working garden that has replaced the water cooler as the employee gathering place. But instead of spreading gossip, salaried locavores are spreading seeds, hoeing, raking and fertilizing fresh tomatoes, onions, potatoes, peppers, peas, green beans, herbs, broccoli, cabbage and beets.

“At the end of the day, it’s an experiment but one that is reaping incredible rewards,” a passionate Haberman tells me. “People are coming out to the farm, relaxing, learning where their food comes from and what it looks like when it is in the earth.”

Among the staff nurturing greener pastures are urban apartment dwellers in downtown Minneapolis who have never done any gardening or spent time in the country. This includes public relations executives representing Haberman clients like Organic Valley, Annie’s Homegrown, Country Choice Organics, NCGA (National Coop Grocers Assoc), and the Organic Trade Association, to name a sustainable few.

“It’s our mission to tell the stories of food pioneers in the organic and sustainable agriculture realm and working the garden lets us learn as much as possible about what our clients go through as they grow food so we can walk our talk, so to speak,” says Haberman.

That talk naturally includes corporate speak, such as “team-building opportunities” and “economic incentives” which are motivators for Haberman in landing this back-to-nature account for his underlings.

In terms of the big picture, he’d  like to inspire other businesses to adopt his farm model and replace health care memberships and other perks with a field of dreamy crops. Hey, if the White House can do it, why not Pepsi?

“The idea of creating a movement, getting other companies to adopt this new employee benefit really excited me because so many good things happen,” he says. ” You create an opportunity for people to buy foods without pesticides; you get families meeting each other in a calm rural setting; and allow more conscious food choices.”

Haberman staffers, aided by a few experienced gardeners, will spend the summer and fall planting, tending and harvesting their own produce. Minneapolis is known for its big chills and strong weather patterns, and Haberman says he and the staff have been learning more about how that effects the crops as they play farmer on days off.

“The ground in the beginning of this year was so dry it was like concrete, three inches below the surface,” Haberman remembers. “Today it rained and all I could think was ‘thank God!’ You open your eyes and snap out of your urban bubble and understand what small farmers are going through. Their income is largely based upon the weather.”

But what if it turns out to be like Green Acres and the city folks decide to leave their concrete jungle for the rural paradise?

“I guess we’ll just have to change our business model,” jokes Haberman, who adds he many workers are now heading out to the garden without his directing the activities. “I put something in motion and it’s exciting as it takes hold.”

Meantime, the company is planning its first Dude Stock at the ranch this fall, a party to celebrate the harvest. Haberman put the concept on the web and the community is responding enthusiastically, including a chef from the organic restaurant, Corner Table, who has offered to come cook at the event.

“A lot of us are cooking what we are growing, but this guy is head and shoulders above the rest.”

Images: Haberman Modern Storytellers

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