The green cleaning tip for July 2017 from our friends at GoingGreenHouse Cleaning is all about air quality. After all, it’s summer time and with kids home from school we have a lot going on inside our homes.

Did you know that indoor air quality can be two to five times more polluted than the air outside? There are a wide variety of toxic chemicals lurking in your home and we often don’t think about all of the carcinogens that are swarming around in our air —from the cleaning products we use, candles, toiletries, clothing, and even the furniture inside our home, we are constantly polluting the air inside our home.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that we spend approximately 90% of our time indoors. Arizona summers are HOT and can be quite brutal. As summer creeps up on us we tend to spend more and more time indoors. Why not protect that air the best that we can?

Poor air quality can threaten your family’s health, so it’s important to keep things out of your home that cause pollution and ensure that your home is well-ventilated.  Here are a few ways that you can ensure you are being proactive this summer when it comes to the air inside your home:

1. Indoor plants

So, how do houseplants clean the air? Plants absorb some of the particulates from the air at the same time that they take in carbon dioxide, which is then processed into oxygen through photosynthesis. But that’s not all, microorganisms associated with the plants are present in the potting soil, and these microbes are also responsible for much of the cleaning effect . Here are a few examples of good air purifying plants:

Garden Mum: In NASA research, garden mums were found to be a air-purifying champion. They remove ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde, and xylene from your homes air. Plus they are cheap and readily available at any garden store.

Aloe Vera: Aloe Vera leaves are full of a jelly-like liquid that is chocked full of vitamins, enzymes, amino acids, and other compounds that have wound-healing, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties. So as well as being a great resource for your medicine cabinet (think burns, scrapes, bites, etc) Aloe Vera also removes formaldehyde from the air.

Spider Plants: Shown to remove formaldehyde and xylene from air. They are super easy to grow indoors but need bright sunlight. 

2. Beeswaxcandles

Regular paraffin candles are petroleum derived and can release chemicals like benzene, toluene, soot and other chemicals into the air. These types of candles do more harm than good for indoor air quality and should be avoided. Pure Beeswax Candles, on the other hand, burn with almost no smoke or scent and clean the air by releasing negative ions into the air. These negative ions can bind with toxins and help remove them from the air.

3. Salt lamps

Salt lamps are another natural way to clean indoor air. Have you ever seen a salt rock lamp or do you own one without knowing exactly what it does? Salt crystal lamps, similar to beeswax candles, emit negative ions into the atmosphere which restore and neutralize air quality. Our homes and offices are filled with electrical appliances and electronics (televisions, computers, fluorescent lighting, microwaves, heaters, air-conditioners, etc.) all of which emit positive ions. Positive ions are known to reduce our energy levels. Balancing positive and negative ions also help reduce airborne infections.

4. Bamboocharcoal

Another natural air cleaning option for your cleaning tip for July 2017 is bamboo charcoal. Charcoal can have a toxin-removing effect on the air. Use bamboo charcoal in burlap bags in you house. They work wonders for odor removal and removing toxins from the air.

5. Essential oils

Multiple studies have shown that diffusing essential oils actually kills mold and mildew. Lavender, eucalyptus and tea tree oil all have powerful disinfecting properties that will combat air-borne bacteria and also dust mites, as well. Simply put a few drops into an essential oil diffuser and diffuse away.

Keep your air pure this summer and rest assured that your family is safe at home!

cleaning tip for July 2017

I’m starting a new monthly feature, thanks so the incomparable Greg Peterson our famous local urban farm brainiac. This is your urban gardening tip for July 2017.

I’m a fan of urban gardening for many reasons:

1. I want to grow more tasty food!
2. We are using billions of gallons of water on trees and plants in our urban areas that don’t produce food. By changing our approach just a little, we can feed more folks healthy food and improve the world.
3. I like learning things –although my success as an urban gardener thus far is debatable

So, having said that, here’s your Gardening Tip for July 2017:

Urban Fruit Trees:
Bounty for the Lazy Gardener

by Greg Peterson

My favorite plant to nurture at the Urban Farm is the fruit tree, it appeals to the lazy gardener in me, as I can plant a tree once and reap the bounty for many years to come. The selection of fruit trees that you can grow is vast — peaches, apples, apricots, plums, pears, citrus not to mention all the tropical fruits you might enjoy.

Discovering just what works for you and how to pick the perfect fruit trees for your yard can be perplexing and growing fruit trees in an urban area is significantly different than rural orchard growing. In rural areas a commercial orchardist would have the tools, trucks, tractors and space to grow fruit and grow a commercial harvest. As urban dwellers we often lack these tools and time it takes to manage large trees, which often take up 400 to 600 square feet and literally fill up yards.

Most urban farmers do not need or expect commercial results from their urban orchard. A commercial grower would never consider using his methods on a small lot, so why not develop urban methods?

A few years ago my friends over at Dave Wilson Nursery created a concept they call ‘backyard orchard culture’ or urban orcharding (for this article we will call it ‘the technology’) a process designed to help keep our trees small. Small trees are: easier to pick, prune and manage; allow for high density planting with more different varieties in the same space of a large tree; and offer what is called successive ripening.

The benefits of keeping a fruit tree small start with ease of management. Most logically this makes the trees easier to pick without having to get a ladder or some other height-stretching tool we might have. Additionally, this also makes the tree easier to protect from birds and other predators. Netting the trees is an option, however never use bird netting as it tangles in the trees and will actually catch and kill birds. My suggestion is to use tulle, a fabric found inexpensively in fabric stores. This protects your fruit harvest without doing damage to the tree and wildlife. My friend Jenny actually completely covers her apricot tree and brings it up, under the canopy and attaches it a little bit up the trunk. This creates a dip in the tulle where falling fruit is caught; she then puts a small slit in the tulle that she closes with a clothespin. This gives her easy acess to open and harvest her bounty. Ingenious I say.

Additionally small trees offer us the ability to put more trees in the same space as one larger tree. At one point at the Urban Farm I had 12 trees planted in a small orchard that previously housed one large tree. Multiple trees planted in a small area is accomplished by planting trees closer together. I have found that the perfect size tree is 6 to 8 feet tall and 6 feet wide. Using this logic planting trees 6 feet apart will give you a nice hedge if you put them all in a row. I often use this method to create front yard fences along the sides and sometimes the front of the property. You would be amazed at how much privacy a front yard fruit hedge provides. In the Dave Wilson Nursery document linked at the bottom of this article they cover more ways to increase your planting density.

Successive ripening is by far the best reason however to keep your trees small. With successive ripening you are selecting different varieties of a type of fruit that will ripen at different times. By using this method in conjunction with keeping your trees smaller you harvest a smaller amount of fruit off of each tree but have more trees to harvest fruit from at different times. You are effectively extending your harvesting season for the same kind of fruit.

Here is what it looks like. In Phoenix I choose a Desert Gold Peach, which ripens mid May, a Tropic Snow Peach that ripens early June and a Mid Pride Peach that ripens in late June. This means that instead of being able to harvest one crop for two to three weeks I can harvest three crops over 9 to 12 weeks.

Now that you have a basic understanding of urban orcharding you need to be aware of one major factor in growing fruit. I call it the Fruit Tree Secret that most nurseries don’t want you to know, primarily because corporate sends them trees that will never produce fruit in your climate. AND they have to sell these trees.

The secret is called chill hours. Fruit trees in the stone fruit (peach, apricot and plum) and pome fruit (apple and pear) families require a minimum number of chill hours to set fruit. Chill hours are considered temperatures between 32 and 46 degrees and occur between October and February. Your first step in fruit tree ownership is to determine the amount of chill hours that you get in your area. To do this, contact your local nursery or cooperative extension office.
Here in the Valley of the Sun we receive on average 350 hours of chill, so we need to make sure that any fruit trees planted, require less than 350 hours of chill. Planting a fruit tree that requires more than 350 hours may or may not produce fruit.

The simplest way to determine chill hours of a tree is to look at the tag on the tree – it will say how many chill hours are required – if it doesn’t and you don’t know – DON”T BUY THE TREE. I know because I did this two decades ago. The peach tree was offered at a screaming $6.99, we couldn’t pass it up so we adopted the tree and planted it. Fifteen years and zero peaches later I had to pay someone to remove the tree. That is a hard lesson that you don’t have to repeat.

In 1975 when I was 14 years old I planted my first 3 fruit trees at my childhood home. 13 years later I planted my first urban orchard and by 1999 other people were curious how to plant their own fruit trees. I was frustrated by the lack of information that was available to assist me in doing this. So I started offering classes in my living room at the Urban Farm to teach people how to grow their own.

That same year I contacted a local nursery wanting to purchase 50 fruit trees and they were unreceptive to giving me a discount. So I reached out to Dave Wilson Nursery in California, they were perfectly happy to sell me trees at wholesale. I had to purchase 100 fruit trees, which I did and the Urban Farm Fruit Tree Program was launched. The program has been offering community classes, education and fruit trees every year since and has distributed more than 10,000 fruit trees in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area.

If you live in Arizona you can participate in classes and purchasing fruit trees. If you live worldwide you can participate in our online classes. Either way please visit our fruit tree program page at https://www.urbanfarm.org/fruit-tree-program/ for more details on the program. If you are inspired and would like to create a Fruit Tree Program for your area email me at Greg@UrbanFarm.org

Above all enjoy planting your own urban orchard and reaping the fruits of your labor.

Happy Fruit Tree Planting

Gardening Tip for July 2017

Its time again for a green cleaning tip for June 2017 from our friends at GoingGreenHouse Cleaning.

I just recommended these guys to my tenant, who is an entomologist and who wants to clean her home with products that won’t cause lasting damage to the environment.

Oh, and I use the all-purpose cleaner recipe shown below and I think its great.

—————-

June is here. Summer is in full throttle. Kids are out of school. How in the world is anything supposed to get done?

Babies are crawling. Toddlers are tracking in dirt. Teenagers are socializing. Everyone is home, messes are building and germs are running ramped.

You reach for your household cleaners and start cleaning. Now what happens when your children get in there want to help? Are the products you are using safe for your family to handle? Think about the food that is dropped on your floors and picked up and consumed (5 second rule, right?). Think about that bathtub in which your family is bathing and those dishes that are placed in your sink to be “washed free” of germs and bacteria. What are you using to clean your home and are they doing more harm than help? The products you use matter and affect the health and well-being of your family. What is under your kitchen sink and is it safe for your family?

So why should you “go green” this summer?

Healthier Home:
Go green and no longer will your family be breathing in lingering chemicals and absorbing them into their skin. Did you know that breathing in harmful chemicals can increase your chance of developing asthma? Or that harmful chemicals can cause skin irritation and rash? Switching to green cleaning products can decrease these harmful effects in your household.

Fewer Antibacterials:
The overuse of Antibacterials, including disinfectants, in your home may be producing strains of multi-antibiotic-resistant bacteria? We are deceived into thinking that bacteria in our homes is harmful and must be eliminated. However, these products are no more effective at preventing infection in the home than using pure soap brands, warm water, and green detergent. When using antibacterial products, good bacteria in also killed. When this happens, the good-to-bad ratio of bacteria is disturbed and bad bacteria can gain the upper hand.

All-Purpose Cleaner Recipe:
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
2 cups water
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Castile soap
20 drops essential oils (I.e. Lavender, lemon, tea tree, eucalyptus)
Place in a spray bottle, shake, and clean.

Keep your family safe and healthy this summer and consider switching to pure, green products. A safe home is a healthier home.

Green Cleaning Tip for June 2017

I was lucky enough to attend the Phoenix Mayor’s State of the City lunch a couple weeks ago. It was impressive, to say the least.

The mayor, who must suffer regressive and punitive policies from the state legislature which abhors when cities make decisions for themselves, does an impressive job moving the ball forward.

As a realtor, I’m thankful for the work that he and previous mayors and city councilors have done to improve downtown and public transportation.

Here’s the link for the State of the City, if you are interested.

One of the new programs that I found particularly engaging was the mayor’s efforts to create an innovation zone around the city land fill, of all places. In addition to creating a space for small businesses to redirect city waste, such as uncompostable palm fronds, toward innovative industrial uses.

In addition, I was impressed with the new 27-acre compost facility, which will handle up to 110,000 tons of compostable materials, which can be re-used in many environmentally-friendly ways. Check out this link to learn more.

Despite the efforts of some in the Arizona Legislature, the Mayor is moving the ball forward on impressive new technologies that will make our lives better and our cities more sustainable.

Our friends at GoingGreenHouse Cleaning are here with advice for spring green cleaning tip for May 2017. We use these folks for our listings, our homes and we suggest them to friends. That’s why we suggest them to you.

Spring has sprung and it’s time to blossom! Let’s start by taking care of those April showers. You don’t need to have a green thumb to be able to use these tips and tricks on how to keep those showers clean and “green”.

The Royal Throne:

Have no fear, you don’t need to use bleach or other toxic chemicals to get your toilet spotless and sparkling. The trick here is letting your homemade or other natural solution do the work for you. For an easy homemade toilet bowl cleaner, simply combine a half a cup of vinegar and a spoonful of baking soda. Pour the mixture in your toilet and let sit for 30 minutes before scrubbing clean. Do this once a week and your toilet will stay clean and stain-free! Need a little something extra for those tough toilet bowl rings? Consider using a pumice stone and voila the job is done.

Shower and Tub:

Water stain and soap scum can be difficult to remove, especially on delicate surfaces where you are hesitant to use abrasive methods. All you need is some natural dish soap and baking soda. Combine this solution into a paste and apply to your surface. Use a sponge for overall cleaning and a toothbrush for those hard-to-get grout lines. You will be amazed by the results that you get with this simple, non-toxic solution.

Mold:

As your surfaces age and water penetrates your surfaces, you may find that mold begins to show its nasty face. This can be disheartening and frustrating, but did you know that vinegar is a natural mold killer? Simply spray vinegar onto your moldy surface and let dry. Once dry, spray again and wipe clean. Vinegar’s mild acidity will loosen and kill bacteria. For maintenance, simply spray your shower down on a regular basis with a mixture of vinegar and water. The key here is to be consistent. It is easier to prevent mold than to get rid of it. Also, did you know that you can throw your plastic shower curtain into the wash and hang to dry in order to prevent hard water build-up?

Drains:

Last, but not least, drains can often get clogged with hair and residue. Maintain your drains and avoid using harmful chemicals by cleaning your drain on a regular basis. You can use the same vinegar and baking soda solution from above in order to clear and maintain your drains. Pour approximately 3/4 cup of baking soda down your drain, followed by 1/2 cup of vinegar. Immediately cover your drain with a rag and let sit for 30 minutes. Once you have done this, you can pour boiling water down your drain to help clear out the gunk. Maintaining your drains can be simple and prevent those expensive plumber visits down the road.

These are just a few tips and tricks to keeping your showers clean and free of harsh, toxic chemicals. You don’t need to spend a lot of time scrubbing or a lot of money on expensive cleaning products. Keeping a few simple ingredients on-hand can help set you up for success and keep the dirt and grime away.

Here’s to keeping it green!

Spring is almost upon us and for a lot of folks that means time to organize and freshen up their home after a long winter. Now, before you start breaking out all your cleaning supplies, let me give you several reasons why switching to green cleaning products is the way to go this spring!

1. Healthy Home – Chemicals will no longer absorb into the skin or be breathed in. No longer breathing in harsh chemical cocktails from your typical household cleaners can reduce the risk of asthma, which is one of the most common chronic illnesses.
2. Pure Environment – Using greener methods to clean, reduces the pollutants released into the environment. This means less contaminated water and air. Most green cleaning solutions are made from recyclable packaging which also reduces waste.
3. Safe Products – Typical household cleaners pose the risk of chemical burns to skin and eyes. Green cleaning products are non corrosive and have stricter standards regarding toxicity, combustibility, and skin absorption.
4. Better Air Quality – Strong chemical cocktails come with a strong chemical odors. Green products usually include soft, pleasant smells, often from natural essential oils.
5. Less Expensive – Most green cleaning methods can be made right at home from ingredients you already have in your pantry. Why go out and buy expensive products when you have what you need at home?
6. Knowledge of Ingredients – Government regulations do not require ingredients be listed on cleaning products. When you’re making your own green cleaners at home, you know exactly what you’re using.

These are just a few of the many reasons people are switching to green cleaners. Not only is it better for the environment, but for your and your family’s health! So, before you start checking things off your spring cleaning checklist this season, consider cleaning GREEN!

I should also ad that it’s kinda fun to make your own products to clean around the house. I never even thought about it, but it kinda is!

We love and use our friends at Going Green House for their good work and their tips. We use them for our clients, too!

The Green Cleaning Tip for February from our friends at GoingGreenHouse.com is particularly useful if you have any stainless steel in your home and you don’t want to use poisonous chemicals.

Many of our major household appliances are stainless steel. If you’ve owned one for long enough, though, you know it’s not exactly “stainless”.  Greasy fingerprints and water stains are all too common on refrigerators, dishwashers, and stoves—and it definitely doesn’t look pretty. Luckily, there is an amazing, all natural way to clean the unsightly mess from your stainless appliances. All you need is olive oil and vinegar.

You’ll need:

• Spray bottle
• 1 part vinegar and 1 part water mixture
• Microfiber cloth
• Olive oil

1. Start by cleaning your appliance with the vinegar and water mixture. Be generous. Use paper towel or cloth to wipe clean in the direction of the grain. This should remove the basic debris, like stuck on food or sticky fingerprints.
2. Dip your microfiber cloth in a small bit of olive oil. You can always dip again if you need more.
3. Polish the appliance in the direction of the grain. The fingerprints and water marks should start to disappear.
4. Buff out any streaks, and BAM! Now you’ve got a shiny appliance again!

It really is as simple as that. If you’ve used this natural magic to clean all your stainless appliances, and are bummed you have nothing left to make shiny, you can also do something similar to your stainless steel sink! Yep, that’s right!

Now, obviously the sink gets a lot more use than the other appliances, so olive oil would not be used for this, but hang on to that vinegar and water mixture!

You’ll need:

• Spray bottle
• 1 part vinegar 1 part water mixture
• Baking soda
• Water
• Microfiber towels

1. Spray the vinegar and water mixture all over the sink to clean the initial mess. For added shine (and fresh, citrusy goodness) cut a lemon in half and rub all over sink and faucet.
2. Mix baking soda and water together until it forms a paste.
3. Scrub the sink with the paste. For extra tough stains or spots, let it sit for 20 mins. Then rinse clean.
4. Dry with microfiber cloth.

All this heavenly shine from just a few ingredients you probably already have lying around the house! So, if you’re tired of your dull, messy stainless steel appliances, give this a try! It’s amazing!

Green Cleaning Tip for February

We are huge fans of the Desert Botanical Garden. We often send friends and clients who are moving to the valley to the garden to understand more about the beauty and sensitivity of our Sonoran desert.

So, we were thrilled to learn that in the latest round of ArtPlaceAmerica grants, the “Desert Botanical Garden will complete the design and construction of an 18-acre urban farm and amphitheater as a solution to the lack of access to nutritious food in South Phoenix. Building and programming the area’s first farmers’ market and community performance space, they will dismantle the stigma of farming for local residents by turning this food desert into an affordable, local-food oasis.”

As modern realtors, we know that the old mentality of scraping valuable habitat and spreading homes out in to the desert is counter-productive in the long term. The future is about smart density. part of that future also includes urban gardens. So, congratulations to our friends at the Desert Botanical Gardens for this new development.

As we do monthly, here’s a green cleaning tip of the month from our friends at Going Green House cleaning. We like their green cleaning tips and the fact that they make the choice to clean using all natural, non-toxic products. We like to think we are helping move the ball forward on sustainable living.

This month, April and her crew are extolling the virtues of one product, Dr. Bronner’s.

If you’ve been to an organic grocery store, you’ve probably seen rows of Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap, in a variety of scented mixtures, promising to have 18 different uses—and if you’re a devoted fan of the product, you know that there are MANY more than that.

Named after the olive oil based soaps that originated in Castile, Spain, Castile soap comes in liquid or bar form. It uses only vegetable oils like coconut, olive, hemp, and sometimes avocado, almond, or walnut oils instead of animal fats, so it is certified vegan.

Castile soap is also biodegradable and non toxic, making it a good friend for the environment. It’s also safe to use for pets and kids. If you’re particularly concerned about the heavy, toxic chemicals your current household cleaners and detergents contain and are looking for an all natural solution, this is a great place to start!

To mix up a batch of all-purpose cleaner that works great on countertops, toilets, and everything in between:

1. Choose your favorite Dr. Bronner Castile soap
2. Fill a spray bottle with water about ¾ of the way full
3. Add a ¼ cup of Dr. Bronner’s
4. If you want an anti-bacterial spray, add 15 drops tea tree oil
5. Fill the rest of the bottle with water
6. Finally, shake it up and it’s ready to make your home sparkle!

If you’re looking for a superb floor cleaner, with a fresh, but not overpowering smell, Dr. Bronner’s has a solution for that, too!

1. Choose your favorite Dr. Bronner Castile soap
2. Pour ½ cup of soap into a bucket
3. Dilute with 3 gallons of hot water

This all natural mop mixture is also what April and the Going Greenhouse gang use to make their client’s floors fresh and flawless!

For beautiful windows, try this recipe for window cleaner:

1. Add a tablespoon of Dr. Bronner’s into a quart of water in a spray bottle
2. Shake it up, and it’s ready to work it’s magic!
3. Follow up with a mixture of half water/half vinegar to prevent streaking

Use caution with Castile soap and vinegar, though. The more alkaline Castile soap mixing with the acidic vinegar can leave objects and surfaces with a white film that is difficult to remove. They also cancel each other’s potency if mixed together, so it’s best to use separately.

If this green cleaning tip hasn’t convinced you to ditch the harsh, unfriendly cleaners you may currently use, try it for yourself! You can purchase Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap at organic grocery stores like Whole Foods, Sprouts, or even at big box stores like Target.

I can tell you that we’ve tried this green cleaning tip

at home. We’ve had good results and I like the fact that we can control the scents of the soaps on our own, using extracts from mint, spearmint, tea tree oil, eucalyptus, and others. Its worth the effort to know that you are making a difference.

…paper butterfly, not included. Do not use to oil trees. They don’t like it.

Your cleaning tip for the month comes from our friends at Going Green House Cleaning.

The word of the month is Tea Tree Oil.

Okay, that’s three words. Whatever. You know what I mean.

There is a reason they call it “medicine chest in a bottle.”

Tea tree oil, also known as melaleuca, is an essential oil with a plethora of uses! It is known to treat a variety of medical conditions and records show it’s been used for thousands of years. Whether you need it for cleaning or to treat acne, tea tree oil should be something in everyone’s medicine cabinet! Here are a few ways you can use this versatile oil:

1. Topically: always dilute with a carrier oil like coconut oil for a 1:1 ratio before applying to skin
2. Aromatically: use an oil diffuser or directly inhale it
3. DO NOT ingest: tea tree oil should not be taken by mouth for any reason. It is poisonous if ingested, and side effects can include dizziness and digestive issues.

If you want to use your tea tree oil for cleaning, there are many fantastic ways to do that!

• Mildew: mix 1 cup vinegar with 25 drops melaleuca in a spray bottle. Spritz on mildew and let it sit for 10 minutes. Wipe with a damp cloth. It is a natural mold fighter!
• All-purpose cleaner: mix 1 quart of warm water with 15 drops melaleuca in a spray bottle. (DO NOT use on granite or marble)
• Laundry: add 1 teaspoon of melaleuca to your wash. This will help prevent bacteria and fungal infections because of the oil’s antifungal properties.
• Purifying air: place a few drops of this oil in a diffuser to disinfect and deodorize the air. It is also said to reduce anxiety and help with sleep.
• Bathroom scrub: use 10-15 drops tea tree oil, water, vinegar, baking soda, and castile soap.
• Toilets bowls: ½ cup baking soda, a few drops of tea tree oil, and ½ cup peroxide. Scrub with a toilet brush then leave it set until someone uses the bathroom.
• Carpet freshener: mix ½ cup baking soda with 20-40 drops of tea tree oil and another great smelling oil of your choice. (if you have pets, we advise you stay away from tea tree oil though) Mix together in a shaker container and let permeate for 24 hours. Sprinkle lightly over carpet, allowing it to sit for 15 minutes, then vacuum.

And these are just the ways melaleuca can freshen up your home! Tea tree oil is an amazing, versatile substance that not only can clean up your home, but can soothe a burn or remove ticks. Definitely something you want to have in your medicine cabinet at all times!