Sam Schipani

Photo by Matthew Von Dohre Bonnie Von Dohre has a busy schedule. She dedicates about an hour to herself in the morning to drink coffee and write before her three kids wake up and farm duties begin. After watering the garden, milking the…
Read more...

Photo by Sam Schipani If you are a good steward of the Earth and conscious of your waste stream, you probably make an effort to recycle. And that’s good news for the Earth, which could use more people recycling: though about 75 percent…
Read more...

Photo by Troy R. Bennett Growing your own food is rewarding, but if you have been successfully gardening for several seasons, you may be wondering about selling produce or how to select the best crops to grow to make money. Some…
Read more...

Because I do not compost in my apartment, I have started saving my vegetable scraps from cooking in the freezer in a reusable freezer-safe bag (I’m always trying to reduce my plastic waste in the kitchen, even though they can be a pain…
Read more...

Photo by Sam Schipani Office gatherings, birthday parties and backyard barbecues can lead to sacks of empty two-liter soda bottles. But with a little ingenuity, you can upcycle those bottles into something useful. Research shows that…
Read more...

Photos by Mark Colwell and Adam Davis This is not the kind of tea you want in a warm mug to drink. Compost tea is a nutrient-rich fertilizer that you can make by brewing compost in water. “Compost tea is a liquid byproduct of…
Read more...

Making reusable makeup remover wipes and DIY makeup remover helps to reduce waste in your beauty routine and also saves money in the long run. Photo by Sam Schipani Every so often, though, I like to clean up with a fresh face of…
Read more...

Photo by Aislinn Sarnacki Finding space for your garden is one of the greatest challenges of urban homesteading. If you do not have space in your yard for a plot and your community garden has run out of raised beds, your growing season…
Read more...

Compound butter and mix-ins. | Photo by Sam Schipani One of the easiest ways to make your home kitchen seem like a gourmet restaurant is to make your own compound butter for everyday meals. Compound butter is simply a mixture of…
Read more...

Photo by Linda Coan O’Kresik For most of us, the days of the milkman are long gone. You can no longer leave your glass bottles on the porch for the milkman to collect and fill. Now, plastic milk jugs (and the occasional carton) tend to…
Read more...

New research is shedding light on what might make people more likely to recycle. Could changing the message increase recycling? What motivates people to take the extra step to put recyclable waste in a separate bin from the trash?…
Read more...

Pile of wire hangers: © L S Clayton 2018/Adobe Stock In her portrayal of Joan Crawford in the 1981 film “Mommie Dearest,” Faye Dunaway famously screams, “No wire hangers!” after seeing her expensive dresses hanging on their flimsy…
Read more...