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(Making compost) Five Great Things To Do With Coffee (Besides Drink it!)

By Hannah Jennings

 I have developed quite a sophisticated palate in my older age. I like my beer dark (Guinness), my wine strong (Zinfandel), and my coffee dark, but not burned.

I also like to not waste things. It pains me to toss the last drops of coffee down the sink. Coffee doesn’t grow on trees (Well, it does actually, but not here in the US). I have found several uses for the remainder of the pot after my slightly-over-doctor-recommended- acceptable 3 cups of coffee.

Use #1 - Freeze in ice cube trays to make iced coffee with. Watery coffee is gross. Especially when you start with the perfect mixture of coffee and milk. Then the ice melts and it is just, well, yuck. Frozen coffee all but eliminates that problem. Sure, the coffee is a bit stronger toward the end, but oh, so preferable to the alternative.

Use #2 - Use instead of water in all chocolate and desert related recipes. Chocolate cake with coffee in the mix is like having a dark, rich, indulgence that doesn’t require you clean up after him. It is just that good.

Use #3 - Occasionally waters your plants with a 50/50 water/coffee mix. The caffeine is good for acid loving plants. Other houseplants like African Violets can benefit from the nutrient-rich compounds. All of my plants, from the violets to the roses, are always a little perky a few days following the once-a-week mix.

Use #4 - In the morning use a little coffee in your facial wash to both awaken your senses, lift your mood, and tighten those lines that formed during the night. The acid will help slough off dead skin cells, and create a more radiant you. Then you can drink your cup of coffee (or three) and feel how great you look.

Use #5 - If you use organic coffee, then saves those grinds. I use an old sour cream container and then once-a-week deposit the remains in my garden. Our soil here is very calcium rich so the acid in the coffee seems to really balance things out. If you find that you have a lot of acid in your soil naturally, then save the grounds to add to a neighborhood compost pile.

See, coffee isn’t just excellent for drinking. There are a lot of really great uses that will help you stretch every dollar you spend. Waste not, want not and all that sort of a thing that our grandparents knew about. Besides, it means that I get to create more reasons to go to my “Happy Place.”

Hannah Jennings is the Co-Founder of Nectar of Life Organic Coffee Company. Nectar of Life is a gourmet coffee roaster that specializes in shade grown, certified Fair Trade organic coffees. Visit their website at www.nectaroflife.com to learn more.

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Fantastic Winter Gardening
By Louanne Baelde

 Winter gardening can be so much fun and extremely beneficial as well! Allocate a special space in your garden just for winter gardening.

If you are going to plant a crop following one that you had planted earlier, it’s a good idea to feed the soil before hand. You want to give it the best shot that you can at being successful. Try mixing compost, leaf mulch or manure that is aged to your soil to keep it fertile.

Cool weather vegetables only take about one week to germinate therefore transplants can be started outdoors. It’s best not to transfer them any later than the first week of September. This will allow the plants to develop good roots before the winter time and many upcoming frosts. You can also add compost or organic fertilizer in the hole whenever you go to plant. This will help a lot. Also, good drainage is extremely important.

Many winter plants just naturally reseed themselves year after year. This makes your job much easier and your crops more substantial!

Don’t worry about whether your winter plants can withstand the cold. Remember that this is why they are called winter plants! They naturally pump sugar into their cells that works similar to that of an antifreeze. This is the reason why many winter vegetable plants like kale, leeks and brussel sprouts, do even better and taste much sweeter after frosts. Kale, peas, spinach, beets … are all vegetables that do fantastic in rainy, cooler temperatures.

Garlic can be planted in October in a sunny area. It’s actually thrilling to pull a sweet carrot out of the garden in January or to cut fresh brussel sprouts from the snowy ground in February. Even pretty pansies can often survive in winter.

It is best to provide more space between your plants for winter gardening, than you would normally in the summer time. This provides for better air circulation and then you will have less dampness; less fungus and diseases with your plants. Watch for snails and slugs with your winter gardening. These often prefer dark, damp conditions.

Windbreaks and walls can lengthen the season for your crops.

Don’t forget to brighten up your yards with beautiful colored berries. With the right planning, berry bushes can be enjoyed with their bright red, yellow and pale blue colors and add beauty to the drab winter months. Birds will also love your new winter additions.

The biggest advantage of all with planting winter vegetables is that there is no need for weeding or watering and most of all, no insects!

Louanne welcomes you to visit EZ-Gardening-Tips.com http://www.EZ-Gardening-Tips.com for a large data base of extremely helpful gardening articles, gardening videos and gardening resources.

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Saturday, October 25th, 2008 at 3:15 pm and is filed under gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.