Go Native This Mother's Day!

Mother’s Day is almost upon us, and judging by the bustling business of my local nursery this morning, the hunt for the right flowers for Mom is well underway.  As you look through the many beautiful floral options, consider buying species native to your area. 

For those of us in Pennsylvania, the Penn State Agricultural Extension offers some excellent resources on their site to help you track down which native plants will do best in which soil types.  I’m a fan of perennials, and Bee Balm, Black-eye Susan, and Narrow-leaved Sunflowers are all in various stages of maturity in my backyard.  The Bee Balm is one of my favorites as it has so many uses (tea, salads, and as an actual balm to help sooth bee stings!)  Besides all that, it grows quite nicely with my strawberries. 


If you are more adventurous type, you might try buying Mom some edible flowers so she has a snack along with her pretty bouquet!  Be sure you consult a guide book or recipe book, however, with detailed pictures and assure you buy the flowers from a source where you can be certain they haven’t been sprayed with any harmful pesticides.  

Happy Mother’s Day! 

Green Showering Ideas

I love a hot shower as much as the next person, but the (younger) members of my household seemed to love this luxury in excess. Our low flow showerhead which was installed a few years ago puts out water at a rate of about 2.64 GPM (gallons per minute). I know this because I measured it with a bucket. This rate is above the manufacturers stated flow rate, but is lower than the flow rate in older fixtures. My concern wasn’t over the flow of the fixture, but more around the length of time my children seemed to meander under the soothing stream before determining they were clean.

After weeks of shouting up the stairs for them to hurry, or knocking at the bathroom door to expedite their showers, I was at a breaking point. I questioned if I was being too harsh, and so I secretly timed them one evening. Without being rushed by me, their showers lasted between 6 and 12 minutes. (Try to understand how difficult it was for me to sit quietly watching the stopwatch as the water was running …and running…and RUNNING…past 10 minutes!)

Armed with the facts on their shower times, I sat the children down and asked them if they knew how much water they used each night. They had no idea. We talked about our recent trip to Cambodia and Vietnam where clean water is so scarce and only bottled water was fit for drinking and brushing our teeth!

  *This is a photo of a water bottle along an irrigation channel in Cambodia

Everyone agreed that conserving water was important, so we set out to find a solution. Our shower puts out a flow of about 2.64 Gallons per minute (typical low flow fixtures claim a 2.5 GPM rate). We all agreed that we could complete a shower, and be completely clean (including shampoo and conditioner) within 5 minutes.

To help keep us honest, I purchased a small shower timer that mounted to the shower wall with a suction cup. It beeps after 5 minutes. The timer keeps me from yelling, and assures that we aren’t wasting as much water, both of which make me feel better.

So far so good!

What is the average time per shower in your household?