Stacks of milk crates - Filled with canned vegetables, boxes of pasta, bags of beans — rise to Shelly Vernon’s shoulders.
All around her are shelves with the same fare. To her left, floor-to-ceiling shelves groan with formula and baby food.
Over by the door are the shelves reserved for the rarest of food-pantry items: tinned meats and stews.
Tags: vegetablesSaturday, December 29th, 2007
PARKLAND, Fla. - Free hybrid-car parking. Cash rebates for installing solar panels. Low-interest loans for energy-saving home renovations. Money to tear up desert lawns and replace them with drought-resistant landscaping. Frustrated by what they see as insufficient action by state and federal government, municipalities around the country are offering financial incentives to get people to go green. “A lot of localities recognize they’re going to get a lot more done using carrots and incentives rather than regulatory means,” said Jason Hartke, director of advocacy for the U.S. Green Building Council.
Tags: drought, Landscaping, lawns, money, renovationSaturday, December 29th, 2007
PARKLAND - Free hybrid-car parking. Cash rebates for installing solar panels. Low-interest loans for energy-saving home renovations. Money to tear up desert lawns and replace them with drought-resistant landscaping. Frustrated by what they see as insufficient action by state and federal government, municipalities across the country are offering financial incentives to get people to go green. “A lot of localities recognize they’re going to get a lot more done using carrots and incentives rather than regulatory means,” said Jason Hartke, director of advocacy for the U.S. Green Building Council.
Tags: drought, Landscaping, lawns, money, renovationSaturday, December 29th, 2007
The St. Cloud Parks and Recreation Department is offering a “Rain Garden” educational workshop Jan. 8. The workshop will start at 6:30 p.m. at PegHorn Nature Park and Trail, 2101 PegHorn Way. The Florida Yards %26amp; Neighborhoods program and the Native Plant Society — Osceola Chapter are participating in the event.
Tags: amp, LandscapingSaturday, December 29th, 2007
LADY LAKE - Christmas shoppers will have even more stores to choose from this time next year. The Village Crossroads Center, a 160,000-square-foot complex of retailers and restaurants, is scheduled to open in Lady Lake in August, early enough to satisfy even the most eager holiday shoppers. Perhaps the biggest winners will be electronics hounds, who will be able to compare prices between an existing Circuit City and the Best Buy that will anchor Village Crossroads. Other stores at the center will include Bed Bath %26amp; Beyond and Petsmart.
Tags: ampSaturday, December 29th, 2007
Party alert: Only five more days until the bubbly flows. If it’s already flowing, good for you. I believe in overachieving when ringing in a new year. Here’s your daily dish:
What’s hot. Speculating on food trends is the favorite topic du jour.
Food %26amp; Wine magazine says you’ll be hot for old-fashioned candy, wild American shrimp, muesli, chef-run noodle bars, barrel-aged beers, chardonnay from Oregon and haute frozen food.
Tags: ampSaturday, December 29th, 2007
GREENBURGH, N.Y. - Audrey Davison lives alone, gets a $620 Social Security check each month and worries about the sharply rising taxes on her four-bedroom house. Davison, 76, raised her family there and after 43 years, she really doesn’t want to leave Greenburgh. Greenburgh doesn’t want her to leave, either. The town is pushing a program that would let seniors work part-time, for $7 an hour, to help pay off some of their property taxes.
Tags: property taxesSaturday, December 29th, 2007
GREENBURGH, N.Y. - Audrey Davison lives alone, gets a $620 Social Security check each month and worries about the sharply rising taxes on her four-bedroom house. Davison, 76, raised her family there, and after 43 years, she really doesn’t want to leave Greenburgh. Greenburgh doesn’t want her to leave either. The town is pushing a program that would let seniors work part time, for $7 an hour, to help pay off some of their property taxes.
Tags: property taxesSaturday, December 29th, 2007
Last Updated: September, 2007
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September 2007
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No tag for this post.Saturday, December 29th, 2007
“Florida usually gets up to 55 inches of rain a year. If people water their yards twice a week, and put out three-quarters of an inch each time, then that’s around 1 1/2 inches in a week,” said Dunkelberg, “which means in 50 weeks, that’s 75 inches. %26#091;That’s%26#093; more than 1 1/2 times as much as natural rainfall, in addition to natural rainfall — which tells you, you are trying to grow wetland plants.” A representative from the water-conservation division of the Seminole County Environmental Services Department was also on hand to talk to people about water-saving tips, both indoors and out. “We’re trying to inform the public what simple things they can do to conserve water,” said Debbie Meinert, water-conservation coordinator. Meinert cited the St. Johns River Water Management District’s “Think Two” campaign slogan to help people remember to water their lawns no more than twice a week. The water-saver’s guide she handed out to visitors had recommendations such as running dishwashers and washing machines only when you have full loads, and not letting the water run when shaving, brushing teeth or washing dishes by hand. Meinert goes into schools encouraging schoolchildren to help as well. The main point of the day’s workshop was to encourage people to go native in terms of plants. Choosing native plants over more exotic, foreign species has advantages, Dunkelberg said. Native plants are uniquely adapted to the Florida landscape, its climate and its rainfall averages. “%26#091;It’s about%26#093; putting in plants that don’t take up much water and preferably don’t require any,” Dunkelberg said. “There are a lot of native plants to pick from.” Examples of native ground covers are blue-eyed grass, matchstick weed and sunshine mimosa, a creeping vine with pink flowers. Native trees and bushes can be strategically placed to create structure in your yard and attract birds and butterflies, Dunkelberg said. Beautyberry and wild coffee are two examples of shrubs that produce berries that birds like. So how do you choose native plants for your yard? “The first, most important thing to do is always get a soil sample,” Meinert said. “It’s ‘right plant, right place.’ ” If you live in Orange County, the University of Florida’s Orange County extension office, at 6021 S. Conway Road, offers free soil samples Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Master Gardeners there will advise you on which plants are best for your soil. “Some plants are acid-loving and if you put those in an alkaline soil, then they do not do well,” said Petra Tanner, the extension office’s Master Gardener. Dunkelberg said the Florida Native Plant Society in 2008 plans to become more active in talking to legislators about promoting xeriscaping, which is sometimes hindered by neighborhood homeowners associations. “%26#091;There’s%26#093; a growing problem with water, and we will need in the future to change some of the laws that give the homeowners’ associations so much power to prevent xeriscaping, which means water-conserving landscaping,” he said.
Tags: amp, bushes, drought, florida landscape, grass, landscape, Landscaping, lawns, master gardener, master gardeners, native plants, plants, rta, Services, shrub, shrubs, soil, sunshine, xeriscapingSaturday, December 29th, 2007
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