Composting 101: It's Easier Than You Think

In LA we have a compost bin for all green yard waste such as lawn clippings and fallen leaves. After a recent visit to Seattle we noticed that our friends had a separate food trash bin that the city required they use. Seattle isn't the only community making moves to not only recycle but break down recycling and also introduce compost waste bins. San Francisco introduced a similar law this week.

This trend will continue to grow and now there are plenty of products around to help you better treat your compost. Today you can feed your garden compost from your own kitchen scraps and yard waste in a matter of days what normally would take months.

According to the Wall Street Journal, compost is earthy material produced from the natural decomposition of organic matter such as grass clippings, leaves, vegetable remains, and coffee grounds. It's nutritious for plants and lawns and reduces the amount of trash sent to landfills. Yard trimmings and food residuals constitute about 24% of the U.S. municipal solid-waste stream, the Environmental Protection Agency says.

The Homestar AKA Cash for Caulkers Program Has Been Unveiled

Today President Obama detailed the much talked about Homestar program which some have dubbed "Cash for Caulkers".

The plan would offer rebates of up to $3,000 for energy-saving home renovations. The program is expected to cost about $6 billion and entice as many as 3 million homeowners to initiate the renovations.

Obama said the program would achieve multiple goals at once: lowering energy bills for consumers, creating work and reducing the nation's dependence on foreign energy sources.

Last year we debated what the Cash for Caulkers program would mean for you and me and even Neil Cavuto of Fox News wanted to chime in.

Harvest Your Own Rainwater with the Rainwater Pillow from 2010 Builders' Show

With all of the rain we've been getting in Southern California it would be amazing to put that water to use instead of continuing to draw on finite resources that come from reservoirs which as everyone knows are quickly receding.

The Rainwater Pillow is an ingenious product that allows you to collect rainwater runoff from your roof and store it in a "pillow" located in the crawlspace below your home. This stored rainwater can then be used to irrigate your garden which.

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