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Saturday, March 10
"No more bad lunches!" cried 5th grader Rachel Biccum
by
Marion Owen
on Sat 10 Mar 2007 06:31 PM AKST
 Rachel Biccum, a fifth-grader in Chico, California, was sick and tired of school lunches, so she decided to take action. She handed out fliers to her classmates, promoting a boycott. "No more bad lunches!" the flier stated. Rachel also encouraged fellow students to boycott the cafeteria and bring their lunches from home. They told school officials, "get rid of the processed junk, we want more fresh foods." For Rachel and friends to ask for more fresh foods is encouraging news, since childhood obesity rates are skyrocketing. But you know, there's another way to provide fresh food at school, and that's to GROW it. School gardens are sprouting up all over the country. A growing success story, if you will... more »
 1 Attachments
Sunday, February 5
What are you doing for the next 4 minutes? Breathing, I hope.
by
Marion Owen
on Sun 05 Feb 2006 05:54 PM AKST
 We can live four weeks without food, four days without water, four minutes without air. For sure, air tops the list as the most essential requirement to our physical health. Yet air can be rather unhealthy this time of the year. With doors and windows closed, indoor air pollution levels can rise to dangerous levels. While air fresheners cover up the smell of stale air, this does little to improve the indoor air quality. However, there is an effective solution to this problem, plants. [Special: If you'd like to listen to this article (a 2-minute audion clip) subscribe to my podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below) or simply click here to listen to the mp3 file]. Otherwise, just keep reading... more »
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Wednesday, January 18
How to Grow a Mango Houseplant
by
Marion Owen
on Wed 18 Jan 2006 09:51 AM AKST
 When is garbage not garbage? Why, when you look at it with a gardener’s eye. Those seeds and pits that you usually throw away? You can turn them into fruitful houseplants. Take a mango, for example. In the center of the mango, there is a large, hairy husk with a pit in it. To prepare it for planting, scrape off the excess flesh from the husk. Wait a second! Let’s back up. First you EAT the mango, THEN you scrape off the excess fruit. [PSST! To listen to this article, which is only 2 minutes long. It's easy: subscribe to my podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below) or simply listen to the mp3 file now by clicking here]
Otherwise, you can keep reading... more »
1 Attachments
Friday, December 30
Wild Kingdom in Your Living Room
by
Marion Owen
on Fri 30 Dec 2005 12:16 PM AKST
 If you’re
concerned about your kids spending too much time playing computer games
or watching TV, consider another form of home entertainment:
carnivorous plants. Carnivorous plants are fun and affordable. Plus, you don't need batteries! What makes
them cool? Listen to this interview with Jessica at Seattle's
Indoor Sun Shoppe by subscribing to my podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below) or simply download/listen here to the mp3.
Venus fly traps and other carnivorous plants conjure up images of Morticia of The Addams Family feeding her plant, Cleopatra.
In the 1960s sitcom, the exotic plant eagerly snapped up meatballs and
burgers. But why watch TV reruns when you can get your own Cleopatra: Carnivorous plant sources: Cook's Carnivorous Plants and Glasshouseworks.com. [Trivia question: What weird thing did Morticia do to her flowering plants? Answer: She cut off the petals!]
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Sunday, November 27
What's That Creepy Bug on Your Houseplant?
by
Marion Owen
on Sun 27 Nov 2005 03:20 PM AKST
 It's easy
to get attached to plants. If you don't believe me, just ask a scale.
No, I’m not talking about your bathroom scale, that insidious device
you scream at in the morning. I'm talking about that clever little
insect that gloms onto to a plant's trunk, twig, or leaf and feeds on
the sap.
I learned about scale insects by default. They arrived, uninvited, on a
gift houseplant. Life was good, until a sticky substance appeared on
the leaves and the floor... To listen to the whole audio-article: Subscribe to my podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below) or simply listen here to the mp3 audio file. [NOTE: If
you'd like a text version of this audio article send me an email to
marion@ptialaska.net]. Need more indoor gardening tips? Click here to visit the articles on my www.plantea.com web site.
1 Attachments
Thursday, October 27
Houseplants are "in" and they improve your life!
by
Marion Owen
on Thu 27 Oct 2005 07:46 PM AKDT
 If you think
houseplants aren’t worth the trouble, think again.
In his book, How to Grow Fresh Air, Dr. BC Wolverton, an environmental
consultant and retired NASA scientist, describes how houseplants filter
toxins from the air inside your house or office. Plants become the lungs of a
building, much like the tropical rainforests are the lungs of the
Earth. Learn how houseplants improve the overall quality of your life. Subscribe to my podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below). If you can't wait, listen to the mp3 audio file by clicking here.
1 Attachments
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How to Stay in Touch:
Subscribe to my UpBeet Gardener ezine (above) and to this blog to automatically receive updates. To subscribe this blog, you have 2 choices:
1) Click on this icon  if you use a feed reader, or 2) For email updates,
Another Way To Stay In Touch:
Listen to my podcasts!My UpBeet Gardener radio shows are available as podcasts. They're fun, entertaining and only 2 or 3 minutes long.
Click on the UpBeet Gardener Podcasts on the list at left to read the article and listen to the audio, or if you have iTunes: Go to the iTunes podcast directory and do a search for Acorns.
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For FAQs about iPodder and podcasting: Click here
 I'm Marion Owen and I live on Kodiak Island, Alaska where I pull weeds, write, photograph, and produce my UpBeet Gardener radio shows and international newsletter. My husband and I operate Galley Gourmet dinner cruises. I conduct workshops and keynote addresses and produce PlanTea organic fertilizer. My main site is at plantea.com
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