ECO Iowa City

Apparently, an organization has been started in Iowa City very recently that will help promote and improve environmental sustainability here in town. I just found out about it on Facebook, and I’m already extremely excited about it! It’s being managed by the Iowa City Public Library & the City of Iowa City Public Works Division and funded by the International City /County Management Association, and they’ll be focusing on urban composting & local food, energy conservation, urban stormwater management, and smart waste disposal. Some of the services they’ll be offering here in town will be:

• seed and start give-a-ways
• coupons for free Iowa City Community Compost
• free compact fluorescent bulbs and winterizing kits
• mini-grants for compost bins and rain barrels (apparently, they’ll be selling these at the Iowa City Habitat for Humanity ReStore)
• free smart waste disposal events

If you want more information, please visit the website here, or the Facebook group here.

Hooray, sustainability!

Gardening update…

…with non-up-to-date pictures. These are the latest shots we’ve got of the garden, but since we took these, we’ve fenced in this plot, planted veggies, created an herb garden planter next to the patio, planted herbs, and done more work on the front. We’re behind on updates, I know! Here’s some preliminary eye candy:

Kevin sweeping up the back sidewalk

Our pile of apple wood (great for grilling!)

The sidewalk, that I edged by hand with a hook knife

Our vegetable garden plot, about 4'x25'

Ahh, tulips

I promise to get some more current photos of the progress tonight.

Kitchen collection

We have so many projects going on, people. No joke. Actually, we’re only ever involved with one project at a time (obviously, home renovations aren’t really good venues for multitasking), but we’ve got so many backburners that it’s getting out of control. To be honest, we might have developed a little bit of house ADD, since we keep starting projects and almost finishing them, and then leaving them to languish. Like the bathroom. Oops.

Anyway, one of the projects we’ve got waiting in the wings is the kitchen. We’ve been smart about this room, though, and we’ve decided not to even start on it until we have all of the pieces we’ll need to finish it collected or purchased, so we can do it all in one go. It’s such an important room of the house that we can’t afford to lose use of it for longer than it’ll take to do the work. In the meantime, Kevin’s workshop has slowly been filled with bits and pieces that we’ll incorporate into the room. Want to see what we’ve got so far?

This is the sink cabinet that we picked up for free from the owner of the stove below. Metal cabinets with a sink in great condition.

Check out this fabulous original Chambers stove! It's in great condition, and I can't wait to see it installed in my house.

Remember these guys that we picked up over the winter? Original Youngstown Mullins kitchen cabinets from the 50s. We'll paint them all white and put on matching hardware.

Things left to collect for full kitchen assembly:
black and white checkered ceramic tile flooring
Formica laminate countertops referenced here
Dishmaster kitchen faucet referenced in the same post
Lots that I’m forgetting