March Madness

Sorry for not blogging in so long. I believe my last entry claimed that the weather "felt like mid march" and now it actually is mid march! Don't get me wrong. My life and job has not been lacking in blog-able material, but rather the opposite. So much has happened that I haven't had a spare moment to write any of it down! So here you go, I'm going to spew two months worth of events in order to catch up.

Recap on my "Financial Independence Plan:" Ok, so I got myself into a huge mess with the 1997 Nissan that was supposed to alleviate my car debt. There were so many things wrong with it that after only 2 weeks of driving it I had the seller pick it up from me to make major repairs (timing belt, brake fluid leak, check engine malfunction, antilock brakes malfunction... and the list goes on). Two months later and the guy STILL had the car. He is now making payments to me to buy it back and I have managed to put every drop of money I have into my bonneville to pay it off. As of today I currently own the title to one and 1/6th cars (the guy owes me just one more payment and the Nissan is his). I have also decided to consolidate my student loans and look into buying a house. We'll see where all that goes at a later time.

Engage Green: Team Green has hosted two Engage Green Workshops since my last post. In February we discussed Recycling: How, What & Where and in March we discussed Gardening 101: Vegetable & Herbs. Minus some technical issues, both workshops were a huge success. In fact, at the last workshop we nearly doubled our attendance!

• At the Recycling Engage Green we learned that over 90% of the items Nashvillians throw away can be recycled or reused, including paper/cardboard/magazines, plastics #1-7, tin/aluminum/steel, plastic bags, and styrofoam. Plus food items, with the exception of dairy and meats, can be composted.
  
• At the Gardening Engage Green we learned that the best way to start a vegetable garden is to use a raised bed the first year and to add compost, not manuer. Start with a small selection of plants and build up the soil quality. Once you're ready to build an in ground garden, make sure that the area gets at least 6 hours of direct sunlight. Remove all of the grass down to its roots (and shake off the dirt because that dirt is the most nutrient filled). Do not till, but rather mix up the dirt and compost by shovel or hand, and be sure to mix deep into the ground. A tiller can only reach as deep as its blades, so when the plant roots grow deeper than the tilled soil it is often difficult to break through the compacted lower layers of earth. A very helpful tip I learned was to only water for about 10 or 15 minute intervals. That is, water for 10 minutes, stop for 5, water for 10, stop for 5, water for 10. When continuous water is left on, it is not able to be absorbed by the plant roots and simply becomes run off that is used no where and builds up your water bill.

Next month's Engage Green (April 7th) is Community Supported Agriculure and will focus on how and why to support local, organic, and community farming. Hopefully each presenter will bring some of their own produce to share! We'll see though... no promises.

Team Green Events: Phew! I have done quite a bit, including Breckenridge Ski Trip, January Backpacking, January Adventure Mixer, Flag Football, North Carolina Ski Trip, Valentine's Horseback Retreat, February Backpacking, and Mammoth Wild Cave Tour. During that time, Laurel also led the Costa Rica trek. Major trips that I am gearing up to lead are Outdoor Rock Climbing: Red River Gorge (Mar 20-22), New Faces Mixer (Mar 24), Charit Creek Spring Getaway (Apr 4-5), April Backpacking (Apr 11-12), and Chatooga White Water Rafting (Apr 24-26)... Plus Laurel and our TAG members will lead Midnight Ice Skate (Mar 20) and Overnight Mountain Bike Tour (Apr 11-12), to mention a few!

Team Green Interactive Update: I have also worked on making the Team Green Myspace and Facebook cleaner looking and easier to use. Plus we created a Team Green Twitter Account. If you become a Team Green Twitter follower you can get immediate updates on when events are posted, when new spots open up on booked trips, what event we are headed to that night, and when new membership specials becomes active... right from the source!

That's all for now. I need to get back to work and make some more things happen!