Categories - Green (clear)
Easy Compost Tips: Whip Up A Smoothie
It's easy to be green these days.
Composting kitchen scraps is hardly the newest way to lighten our loads on Mother Earth, especially with more communities offering curbside compost services. Our LUSH Kitchens and head offices all compost, and our shops do so whenever possible as well. There's always more we can do, though.
Composting isn't difficult provided there is a designated spot, and a system to it. It's a natural process, so however diligent or casual the system, compost will happen. (We suggest a more diligent system for communal spots like the office though!) A helpful resource for all kinds of compost questions is Barbara Pleasant's article "Compost Made Easy" on Mother Earth News; this is a must-read if you are looking for good dirt on the topic.
On the Internet one day, I stumbled upon another article about "compost smoothies" from a blog called Maoomba. Hang on a tick, I thought - what have my plants been missing all these years? And how easy would this be in an office lunch room? While there's still a compost heap in the yard, Maoomba's article about compost smoothies-or direct composting, or what some even call blender composting, has helped tighten the loop on my kitchen garden by using fresh scraps immediately. (I like to think of the activity of the fresh nutrients doing for my plants what a Fresh Face Mask does for my skin.)
Pack It Up, Pack It In
We're not ashamed to say it - we get around.
We love it when you send us pictures of your trips when you spot LUSH shops in a new city, and the shots of your bags packed with our products safely included. Now that the warm weather is here, our thoughts naturally turn to vacations and time off to enjoy the season. Hopping on planes, trains, and automobiles. Travel by pedal, foot, and board. No matter where you're going this summer - to the lake for a weekend, a tour of a land afar, or backcountry to pitch a tent, let us be your trusty travel companion. Are you having a stay-cation in your city instead? Let's hang out.
Solid, naked products like shampoo bars, body butters, and toothy tabs are perfect for packing and you never have to worry about spillage, (or meeting size restrictions). Plus, shampoo bars and body butters can do double-duty. You can use a shampoo bar for your hair, as a body wash, and even as laundry soap in a pinch. Get scrubbed up and moisturize all in one handful with your favorite butter in a bar.
Packing for the plane? You can re-use your empty black ...
Grow Your Own LUSH Herb Garden
Fresh herbs are used every day in LUSH kitchens.
Whole bundles of herbs are inspected and prepared by our compounders for each batch they make of anything calling for an “infusion” or “decoction”. As well, they pour into our mixtures delicate essential oils from herbs and plant material gathered from across the globe. We start with material from nature, and rely on our vast knowledge about herbal medicine, aromatherapy and horticulture. Best-selling products like Angels On Bare Skin, New Shampoo Bar, and the entire FRESH Face Mask range just the start of the products that brim with herbal infusions, powders, essential oils, and sometimes, a flower too. Taking inspiration from these and other LUSH products, you can easily till your own herb garden before spring is over--and enjoy all the benefits these useful friends can offer.
Gardening--whether outside or deskside--is a great way to connect with nature. ...
DIY Terrariums: Grow Your Own Piece of Nature
Here at LUSH HQ, our spring months are often filled with gray rainy days that leave us longing for sunny afternoons spent outdoors. In an effort to bring a little of the outdoors inside (while staying out of the rain), we decided to make terrariums for our office!
Terrariums are fantastic little ecosystems that are simple to create and manage. Trust us: even the most gardening-inept can tackle making one! They provide us with a little piece of nature that will flourish on a desktop, bedside table or bookshelf in our homes or offices and create a connection with the environment that can be difficult to attain for the city-dwellers among us.
Not only do terrariums help to foster a deeper connection with the natural world, they also have positive effects on our health! NASA's studies in the eighties proved that houseplants improve interior air quality, and studies at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences show that indoor plants decrease incidences of dry skin, fatigue and coughing. If you're a business owner or manager, take note: a study by the same university concluded that offices with have living plants report less sick time taken by employees and higher productivity. Nobody wants to play hooky if they've got a terrarium to look after!
With all these benefits to owning a terrarium, what's holding you back? Not sure how to make one yet? Let's do it together- you'll be an expert in no time.
Choosing ...
Take A Hike
None of us realize how simple it is to celebrate the earth in our every day lives.
There is a sense that we are obligated to do something very different from our daily routine to honor our earth during the month of April each year.
The problem is that simply one day a year is not enough.
It isn’t sustainable. If you thought of it like a marriage, like maintaining a friendship that you truly cherish, would you dedicate more than only one day a year towards that effort? I know you would.
In Gibran’s quote, you see how simple it is to be one with the earth; to commune her and to celebrate the gifts she brings to us. In observance of this time of year, it might even be more fulfilling to take a day off from work (yes, I advocate working less), go out to the beach or to the forest, and spend a day feeling the vibrations of the earth in an ...
