Tags - 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.)
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 ...
New Ways to Re-use Your Black Pots
We've said it once, (actually a few more times than that), and we'll say it again: we like it Naked at LUSH.
In fact, we'd do everything Naked if we could. But then again, there are ingredients that are so beneficial, and so beautiful but come in a liquid form that some of our products do require packaging.
When we do use packaging, we aim to use the least amount possible and have not only significantly cut down on the amount of cardboard and paper products that we use, but our black pots and bottles are made from 100% post-consumer plastic - no virgins allowed! We also encourage you to return your black pots and bottles at your local LUSH shop. Bring back 5 and we'll exchange them for a free Fresh Face Mask. You get clean, radiant skin and we'll make sure that your containers get recycled and up-cycled for you. Win-win for everyone and the environment.However, you can also reuse your black pots and containers at home or at the office too.
Here are some of our favorites:
Storing office supplies
With, or without the labels you can use our pots to store paperclips, thumbtacks, erasers, staples, love notes, or whatever supplies you like to keep at hand, but in an easy, stackable way to help you keep your desktop tidy. You could also glue magnets to the bottom and affix them to a magnetic board for even more organizational fun!
Get your garden started
Depending on what climate you live in, some herbs, veggies, and plants could use a helping hand to get started before the growing season...
