Blog Posts by Networx.com

Aloe vera has so many uses!

I was raised in southern California, where it's standard practice to keep a sun-loving aloe plant on any and every premises - in a pretty planter in the window, potted in terra cotta on the patio, or planted directly into the ground. The spiky succulent is ubiquitous there - as commonplace to San Diego gardeners as designer sunglasses are to fashionable Angelenos.

Many of my childhood memories - creek-side picnics in the park at the start of mosquito season, beach days playing in salty surf that washed the sunscreen from young faces too excited to stop and re-apply, evenings on the deck with the barbecue that always seemed to result in an inevitable finger in the flames - these are the memories that all end with the same sentence: "Honey, will you run grab a piece of aloe from out back?"

Aloe vera, that hippie cure-all, saved us from bug bites and sunburns and fire burns and skateboarding scrapes and surfing sand-rash and everything else that comes with being young and

Giant pumpkins at the National Heirloom Expo

By Jordan Laio, Networx

I had the great pleasure of attending the first annual National Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa, CA this past year. There were thousands of varieties of heirloom fruits and vegetables, but some of the biggest attention-grabbers were the giant pumpkins. With the smallest weighing in at a few hundred pounds, those giant pumpkins were a sight to behold. Did you know you can grow giant pumpkins and other giant vegetables at home?

Lest you think the pumpkins are huge because of some special fertilizer or mineral treatment, giant vegetables, like other jumbo crops, just have giant genes. A good indicator of these crops is the word "giant" in their name (like the giant pumpkin and giant flat Dutch cabbage, see below). If you want to be the envy of everyone at your community garden this year, give these oversized crops a try.

While not all these varieties are as dramatic in their size as the giant pumpkin, they are extraordinary in their categories.

Eddie's Wheels
By Cris Carl, Networx

If your dog has become injured or is experiencing a disability that affects his ability to walk, Eddie's Wheels has the answer.

Eddie Grinnell, owner of Eddie's Wheels, is a mechanical engineer by trade. After his companion Doberman, Buddha, was injured and became partially paralyzed in 1989, Grinnell (finding no other help available) invented his first attachable cart for his dog. Since then, Eddie's Wheel's has grown to manufacture carts, harnesses, and wheelchairs for dogs, which are used worldwide.

I had the opportunity to meet a few of Eddie Grinnell's dogs at his home in Shelburne, MA, all of whom have paralysis or loss of either their front or hind legs - and all of whom were energetic, healthy, and happy to trot around with their carts attached. Eddie and his wife Leslie, who has been working with disabled dogs for over 20 years, explained the modifications you might need in your home to accommodate a disabled dog.

Modifying Doorways for a

Photo Ann Bingley Gallops of Open Spaces Feng Shui

By Ann Bingley Gallops, Networx

When you create a bathroom with good Feng Shui, you enhance and improve your life in important ways.

In fact bathrooms are a major topic in Feng Shui. As a Feng Shui consultant I've found that some of the biggest challenges my clients face are connected to the bathroom: where it's located, how it's furnished and decorated, and how it feels to spend time there.

The bathroom has special significance in Feng Shui because this is where you clean yourself, inside and out. Here you flush away internal toxins while cleansing and caring for your external self. In the bathroom you have a most intimate relationship with your body so it is excellent Feng Shui to feel supported and nourished there.

In ancient China, where Feng Shui originated, bathrooms were located outside the confines of the home because they were so difficult to keep truly clean. But nowadays we have modern plumbing contractors and bathroom fixtures. It's much easier now

There are so many ways to reuse these bags!
By Adam Verwymeren, Networx

The scourge of landfills and the enemy of environmentalists, plastic bags have been much maligned in recent years. Starting in 2007, cities around the country have voted to ban or curb the use of these non-compostable carriers in favor of paper or plant-based alternatives. For instance, the San Jose, CA plumbing and sewer system was plagued with an overabundance of trash in its storm sewers, and issued a plastic bag ban in January of 2011.

But while their eco-impact might be pretty harsh, you can at least make a plastic bag serve a second purpose before it ends up in a landfill. There are, of course, the obvious uses: lining a trash bin, cleaning up after a dog or reusing them as bags at the grocery store. But here are some other great, innovative ways to re-use plastic bags.

Soccer Ball: As the old saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. In Africa, kids looking to kick a ball around will often reach for plastic bags. Wrapped and packed

Photo by the author.
By Adam Verwymeren, Networx

Eggs are a versatile and readily available food, and if you're a fan of them fried, poached, boiled or scrambled, you likely have a ton of old egg cartons lying around. But rather than toss them into the trash, why not put these household helpers to work? Here are some of the best uses for egg cartons.

Start a Garden From Seed: Fill the cups of a paper egg carton with soil and place a seed in each one. Once the seedlings have sprouted and you're free of the final frost of the year, simply snip each cup free and pop them straight into the soil. The cardboard will decompose as your young garden grows.

Packing Material: Egg cartons are specifically designed to cradle fragile eggs, but you can also repurpose them to cradle fragile items that you ship. Line a box with eggs cartons using some double-sided tape and your items are sure to arrive in one piece.

Sorting Small Items: Egg cartons are the perfect way to sort and store pocket change, nuts and

Photo by the author.

By Adam Verwymeren, Networx

It's one of the hallmark spices of baking and candy making, but cinnamon isn't just a way to give a sweet treat a little extra kick. This potent and versatile ingredient also has a ton of uses around the home - from cleaning products to mosquito control.

Tincture: Combine a handful of cinnamon chips with a cup of vodka to make a great-tasting and powerful tincture. Cinnamon tincture is a fantastic way to add a little zip to a cocktail, but you can also add a few drops to your afternoon tea for an extra dose of flavor. For the gents, you can dilute this potent potable with a little extra vodka for a great-smelling aftershave.

Air Freshener: Combine water and a few drops of cinnamon oil in a spray bottle and you've got an instant air freshener that's both economical and all-natural.

Moth Repellent: Replace foul-smelling mothballs with cinnamon-stuffed sachets. Combine the cinnamon with a handful of other spices, like cloves and bay

This is properly-installed insulation, sealed around a wire. Photo by Carl Seville.
By Carl Seville, Networx

There is no free insulation lunch. Super-magic foil insulation won't do what salespeople say it will. Natural, recycled, and green insulation won't work if it isn't installed right. And no insulation will make your house more efficient if air leaks around it and it isn't installed properly. As a green building consultant, I see all the mistakes that people make with insulation in the name of being "green". There's a lot of myths out there, and I'm about to dispel them. I hope I'll be able to cut through the greenwashing so that you don't get ripped off.

Myth #1: I should install as much insulation as possible to make my house more efficient and comfortable.

If you don't stop air from moving through the insulation, adding extra is pretty much a waste of effort. Fiberglass and cellulose don't stop air movement, and when air moves through insulation, it doesn't work like it's supposed to.

There must be an air barrier in complete contact with the