Craigslist and Freecycle

I'm a big fan of these two sites.  Instead of buying new you can check out these two sites to see if what you are looking for is available.  It's a great way to prevent some material from going into the dump and reusing what someone wanted to get rid of.  Just today I gave away a truck cap that had about another week before I was going to take it to the dump.  It made the people who took it happy and it made me happy since I knew it was out of the yard and someone was going to use it.

Garden Pests

There are a couple problem pests I am having a difficult time trying to identify.  One is a small greyish moth/fly type thing that is infesting the asters.  I've used neem oil which seems to help at least a little.

The other pest is a small black insect that is putting pinholes in the eggplant leaves.  The closest ID I found was a fungus gnat but I don't think that is it.  You can see it at the top of the picture.  Any help identifying these and treatment would be appreciated.  I've squashed quite a few of these bugs by hand and I think I've improved the situation.

Happy and Sad Day

Yesterday I had an interview.  It turned out to be an eventful day.  After the interview they drug tested me and I start on Monday.  It's been about a year and a half since I was laid off.  I was negotiating with the bank to give up the house.  So it will be a scramble to get it fully rented but it looks doable now :)  The sad part is I was a volunteer at the animal shelter taking care of the dogs which I won't be able to do anymore.  Also I'm not going to be able to hang out in the garden and spend time with my cats as much.  :(

Recycling

One thing that I have been thinking about a lot is recycling.  I am a trained cabinet maker and can do a lot of things in woodworking.  In any shop or construction job there is a lot of waste (plywood, MDF, solid wood scraps) that I think could be reused or reprocessed to make new useable materials.  Right now a lot of material is just going into the dumps.  I believe these materials can be recycled.  This is just an idea right now but I hope to make this happen.

Intro

This is my first post so I guess I will just introduce myself.  I'm a person who tries to do things naturallly.  I love to garden and will only do organic gardening.  This summer I have been spending a lot of time in the garden.  It's nice to see everything growing and all the other life around.  I think compost is about the best fertilizer out there and picked up three pickup truck loads from a local farm this summer. 

My two cats are like my kids to me.  I don't intend on having any other kids.

I also love hiking and taking pictures which I will include in posts in the future.