Saving Money on Your Bills and Food

Part of our monthly bills that each of us must pay each month are the bills for our energy use. Propane gas, natural gas and or electricity are some fuels that may be used to cool and heat our homes, cook our meals, wash and dry our clothes; run our televisions, computers and other electronic devices. The more energy efficient our homes are, the lower our bills will be. Many foreclosures are due to people who cannot afford their high monthly energy bills due to a very energy inefficient homes. That is one reason why an Austin, Texas non-profit organization called One House at a Time helps low income homeowners homes more energy efficient. The fine folks at One House at a Time may also plant a garden so homeowners may grow some of their own fresh, nutritious food. There's a saying that "there's nothing new under the sun". When Texas was settled, there were many energy efficient and green homes. The German settlers of the 1800's often times built their homes of thick, hand hewn locally quarried stone blocks adding a lot of thermal mass which kept their homes cool in Summer and warm in Winter. Farms and ranches had a windmill to pump water out of the ground and a cistern or tank to store the water in. Pictured above is a decorative windmill and cistern at Silverado Ranch in Cedar Park, Texas. I took the photo to exemplify a part of our Texas past that we must not forget. Raising your own livestock such as cattle, turkeys, chickens, sheep and goats was common on our early Texas homesteads. Home gardens were also commonplace and before the advent of chemicals they were all organic. Crops were rotated and nitrogen fixating legumes such as Dixie cow peas were planted to add nitrogen fertilizer to the soil naturally.

Today's Texas Homes

In our modern Texas there are many homes in existence with no insulation in the walls and insufficient insulation in the attic. Take some steps to make your home more energy efficient. Start with a good energy audit then get some energy improvements made. There are many modern materials that can substantially increase the energy efficiency of your home. I have had an energy audit on my home and now I am getting bids on energy efficiency improvements. I am very impressed with foam insulation. I would love to show you a home with foam insulation so you can see what a difference it makes over bat insulation. Instead of a tremendously hot attic in the hottest of Texas Summers, there will be a wonderful coolness in your attic if foam insulation is used. In fact, your attic will be considered "conditioned space" so your air conditioner and heater does not have to work so hard and use so much energy. When you store things in your attic, they won't melt in the Summer or freeze in the Winter. Landscaping can also be used to help with energy efficiency. Plant deciduous trees that lose their leaves in the winter close enough to your home to shade it in the Summer. In the Winter, when leaves fall, the sun can again shine on your home to add warmth.

I have also eliminated most water wasting lawn grass and added lots of edibles to my small 60' lot in Leander, Texas. I have peaches, loquats, apples, plums, apricots, pomegranites, figs, asparagus, lemon grass, many herbs and more. For Christmas, my husband just bought me a new edition, a wonderful persimmon tree from McIntyre's nursery in Georgetown, Texas. My yard is also a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat. I garden organicly and have native plants and xeriscaping.

Call me, Betty Saenz GREEN REALTOR with Sky Realty at (512) 785-5050 to see or sell green homes in the Austin, Texas area or to learn how to retrofit your existing home to save money on both your utility bills and food. Visit my Green Blog TexasOrganicHome.com

Leander Texas Summer of 2010

This summer season of 2010 has been so nice. We have not been in the triple digits once, have had plenty of rain and the grass is still green. I love that! I just had some clients here from California and they loved it here, but what's not to love about this Summer? Conversely, last summer was oddly horrible- we had drought and heat. Very strange and not enjoyable. Then, I remember the summer of 2007, I call it the Monsoon Summer since it rained almost everyday for a month. This summer will go down as one of the best ever!

During the 2007 "Monsoon" Summer, one of my rosemary bushes, the upright, more woody type, said "enough already" and gave up life. She could not stand having wet feet for so long. The creeks, lakes and rivers rose and there was some flooding of low places along those areas. I remember the South San Gabriel River rose up to the Highway 183 bridge. They are fixing that this year with the new Toll Road 183A being higher. Of course I really liked the days of just the opposite- when we had more low water crossings. It just felt so in touch with the earth to drive slowly through the low water crossings and in times of heavy rainfall you knew you had to take an alternate route. One of my favorites was the old Parmer Lane or as it is now called Ronald Reagan Boulevard. Back n the day it was a small road and there was a low water crossing over the South San Gabriel River. Now, Ronald Reagan is a HUGE 4 lane divided highway going north all the way into Georgetown, Texas. You can't even see the San Gabriel river unless you are way up in a high truck or something. There are still a few of those low water crossings left around these parts of the Austin, Texas area. When it rains a lot here, we don't have mudslides like in California. This is because the Texas Hill Country is the Edward's Plateau Ecological Region. There is lots of limestone here in the area along with sandstone, shales and dolomites.

This summer, in 2010, we've had nice rainfall, not too much, nor too little. I started my summer season with apricots, then peaches and blackberries (made peach ice cream for July 4th), then figs, next will be apples then pomegranites. All from my little 60' wide city of Leander, TX lot and mostly all in my front yard. There is nothing like homegrown, organicly raised produce from your own yard! It is amazing how sweet and juicy they are compared to some storebought cardboard tasting ones. No matter children growing up these days don't like fruits and vegetables!

This 2010 year I have been going hiking at places like the Pickett Trail in Georgetown, Texas in the evening. I follow it with a swim in the South San Gabriel River's Blue Hole there. I also walk the wonderful Brushy Creek Regional Trail near Cedar Park, Texas in the early mornings, just after sunrise. That way you are there when it is as cool as possible.

UK Basketweaving Blog and Folk Music

I am totally enjoying listening to a great radio station in the UK while reading a UK basketweaving, handcrafts, living off the land blog. This soothes my soul after a hard few dissapointing weeks trying to make money as a REALTOR. The Folk Radio UK staion is wonderful. Right now they are playing "When Two Lovers Meet" by Sarah McQuaid - very pretty!!! I got to the lovely UK music via her blog. The site to purchase music is Folk Radio UK Store but the listening link is free and on Hen's blog. The writer of the blog, Hen, spent Christmas on her land in a handmade shelter called a 'bender'. She cooked outdoors over coals in a Dutch oven. Ahh yes..the life!! Hen makes baskets from materials on her land in Exmoor. Follow Hen on Twitter