Sustainability Journal

  • Fun things to do with fall leaves

    Fun things to do with fall leaves

    By Brooke Hamilton-Benjestorf

    Let’s make sustainable crafts with some readily-available nature bits - like fall leaves! They’re so beautiful, and part of what makes them so - outside of the fact that each one is unique like a snowflake and the colors are...

  • Pure Creative Flow: Q+A with Elyse Rainbolt

    Pure Creative Flow: Q+A with Elyse Rainbolt

    By Brooke Hamilton-Benjestorf

    Feminine groove. Exquisite tastes. Rainbow explosions. Pure creative flow. All of these things pour from the screen while FaceTiming with Elyse Rainbolt - even when the connection from her remote Pennsylvania flower farm is too dodgy for you to see...

  • A Small History: Lawns

    A Small History: Lawns

    By Brooke Hamilton-Benjestorf

    When I was a kid I didn’t know there were yards without lawns. Everyone had a lawn where I grew up, to the point where the word yard is nearly synonymous with the word lawn in my early years. And...

  • A Small History: Geraniums

    A Small History: Geraniums

    By Brooke Hamilton-Benjestorf

    Owners of beautiful, eclectic homes giving tours to TV crews seem to have a universal fondness for geraniums, or pelargoniums. There’s something about them. They’re leafy greenness plus a brilliant pop of colorful petals is surely a draw. The sheer...

  • Summer Birding in Napa

    Summer Birding in Napa

    By Brooke Hamilton-Benjestorf

    Birdwatching is a way to interact with the natural world. So many of us find value in interacting with pets, but to have birds come to a feeder at your house, is a way to metaphorically touch the wild world....

  • Not Invited to the Garden Party

    Not Invited to the Garden Party

    By Brooke Hamilton-Benjestorf

    Keeping bugs away from your outdoor living spaces, naturally.