By Amie Rodgers
On August 14, the White Mountain Woman’s Club will host their Second Annual Home and Garden Tour. Last year, the event was a wonderful tour of White Mountain homes and gardens. This year’s event will feature both landmark and new homes as well as have a special emphasis on sustainable gardens with berry vines, fruit trees and vegetable gardens. “We want to highlight the practices of eating what you grow and getting back to nature this year. We will also see water features, seating areas and other great …

You can see the rock wool nuggets in the bottles.

We started growing with hydroponics 3 years ago. We started by using rock wool in two liter bottles. This gave the plants enough room to grow and held moisture in the roots. Although it started well, eventually the roots ran out of room to grow and the rock wool became a space taker rather than a benefit. We also cut the entire bottom off of the bottle which exposed the system to evaporation. Some fantastic plants came out of this system …

Recycle your electronic waste and help the environment during this five-hour event
July 21, 2010 (Show Low, AZ) – A second annual free region-wide electronic waste (e-waste) recycling event is planned for Saturday, August 28, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Show Low’s Walmart Supercenter, 5401 S. White Mountain Rd., at the former Tri-Star gas station site. Recycle unwanted computers, televisions, monitors, batteries, cell phones and chargers, VCRs, CD and DVD players, printers, fax machines, small appliances, extension cables and other cords. No large appliances, such as washers, dryers, …

Last year, around this time, the White Mountains had its opportunity to experi­ence and learn about “Sustainability” and “Green” ideas in a new way! The col­laborative efforts of Creative Green Homes, the White Mountains Green Team and several local businesses and concerned citizens put on the first-ever “White Mountains Green Festival”. Held in Snowflake last year, this event exceeded everyone’s expectations and the turnout was fantastic! The interest in sustain­ability, green ways/ideas and an overall concern for our planet was overwhelm­ing and exciting! Local citizens were able to gather information …

The Eleventh Annual Arizona Highlands Garden Conference will be held August 27-28 at the Mazatzal Casino, just south of Payson  “Sustainable Gardening* for Homes & Communities”
The event starts Friday August 27 with Sustainability Demonstration Tours featuring local practitioners’ of water harvesting, Square-foot gardening, Xe­riscape gardening and Firewise landscaping. The Conference itself begins on Saturday August 28 with a full breakfast at the Mazatzal Casino. The two key­note speakers are renowned authorities in sustainability: desert permaculture innovator and author Greg Peterson, founder of the Urban Farm in Phoenix, and acclaimed …

by Amie Rodgers
 It is a serene summer afternoon in Show Low. There is the threat of rain hanging low over our heads, but no one is too concerned. It will provide welcomed water­ing after the volunteers of the White Mountain Community Garden are finished with their weeding, hoeing and other garden duties. Everyone is having a merry time doing what many might consider work, but for them, they are growing a lot more than just veggies. Volunteers like Jean and David Estabrook happily plucked weeds out from a bushy patch …

by Amie Rodgers
The Northern Gila County Fair got its beginning when Payson’s rodeo (known as Arizona’s oldest continuous rodeo) was moved from Main Street to a local pasture. It is believed to have been around 1928 when viewing stands were built for the rodeo and people gathered under them to compete with their crops and canned goods. This “to do” was later moved to Pine and held there for the longest time. Over the years, there have been many people who upheld and continued the county fair tradition. According to …

by Amie Rodgers
Handcrafted locally by David L. Fischer and Don Hotz, Jr. of White Mountain Soap and Bath, this soap is aptly named Strawberry Bliss Soap. A wonderful summery scent, it has been awarded a prestigious Best Scent for 2010 award in its industry.
In the name of quality control I sampled this lovely soap and it was lavishly wonderful. Chronically allergic to a number of detergents and soaps, I was delighted to find a clean, moisturized finish without any of the typi­cal dry or irritated skin I get when …

By Amie Rodgers
On August 14, the White Mountain Woman’s Club will host their Second Annual Home and Garden Tour. Last year, the event was a wonderful tour of White Mountain homes and gardens. This year’s event will feature both landmark and new homes as well as have a special emphasis on sustainable gardens with berry vines, fruit trees and vegetable gardens. “We want to highlight the practices of eating what you grow and getting back to nature this year. We will have a lot of information avail­able about preserving food. …

If you are growing in a garden or in a greenhouse you will encounter bugs. Aphids are the most common pests because they don’t lay eggs, they clone themselves almost like a cell does to make more. Once aphids start they quick­ly become impossible to stop since they keep replicating themselves. There are several ways to handle aphids aside from using pesticides. My favorite for the greenhouse is to use lady bugs. Lady bugs are cool, kids like them, they don’t eat your plants and they even eat aphids while …