Showing posts with label Sustainability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sustainability. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

A Dozen Creative Ways to Use Egg Cartons

 Celebrating National Egg Month
A Dozen Creative Ways to Use Egg Cartons


Egg Carton Roses: Cut 1 slit into each corner of 1 egg cup and shape into petals. Repeat twice, making petals slightly smaller and roll together to make a bud shape. Hot glue the  layers together, offsetting middle layer so petals sit in spaces between petals of bottom layer. Create bouquets, wreaths, or use to cover a picture frame or mirror.

Egg Carton Flower Lights: A bit of creative cutting, a strand of Christmas lights, and a dab of paint can turn that boring carton into an adorable floral lighting string.


Grow Seedlings in Egg Cartons: The small cups are the perfect size for smaller seedlings.

Bird Feeder: Punch four holes in bottom half of an egg carton. Cut four 18-inch pieces of twine and attach to holes in corner. Fill carton with birdseed. Tie loose ends into knot and hang in a tree.


Get Organized: Egg cartons are the perfect way to organize “small stuff.” Decorate them and use for storing jewelry, beads, office supplies, buttons, craft supplies, nuts/bolts, and more.

Store Christmas Ornaments: Store smaller holiday decorations. They work like a charm, keep your ornaments safe, and save a lot of space.


DIY Fire Starters: Add a bit of wax, and some dryer lint, and voila! You have a handy fire starter for camping or cold winter nights.

Charcoal Grill Starter: Take a cardboard egg carton and place one piece of charcoal in each slot. This technique puts the kindling and coals into close proximity Make up several cartons and keep them on hand to take on camping trips, or keep in a safe place for those last-minute backyard marshmallow roasts.


Paper Mache Clay: Fill a bucket with 10 egg boxes and two glossy magazines. Tear strips into one inch pieces and soak overnight. Use a kitchen mixer to beat the paper to a mash. You can also use a drill with a plaster mixer attachment. Drain the mixture with a colander and an old pair of stockings or draining bag and squeeze out water. Dry into balls and add water to bring back to life!

Egg Carton Mancala Game: Egg cartons make the perfect game board, and you can use beads, marbles, or dry beans for the playing pieces. 


Sidewalk Chalk: Mix 1 cup of plaster of paris, 3/4 cup of cold water, and tempera powder (use more for brighter colors) in a container with your stirring tool. Let mixture thicken, and pour into egg cartons. Let sit one day for mold and chalk to dry completely.

Paint Cups: This idea will be popular with the kiddos, or if you are needing to use several colors at once.



SMC Supreme Eggs

South Mountain Creamery’s Certified Humane Eggs can’t be beat*! Our eggs meet the Humane Farm Animal Care program standards, which include a nutritious diet without antibiotics or hormones, animals raised with shelter, resting areas, sufficient space, and the ability to engage in natural behaviors. Our laying hens are fed with food grown and harvest on the farm. See how SMC’s eggs compare to the leading brand: www.southmountaincreamery.com

*Disclaimer: SMC eggs CAN be beat! Try them scrambled or in a soufflé, quiche, crème brulee, and more! Visit our EGG-Citing Ideas Pinterest board for recipes, ideas, and more!

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Celebrating Earth Day


Happy Earth Day! 
Earth day is celebrated every year on April 22 to raise awareness about the environment and pollution. At SMC, we believe that every day should be Earth Day. Our farm’s commitment to agricultural sustainability has led us to establishing a goal of becoming a completely sustainable company.

The dairy industry, along with the USDA, is committed to advancing their eco-friendly sustainability practices. Over the next 10 years, they plan to reduce the output of greenhouse gasses by 25 percent. This has been made possible thanks to the USDA’s funding of approximately 25,000 environmental improvement projects through grants.

Since 1944, resources to produce a gallon of milk have decreased. This includes 90 percent less cropland, 65 percent less water, and 63 percent less carbon. In the United States, agriculture occupies 51 percent of land, uses 80 percent of our water and is responsible for 8 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions.


SMC’s Totally Green Practices

South Mountain Creamery is committed to agricultural sustainability. Our goal is to use our own resources to power the farm with a combination of bio-diesel, a methane digester, wind turbines, solar energy, and geothermal loops . In the past few years, SMC has completed a number of tasks, with the help of grants and the Maryland Energy Administration.

Soybean Press: In 2013, SMC completed their project of installing a fully-operational soybean press. A soybean press is a process of pressing soybeans to make our own soybean meal for animal feed.  The byproduct of the pressing process is soy oil which we can convert into bio-diesel.  The soybean oil is burned oil in our diesel trucks at about 5%-10%.

Lighting: In 2014, SMC replaced all of the company’s lighting with LED lights. LED lighting is energy efficient and consumes up to 90% less power than incandescent bulbs. Since LED lights use only a fraction of the energy of an incandescent light bulb and have a longer lifespan, there is a decreased amount of power usage, maintenance, and replacement costs.

Refrigeration Units: With the help of MEA and SEDESCO, SMC replaced all of our refrigeration units with energy efficient refrigeration units, which reduced our energy usage by 50%-90%! 

SMC is continuing to work on becoming a self-sustaining company with goals to install a Methane Digester, Wind Turbines, Solar Energy, and Geothermal Loops.

Other Eco-Friendly Practices:
Milking Parlor: South Mountain Creamery currently uses re washable cloths, instead of paper towels in our milking parlor. 
Glass Bottled Milk: Our milk bottles are glass so they can be washed, sanitized, and reused! 
Reusable Bags: The plastic bags used in our store and home delivery are biodegradable. Our friends at Gude Brothers also use eco-friendly bags for their produce bags, delivered to SMC daily.
Boonsboro Greenfest: Love sustainability? Join SMC at Boonsboro Greenfest on May 9 at Shafer Park in Boonsobor, MD! Visit their website fro more eco-friendly information.