Pitch in for the Earth

ROSEMARY PONNEKANTI

Conserving energy. Saving water. Composting. These are practices that help our environment and save us money at the same time – but it’s not always easy to achieve them. Or maybe it’s hard to know which product to use. If you need help with green home practices, check out the fall free home and garden workshops at Tacoma’s Envirohouse.

Covering fall and winter topics from composting to worm bins, rain barrels to pruning, insulation windows, doors and everything else, the workshops are held at the Envirohouse, which is in itself a wonderful free way to get ideas for a more environmentally efficient home. The workshops cover many fall- and winter-centric topics, including composting, worm bins, rain barrels, pruning, and insulation windows and doors. The workshops are held at Envirohouse, which is in itself a wonderful free way to get ideas for a more environmentally efficient home. In addition to the advice in the workshops, you can tour the model house, comparing different products and ideas and seeing which will work for you.

And because the Envirohouse is near the Tacoma landfill, you can dump all of those objects for recycling or reusing at the same time.

Here’s the schedule:

Oct. 13, 10:30 a.m.: Yard waste and worm bin composting

Oct. 13, 1:30 p.m.: Rain barrels: How to make and maintain

Oct. 20, 10:30 a.m.: Energy-efficient insulation and DIY tips

Oct. 20, 1:30 p.m.: Energy-efficient windows and doors

Oct. 27, 10:30 a.m.: Pruning landscape trees and shrubs

Nov. 3, 10:30 a.m.: Residential landscape lighting

The Envirohouse is at the Tacoma landfill, 3510 S. Mullen St., Tacoma. Regular hours: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Registration is required for workshops as space is limited. Contact 253-573-2426, ehouse@cityoftacoma.org or cityoftacoma.org/envirohouse.

Rosemary Ponnekanti: 253-597-8568 rosemary.ponnekanti@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/arts