PLAN A MODERN VICTORY GARDEN

You can use your lawn and landscaping spaces to make a really tasteful (and tasty!) garden for your family to use. Gone are the days of a garden with rows of corn and beans. Instead, you can make a beautiful space by incorporating flowering plants, herbs, fruits, and veggies all in one place

Not only will this make a beautiful display and make your yard beautiful, but it is a self-sustaining practice. The amount of travel that it takes for a piece of produce to reach our grocery stores is really eye-opening. The more food you grow and eat locally, the fewer pesticides and chemicals you’re allowing into your home

Plants around your yard are also beneficial for our air. Plants purify the air, and so if these gardens are near an outdoor living space or dining area, you’ll reap those benefits as well.

Even if you don’t have a lot of space, you can add a container here or there to grow your own food or herbs as well Or maybe your home is like mine and had plants and bushes already planted. You’d be surprised how you can use those plants as well. For example, if you have Lilacs, Ashley from Practical Self Reliance has a pretty great list of how you can use lilacs in the kitchen

If you’re just starting out, this post from Lisa at A Country Girl’s Life is super helpful to start with some easy fruits and veggies.

Make Space To Eat And Cook Outdoors

There are so many ways to choose to cook outdoors in the summer. First, adding heat to your home and moisture from cooking can negatively affect your indoor air quality when it’s already a battle to keep indoors cool and dry.

Second, the CO2 that is let off from gas appliances usually has no place to escape in the summer while we have our homes sealed up to keep them cool Unlike the winter, when we might crack a window while we’re cooking.

Cooking food outdoors allows the heat, CO2 from natural gas appliances, and moisture from food cooking to be expelled into the outdoor air, rather than your home Outside these components will dissipate really quickly and they become diluted. Inside, this isn’t the case as it adds to a smaller amount of air and can affect indoor air quality quickly.

Creating a space where you can grill or cook outside doesn’t have to be complex or complicated Some families grill on their driveways, others on a deck or patio A bonus is if you can manage to create an outdoor eating area to allow your body extra time outdoors.

Clean Window Screens And Filters

So often we forget about our window screens until they are filled with pollen and dust The summer is a great time to either vacuum or hose them off and get rid of the contaminants that adhere themselves to your screen.

The dirt and dust that travels through the outdoor air can contain allergens as well as pesticides and herbicides from other yards and gardens That means every time you open up your windows, those contaminants can filter into your home

Simply vacuuming your screens with a brush may be enough, but for an even deeper clean you can use an exterior window cleaner and attach it to a hose to clean the window and screen outside at the same time

It’s also important to clean vents and change filters during the summer months. Venting that allows fresh air into our home, or venting that safely displaces combustion gas from appliances can get dirty and plugged over time. Checking these vents and cleaning out dust, debris, lint and other blockages will not only help our home’s indoor air quality, but it can also help our appliances and systems run more efficiently

Add Or Clean Your Gutters

Gutters are such an underrated part of keeping a healthy home. Gutters safely take water away from your home and can drastically improve homes that have wet soil around the foundation

Anywhere your roof terminates and allows water to pour onto the grass or landscaping around your home should have gutters on them Even if the water is pouring onto concrete, it can cause the concrete to settle and shift prematurely due to the high amount of moisture.

Once you have gutters, it’s important to remember to clean them out (or install guards to keep debris out) If gutters are clogged and full of debris, it can diminish the effectiveness of rerouting the water and instead allows the water to spill over the side This will eventually wear away at the soil and landscaping around your home. Eventually, it can turn into problems with a foundation leaking and cracking over time.