askhrgreen.org

04/15/2022

Great reminder from @City of Virginia Beach Waste Management Division as we go into Easter weekend. https://www.facebook.com/KeepVirginiaBeachBeautiful/photos/a.2348853511832626/5270464129671535/?type=3

Egg-cellent Recycling Tips from our friends at City of Virginia Beach Waste Management Division.

04/15/2022

If one of your Easter traditions is to dye eggs 🐣 for your Easter basket, why not go “au naturale” and try something a bit more eco-friendly? Swap out artificial dyes for natural ingredients around your home and garden such as fruits, veggies and other things…

Your natural color chart:
🟣 Purple: grape juice or red zinger tea
🟡 Yellow: turmeric, boiled orange or lemon peels, or chamomile tea
🔵 Blue: blueberries, grape juice, or boiled red cabbage leaves
🟢 Green: boiled spinach leaves
🟠 Orange: boiled yellow onion skins, paprika, or chili powder
💗 Pink: cranberries, raspberries, or beets
🟤 Brown: coffee or black tea
🔴 Red: pomegranate juice or boiled red onion skins

And here are quick instructions for coloring your eggs:
1️⃣ Place your eggs in a single layer in a pan.
2️⃣ Add water until the eggs are covered.
3️⃣ Add one teaspoon of vinegar.
4️⃣ Add the natural dye ingredient of your choice from the list above.
5️⃣ Bring the water to a boil.
6️⃣ Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
7️⃣ If the color looks good, take the eggs out. If you want them with more color, temporarily remove them from the pan, and strain the dye liquid through a coffee filter.
8️⃣ Cover the eggs with the filtered dye and put them in the fridge overnight.

Do it naturally and ALL your eggs can be green…😁 Have a very happy Easter!

#askHRgreen #757 #hrva #hamptonroads

04/15/2022

Thanks to Coast Live for having us on this morning to discuss national Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinet Day! Lacie Wever from HRSD stopped by with all the good to know, good to do tips for proper medication disposal.

Spoiler alert: It should never go down the drain!

Watch the segment at https://www.wtkr.com/coast-live/disposing-of-old-medications-on-coast-live

04/13/2022

There’s a simple thing you can do to help keep Hampton Roads green and healthy… Pick up after your pup! 💩 And that includes in YOUR OWN YARD.

Be the super pooper scooper 🦸‍♀️ you are and show your support for a greener, cleaner Hampton Roads by taking the Scoop the Poop pledge:

I pledge to…
🐶 Be a good environmental steward and neighbor by not looking the other way when it comes to pet waste.
🐶 Scoop it, bag it and trash it each and every time, whether in my own yard or out for a walk.
🐶 Always take poop bags on walks with my pet – even if it means tying plastic grocery bags to the leash so I don’t forget.
🐶 Share the importance of keeping pet waste out of our waterways with others in my community.
🐶 Share the Scoop the Poop Pledge with other pet owners in my community.

Know another super pooper scooper? Tag ‘em here!

#askHRgreen #757 #hrva #hamptonroads #hamptonroads #hamptonroadsva #chesapeakebay #norfolkVA757 #norfolkva #chesapeakeva #newportnewsva #portsmouthva #virginiabeachva #hamptonvirgina #coastalvirginia #keepvirginiabeautiful

04/12/2022

Wednesday, April 13th is International Plant Appreciation Day and we’re celebrating! What’s better than plants? They feed us, they bring us joy, they are our partners in the whole oxygen/carbon dioxide thing… With all the benefits that plants provide us—indoors or outdoors—why wouldn’t we celebrate them?

Some of the many gifts plants give us include:

🌱 Trap and filter pollutants out of rainwater
🌴 Reduced stress
🏡 Enhanced appearance around our homes and businesses
🌿 Improvement of air quality
🌳 Sound absorption
🪴 Mood enhancement
🌵 Provide food and medicine
🌳 Increased property value
🌲 Temperature control
🍃 Provide wildlife habitats
🍀 And more…

So pamper your indoor plants. Plant more native outdoor plants. And appreciate all the plants in your life!

04/11/2022

We're excited to share our results from the 2022 Hampton Roads Great American Cleanup!

Together more than 1,400 volunteers came together over March 25-26 to clean up nearly 32 TONS of litter, plant 264 plants, mulch playgrounds, paint trash cans and signs, remove invasive plants and weeds, and remove graffiti from public spaces.

Thank you to each volunteer who made these outcomes possible! When we team up 2 clean up, we can keep Hampton Roads beautiful!

Complete details available at https://askhrgreen.org/gac-2022/

#TeamUp2CleanUp #GreatAmericanCleanup Keep Virginia Beautiful Keep America Beautiful Hampton Clean City Commission Keep Suffolk Beautiful Chesapeake Environmental Improvement Council - CEIC Keep Norfolk Beautiful Keep Virginia Beach Beautiful

04/11/2022

Photos from askhrgreen.org's post

04/11/2022

Keeping and disposing of hazardous chemicals safely

A great reminder from WTKR News 3 about proper disposal of household hazardous waste including lawn chemicals and automotive fluids. ⚠️

If spring cleaning is on your to do list, make sure you know what’s safe to toss in the trash and what requires special disposal to protect people and the environment.

Keep Norfolk Beautiful held an event at Southside STEM Academy at Campostella to help dispose of cleaning solutions, paint, yard chemicals and other waste hazardous to the environment.

04/08/2022

Make your home a ⭐️ STAR, baby! In fact, make it a BAY STAR HOME and help protect our region’s most defining natural resource… 💧💧💧💧💧water.

As we emerge from the inside and head outdoors, there are things we can pledge to do in our homes, our yards and our community to achieve cleaner waterways and a healthier, natural environment:

🏡 Get your soil tested before fertilizing
🏡 Reduce your lawn area and convert to planted beds
🏡 Choose native plants and avoid invasive species
🏡 Plant a tree
🏡 Reduce your fertilizer and pesticide usage
🏡 Compost leaves and grass clippings or use proper disposal methods
🏡 Raise the mower blades to three inches or higher to keep the lawn a little longer
🏡 Participate in a community garden
🏡 Buy local produce or grow your own

Interested in becoming a Bay Star Home? Show your support for making “green” decisions and pledge today!

👉Pledge to be a Bay Star Home today! https://askhrgreen.org/programs/bay-star-homes/

04/07/2022

Naval Station Norfolk Volunteers in the 24th Annual Great American Cleanup

We salute YOU!

So much of our success during Great American Cleanup is because of the generous service members of Hampton Roads who turn out to support clean communities! We thank each service member from Naval Station Norfolk and other military installations across Hampton Roads who spread mulch, planted trees, refurbished parks, and cleared away trash and litter during the Great American Cleanup.

Keep Norfolk Beautiful #TeamUp2Cleanup

NORFOLK, Va. — Over 50 personnel assigned to Naval Station (NAVSTA) Norfolk volunteered in the 24th annual Great American Cleanup at Lafayette Park in Norfolk, Va. Friday, March 25, for

04/07/2022

Yep, it’s that time… Time to get mowing, planting, weeding, feeding… All the fun stuff. 🥲But before you get all too far along, do you know…

❓What type of grass you have?
❓If your soil needs fertilizer or not? (And how to get it tested?)
❓Best practices for mowing your grass?
❓What plants are native to Hampton Roads?

All of the answers to the question above (and more—waaay more) are in the link. And then challenge yourself — are you a Lawn God or a Lawn Goober? We have a short and fun quiz to find out…

👉 Lawn and Garden Best Practices… Take the quiz! https://askhrgreen.org/gtk-gtd/lawn-garden-best-practices/

04/06/2022

April is Keep America Beautiful Month and we intend to celebrate! What about you? How are YOU celebrating?

It’s easy… Grab a buddy, put your pup on a leash, or set out on your own, and pick up any litter you see; you’ll make your world just a little (litter?) bit more beautiful. 🌎

What kind of impact does that small gesture have? Since 2019, askHRgreen.org volunteers have cleared more than 47 tons of litter from our environment. FORTY-SEVEN TONS. 😲

Be a part of the celebration in April! 🌟 Pick up the litter; practice reducing, reusing and recycling; or anything else on our list of ways you can level up and do more to help your home and family live a cleaner, greener lifestyle.

👉 Keep America Beautiful this month and level up your green ways: https://askhrgreen.org/level-up-2022-ideas/

04/02/2022

Did you see our April Fool’s post yesterday? For a day (and that day only), we were askHRbrown.org…

Rest assured, askHRgreen.org is absolutely committed to educating, engaging and motivating citizens to make good environmental choices here in Hampton Roads. We are a force and a resource, working to help you improve and protect our waterways, infrastructure and recycling activities through information and inspiration. Go green!

03/31/2022

We have an important announcement to make. 📣askHRgreen.org has changed its name to askHRbrown.org.

Why?

We’re tired. We give in. There’s no use fighting it any longer. We’re throwing in the towel. And we’re throwing it on the ground and not picking it up.

👉You know what we need? More litter in this town! askHRbrown!
👉Bacteria in the bay and all you can do is frown? askHRbrown!
👉Keep that faucet leaky and your woes be drowned? — askHRbrown!
👉Should you put that grease in the drain and shut it down? askHRbrown!

Get all of the grimy details…
https://askhrgreen.org/askhrbrown/

03/31/2022

Check out this list of upcoming native plant sales!

"Growing native plants in your garden and reducing your turf grass is the best thing you can do for pollinators, songbirds, and other wildlife, all while helping prevent polluted stormwater runoff into your home river," says our Landscape Designer Mary Mantey.

We've made it easy with this list of spring plant sales where natives will be available:

Norfolk Master Gardeners Plant Sale and Spring Festival at Hermitage Museum
Thursday, March 31 from 1pm-5pm and Friday, April 1 from 10am-4pm

Virginia Native Plant Society South Hampton Roads Chapter Native Plant Sale
Saturday, April 2 from 9am-3pm
Lynnhaven House Historic Site

Portsmouth Master Gardeners Early Bird Plant Sale
Saturday, April 16 from 10am-Noon
105 Utah St., Portsmouth

Norfolk Botanical Garden Spring Plant Sale
Friday-Sunday, April 22-24 from 10am-4pm

The Virginia Living Museum Spring Native Plant Sale
Friday-Sunday, April 22-24 and Saturday-Sunday, April 30-May 1 from 10am-4:30pm

Hermitage Museum and Gardens Heirloom Plant Sale
Thursday, April 26 from 10am-4pm, Friday, April 27 from 9am-3pm, Saturday, April 28 from 9am-2pm

Chesapeake Master Gardeners Volunteers' 2022 Annual Plant Sale
Friday, April 29 from 8am-6pm and Saturday, April 30 from 8am-Noon
South Battlefield Park, Chesapeake

03/31/2022

This month as you think about what you want to add to your garden this year, we have two words for you: Go native.

Native trees and shrubs are low maintenance, and when planted in the proper spots, they’ll have everything they need. What else makes planting native plants a great way to level up your green ways?

🌞 Native plants are already adjusted to the climate here in Hampton Roads.
🧪 They won’t need extra lawn chemicals (like fertilizer and pesticides).
💧 They need less water to thrive.
🐝 They’re beneficial to local wildlife, butterflies and pollinators.

For a list of native plants that do well in the Hampton Roads area and other information, click the link for fabulous resources we’ve gathered for you.

👉 NATIVE PLANT RESOURCES FOR HAMPTON ROADS: ​​https://askhrgreen.org/gtk-gtd/plant-native-plants/