As we see recommendations and reviews in our weekly newsletters, we will archive them to this page.  All community members are welcome to use this as a resource for finding information on beautiful and fun places to visit in our community.  To post to the newsletter, click here.

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Garden Winterizing

Question: This is our first winter with a garden.  Is there anything we can do to keep the soil healthy and prepare for the spring?  Thanks!

Response: Permaculture is the way to go in Colorado -- it makes rich, healthy soil for the spring planting. Wet the ground and thoroughly wet each layer. First layer with cardboard (worms love it, keeps in moisture, kills weeds). Then add cow or sheep manure, then grass clippings (if no pesticides used), leaves, kitchen waste, and finally straw. Try for 50/50 of brown to green (manure counts as green. Green grass is green, brown grass is brown). Water occasionally over winter. Don't till in spring. Just make space for seeds and seedlings!   11/10

Cloth Diapers

Question: Have any of you used cloth diapers or those new hybrid cloth/disposable diapers?  Do they work and are they worth the effort??  Any advice would be great.  Thanks.

Response: We use gpants. We have been very happy with these diapers. We used the flushable, biodegradable inserts for a while, but to us they really weren't worth the money. We use the cloth inserts instead. Sometimes they get a little bunchy, but the cloth cover usually absorbs anything that leaks out. We have to use a disposable diaper at night and like the gpants better. We have never had a blow out with gpants. We only get them when our little guy is in a disposable diaper.

If you get gpants, make sure you don't use too much soap when washing them. They will lose their absorbency and you will have to rinse them in the washer a lot to get all the soap out. We use vinegar in a rinse cycle and dry them in the sun to disinfect them. There are a lot of blogs with recommendations about washing your cloth diapers and I read the gpant website for tips on washing too. Some of the Velcro has come lose on them and so have some of the tabs to snap in the plastic liner. I just sew them back on with my sewing machine.

The gpants are very easy to use and we find them as convenient as a disposable diaper. The nice thing about them is that you can reuse the cover if your insert does not leak. We got a lot of ours off of www.diapers.com because we got some good discounts and free shipping. Also, make sure you estimate enough diapers per day so you aren't washing them all the time. It will seem like you will be getting a lot, but you go through them fast.   4/11

Response: I finally started using cloth diapers with baby #4. I use the Grovia as well as Fuzibuns and have some Bumessentials as well. I like the Grovia and they are really easy to use. My husband and sitter like the aplix/velcro clsure over the snaps. I also like the sized Fuzibuns over the 1 size. They are easy to use and not too bad to clean (unless you have hard water which makes it tougher).

I think if you have (or plan to have) multiple kids that will be using diapers this will be very cost effective.