Friends, there is more to life than this blog. I don't spend all my time writing these posts (shocking, I know!), and what's more, we here at C-VILLE do not confine our interest in green issues to this corner of our website. If you aren't already acquainted, please meet ABODE, our monthly shelter section. I'm lucky enough to be its editor—lucky, I say, because for someone like me who's interested in all things sustainable, ABODE is a terrific outlet. I give you the December issue by way of example.

First, let me direct you to our feature story. It's a visit to Fifeville with Gate Pratt as our guide. He's an architect, a longtime Charlottesvillian, and an experienced renovator who showed us through two of his house projects in that neighborhood. One house was actually condemned when he bought it, and the other was in rough shape. Gate tells us about how his green strategies for these two projects included not only using materials like salvaged flooring and high-efficiency insulation, but from a big-picture perspective, saving the houses in the first place. He talked about how, if torn down, the houses would have gone to a landfill.

Gate Pratt at a Nalle Street house. This porch, when he bought it, held seven refrigerators.

Also, for all you D.I.Y., dumpster-diving types, the list of salvaged materials (from cabinetry to light fixtures) used in these projects is really impressive.

Check out also the Green Scene section, which shares its name with this blog but introduces a whole other universe of stuff—Better World Betty on making kids' rooms less wasteful, a new organic garden shop on Preston Avenue, a local landscape architecture firm that's making waves in Richmond...

Finally, both our gardening columnist Cathy Clary and our kitchen columnist Lisa Reeder bring true eco-sensibilities to what they do—Cathy by encouraging chemical-free methods of making your outdoors look great, and Lisa by lending the know-how that lets you make the most of local foods. This month, they tackle leaves and bacon, respectively.

Anyone have green stuff you'd like to see covered in ABODE in the future?