Got Weeds? Get a Goat

Google uses them. So does Yahoo! and the Vanderbilt Mansion. (See video above.) Now a growing number of eco-conscious homeowners do too to clear their landscaping of difficult to reach brush and weeds.

We're talking about goats and they eat most vegetation (including poison ivy and oak) and are good employees for navigating tricky, steep terrain, as we talk about it this WSJ story. While towns and some livestock owners have used them for years, consumers and companies angling to cut back on pesticide usage as well as their dependency on fossil-fuel powered machinery are increasingly renting goats.

Not surprisingly, there's a cottage industry of rental operations springing up to meet their needs - with names like rent-a-goat.com, rent-a-ruminant.com and the Goat Lady LLC.

Rise of Poison Ivy-And New Treatments

If you think poison ivy is getting worse - you might be right. We look at some of the causes and new medical treatments for relief in today's WSJ.

As a longtime sufferer, I also test some home remedies in this video (Clorox bath anyone?) and ask doctors whether there's any science behind the methods. More itch alternatives here in an accompanying story.

Dear About the House, Whatever Happened to ...

Did the compost worms escape in the house over winter? What about the deck garden - did those potatoes ever grow? And the wood stove, how much money did it really save?

This week is readers week for the About the House column. I went back and updated reporting on several stories from the past year, from no-fuss composting and EZ gardening tools to gas-less mowers and other outdoor power tools.

What went right, what went wrong - read more here today and watch the video above.

Who Are the New "Ruralpolitans?"

While urban and suburban real estate is still generally under pressure, the rural market is holding up better in many areas, thanks in part to "ruralpolitans," as I report in WSJ. These city and town dwellers are looking at land as their new safe investment, one they hope could prove more stable than their jobs and 401(k)s—and provide a better lifestyle.

Typically there are three groups: young people buying land as an asset or investment, with vague hopes to live on it someday; exurban commuters who have jobs in big towns or cities but want to escape the sprawl; and back-to-the-land types who want to dabble in hobby farming.

They're also driving sales in the outdoor equipment market -- small compact tractors and utility vehicles being among the biggest sellers. I tested the new eco-friendly Polaris Ranger EV (all battery-powered) in this video. And P.S., I'm a relatively new ruralpolitan myself. You can read about my conversion in "From Versace to Chainsaws."

Testing 4 "Easy" Less Messy Composters

Today we test "composters" in The Wall Street Journal -- looking at units that make the practice faster, less messy and even, mildly entertaining.

You'll find worms, a bearded dragon and Sputnik (or a close relative) making appearances in the video above.

And in the story, you'll find a 6-Step cheat sheet for composting -- and a glimpse at the future of "smart" trash cans. Plus, links and prices of the product we test.

Testing "Natural" Pest Control Methods

This summer, I've been waging war against carpenter ants, wasps and cabbageworms by testing a new lineup of "natural" pest control products as chronicled in a recent Wall Street Journal story. Increasingly, well-known insecticide manufacturers, retailers and even professional pest-control services are rolling out solutions whose active ingredients are derived from materials like animals, plants, bacteria and minerals, many of them considered potentially safer to humans, pets and the environment than their synthetic-chemical counterparts.

Here's a list of common ingredients you'll find on the labels of natural products and the types of pests they target.

How To Start a Food Garden (With No Digging or Weeding)

After six years of being a homeowner and swearing every year that I'd start a food garden, this year, I finally did.

On my deck.

Call it lawn-chair gardening. From container kits with premeasured fertilizer and watering gauges to compact potato and lettuce-growing bags that can be toted around, the gardening industry is angling to green the thumbs of reticent, and younger, first-time growers. The new items are intended to save time, water, fertilizer and space -- and make it hard to mess up.

You can read more in today's WSJ story, "For a Green Thumb, Just Add Water." In a photo slideshow, I demonstrate how some of the products work. Will report back come harvest time.

UPDATE: Watch as we take lawn-chair gardening to Central Park on Good Morning America where anchors Sam Champion and Elizabeth Vargas and I walk through some of the latest growing tools.