Cheat Sheet for Tools

The workers at Casa Latina are always learning a variety of new skills to help them on the job. For example, Casa Latina offers daily English language courses to help our Spanish-speaking workers better communicate with their English-speaking employers and with others in their Seattle community. Along with acquiring terms and phrases used in everyday life, workers at Casa Latina learn the English names of the tools they’ll be using on the job. Here we offer a Spanish-English translation guide for some common gardening and cleaning tools. You can try these out next time you hire a worker from Casa Latina!

Cleaning Supplies:

Broom                    Escoba

Mop                       Trapeador

Sponge                   Esponja

Duster                    Guardapolvo

Brush                      Brocha

Bottle                     Botella

Dust Pan                 Recogedor

Face Mask               Mascarilla

Tools for the Garden:

Leaf Rake                   Rastrillo de Hoja

Rake                           Rastrillo

Shovel                        Pala

Gloves                        Guantes

Pruning Shears           Tijeras para podar

Watering Can             Regadera

Hoe                            Azada

Hand Cultivator          Palita de Cultivar

Small Shovel               Palita

 

-CLWC

The Art of Moving

It’s Monday morning and workers have been hired from Casa Latina to move everything out of an office located in a three-story building in Magnolia. This particular office includes four separate rooms that are filled with desks and chairs, all of which need to be disassembled and fit into a medium-sized U-Haul truck.

The workers quickly start in on the job. Some of them begin disassembling desks and chairs, while the others begin carrying smaller items out the office. With plenty of moving experience under their belts, the workers already know to remove the smaller items first in order to make it easier to remove the larger items later. After a few hours of disassembling items and removing them from the office, the workers formulate a plan to fit everything into the truck.

The art of moving requires a lot of skill. It’s not simply a matter of hauling large boxes from a building and into a truck, but instead requires preparation, planning, and experience in order to make the move efficient, successful, and safe. At Casa Latina you will find workers who have the necessary moving skills and experience, and who are eager and ready to help with the job.

-CLWC

Quick Garden Tip #1 – Bookmark these websites and refer back to them often

In our effort to provide helpful solutions to our customers, we’ll be offering quick tips and tricks that you can use to do more with less. One of the best ways we’ve found to do more with less is to beg, borrow or steal the best ideas from family, friends and online resources. So, here is a quick list of facebook pages, blogs and websites you might consider bookmarking:

1. Garden Mentors: Garden Mentors® inc. offers homeowners organically focused, personalized garden coaching, consultation & design services tailored to fit their lifestyle, landscape & budget. 206-781-8645 www.gardenmentors.com
2. Green Festivals Youtube Page: DaynaReggero of Green Festival talks with Peter Rothbart of We Patch, an urban gardening project that connects people looking for gardening space with those who have space to offer. By facilitating local, small-scale agriculture, We Patch aims to strengthen neighborhood communities, foster healthy lifestyles, and promote environmental stewardship.
3. Cedar Grove Compost:  As the Pacific Northwest’s leading organic recycling company, Cedar Grove transforms grass, leaves, yard trimmings, food waste and wood waste into the finest nutrient-rich compost.  [These folks are smart.]