Homegrown Dinner

Well...not completely, but close to it! While making dinner tonight I realized it was almost a 100-mile diet meal. (and no, this isn't what was supposed to be on our menu tonight, but I was using things up!)

Beef stew of sorts with my first potatoes, my green beans, beef stock I made, beef from a local butcher and local meat, noodles from local Amish, some spices from my garden and a carrot from God-knows-where. Like I said...almost. The garlic was also from GKW, but the onion came from a local farm stand :) The butter and olive oil were also not local. I'm half-way there I guess!

Adventures in Procrastination

Once again I have disappointed people by not posting for way too long. Sorry. Life has been very...full lately. Not necessarily busy, but the last thing I want to do when I have a free minute is sit at the computer. Sorry. It's nothing personal, but it's what I do all day long. I enjoy a break every once in a while :)

But, I have been thinking about blogging and taking pictures! We'll play a little game of catch-up, enjoy:

More eating from the garden this week. It's still just lettuce, but it is oh-so-yummy! And this week I made my own dressing...kinda. I brought in leftover chicken and asparagus with the sauce I made for the pasta and warmed it all up. I cut the chicken up and poured some of the sauce over my little "salad". It was DELICIOUS! The asparagus was even good reheated, which I was little worried about. Yum!

Some cowardly soul at work apparently thinks collecting coffee grounds is disgusting. They left a sticky note on the this lid the week before telling me so. And this week we get "YUK" actually written on the lid. Luckily I have an extra lid. My boss told me to write on the new one a warning that if it gets tampered with we'll be going to HR, and I did. Seriously, how it more gross to collect coffee grounds in a separate bucket than to put them in the garbage can, of which you actually have to stick you hand in to use? Putting the grounds in the garbage makes the garbage give off heat and moisture, and I think THAT is gross. We are now trying to launch a PR campaign around reducing waste...if I only I had more time!

I built trellis' for my gardens this past weekend! When I have a moment and it's not pouring down rain, I will be tying strings from the poles down and maybe a few across. I need to put stakes in with the other tomatoes (in pots) too. My idea is to use the stakes and combine that with string in between the posts from the boxes and support them. Problem is I'm not completely sure that's where I want to keep the pots...so I haven't done it yet!

I also made a lot of progress on my "garbage hut", as Hubby so affectionately calls it. I still need to secure the tarp on the sides and make a latch for the door. So far it cost me $4 for the hinge and $7 for the sheet of lattice used. The tarp was free after rebate and the rest of the nails/wood were what I had on hand. I would also like to stain it to match the stairs...but Hubby thinks that would be a waste of good stain we could use somewhere else. I'll have to work on that one!

I've also become an outlaw. We decided to share garbage pickup with one of our neighbors. I will not name them to protect them, but we started a couple of weeks ago. We each only have one can a week, and neither are ever really full. So we decided to share! Problem is that on recycle pickup days there are four bins out there!!

And now for veggie updates. The beans and spinach on the left look good. I may be adding spinach leaves to my salads soon! And of course the lettuce is doing wonderfully. The other large plants there are both broccoli.

This is my pepper plant (and a weed on the right). It hasn't grown a centimeter since I transplanted it. I'm hoping it just hasn't been warm enough, but I'm starting to worry a little!

And my carrots are coming along very nicely as well. I'm hoping we get at least a few big ones in the bunch :)

The yukon gold potatoes all finally came up and are coming along nicely.

The white potatoes look like a forest! I didn't give them enough room, and I'm worried I didn't plant them deep enough. I'm thinking about building up the sides of the bed to accommodate more soil on top. I don' t know how much more I can add here without making a real mess of things!

The other SFG is going well too. You can see a tomato plant all the way to the left. They're all doing well. The garlic is still going strong. I'm really hopeful for a fall harvest. And the replanting of beans took, so that's awesome! If you look closely, you can also see some tiny heads of lettuce and carrot tops coming up. Also in this bed, I finally have melons sprouting and nasturtiums coming up! I had to replant both of those a few weeks ago.

The strawberries I don't know where to plant are still alive in their makeshift pot. There are ten plants there. I feel terrible!

And last but not least...is this maybe a grape vine? I'm pretty sure it's not, but I'd be very excited if it was!

Adventures in Aging

This weekend was pretty much a wash for me when it comes to gardening. My sisters Emily and Megan, a set of twins, turned 18 this past week and graduated yesterday. Saturday was their huge party and yesterday was the graduation ceremony. It was a lot of fun and I'm pretty tired from all the fun!

Megan is on the left and Emily is on the right. I can't believe they're all grown up!
Seeing them and all the other little siblings of my friends graduate this past weekend
really made me feel older. I'm really a grown up now. It's kinda scary!
CONGRATULATIONS EMILY & MEGAN. I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!

I managed a few minutes of weeding this weekend, but that's about it. God provided plenty of water for us so I didn't even have to do that!

I did have a bit of a setback at work last week though. Friday, when I went to collect the coffee grounds from all three buckets, I found one bucket was empty and another had been vandalized. Someone wrote "YUK" on the lid. Very mature, right? I guess last Friday there was a sticky note that said "disgusting" and the week before that an email went out.

I'm not going to go into why I think these people are crazy. I honestly feel bad that they've become so far removed from nature that they think collecting coffee grounds in a bucket to take to my compost pile is more disgusting that throwing them in the garbage headed for the landfill. Personally, I think it's kinda gross sticking my hand in the garbage and feeling the moist heat come up off it from the grounds. I guess it's a good thing I didn't try and make it a true compost bucket! I'll just keep my little on at my desk and keep quiet about that.

However, my boss has decided we need to embark on a PR campaign for composting. I have been tasked with finding the most disgusting landfill picture I can find and all the gross statistics to go along with it.

Wish me luck and please pass along any info you can. I'll keep fighting the good fight and trying to rise above the 3rd grade politics, now that I am a verified grown-up :)
Happy Monday!

Adventures in Guerilla Gardening

Today, another girl at work and I were guerilla rebels. She had ordered 10 free trees from the Arbor Foundation, but decided that her yard wasn't big enough for all of them (as this is the third year she's done this). She brought four into work today.

In honor of Earth Day, we went outside and planted them around a pond we have behind our warehouse. Apparently this used to be a very nice area, but since I've been here, the landscaping has been all-but-neglected, the pond is barely half full and it's just kinda dull and boring.

We're not sure if we would have received a welcome reception had we inquired about our endeavors, so we were sneaky about it. We got them planted though! Two golden rain trees and two crab apples to add to the atmosphere of our area. She says she planted the rain trees in her yard a few years ago and they're pretty big already, so we have that to look forward to.

And, I can make it my goal to not be strapped to this desk and sitting in this cubicle by the time they are as tall as I am. The only time in my life I've been glad I'm not tall!!

Celebrations!

Happy Earth Day and Happy 100th Post. I waited to post again today just so the two would coincide :) I can't believe it's 100 already, but it is, so yeah!



I wish I had something more substantial to post about on this day, but life has been fairly bland this week and my brain is just coasting. No deep insight into the world or anything.

I will share with you, however, what I did at my place of employment yesterday. It was the day of our monthly Safety Meeting, and I think I mentioned before that I was working on a presentation to go along with that. It was all about going green at work and at home and was full of simple and easy thing you can do to go green that not only help the environment but also improve health, pad the bank account and improve the quality of life for future generations. Woohoo.

If anyone is interested in looking at the powerpoint, please let me know and I can get it to you.

Along with this, I am implementing weekly "Go Green" tips. Today's tip is about composting. I put buckets in each of our kitchens and will be asking at least to put coffee grounds and filters in there as a starting point. I was going to go all the way and ask for food scraps, but I was counseled that it might gross people out. So we're starting with coffee grounds. I have a used Folgers can at my desk for food scraps, etc. and will be using that. I'm soon going to be up to my eyeballs in compostable material. I may have to invest in red worms just to keep up with it all!

A lot of talk is going around about Earth Day being bad and people having anti-Earth Day campaigns. The basic premise is that every day should be like Earth Day, there shouldn't be a holiday. I completely agree with that. But, not everyone is as enlightened as the rest of us. Earth Day is still necessary because it gives those of us who do have the knowledge of living lightly on the Earth the opportunity to pass it along to a more receptive audience. Hopefully, a few more people will have the CFLs in their heads switched on and realize what's going on in the world because they participated in some sort of Earth Day event or read an article.

I love my husband very much and he loves me. We tell each other this every day. But, we still like to do something special on Valentine's Day. It's a Hallmark Holiday, I know, but it is a holiday and it is an opportunity for us to take a step back and appreciate each other.

So, on this Earth Day, even if you already celebrate it every day, take a step back and really appreciate what an awesome planet we live on.

Showing my Green: Laundry Soap

Yesterday I made another batch of laundry soap. The last batch I made was about mid-December (ish) and I finally ran out this week. The recipe I used can be found at The Family Homestead.

Pour water into large pot.

Heat until soap dissolves. Add washing soda and
borax and stir until dissolved then remove from heat.

If you don't remove from heat fast enough, it will start to bubble, a lot.
It can even boil over. I almost lost this one!

My mother had given me two bags of shredded soap, borax and washing soda for Christmas. I used one of those bags to make this. Thanks mom!

I have been using homemade soap since I made my first batch and will never go back. It's cheaper, doesn't leave a heavy residue of fragrance and works great! I usually add rosemary extract to mine before I add the it to the water. I also use vinegar for fabric softener. I just put it in the softener dispenser in my washing machine. I also have dryer balls in the dryer to help with static when I use the dryer. I'm still working on getting a clothes line outside, so for now most of our laundry still goes in the dryer.

Adventures in Going Green at work

As of yesterday, I am in charge of communicating to my peers at work how and why to go green. I get 3-4 minutes for a powerpoint and need to break it down as simply as possible. It's harder than I thought it was going to be.

A little about me: I love to research. I love to compile information and then present it cohesively, I really do. It's probably why I should really by in journalism (like my degree says) rather than design. But, you go where the job is. Anyway, my problem lies in being concise. I love sharing information, probably way too much. Hubby calls me "Captain Explaino" and I usually deserve it. But who do people come to when they need information? That's right, me.

So my struggle here is to impart information on a subject I am passionate about into a short 3-4 minute powerpoint. I could seriously get up and have a conversation with the group for probably and hour or two without a problem, but all I get is 3-4 minutes.

So today I am praying for clarity of mind and patience. And I'm thinking about handouts :) Do you think it'd be over-the-top to suggest starting a compost bucket in the kitchen?

Adventures in Sanitizing

Until recently, I relied on very hot water and the occasional bleach treatment to disinfect things in my house. I'm a true believer in the saying "God made dirt, so dirt don't hurt", but when it comes to things like raw meat, I don't like to mess around. And my husband isn't quite as strong a believer as I am, so I've looked for more green and more frugal ways to sanitize.


This dark and ominous photo is of my bloody cutting board. No, I didn't just slip in some Queen's English slang, it really is bloody. This is from my beef stew the other night. I love this cutting board, but it's textured and has score marks from my knife as well. How do I make sure it's clean?

As I said earlier, I used to rely on really hot water and a little bleach. But not any more, especially since I've turned the water heater down a few clicks. Now, I use a combination of vinegar, peroxide and a good brush. The brush was $0.99 at Ikea, yes it's plastic, but I'm okay with that. The vinegar and peroxide were purchased in bulk at Sams Club and for two huge bottles of each, I think I spent maybe $10, maybe.


My company just came out with 30% PCR content bottles and all plastic triggers, so I got a bunch of those and made my own cleaners. Left is vinegar, right is peroxide and in the middle is a wonderful concoction of cleaning agents from my mom. I'm not sure what's in it (b/c I don't remember), but it's an all-purpose cleaner with things like tea-tree oil and grapeseed crush in it. It smells wonderful and does a really great job!

For my cutting boards and other contaminated items, I just spray vinegar then spray peroxide, let it sit for about a minute, scrub with the brush and then wash off as usual. The comination of the two is a wonderful disinfectant. Mixing them together in the same bottle doesn't have the same affect and can produce some harmful fumes, so keep them seperate until the last minute!

I got this from a site on this wonderful world wide web, but I can't remember where. I'm sure if you do a quick google search you can learn much more about this though!

More on dishwashing

I've continued my crusade into the world of washing dishes to gather more information. Last night's discussion with my husband as well as this that I got in my inbox today prompted me to post about it again.



Last night, I got home about 7pm, made dinner and sat down to work on my laptop in the kitchen. Hubby had basketball practice from 6-9pm, so didn't get home until almost 10pm. He called on his way home and I let him know he was the winner of the wonderful opportunity to do the dishes, yeah!! I was tired, cold and busy working. He didn't argue, which was nice. But I guess I get what I ask for.

He did the dishes alright. He filled the sink almost to the brim with water and then turned on the faucet to rinse EVERY SINGLE ITEM. I am not a rinser. We use Seventh Generation dish soap that is non-toxic and not overly bubbly like most standard dish soaps, so I'm not worried about us ingesting the occasional bubble. Our drying rack sits over our second sink, so when I'm all done, I take the sprayer and rinse the whole mess quickly. I also only fill the sink half way, if that. And then he stopped and let all the water out with the pan and skillet left from dinner unwashed. There's no more room in the dish-drainer. He's done. Which means I had to run another sink of water to finish those and a few others that were left undone. I also washed what I dirtied for breakfast, the crockpot and lunches, but would have left those for tonight otherwise. More wasting of water.

Here's some of the article:

Though it doesn't much resemble what's in my own sink, the face-off was based on washing eight six-piece place settings and six serving dishes. If you put all that in your dishwasher, you'd wash the whole kit and caboodle with an average of just six gallons of water. Four if you have an Energy Star machine. That's how efficient dishwashers are, and since it's hot water that's a lot of energy and CO2 emissions saved, too.

The typical faucet, on the other hand, flows at about two gallons per minute, which doesn't give you much time to rinse those 54 items and still beat your dishwasher. In fact, you'd have just 4.4 seconds of running water to rinse each piece (and that assumes you're washing with a soapy sponge instead of a basin of sudsy water). Which means that unless you can be pathologically miserly with your tap water, a dishwasher is the way to go.

In my world, I think I actually use less water to wash than a dishwasher would, especially since we would have a hard time filling it up most days, and I'd still need my pots and pans cleaned daily. I have to believe this, or it will eat me up inside. I'll venture to guess I don't put more than two gallons in the sink to do dishes. Add any rinsing I may do before or after washing, and I think I'd be pushing to use 4 gallons of water. Do I wash 54 items? Probably not, but like I said, I don't think I'd fill the washing machine up completely either.

But what do I do about my man who likes to leave the water practically running while he does the dishes, and by the way, gets it EVERYWHERE!?

I made a couple comments to him while he was washing last night, and probably got him mad, but it needs to be addressed. He said he doesn't care about the earth and tree-hugging and that garbage and doesn't like tasting soap with his food. I'm pretty sure he's making up the part about tasting soap...I never have and don't think there's even much of an opportunity to do so. I kindly reminded him that we also pay for our water, both what we use and what we put in the sewer, so it wasting money as well as water. No response.

What's a woman to do? Never ask for help with the dishes? Try and change a man who doesn't share some of the same beliefs? I've managed to get him to turn the water off while he's brushing his teeth most of the time. I guess it's a step. But this issue just bothers me so much!

Showing my green: garbage (and ferret poo)

Yesterday was garbage day. After going through the house and collecting everything, including emptying the vacuum, we had two half-full bags of garbage. One is from the kitchen and had other cans collected into it (bathrooms, etc) and the other if from the ferrets room. The bags are Seventh Generation and made of recycled materials. For the little cans I use either plastic grocery bags (though I don't have many any more) or biobags. Most of our "trash" is recycled.

Many people would say two half-full bags of garbage isn't bad for two people over a week's time. I know when I head to work on Mondays, I see a lot more garbage piled up outside of the other houses. I make a conscious effort to purchase items with minimal or recyclable packaging, and we don't use disposable items for the most part (though I still haven't found a viable replacement for freezer bags :( I'm okay with one bag of garbage.

However, that second bag bothers me. We throw away a bag of newspaper, recycled newspaper "litter", unbleached paper towels and ferret "droppings" for the most part. The occasional pop can from Hubby or food bag will enter in, but for the most part it's entirely compostable if I wanted it to be.

So added to my list of things I want to do is composting the ferrets poo. I found such a beast here, but I don't want to pay $100 for something I can make myself. I was already considering a worm compost bin for the basement for the winter months, but maybe I'll have two, or just the poo compost bin inside and continue to trudge outside for the veggies.



In my research on the subject, I've learned that it's important to keep the two compost materials separate, as the poo can contaminate the veggies. I don't understand it all, but I trust my sources and will be adhering to this rule. Ferrets are carnivores, even more so than dogs or cats, so their poo has absolutely no veggie content. The poo of herbivores like rabbits, guinea pigs and the like can usually be composted without the assistance of worms or anything, it's basically already compost itself! But meaty poo or that of an omnivore may need some help. I don't think I could convince Hubby* of just keeping a pile of ferret poo around all the time waiting for it to compost. But if I worked on keeping it contained and promised the worms would work quickly, I think I may be able to get away with it.

*For some insight into the tango Hubby and I are in regarding our lifestyle, I will explain a little. I am a get down and dirty kind of girl. I don't mind dirt, and love getting things done. My mom loves to tell how I once mucked out a chicken coop in July barefoot. Seriously though, those boots are completely stifling and there was no way I was going to do it with them on. Feet are easy to clean too! Bottom line, I don't mind getting dirty and doing what it takes to get things done. Hubby, on the other hand, for all his grunting, bearded manliness, likes things clean. He thinks dirt is gross, and poo even more so (I just can't wait until he has to change diapers!). He makes faces and whiny noises when he has to clean ferret poo, or if he has to clean gunk out of the pond. If something isn't straight-forward and easy, he gets easily frustrated and doesn't even want to bother (especially if it wasn't his idea) so I have to pick my battles sometimes. Which is hard for me since I'm the type to always want to do something, tackle a project and find a better way to make things happen.

I'm a problem solver, even if there isn't an obvious problem, and Hubby prefers the status quo. When we were house shopping, I wanted an old farmhouse that needed work and with some land. Something we could make our own and where we'd have room to be. I came to learn that although he said he was okay with that, he was not. When we walked into the house we now own, he wanted to make an offer after only seeing the laundry room and the kitchen. It was finished, mostly redone, move-in condition, on less than a quarter acre, and all completely landscaped to within an centimeter of its life. He loved it. We bought it. Now he says he wants to die there, never to move again. It's our first house, I'm 26 and he's 30, we have no children, and he's convinced we'll stay in the 1300 square foot house in Swanton forever.

I'm doing my best to make it what I want...but it's definitely not what I had in mind. At least it gives me a problem to solve :)

Showing my green: mail

Yesterday, I got three pieces of mail. A letter from Chase welcoming us to their family (they bought WAMU, one of our credit cards, and increased the APR while doing it. whoopee!), a free sample of SoyJoy I requested online and an Heirloom Seed Catalog I requested. The day before we got a rebate, a thank you card and a bill. I can't remember the last time I got junk mail or an unsolicited catalog or magazine. The only credit card offers we get are ones from the companies we already have cards with (though those have almost stopped now) and if I do get something I don't want, I know it won't come back again. There are many days we don't get any mail at all.

How did I acheive this miracle? I belong to GreenDimes and I love it. They did all of this for me, and they planted 5 trees on my behalf! All for $10.

I've belonged to Green Dimes for a couple of years now and their prices have gone up, it now costs $20/year to reap the benefits of their services. But for this frugal tree-hugger, it is definitely money well spent.

Here are the benefits as they list them:

• Effective control of junk mail
  GreenDimes reduces junk mail, within the first 90 days — guaranteed.
• The most comprehensive solution
  GreenDimes has access to the industry's largest number of lists and catalogs — 6,500 and growing.
• Complete control over catalog delivery
  With GreenDimes you choose which catalogs get delivered to your mailbox
• A key step to avoid identity theft
  GreenDimes keeps unsolicited personalized mail out of your mailbox
• A commitment to keep your information private
  Unlike some companies, GreenDimes only uses your personal information to remove you from mailing lists
• An opportunity to help the environment
  GreenDimes plants 5 trees on behalf of each member

And I completely agree with everything here, and more. I don't have to deal with the junk mail piling up on my desk, my coffee table, the kitchen table or in the recycling bin. And I don't get the junk mail that can't be recycled, like the CDs or unkown plastic crap or Tyvek envelopes. None of it. Only what I want.

This isn't an ad or a paid review. I've received nothing for telling you this. I just want to share with you what I've done to simplify my life, move towards less waste and I believe save myself money in the long run. (How many times have you fallen for the advertising and spent money you otherwise wouldn't have?)

There are many other options out there that will help you achieve the same goal. Here are a few I've found:

• Help yourself
• The stop junk mail kit
• More DIY tips
• 41 pounds

Do yourself a favor to simplify your life and check some of these out. Anyone else have ideas to keep unwanted junk from entering your house?

Showing my green: lunch

People that know me personally may or may not know that I'm a treehugger. I, in fact, didn't really even realize it until a few years ago. I'm pretty sure some of my close friends knew this about me very early on, but it's not something I really thought about before.

Being green or eco-friendly is not something I necessarily push in other people's faces, but I am more than eager to share if they ask. One of the areas people often notice is my lunch.

I pack my lunch usually 4 out of 5 days a week. Doing this, I try to minimize the amount of packaging and disposable products I use. None is my goal, but there's usually something that gets tossed. (Someday I will find a way to set up a compost bin at work, but I'm already recycling for the whole facility, finding a place for compost in the winter is a little more than I can handle right now I think. Plus, compost tends to gross people out, I'll have to approach it gently :)

To help in these endeavors, I have purchased a few things, including a lunch box and reusable stainless steel mug from www.reusablebags.com. This is one of my favorite sites! I also received as a gift from my mom some wonderful sandwich wraps. These function as a placemat when opened and clean up very easily. They are also very easy to make. I haven't done it myself yet, but want to, maybe for next year's Christmas exchange...hmmm.



I also use real cutlery. I have a spoon, fork and knife that I got at World Market about 7 years ago that are still going strong. (They're even navy and match my bag!) I have cloth napkins in my lunch bag. I keep a plate and soup mug/bowl at my desk, for whenever the need arises. Birthday cake in the lunchroom? I don't use the styrofoam plates and plastic silverware, I bring my plate and fork.

I also buy in bulk and make my own snack packs. I do use plastic containers, but they are reusable and washable and definietely better than not reusing anything. I just don't trust myself with glass! I have purchased a stainless steel food container and thermos for my husband as well. He doesn't have access to a microwave to warm food, so this works great for him. (Unfortunately, I think his thermos has been discontinued). The food container is perfect for heating up soup or chili in the morning and having it piping hot for lunch! These containers will keep food warm for up to 5 hours. And the thermos will keep coffee hot or water cold for hours and hours and hours...sometimes a day or two!

I make my own pudding and jello snacks and use small bowls or ziploc containers to keep them and even package chips and crackers in containers. No plastic bag to toss and no crushed chips!

I do have my vices. I love Diet Dr. Pepper. But I religiously recycle either the 2-liter bottle or cans, I swear. I also bring individual yogurt containers to work and throw them away. I would keep them until I can get them to be recycled into Preserve products, but my Hubby already says I'm a garbage collector. And I could by large containers of yogurt, then reuse them for something else. Unfortunately, I only like berry flavored yogurt, and not the kind with chunks in it. I'm trying though, I am. I bought a big container, thinking I could make myself like vanilla, it was even organic! But I ended up throwing almost half of it away, I just didn't eat it all. I need to keep trying. It's definitely on my list!

I would be happy to answer any questions about this. It's one of my passions and I love it!