Holidays

I love the holidays – from November 1 until January 2 I am in serious Holiday Mode.  So I wanted to post about the holidays, but I can’t quite decide which aspect to focus on – there are so many directions I can go – so this will be the preview post with others to follow.

I want to tell you about Thanksgiving and how we try to add a bit of greenness where we can.  [With an acknowledgement that overall we fail miserably at it.]

I want to tell you about my decorating plans and accomplishments.  My efforts to reduce energy consumption and rein in my desire to buy every cute snowman I see.

And I want to tell you about the gifts I’m planning – except that post will probably have to wait until after the gifts are given so as not to ruin any surprises.  Oh, and wrapping those gifts.  Don’t get excited, I’m not talking about anything terribly creative here (besides – what do you do with a bunch of cute handmade gift bags after the gifts are out of them?).

The overall theme for my holiday season this year seems to be heading toward quality over quantity – meaningful over money – and resource conservative over resource demanding.  I’ll try to expand on those themes – and in the process it may help me stay focused on them and less likely to revert to my less-green consumptive habits.

Oh and baking.  Holiday baking and sweet treat making – the kids and I hit the kitchen.  Can we do it in a relatively healthful manner? You be the judge.

Meanwhile, Retro Housewife Goes Green is devoting her posts to greening up the holidays – so take a peek over there.

So the holiday season has begun!  Let’s enjoy it.

More Milk, Please

So, yesterday I posted about our milk options and our choice being Kilgus milk.

In today’s Sunday paper there is a featured article on their farmstead. 

The big thing I learned from this article that makes me happier than ever about my milk choice is their emphasis on “cow comfort”.  Apparently the cows on farms that provide milk for the big milk companies are milked 3 times a day.  These cows have a life expectancy of about 4 years.  The Kilgus farmstead cows are milked once a day.  These cows have a life expectancy of 10-12 years.

In general, the Kilgus family and employees (of which there seem to be only a couple), seem to really focus on the comfort of their 70 Jersey cows.  In addition, they pasteurize, bottle, and distribute their own milk.  I learned of 2 other locations where I can buy their milk.  Both are relatively close to where I work (and in the same shopping center – which is a bit silly) – a local meat producer’s retail shop and a natural food store. Handy knowledge for when we’re low on milk.

So – high marks for ethics for Kilgus Farmstead (now if they’d just grow their grain organically…)

My Milk

 

The Dark Days are coming – by which I mean the Dark Days Challenge where my family will eat one meal a week made of SOLE food (sustainable, organic, local, ethical).  The challenge begins November 15th.  My local year-round farmer’s market (which doesn’t have a website or I would link you right to it) will be seeing even more of our business as we try to fill in gaps in our own stocks.

One item we now buy routinely from this market is milk.  We buy Kilgus milk made by the cows on a farm in Central Illinois.  I e-mailed the owners to get a bit more information than I could glean from their pamphlet – and Jenna Kilgus was very forthcoming.  She made clear they are not an organic farm.  They are grain farmers and the grain is not grown organically.  That grain also is fed to the cows, so not organic.  However, the animals do graze on “natural pasture” from April to November, so that is good news.  Also, the cows are not given any growth hormone (rBST) and that, to me, is very important.  Another plus, the milk is non-homogenized, which means the fat particles that are in the milk are not broken down by the homogenization process and so will not pass so easily through intestinal walls.  Apparently there is some evidence that non-homogenized milk helps keep cholesterol levels down.  The milk is pasteurized, but not ultra-pasteurized, which maintains vitamins and enzymes. 

Oh, and by the way, this milk is tasty.  We buy the skim milk and the kids and I go through two gallons a week. 

I have a few other milk alternatives. I can buy organic milk at the bigger grocery store.  I have done so on occasion and when I do I try to choose one with the closest distribution center.  But it isn’t local.

I can buy more “conventional” milk distributed by Prairie Farms.  This has some plusses.  It is a co-op of over 700 farms and the main headquarters is in Central Illinois.  The milk and milk products (butter, yogurt, ice cream) are local, but not organic.  There is no indication that there is anything particularly “natural” about their products, other than the milk comes from cows.  So, I assume the worse – that they are given hormones and graze minimally.

Finally, there is a milk cooperative nearby that produces organic milk.  I did look into it but I couldn’t make times for pick-up, periods out of town, and the money work with our lifestyle. 

So, for the time being we will settle for natural and local but not organic milk.  Life is full of compromises.

What’s been put up?

 

My friend over at Fessenden Farmstead had a piece on preserving fruits and vegetables, which made me think I hadn’t talked about what has been put up at our house.  I’ve been derelict on that because I’m not the putter-upper – my husband is (and I am ever so grateful). 

I suppose that isn’t totally true (it’s true that I’m grateful, not true that I’m not a putter-upper).  I am the runner of the dehydrator – and in fact, I intend to dry parsley today.  I am also the freezer of fruit.  This year it was only blackberries (wild) – it is also often peaches, but apparently peaches are biannual and this is their off year I guess (plus a frost came and killed the blossoms last spring… that couldn’t have helped). 

Peaches look fine frozen, but as soon as they thaw they start turning brown.  Last year I “solved” that problem with camouflage – I froze spiced peaches – the spices (heavy on the cinnamon – but I can’t remember what else) already colored the peaches brown so the discoloration wasn’t as off-putting this year when I used them (great in my oatmeal).  Next year I’m also intending to freeze in single serving sizes.  That should do the trick.

Berries are easy – wash, dry, freeze on a cookie sheet, dump in a container or bag.

I dry tomatoes – and have been enjoying them in many things already.  Salads and sautéed with onion and polenta being my two favorites.

My husband is the tomato freezer.  We stopped canning and went to freezing, primarily because I didn’t like the lemony taste of the tomatoes when they were canned.  I’m sure we could have adjusted his approach, but freezing is so darn easy (we won’t discuss the power usage of the freezer – although a full freezer is more efficient than a 1/2 empty one – and the tomatoes really help keep ours full).

My husband pickles also – and they are soo good.  Pickled green beans are to die for!  And pickled asparagus, and pickled banana peppers – - and pickled cucumbers too.  He most recently made green tomato relish – I haven’t had a chance to dip into that yet.  I made green tomato relish once in my single years – and my face got blotchy and puffy – the doctor said it was probably the steam off the green tomatoes causing an allergic reaction.  I now avoid the kitchen on green tomato cooking day.

So the pantry is well stocked with the fruits (and veggies) of the garden.  All set for the Dark Days Challenge.  That’s the once a week meal made of SOLE food – sustainable, organic, local, and ethical. For more information you can click the badge in the side bar.  Sign up too!

Win Green

A blogger friend (Retro Housewife Goes Green – - we’ve never met, but we seem to share some values) is having a giveaway.  I haven’t gotten into/figured out how to get items to review and to get businesses to provide products to give away – - but then again, I don’t really have time either, so I’ll leave that to others.  But I don’t at all mind passing on the word about products that seem to fit the bill.  In this case it is a green lunch bag and food container by New Wave Enviro Products.

First go to New Wave and identify your favorite product.  Mine happens to be the stainless steel food container. It looks like the perfect thing for my lunch.  Actually, I think I need 4 since we all take our lunches to school and work.

After you choose your favorite product then go to Retro Housewife Goes Green’s blog and leave a comment about what the product is.  Don’t forget to leave your e-mail address so she can contact you if you win!

When I went to the New Wave site I used their store locator to find places I could purchase their products.  One is a natural food store I often visit, but then I found another I didn’t even know existed – how cool is that!  It’s even closer than the first one – I’ll have to go check them out.

Be sure to enter the giveaway – it would be neat if a reader wins (let me know if you do!).  Of course, it would be neat if I won too.

The No Impact Experiment: What I learned

Well, the No Impact Experiment is done for me – if you are interested in trying it yourself the next experiment week is November 15th. [In case you aren’t in the know on this one, the No Impact Experiment is a week-long program to incrementally reduce your personal impact on the environment.] 

I wasn’t a very enthusiastic participant.  I think I’m to a point in my green evolution that I’m tired of people telling me what to do – or maybe I’ve just always been like that.  But I chose to participate and so I’m under some obligation not to be cranky about it and to try to see some positive in the experience.

I had two expectations.  One is that I would be able to inventory my behaviors – and I did – and if you’ve been reading over the past week you have read my inventory, so I won’t review it here.  Suffice it to say that I’m pretty darn green – not perfect, but I do a lot.

The second expectation is that my weak areas would become clearer to me – and that happened too.  I think I have two: transportation and trash.

Short of selling the house and moving closer to work, or quitting our jobs and trying to make a living from home we are, and will be for the next 15 years, a two-commute family. 

And we make trash.  Now, I don’t think we make as much trash as the average family of 4.  We compost for one thing, and that helps a lot.  But the amount of junk mail is a problem.  So that might be my next challenge.  Stay tuned for my advances there.  

I did encounter one idea in my No Impact Experiment experience that I liked a lot and will try to continue and even expand – and that is the idea of an eco-sabbath.  During an eco-sabbath, a period of time as short or long as you want or can manage, you have as little impact on the environment as possible.  It is harder than you’d think.

My first plan was to do nothing all weekend.  Well, that wasn’t possible, we were out of milk and greens, so a trip to the farmer’s market was needed, and I have some Christmas present plans that required a trip to the hobby store, and my daughter needed more clay for a class project (did you know there are 3 types of octopi?), so Saturday involved driving – and a Mommy/Daughter stop at Starbucks.  So not no impact.  Sunday involved laundry, and it was too cold and overcast to dry clothes on the line, so machines were used.  My eco-sabbath ended up being about an hour when no clothes were being washed or dried and I was just sitting and knitting in silence.   Actually, another part of my eco-sabbath was to not turn on my computer until after dinner on Sunday – that was harder than I thought it would be.  Perhaps I need a computer-sabbath too.

Eco-friendly and Innovative – Sometimes.

Check out this video (click this title): All-In-One Innovative Pizza Box: Four Plates And Leftover Box

For those who don’t want to go look – as the title suggests – it’s a pizza box, like any other pizza box – but it is perforated and creased such that you that you tear off the lid and tear it into 4 square plates – and then the bottom creases and folds into a 1/2 sized box for leftover pizza, and it is all recyclable.  Brilliant, and one of those “duh, why didn’t I think of that” kind of obvious innovations.  I can’t imagine why these boxes won’t be all over by this time next year. 

After seeing this marvelous pizza box I wondered what other eco-friendly inventions are out there.  Beware.  If you Google “eco-friendly innovative” you get over 2 million sites to search.  So I started adding random nouns after “eco-friendly innovative”

Want an eco-friendly, innovative door?  Look at these made from salvaged materials.

Here are some eco-friendly, innovative shoes by Acorn – but there are many more where they came from, about 311,000 more in fact in the Google search list.

What about an eco-friendly toy? Well, there are over 142,000 listings to peruse, but why not just stop at number two on the list – the placenta teddy bear.  Yes, a teddy bear from your child’s placenta.  The placenta is specially treated with sea salt to dry it and then tannin and egg yolk to make it soft and pliable.  After that all you have to do is cut and sew and stuff for your child’s own leather-ish teddy bear.  Oh – ick. 

Which just goes to show – one person’s eco-friendly and innovative may not meet the standards of the other.  (OK – the last one is definitely innovative, but not necessarily in a good way).

Actually, that leads to a serious topic – the pseudo-green industry line.  Sometimes an industry will claim eco-friendly based on the flimsiest of excuses.  A steel door – the foam interior does not deplete the ozone.  ….perhaps because it is encased in steel?  At least the steel is probably recyclable.  Or vinyl siding, because you never have to paint it – - – we’ll just ignore the toxic by-products caused by it’s production. 

So, caveat emptor – and educated.  Meanwhile – let’s start producing that pizza box!

Not NO Impact – But REDUCED Impact

[I created a blog post on the No Impact Experiment social network today.  I have reposted it here:]

I have not been a model "no impact" person this week.  I had a sick child for the first 1/2 of the week and now she has given me her cold.  A virus can sap your will to have a life let alone your will to consciously change your life.  But still, I’ve made an effort. 

My trash creation is still low and I feel guilty about every piece I create.  However, I’ve noticed that one of my reactions to the admonition to reduce trash creation is to avoid throwing things away at all, including things that should be tossed.  So there are items laying around that I would otherwise toss but I’m waiting for the week to be over – I don’t think that’s the point – but it’s keeping my personal trash bag emptier.

Transportation Day was a loss.  I don’t have any real options that I can make on a permanent basis.  Maybe I’m just not looking hard enough.  When gas goes up to $5 a gallon I bet I’ll be trying.

Food Day.  My husband was out for the evening – and he’s usually the family chef.  So dinner was Market Day breadsticks and salad.  The good thing was the salad was fresh greens from a local hydroponic farm – so that gives me a point or two.

Today was energy day.  I was conscientious about turning out lights at work, I made sure that the power cord for my laptop, which is always plugged into an extension cord at home, was turned off while I was at work (I have a funky little switch where the cords connect – I got it years ago at a Big Lots and have never seen them again).  And we had dinner by candlelight.  There were more things I could have done though.  I could have been even more conscientious about classroom lights – I think I left some on after my 12:00 class.  And I could have been more thorough about plugged in appliances around the house.  We have many things plugged into power strips, but we aren’t always good about turning off the power strip.  On the other hand, the house temperature is set at 64 while people are home and at 58 during the day and night. 

Tomorrow is water conservation day.  It’s pouring outside.  It’s hard to worry about too little water when I’m wondering if the basement is wet.  Still, we’re pretty water conservative.  None of us run water while brushing out teeth.  I only heat the amount of water I need in the teapot, not a whole pot full.  We run full loads of wash and full loads in the dishwasher.  We have a rain barrel – which is full to the brim and we don’t have much to do with the water actually since we don’t water plants (and the garden is done for the season anyway).  I rather hate just emptying it onto the ground, but I’ll need to before it freezes. 

The next day is giving back day.  Hmmm, that will take some thought.  I’m rather overextended in the volunteer area as it is – - it may be a check writing day.

What I’m really looking forward to is my Eco-Sabbath – my time of minimal resource usage – my time to sit, preferably outdoors, and read a book. 

So, the short story is I’m putting some effort into this and it is paying off in small ways.  Certainly I am not as obsessed with the topic as some or as lackadaisical about it as others (hey I’m registered and blogging about it); I think I’m at the appropriate medium involvement that I can afford right now.  Conservation of mental and emotional resources is important too you know.

Going Green vs. Fighting Climate Change: Do they differ?

On one of the blogs I follow the author wrote about Climate Change and people she knows who don’t believe (Retro Housewife Goes Green: Does Climate Change Really Matter?).  The gist is that belief in global warming is not a prerequisite for behaving in an environmentally conscious way.  I agree with her whole heartedly and added this comment to her blog post (with a few edits and additions):

Hear Hear! I’m not sure I can think of one thing that is good for fighting climate change that isn’t “green” or one thing that is “green” that isn’t good for fighting climate change. On top of that, a goodly number of “green” activities and “fighting climate change” activities (reducing energy consumption, reducing petroleum product use, reducing fossil fuel use and emissions) cost us as individuals *less* money and reduce the US dependence on foreign oil – those should be songs to a right wing conservative’s heart.

Granted, some things (buying sustainable, organic, local, and ethical) can cost more immediately – but they are good for us, individually (physically and spiritually) and globally (climate, environmental health, and social consciousness)…

I don’t understand a refusal to behave even the least  bit in an environmentally sound way. Yes, it is perfectly possible that the climate science data is being misinterpreted and won’t result in the expected climate change.  But that doesn’t change the fact that emissions are polluting the air,

our practices are fouling our soil and water, animal species are going extinct at an alarming rate, and the chemicals in our household goods and products are making us sick.  And whether global climate change is occurring or not doesn’t change the fact that we waste money when we waste energy.

So go ahead and poo-poo those who believe in global warming.  Even if you’re right we’re still in a  heap of trouble.

No Impact Experiment: No Consumption Day

Today was no consumption day for the No Impact Experiment.  Now, to be clear, it isn’t as if you are banned from doing something on any given day – or must do something else on a different day.  It’s more of an ideal to move toward. 

That said, I didn’t buy anything today (and that seems to be the definition of consumption the No Impact Project is using).  On the other hand, yesterday I did the grocery shopping and then my husband and I went to an auction event to support the athletics at the college I work at.  The live auction items go for the high hundreds into the several thousands – but we did get a silent auction item – a hot air balloon ride (we did this 2 years ago, the same way – through the auction – you’ll hear about it when we go – but it probably won’t be until next year sometime).  Back to No Impact – while today I didn’t buy – yesterday I bought enough for the week – and at the grocery store, that really was the plan.

I actually have been trying to reduce my buying this year anyway.  I’m trying to reduce the sheer amount of stuff we own.  The house doesn’t seem particularly empty, so I don’t think I’m making great strides.  However, we haven’t been adding much (other than blue jeans for the 13 year old boy – - he refuses to stop growing).  Stuff takes energy to make and energy to ship, so reducing purchasing is green.  Given my propensity to be a material girl this isn’t an automatically easy thing to do.  So far though it is a matter of breaking habits. 

I have pretty much broken my Chadwick’s habit.  I haven’t ordered from them in months.  It has helped that there has been a subtle change in their image and I’m no longer their target audience. 

My next habit, or more precisely, belief, that I need to change is that I can buy anything I want that is sold at a grocery store.  This was something I started in my poverty-stricken years of graduate school so I wouldn’t feel deprived.  Now it’s more of a habit than a conscious mental health strategy.  I’m working on it, but it’s not going easily.

Overall, though, I’m not expecting to have much difficulty not purchasing things this week.  I’m generally too busy during the week to shop, and I bring my own lunch and eat in my office, so I don’t usually even buy food.  Still, I occasionally forget my lunch or just absolutely need a bag of pretzels from the vending machine.  And sometimes the focus on something (like not buying) makes you want it more than you otherwise would.  We’ll see how I survive the rest of the week.