The First of the Dark Days

Today (Wednesday) was our last chance this week for a dark days meal (a sustainable, organic, local, ethical – SOLE – meal – - click the button in the side bar for more information).  I am going to Chicago for a conference tomorrow and won’t be back until the first week will have passed – - we couldn’t mess up on a challenge the very first week.

My husband stopped at the year round farmer’s market (heavy on the organic) on the way home yesterday and got greens (hydroponically grown) and pork chops.  He also made baked potatoes with our own potatoes.  [I hadn’t eaten the potato yet, just smushed it up with the butter before I remembered I wanted to take pictures.) Our son is not an adventuresome eater (as if pork chops and potatoes require bravery) – he had a salad with the greens and some green onion cheddar from a local cheesemaker.  The salad included carrots from our garden.

My husband also brought home a pint of heavy cream from the sustainable, ethical local, natural (nearly organic) dairy – - as close as we can get, so I’m calling it good.  This morning I made butter with it. There was a glass of buttermilk left that my husband will use to make some bread this evening for us to eat whenever.

To accompany dinner, my husband and I had wine made by the Benedictine monks at a local Abbey.

But wait – we aren’t done yet.  We are celebrating my son’s birthday tonight (once my daughter gets back from dance class).  His birthday is Saturday, but I’ll be gone.  I had initially thought I’d bake a cake – and I could have at least gotten an organic mix (I am not the bake a cake from scratch kind of woman).  But, no, that wouldn’t be SOLE – - what to do what to do. 

First I decided on chocolate – an exception to the local part of the SOLE – but organic chocolate is readily available, and my understanding is that if it is organic than it is automatically fair trade and ethical (i.e. all organic chocolate is fair trade, but all fair trade chocolate is not organic – at least that is my understanding, correct me if I’m wrong.)

I spent too much time scanning the Internet and finally decided that I could make something tasty that wouldn’t kill us, would be relatively SOLEful, and would be something my son would like. 

I bought some organic chocolate chips at the health food store (I also found local whole wheat flour – that was a great find for my husband to use in bread making).  I then bought another pint of heavy cream and a quart of 2% milk from the above mentioned dairy of high morals. 

I melted the chocolate and mixed it with a cup of milk (what I’ll do with the rest of the milk I’m not sure – maybe make pudding).  Then I put it in a cake pan (9 x 9).  Meanwhile, I had whipped the cream and then combined about 1/2 of it with the milk and chocolate in the cake pan.  That went in the freezer.  I mixed a tiny bit of organic powdered sugar in with the rest of the whipped cream – that’s in the fridge.

When my daughter gets home we’ll have my frozen chocolate yummy (that will now be the official name) with whipped cream and my son will open his computer-oriented presents (he has taken to making stop action films – at least he was doing that last month – - so we bought him a video capture device to turn analog tapes into digital and a computer game – and this weekend the computer will be upgraded with more memory and a graphics card – plus fixed because all of a sudden it is incapable of accessing the internet and the printer spooler has ceased to function… virus perhaps?)

Back to the dark days – so, what were the exceptions? What didn’t quite stack up on the SOLE criteria. Well, I mentioned the chocolate – that was not local.   And we did have salad dressings and they were just store bought.  I was proud of my son who thought better of mixing blue cheese dressing with green onion cheddar cheese (a pretty strong flavor in its own right).  So he was dressing-less. Oh, and the mustard in the honey mustard for the pork chops was just your basic brown mustard – but the honey was local.

We did ok – we’ll see if we can do better in future meals.

Wrapping Paper Redux

Last year – if I wanted recycled wrapping paper I had to use the funnies – this year – it’s everywhere (am I cutting edge or what?).

Since my mention of Earth Presents, a source for recycled gift wrap, I have had two more businesses cross my path.

One is Ecosaurus, which I encountered because one of the founders left a comment after one of my posts.  Don’t be fooled as I was – the paper on the homepage – which looks very winter holiday-ish, all decked out as it is with red bows – are all the same patterns they offer on their products page.  I thought that they had perhaps sold out of the holiday stuff – - just goes to show how much difference a bit of ribbon can make.  Ecosaurus also offers gift tags and note cards.

The second recycled gift wrap business that forced its way into my consciousness is Fish Lips.  They also have note cards (as does Ecosaurus) besides the gift wrap, and their site says they will be adding eco-friendly blank books. 

The prices are comparable at all 3 places – Earth Presents and Ecosaurus sell their paper in packages of 2 sheets, Fish Lips sells by the single sheet.  It’s nice to have options.

All wrapped up

 

Last year as gift giving approached I tried in vain to find wrapping paper made from recycled paper.  My friend Guinnah took her wrapping a greener step last year by wrapping in repurposed fabrics – napkins, pillowcases, even a dress from a thrift store.  Maybe I’ll do that next year (or maybe not), but this year, it looks like I have committed to wrapping in paper.

Last May, when I went to the Chicago Green Festival I met Julie who’s company, EarthPresents, makes and sells recycled paper gift wrap.  I told her I would blog about her paper – - and now, 6 months later, I’m finally making good on the promise.  Her gift wrap designs are inspired by the artwork of students with special needs and 5% of gross sales goes to WVSA, School for Arts in Learning.  I chose two designs, the reindeer and the trees with snow (pictured above).  I also ordered ribbon, but alas and alack, the ribbon is backordered, so Julie refunded me my ribbon money and put in two cards of bows for free.  They are made from recycled plastic bottles (they feel and look like satin).  I’ll have to make sure they go to someone who will reuse them.

Two 12 square foot sheets of wrapping paper aren’t going to meet my wrapping needs I’m afraid [CORRECTION - 2 sheets per package - so 4 sheets.]  Besides presents for my 2 children and husband there are 4 parents, 12 nieces and nephews, 3 sisters and brothers-in-law, a couple of adults on my husband’s side, assorted friends, and and me, don’t forget presents for me to wrap. To that end, when wandering through the town-wide garage sale this summer I picked up about 4 rolls of Christmas paper.  I think I paid about 50 cents.  But that’s not all!  I donate to a number of organizations that then spend some of that donation money on “gifts” to entice me to give more.  If I didn’t support their causes so much I’d balk more at the “gifts”.  But at this time of year I will admit to appreciating the gift of gift wrap.  This was a bonanza year for gift wrap too – - I believe that thus far I’ve been gifted with 17 sheets of wrapping paper.  Some of which is actually printed in soy ink on recycled paper. 

So, the good news is I will not be buying any new non-recycled wrapping paper this season.  That is not perfect of course… and what exactly would be perfect wrapping?  Wrapping in something totally reusable and useful I suppose – such as organic cotton, unbleached, naturally dyed pillow cases.  I’ll aim for that one next year.

The Sisterhood

[This is another essay from the local newspaper column, A Slice of Life, that I write irregularly]

No one has ever accused me of being obsessed with cleanliness. I’ve never been called fastidious. Heck, no one has even suggested that I am neat. And for that reason I was as surprised as anyone would have been to see me doing what I was doing.

Let me back up a bit. I work full-time; have two children, a husband, and a few volunteer responsibilities. I don’t think I’m especially high strung and according to others I appear calm and collected even when I’m not. Of late I have had a perfect storm of little niggly responsibilities on top of my bigger responsibilities and so for this past month, despite outward appearances, I have not been calm and collected. Luckily, I had two days off from work. My plans for those days were to sit in a chair and stare at a wall.

I didn’t stare at a wall. Instead, I cleaned. I didn’t just pick up a couple of odds and ends or do a little laundry. I got on my hands and knees and scrubbed the kitchen floor. On my day off.

Part of me thinks that scrubbing the floor (on my hands and knees) (on my day off) is a little sick. Part of me thinks it is virtuous. Part of me thinks it was long overdue and that is why I was doing it – because I knew I wasn’t going to be happy doing anything if I had to look at that floor anymore. And part of me feels like I have been allowed to peek into the clubhouse of a special sisterhood.

This sisterhood is made up of women who actually like to clean. Recently I went to a party where a woman was selling cleaning cloths. These were special microfiber cloths (and yes, I bought some, and yes they work very well), and the saleswoman was enthusiastically describing the wonders of working with these cloths. She said on numerous occasions that women told her the cloths made cleaning fun. I had difficulty with that concept. But all around me were women nodding and excitedly anticipating the cleaning that could be done with these cloths. They are in the sisterhood of which I speak.

Now that I have willingly spent time on my hands and knees scrubbing a kitchen floor when I could have easily and with a guilt-free conscience used that time to read a book for Book Club or to bead or to knit or to stare at the wall, I have a vague sense of what it is like to be in the sisterhood. I won’t go as far as to say the cleaning was fun, but it was satisfying.

No, I am not one of the sisterhood. I did more cleaning, but it was not fun and after I hit a minimal level of acceptable cleanliness I stopped. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means the authorities should be called and 10 means the house could be in a magazine spread, I’d give it a 5.5. The table surfaces were closer to a 4, but the kitchen floor was a 9!

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.