Earth Day 2009

Well, when I look at last year's Earth Day list and also Earth Day 2007 of what we wished to accomplish during the ensuing 12 months, we failed a bit.

Mister has not, yet, installed solar panels on our home. We, unfortunately, do not have the right exposure.

I have not ridden my bike to work more often. The real estate thing kep me from doing it at all last summer and fall. I had to be available with my vehicle most days. (excuses, excuses)

We do not yet have a solar vehicle. Mister either want to build one - we don't have a garage for him to do that in, at present and Mister refuses to buy into what he terms the ugly and ridiculous electric cars which have been mass produced to date. Electric cars do not have to be ugly i.e. check out the Tesla Roadster.

They also don't need to be that expensive. We're just waiting until its viable.

Anyway.

What have we done? Well, I've become rather anal and bring home anything from the office that can be recycled but not from the office. For example, plastic bags can not be put into the regular recycling, I bring them home and we include them with our bags which are returned to the grocery. I've also done this with old plastic food containers and lids from the office that would have ended up in the land fill.

We did, just last weekend, and when I say we, I mean Mister, anyway... we installed a wood stove into our home. We loved the one at my other house so much, now we have one too. Mister brings home construction materials (wood) from his work sites that would be recycled (so they say) but we take it and use it as fuel. You know, palettes and 2x4 ends, etc. I guess a lot of construction guys scavenge for stuff on job sites that would end up basically garbage and reuse it somehow.

Mister has pretty much removed all non-native vegetation from the back yard - with the exception of my tulips and a very few other plants. Our goal is to attract native bees and bugs and birds.

We have Mason Bee boards up hoping for native bees to come live with us.

They are far more gentle than ordinary honey bees and apparently are native to the region.

We've put up some natural bird houses. No birds living there yet, but that could be because there are tons of cats, including ours, in the neighborhood.

Mister and I commute together, when we can.

We have a compost bin and put all our vegetable scraps there for future use in garden beds.

That is all I have for now. We are doing what we can and always searching for new things to add to our palette.

I hope you all have a good day today. My thoughts are with you.

Just Information, Knowledge is Power

We all should check out this website. I did. I was dissapointed at what I found out, but it didn't surprise me. Will I make changes, maybe. I do know that it will be in the back of my mind from now on though.

NOVA and the Dimming Sun

I really like NOVA. Do you watch it? I'm not a tv person, per se, but when I catch NOVA, I'm always glad I did. Our local public broadcasting station, OPB, is who carries it. NOVA's a science show. They delve into current hot topics. Its on Wednesday's at 9:00 and Tuesday's at 8:00, I think the Wednesday show is called Science Now, or something. Anyway, because we are OPB members, I get the online notices of upcoming broadcasts and other stuff. NOVA has a show coming up about the dimming sun. I read the blurb and am constantly amazed at how many aspects of our planet are affected by our pollution, how its all being compounded and how it seems (I'm not a scientist, obviously) but it seems like this 'global warming' is becoming a juggernaut that is increasingly getting out of our control. There are so many things I never could possibly think of that scientists are thinking of like the dimming sun thing. What else is happening that we aren't noticing, yet, that will take off and compound our problems?

Anyway, Dimming the Sun, on NOVA, Tuesday, August 5 at 8:00 PM.

Its *very* scary, at least to me, but I think so important that we all pay attention, make note, and do what little (or big) things we can to help alleviate this problem that will not go away until each and every one of us make the hard choices, every day.

Oh, Oh, and last night, while watching NOVA - Car of the Future, there was a commercial for like the Saturn car company encouraging men to shave less because it will save water and women will find you hunkier and for women to wash their hair less, again saving water, and suggesting a fashionable hat or trendy up-do. Have you seen that commercial! It cracked me up. I'm sure it's online somewhere, my 25 seconds of searching so I could add a link brought me nothing. But, I'm not the most search the internet savvy person around.

Anyway. Happy Day to you all.

Just Watched: The 11th Hour

Gloom and doom and the makings of nightmares.

Leonardo DiCaprio narrates this "planet earth in crisis" documentary. The film talks about how global temperature change issues and out of control population growth are hastening the demise of our planet. It also talks about some interesting ways we can make a difference and that we should do it now while we actually might have a real impact rather than later, after we've passed the tipping point of no returning to life on this planet as we know it. Not my favorite type of movie, but I know its a necessary thing to immerse myself into so I can get past the paralyzing fear and move toward doing my part. It inspires me to be creative in thinking up new ways or just researching ways others have already thought up, to cut my personal impact.

They say every vote counts (for example) or that dropping a pebble in a pond creates a ripple effect with an impact that is practically unknown. So, I'm dropping my pebble, here and now. I hope it will have some slight, little, tiny, but perceptible impact somewhere, somehow.

Its a difficult thing to watch, but a must see for everyone who wishes to live on this planet we call earth.

More Earthiness

I was sorely dissapointed with myself this recent Earth Day. So, I've been looking around at my life to determine where I can be more earth-friendly.

I've realized:

We take our own reusable grocery bags to the grocery store, quite often. Yes, it would be a perfect world if I always remembered them, but I try and succeed often if not all the time, and that is the first step.

I was a vegetarian for the longest time ~ solely for health reasons (as opposed to moral ones, that is). One day after many years of it, my body screamed out for a hamburger and I had no choice but to indulge it. It was very strange, but I try to listen to what my body tells me. It usually knows whats right for itself. So, I added back in chicken and some meat. For reasons I can't go into, I still couldn't do shrimp or pork (shudder). And agina, don't ask, I know I'm weird, I could do a slice or two at the most of bacon, but only while on vacation. It was known as the "vacation bacon caveat". I mean seriously, even if you don't eat meat, the smell of bacon could turn anyone carnivorous.....I digress. Then another thing happened, I met a carnivorous Mister and we dated then ended up married. Long story short, four and a half years after meeting Mister, I find myself more carnivorous than I have been in 20 years. I keep telling myself, or more to the truth, my body keeps telling me, to back off lean into my old vegetarian ways. Eating habits are hard to break, especially when you live with Mr. Carnivore himself. Oh, that's right, this was supposed to be the short version..... so, lately Mister has come around to realizing that to be more earth friendly and to reduce our carbon footprint (sorry, I hate that buzz word now) we should eat less meat. YAHOO! So, we now have several days each week without meat included in our dinner. I am told that being a vegan actually reduces a person's carbon footprint radically more than leaving the SUV in the driveway and biking / walking / strolling / skipping / hopping to whereever you must go.

Well, that's all I've got.

Oh, and Harley, just to brighten your day. He's pretty earthy too, lovin' the trees. He's a true tree-hugger.

Earth Day

So, its Earth Day. I knew it was coming up, but didn't know it until today when I logged on and saw the Google art. My immediate thought is, Ack! What have I done 'earthy' today? Well, I drove to work instead of biking because, well it it raining and 39 degrees outside. Lame, but real, excuse for getting the in the fossil fuel mobile. My second thought was, Well, why would today be different than any other day. They all should really be Earth day. Why should I have to even think twice about it being a day to be kind to the earth. I should be doing that every day. Yes, I do try to do what I can, but its become rote. Does that mean I'm slacking and don't know it or does that mean I'm doing all I can. My guess is I could to more. I looked back to last year's Earth Day post. We still do all the things we always have done. However, I don't ride my bike to work more, we don't have an electric car, we don't have solar panels or rain barrels. We are status quo. Better than backsliding, I guess. What do you do regularly and what would you like to incorporate into your daily lives as rote before Earth Day 2009?

CSA: June 30

The goods from Saturday's CSA adventure. Good lookin' food.

• walla walla onion
• red scallions
• lettuce
• spinach
• radicchio
• cucumber
• red potatoes
• cherries
• basil
• carrots
• tomato
• red cabbage

We purchased a 3/4 share from this year's crop. We weren't sure if it would be enough food since we hadn't actually done this before. If it wasn't going to turn out to be enough food, we figured we'd be at the farmer's market each week anyway, we could supplement as needed. We've found that the full share has only a couple more items than in our 3/4 share box. This week, it was one more walla walla onion, some frisee and a cucumber. Well, as you can see, for some unknown reason, we got a cucumber. As it is now, we have to remind ourselves not to go crazy buying other produce because we have a hard enough time (but a good time) trying to eat all the veggies we get in our package.

It's about two bags of fresh veggies each week and it lasts us, even with eating veggies at lunch and dinner every day, for more than a week. So far each week, we've had potatoes. When we get the new batch, we do our best to eat up the previous week's. A couple nights ago, Mister took the purple potates from a week or so ago, cubed them, coated them with a little olive oil, S/P and rosemary, baked them and they were really fantastic. The next day for breakfast, we warmed them up and had them along side some pasture raised eggs (also from the farmer's market) scrambled with green onions and spinach. Fantastic!

We are very much enjoying our CSA experience.

Happy eating.

CSA: June 23

Here we go.

Saturday, a beautful day for a stroll through the Portland Saturday, South Park Blocks, farmer's market. (CA - do you miss it - or what ????!!)

The vegetables are so amazing and fresh. Have I said this before?

So, today we have red potatoes, beets, pearl and walla walla onions, kohrabi (I'll have to figure out exactly what to do with this little purple rooty thing), carrots, nappa cabbage, red leaf lettuce, cucumber, a nice bunch of dill, black kale, garlic and a sweet little jar of organic blueberry preserves. Did I get everything?

We again (we are anal albeit forgetful) figured out that our two bags of organic, locally grown fresh from the farm veggies cost us approximatley $15.22 for 22 weeks of fresh, diverse, local, yummy produce.

I don't know about where you live, but I couldn't go to the grocery and buy that many organic veggies for $16. Do you just wish you had a nice warm piece of fresh whole wheat toast skimmed with (insert your favorite brand here) margarine upon which to slather these blueberry preserves?

One more angle on it.

CSA: June 16 - Cilantro Mashers

Earlier this year, Mister and I joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Locally grown produce brought to market in small shares promoting the circulation of wealth in a community instead of spreading it across the nation to some gigantic, faceless, nameless, corporation where the only thing that matters is the bottom line. Not the farmers, not the fossil fuels being ravaged from the planet to truck the produce thousands of miles from Central or even South America, not the pollution from said production which is causing (or at the VERY least adding to and/or hastening the natural phenomenon) we call global warming. But, soap box aside... Our experience has been just wonderful.

We scheduled our pick time and location for Saturdays at the Portland Farmer's Market in the south park blocks. Once each week, we walk through all the amazing stands of fresh produce and flowers and tasty food treats to pick up our box of produce. This is a photo of this weeks produce. We are vegetable eatin' at nearly every meal type of people. We have also been known to incorporate veggies into breakfast in omelettes.

We've now had three weeks of organic, locally grown produce. Its been amazing. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to eat FRESH, organic vegetables. Unless you have a farm or garden, which I know some of you do, you can't imagine the amazing experiences my taste buds have had. I grew up with parents who had a huge garden. I spent many a Saturday as a child on my hands and knees pulling weeds in that garden. I hated every moment of it. I had no concept. Wouldn't it just be easier to go to the grocery and buy all this stuff. I mean, they have it in nice rows there. There are no weeds to pull.

I was oblivious, as most teens are.

So, we've now had fresh strawberries, new potatoes, cilantro, beets, turnips, lettuce, swiss chard, cucumbers, pea-tops, some kind of garlic curl thingy that I have no idea what to do with, cabbage, onions (walla walla and green), fennel, carrots, basil and I'm probably forgetting something. Last week, I made the most amazing mashed potatoes. It was my usual recipe (pototoes boiled with bouillon, sliced garlic and turnips - about 1 turnip to every 3-4 potatoes cut about 1/2 the size of the potatoes before boiling because they take longer to cook - then mashed with Earthbalance margarine, parsley, salt and pepper. Oooh, I also added a large handful of fresh chopped (CSA) cilantro while I was mashing. Oh, my heavens, those were some amazing mashers.). I'll some times add just a smidge of soy milk if the mash is dry, but I like a stiff mashed potato. No gravy necessary, but, if you want to add gravy, I'm all for that too. But, as per usual, I digress.

My point is that even though it was my usual recipe, using the fresh potatoes, cilantro and turnip made them even more tantalizing than usual.

My goal is to post photos each week of the bounty. Unfortunately, I didn't think of it the first two weeks and Mister is actually the one who thought of it. So, kudos to him and photos for you.

Last night I made soup, Trader Joe's soy ginger soup broth, chopped green onion, swiss chard, fresh chopped ginger and garlic and carrots all over rice noodles. It was, ok. I'd give it a 5 on the 1-10 scale. It should have had some tomotoes and celery and hot chili paste, a smidge of soy sauce, maybe some cabbage and it would have been better. But, is was pretty. That counts sometimes too. And, not every meal can be award winning. I tried, good enough for this time.

Oh, and cucumber salad. That's always good.

Earth Day

Ok, so, this post did not come to me as easily as I thought it should /would have. I've come down to this: 1. Things we already do; and 2. Things on the slate for someday either sooner or later. One: (a small homage)

• recycle everything we can think to recycle at the curb and also plastic tubs and plastic bags and foam, etc things that have to be taken to special places for recycling;
• installed a wood stove last fall and have heated my home, for the most part, with trees that have fallen in storms or were cut because they were going to fall soon;
• buy everything we can organic, non-gmo, and as local as possible;
• joined an organic CSA to further our local buying;
• I ride my bike to work when the weather allows. Yes, I know I'm a little bit of a wuss plus its really difficult from my home and must be done from Mister's home so there are some obstacles to overcome;
• Mister and I have never purchased a new car, only used ones which we like to call recycled;
• We line dry our clothes as much as possible. Not towels, because here in the NW we have some humidity and towels would take days to dry and I just don't have the space for that, seeing how my home has a relatively small ecological footprint (is that what it is called?)
• We wash most of our clothing in cold water. Again, warm/hot water on towels and bed linens, just because of what their function is life is;
• I buy organic, fair trade coffee for home and for the office;
• We use earth friendly products around the house (laundry detergent and other cleaners);
• We do not us anti-bacterial soaps;
• We use rechargeable batteries for digital cameras;
• I have a push lawn mower;
• I work for a company the builds to green standards. Now that is very subjective, but the point is we have been building in this nitch for 15 years. As the years go by, more and more advances in building technology are introduced and we do our best to build to LEED standards of the time.

Two: (not really Two, but everyone thinks he should have been)

• Mister is looking into installing a rain barrel which will catch run off from the gutters and be used to water the yard etc.;
• Mister (he is so awesome) has always wanted to heat the house using solar power and be able to contribute back to the grid on nicer days;
• Ride my bike more often to work. This I am pretty certain will happen when Mister and I live together in his home. Its just not plausible from where I live, but his place is perfect for it;
• Mister has always wanted to build an electric car. He may start with a scooter, which we could use to run to the grocery or I could, in theory, in nicer weather, use as a commuter vehicle.

Well, it seems there are more things on the list for Mister to do than me! How did I do that? I think the important part, is thinking about the issue and doing what we can and by doing more things, more new things will come to light.

March 7 - Done

I decided that I'm not a 'new thing' kind of gal. New things should be fun, I would suppose, and well, its just got me all stressed out not being able to think of something new. And it also stresses me out that when I have found something new and it didn't pan out (i.e. doing my taxes and signing up for the CSA) does that mean I didn't do something new. I mean I could say, my new thing today is climbing K-2, if I don't actually climb k-2, does that mean I did something new today or does it mean I failed at something new today? Not a pity party, just annoyances at the way things are going and I don't want to keep writing things down here and then not having them work out. Also, while it seeemed like a novel and cute thing, coloring little circles with different colors of paint just isn't something I'm in to. So, there you go. I didn't make it to even day 10, so my new thing today might just be admitting when I'm in over my head.

Whew... now I know I won't fail at that.

March 6 - Oy! Only day six and I'm worn out

My new thing today, sign up for that CSA (community supported agriculture) I've been thinking and talking about for 8 months. Its finally time to take the vegetables by the horns-o-plenty and make a commitment. You may think, this is not such a difficult feat, but let me tell you, some websites seem user friendly until you actually want something from it and then the difficulties arise. Yes, I am having this trouble today. So, I sent off an email basically saying, "I'm some sort of incapable person, can you help me support your farm?" We'll have to wait for the outcome.

I have to say, this creating/starting something new each day for a month isn't as easy or fun (at least for me) as I thought it was going to be. It's so much easier to see someone else do something interesting and think it might be fun in your own life. In reality, well, its just a lot of mental energy being spun in circles because apparently, I'm not the creative type. I'm working on making it to day 10 and then re-evaluating my goals.

In light of doing something old and routine, the sun is out later now (for some magical reason it seems we have so much more daylight in the evening than just a week ago). Mister and I went for a nice walk last night and stopped at the store for dinner and then strolled back home. I so love living (if only part time) in a place where I can walk to do errands. Someday it will be full time there and I'll love it even more. Get up on the weekend and walk to coffee and/or breakfast, so soothing a thing to do.

CSA: Philomath

Ok, not a crime or cop show about a small town in rural Benton County. But an idea that has been around for quite some time that I've learned about in the last year. CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture) are a farming concept wherein local farmers growing produce bring it to the local community and sell it.

This is amazing for so many reasons. Just read Jane Goodall's book Harvest for Hope. There's a link on the sidebar. You can also read about it on the internet, but the Goodall book is really great.

The grand idea is that produce doesn't have to be grown 2,000 miles away and then trucked in and then gassed or radiated or whatever all they do to it to make it pretend to ripen. The food is already in the local area fresh and ripe and not inspected by the border police. Imagine, if you will, how much does it really cost to bring "fresh" strawberries to the Northwest from Argentina in the middle of January? Seriously, how much gasoline and truck maintenance and toxic emissions and green house gasses and global warming do those $5 per pound strawberries actually cost in terms of the planet? We may think Wow, that's a lot for strawberries, but the actual cost of bringing that little basket of food is astronomical when you put it in terms of the globe and its effects. How much do you think the farmer who grew those berries or the field worker who picked those berries made off that little box when the company who brings it to us has to pay for the shipping costs alone, much less a profit! The money I spend doesn't go to helping out anyone except for those who can afford to buy the stock of the company that brings the product to my local grocery store. I would rather pay a little more (and not necessarily always more) for locally grown foods that when I hand the cash over to the farmer, personally, he spends the money right here in my community. Its a form of recycling, sort of.

Yes, we could have chosen a CSA that is closer even than Philomath. The one we chose (or at least that's the one we plan to join) uses organic growing and handling practices and provides the variety of produce we wanted. Its still closer than shipping things from Mexico or South America.

This is really quite simplified, but, my blog, my story.

This is what's going to be new for 2007.

My soap box, if that's what you wish to call it, for the day / year.

I can feel something happening

This photo was taken from my office today. Cars, cars everywhere.

I occassionaly open my eyes and look around. I actually try to do this consistently. I find it truly amazing there are so many people going in so many directions all at the same time. Pretty much everyone is on a completely different path from everyone else. Every one starts at their own home and goes to their own work or on their own errands. All the intertwined paths moving at freeway speeds, which, depending on the time of day is slow. Picture it from above on a time lapse camera. Wow!! Dizzying. (Yes, that is how you spell the actual word, I had to look it up too.)

Now think about what that same picture would have been 30 years ago, 50 years ago, 100 years ago. Technology, industry, invention. What have we really done to ourselves? If I allow myself to think about the negative effects of some ordinary devices in my life, it staggers my little brain. For example, I have yet to meet someone who thinks cell phones in restaurants and movie theaters is a good thing and yet someone always seems to be on one in those places. What happened to leaving the house and not needing to talk to your significant other or the dog groomer or the friend who wants to chat about their most recent great bargain from Target? When did this change from a convenience device (because being a woman and breaking down on the highway at 10PM is truly scary) to I have to talk on my phone all the way home to my children or husband or the doctor's office or the office because there just isn't enough actual time to spend with them when we are in the same room/house together. Why are we so ADHD that we can't turn off our phones for 15 minutes? We didn't even have these phones just a few years ago and literally, people can't turn them off. A few years ago, I was on a first date. The guy saw me turn off my cell phone and he literally didn't know what to do with that. He didn't quite know how to handle it. IT WAS A FIRST DATE and he can't turn off his phone for two hours. I felt pretty important, just kidding. Needless to say, no more dates for him.

Have we really thought about the convenience items we purchase? I am not rallying for everyone donning overalls and a straw hat, don't get me wrong. Think about the days not so long ago when we had fewer 'convenience' items which are designed to make our lives easier and we spent time with family at the dinner table or in the street playing with our friends. We don't do those things much any more. In order to live the American dream these days, all the adults in the house have to work. There's no one at home raising the children. We rush home after work, talking on the phone the entire way, change clothes to get in a work out, do some laundry, clean the cat box, pull a few weeds in the yard, try to figure out what dinner will be, eat it in front of the television, clean up and what do you know, its 9:30 and its time to fold the laundry, brush and floss, shower, pick up a few things that need to be put away and crawl into bed with maybe a few minutes to read and 'relax' before trying to catch a few zzz's. Now that's my typical evening, I can't fathom what a parent has to add to the list... picking up child, homework, after school activities, making lunches, and stuff I can't even think of. Where is the quality time? Where is the convenience?

Whew, my brain is really working overtime the last couple weeks. Remember that change I was looking for? Searching for? Anxiously awaiting? Well, it might be here. I've been reading. And I'm not turning into an earth muffin nut, but I have decided to make some positive changes in my life in the arena of food. I try to be healthy as a general rule, but I've decided to take it to the next level. Isn't that what we do as Americans? We strive and achieve? Anyway. Be watching for my metamorphosis in the coming weeks. We'll see.

So, a couple links to give you an idea where I've been and where I'll be going. I'm reading this book by Jane Goodall: Harvest for Hope about eating organically / ethically. One of the things she talks about is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). The link, well, the link speaks for itself. A wealth of information about local farms with fresh and quite often organic products. Feel free to join me. I feel good things coming from this new adventure.

XO