Re-grow Your Green Onions!

Who knew? We use these so often, but only a little and most it of goes to waste. No more! You apparently can do this once or twice. Saves money and waste! yay! Sorry about the bad pick, it's from my phone. Just stick in water and put near a window. Refresh once in a while. Easy-peasy!

Sorry it's short and late, but 2012 has been insane! More to come on why--once we finally have time to wrap our heads around it :)

Peace!

Tea Cozy

Look at my tea cozy I made! This was my solution to the water I heated getting cold and me having to choose between gulping down luke-warm tea or wasting water down the drain. No more! Now my tea is warm cup after cup in my cutie pot and knitted project. There are lots of free patterns on Ravelry if you are interested. You need to sign up, but it's free. It's just nice that after a year of knitting now, I can actually make useful products! :)

Fifty-Six - Garden + Composting Expansion!

Guthrie and I got our seeds from the local food resource hub. For $10, we received more than we needed, so we were able to share with friends. We also received little plants like broccoli and cabbage in the first batch and tomatoes and eggplant in the second.

My first week off, I worked hard to complete the new raised bed with wood recycled from the our old box spring. This year, we are definitely doing something different. The garden is much bigger, and we are expanding what we are growing. We are still trying to keep it simple, using ideas from the Square Foot Gardening method from the book with the same name. I would love a copy of the book, and was only able to have it one hand for three weeks because there were many people waiting to read this book at the library. Still, I learn a lot about when, where, how deep, how far apart, how many plants two people really need, etc.

We are also turning into composting fools. The worms are doing well, but we are no longer composting in the backyard. Honestly, pallet composters or the nice ones you buy work much better and are easier to turn. Instead, we are able to bring anything the worms won't eat to Paradise Community Garden to put into their bins (they have four!). They are able to turn out compost much faster and definitely need it in the garden.

So, many of the seeds are planted (the rest tomorrow when the soil is a little drier), the compost has been added, the beds are weeded, waiting for sprouts (and trying to keep the bunnies away!). Hopefully we will have some wonderful, very local, organic produce in a couple of months. Yum!

Peace!

Fifty-Three - Clothing Swap

Last weekend I attended a clothing swap that some of my friends put on. It was a wonderful event! One that occurs every fall and spring and is growing in participation. I attended a few years back, but it is a much bigger event.

What is a clothing swap? It is a day where people (in this case, women) bring all of their unwanted, but in still good condition, clothes to a house where it is sorted by type (pants, skirts, dresses, shoes, accessories, shirts, sweaters, etc) and then everyone is free to "shop!". There are mirrors and places to try things on, and everyone can take what they want. It is very open, you don't have to take as much as your bring, or take turns, it's very diplomatic. People bring snacks to share and once everyone is done swapping, the rest of the clothes are bagged up and delivered to goodwill. The group has donated over 50 bags of clothes so far.

I was excited because I was able to find pants, a dress, sweaters, and good clothes for work. I was also able to invite some classmates and hope this event continues to expand. The more people the come, the better selection of styles and sizes. The main lady in charge of the event is moving to California, and I hoping to help organize it with two of the other leading ladies of the event. Interested in being a part of the next one? Contact me and I'll get you on the invite list!

Peace!

Fifty - Greener Menstruation

Yup. I said it. I did birth control and now I'm going to green up my periods. I have been working at this for a while now, but I'm going to take it a step further. I will go step by step through my journey. Beyond green, think about these products, what they are made of, and where we put them. Don't we want the safest, most chemical-free products?

1. Greener tampons and pads
The first switch happened when I ran out of tampons in college after moving near the Wedge. I didn't want to make the trek to Target for just that one thing so I looked in the Personal Care isle and was amazed. I found Natracare products, read the box, bought some liners and tampons (applicator free) I started to learn more.

2. Party in Pants / GladRags
Still, I was using tampons that needed to be thrown away. Though difficult to go back to pads, I was startled by these figures from Tree Hugger: "73,000,000 women in the US use tampons. The average woman uses 16,800 tampons in a lifetime; 24,360 tampons for women on estrogen-replacement therapy. Assuming a 40-year period of fertility, that is over 30 billiontampons per year which must be handled by special sanitary disposal systems."
Yuck. I started with GladRags. Honestly, too bulky. Party in my Pants, if you can get over the stupid name, is actually really nice. The slogan's better -- Cloth Pads for the Princess on her Period. For only the cost of shipping, you can try out a liner for free. Marie Claire even has an article review of them. You could also make your own or even, if you can't do the pads, try Sea Sponge reuseable tampons. They last a few months, making them better that the disposable kind.

3. Diva Cup / The Keeper
I talked to my doctor and made the switch. I've practiced a bit, but all went smoothly and I am looking forward to my first real test coming up soon. (wow, usually not excited for these... :) )

It simply folds, is inserted like a tampon, and you remove and rinse as needed. You can wear it overnight, for extended periods of time, and don't have to worry about TSS. This is also going to save me a TON of money! One product for $35-40 does it all--and with no TRASH! Again, many have already written a lot about this topic and this product, so check out this brief posting from Tree Hugger for more details.

Still not convinced? Try this. Take a box of tampons. Divide the cost by then number in them. Decide how many you use in a month. A year? See how much it's costing you. Then, add in what it's costing Mother Nature. I think it's time to switch to something greener.

Peace!

Thirty-Four - Plastic Bread Clips/Ties

We love bread, but there are usually two things that come with bread: the plastic bag and the twist-tie or plastic clip. We reused the plastic bag for cleaning out our kittie's litter boxes, but Guthrie decided to go on a mission to find a better use for the tie instead of the trash, and then in our oceans. From a couple of websites (Gomestic and RecycleThis) he found some ideas (the ones in bold are what we will be using them for):

-put them on the end of parcel tape--you won't lose the end!
-guitar pick
-use as a scraper on non-stick pans -- they won't scratch the surface
-bookmark (clip a couple of pages together)
-children can use it for counting and sorting (as a teacher, I am always looking for manipulatives like these, I've never thought of this before!)
-scrape paint off of glass windows without scratching the surface
-organize and label all of the cords and cables behind your entertainment center
-sewers/knitters can use this to wind spare thread and yarn or extra long tails
-knitters/crocheters can also use them as markers
-poker chips
-board game markers when you lose them
-ties can be used to secure plants to stakes

You may be wondering why Guthrie isn't writing the entry if this was his idea, but he is currently undertaking one of the projects (labeling our cords) and so I am helping him out. :)

Honestly, the real solution to this is making our own bread at home and storing it in a dry large tin (like those popcorn tins) or a tight closing bread box. I have made wheat bread a few times, but with grad school, I am going to use the time excuse :( Hopefully we will have a blog down the road with how we have changed our bakery habits--it's on the list of ideas. Remember, going green means small changes that are sustainable in you own life. Little by little!

Oh! Guthrie just finished - there you go:

Peace!

Thirty-Three - Christmas Tree

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree! Guthrie and I have our first Christmas tree! We have been looking into this one for a long time. We first approached the debate as which is greener: a real tree you cut down year after year (and hardwood forests which store more CO2 are being cut down to put up pine tree farms) and dispose of or an artificial tree you buy about every ten years, reuse, and it made all of plastic (PVC) and are mostly made in China. Turns out, the former is more eco-friendly (if you replant it or recycle it and turn it into mulch. TreeHugger debates these two options. We went with neither! Instead, we opted for the tree that is living and stays living for hopefully a long, long time. We bought a pine tree in a pot for the house! It is a pretty looking house plant called a Norfolk Pine that is soft and fairly low-maintaince. You repot it every 3-4 years. We started with a little 3' one that was $30 from Linders. We figure this way we can grow into it. The tree is sturdy enough from some decorations for a month out of the year (just make sure the lights are cool and the ornaments are not too heavy!). 

Happy holidays and peace!

The No-Impact Project - Starting January 3rd

Guthrie and I are signing up to participate in the next round of the No Impact Project. It is the "one week carbon cleanse". It models what NYC writer Colin Beavan did with his family for a year -- slowly look at different aspects of their lives (waste, water, electricity, transportation, etc) and made systematic changes to lower their impact. His book No Impact Man has been turned into a movie with the same name. On his website, he invites you to do the same for one week. The great thing is that it starts on specific dates so that you can connect with others in your area who are doing the same. They make it real easy with a how-to manual on what to do on each day plus interesting facts. Obviously, you do what you can; making any change is a positive one. What Colin found out was that during the course of the year, he lost weight, had more energy, reconnected with his wife, spent more time with his family, and was genuinely happier. Guthrie and I will participate in this to learn some new things that we can incorporate into our lives. 

Join with us -- maybe we can meet up for a candlelit dinner of local food! :)

Peace! 

Twenty-Eight - Duvet Cover and my attempts at sewing

Guthrie and I received a wonderful organic down comforter my from aunt as a wedding gift--something we really need now that we are back in Minnesota! As the weather gets colder and we see how long we can manage without heat, we decided to put it on the bed. First, though, we needed a cover. They can be expensive, and I thought -- I could make one! I asked my mom for a set of king sized sheets since the cover is a queen. I also borrowed her sewing machine. It turned out to be much harder than I thought--the fitted sheet ended up being a lot smaller and so I had to get created and sew it in pieces. All was going well, but at the end I got the thing flipped inside-out (well, right-side-in) and so one of the seams is on the nice side. Oh well, it is totally functional though it won't be in any Martha Stewart catalogue (you can see the seam still out on the right side of the photo). There's a flap on the underside where we stuffed in the comforter. If I actually sewed a little nicer I would go through the trouble of getting some iron on velcro to help keep the flap closed. Yea for up-cycling! Since I really just started to sew, I'm pretty proud. :)

Peace!

Update on Bulk Buying from 100 Days Without Oil

A great point was made in the 100 Days Without Oil -- when you buy something, you are also buying the container it comes it. When buying bulk, we reuse these containers and only buy them the one time. Each time after that, we are simply buying the product. Read on to get the explanation.

Twenty-Three - Box Spring / Mattress Recycle

No matter where you go in Atlanta, just about every other day Guthrie and I would see a discarded mattress on the side of the road. More locally, according to MPR, Minnesotans purchase more than 600,000 mattresses a year. They also mention how you can recycle mattress and box springs through Goodwill Industries in Duluth so that some parts will become carpet underlay, the wood frames become fuel for a local paper mill, and the cotton gets turned into oil filters for locomotives. Though the still have throw away the fiber layer (like we did) and the springs right now have no other major use -- though they are working on it.

Guthrie and I bought a new bed frame that does not require a squeaking box spring... what to do? Next year, Guthrie and I will be expanding our garden. We were so happy to use recycled wood for our first raised bed, but I know the pile from my sister's deck will not be enough to create the size we are looking for. Our new raised bed will be made out of our old box spring -- and it's already in a box shape! How convenient. :) I came across this idea after a Google search for "recycle old box spring."

There are other great ideas, like this box spring book shelf or this cool couch made out of both a box spring and mattress.

Peace!

Eighteen - Green Travel

Guthrie and I are about to head out to Austin, TX this week for our anniversary. Labor Day, we are driving to Des Moines, IA to visit with friends and family. In October, Guthrie is off to Montreal (jealous!) for work. With all of this travel, how do we still be good to Mother Earth?

Before you leave:

• Unplug all electronics
• Lower or turn off any heating and cooling devices

Flying? Here are some tips:

• Pack only what you need, don't bring extra weight
• Most of the energy is used in take off and landing -- take a direct flight whenever possible. We are flying to San Antonio to avoid this and driving a compact car the hour to Austin
• Take a train! It could reduce your CO2 emissions by 90%
• Reuse those quart sized baggies -- we have two that we reuse over and over again for flying
• Reuse little plastic containers -- pack your own shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, contact solution and all of those other liquids and gels with buying new ones. We have a little travel basket in our hallway closest where we save these things just for this reason
• Cook when possible - we are renting a small cottage where we can stop by the farmer's market or co-op to get food and prepare it ourselves during the day
• Bring a water bottle! Just because you're away doesn't mean you throw your eco-lifestyle out the window

Driving? Here are some tips:

• Check your tire pressure
• Make sure the vehicle is properly serviced
• Look into ways to offset your carbon footprint as we did with Enterprise when we had to give in and rent our first car
• Leave the car at the hotel and walk, cycle, or use public transportation -- we'll be on the bus in Austin!
• Pack only what you need -- don't bring extra weight 
• Plan ahead -- it helps avoid getting lost and driving around
• Try to avoid sudden acceleration, engine revving, and sudden braking - it can use up to 30% more fuel. Keep you eyes on the road 3-4 cars ahead
• On the highway, drive with the windows closed to reduce the drag (though this brings up the AC v. windows down issue, find a balance)
• Don't idle

*info from Carbon Footprint

Where to stay?
The most eco place would be a campground; however not always the easiest and best choice for every vacation. We looked into it for our Des Moines trip when the friend were were going to stay with had flooding in her house, but, again, with recent rains and flooding, ever close campsite is sadly closed. Instead, we started looking at Green Hotels which is a guide to find hotels that have sustainability in mind when making business decisions. Of course, the only one listed was in Cedar Rapids. Strike three. I think we are stuck at a motel. At least we can reuse sheets and towels as much as possible. If you are planning a vacation, a great site National Geographic's Center for Sustainable Destinations.

What to eat? 
Guthrie and I have taken many mini-road trips. When we are hungry, we work hard to pass up the McDonalds (can't even remember the last time I ate something from there...) and all of the other fast food chains. Sometimes, it is unavoidable, and you are hungry, and you would rather use their bathroom than the one at the Citgo...but I digress. Point is: look for those mom and pop shops and support the local economy. Guthrie and I have found some gems, and some scary places -- but they all at least leave you with a story! When in town, continue to support local and independent shops and restaurants. You'll get a better feel for the city and really be helping the local economy. I know we definitely want to do things that will help Keep Austin Weird :-)

Offset your Carbon Footprint
Use a calculator and then offset it! The link is for TerraPass - it's easy to calculate your flight and you can offset it through them or through another organization. Carbon Fund and Native Energy are also really helpful. It's not perfect, but it's better than doing nothing. Money goes to planting trees and conservation efforts and other projects that reduce CO2 in the air.

Some things to keep in mind, I know we will! Happy and safe travels to you!

Peace!

Fourteen - Recycling Cards

We all get cards -- birthday, wedding, get well, congratulatory, etc. After our wedding, I saved all our cards because I felt like it was such a waste to dispose of them. I use to be a person that saved just about every card I was given, but this isn't very practical either.

So, if you get a wedding card, birthday card, shower card, etc in the near future from Guthrie or myself, if it seems a little DIY, it is, and know that the money we saved (sometimes around $5 for the eco, recycled paper, give money to women in Africa, etc cards) will now go into to getting you a better gift! :)

I try to send electronic birthday cards, though sadly, they are not as in vogue and seem like the easy way out or actually sending someone a card. I think they can be more fun to personalize and sometimes take even more time. Plus, who doesn't like an interactive card? You can look a it a few times, but once your birthday has come and gone, you usually just throw away the card anyway, right? Deleting the email is a lot more eco. Here is some info from RecycleWorks.org on holiday cards alone:

- 2.65 billion Christmas cards are sold each year in the US -- enough to fill a football field 10 stories high!
- if we each sent one less card, we'd save 50,000 cubic yards of paper

So, the next time you need a card, think about going electronic or recycling some materials you already have. That's what we are going to do!

Peace!

Nine - Water Conservation

Now that the summer heat is upon us, I think it is the most important time to talk about water conservation. There are some things Guthrie & I are trying to get into the habit of doing to cut back on our water consumption. We all know to turn off the water when brushing our teeth or when shaving, but there are some other things that we don't always thing about. 

When replacing the water for your pet, or getting rid of the last few sips from your cup on your night stand, don't just dump it down the drain. Pour into a houseplant or into a watering can (we have extra's now) to be used to water plants later.

Make sure to always have a full load before starting your dishwasher or laundry. Now with newer washers, you can choose the size of your load; pick the appropriate water level for the load you have. When washing dishes by hand, which we must do now, make sure the water stream is no wider than your thumb (and if you have big thumbs, judge appropriately). If you are scrubbing, turn off the tap. 

Water your yard or garden in the early morning or in the evening. If you water in the hot day-time sun, most of it evaporates before the plants really drink it. 

Here are some water facts from the EPA:

- An average family of four uses 400 gallons of water everyday day!

- Less than 1% of all the water on Earth can be used by people (the rest is salt water or frozen)

- Taking a shower uses much less water than filling a bathtub. A typical shower uses 10-25 gallons and a bath uses up to 70 gallons. 

Tip: If you take a bath (which I LOVE to do once in a while), plug the drain right away and adjust the temp as you go. When showering, time it -- 5 minutes or less. Or, double up with your loved one to conserve water. :)

Here's a link to shower timers on Amazon. Guthrie & I use to have one--I don't actually know what happened to it? I think I dropped it and broke it. But, after using it for a while, I got use to how fast 5 minutes goes by!

Car/bike washing tips - try not to use a hose. Most people just let it run. Make sure you have a bucket to and turn off the hose in between sprayings. Better yet, many car washes are recycling water now. Check with your local car wash to see if they do. 

A leaky toilet could waste about 200 gallons of water everyday! Here's a cool tip to test if your toilet is leaking (again from the EPA website): Put a drop of food coloring in the toilet tank. If the color shows up in the bowl without flushing, you have a leak!

Finally, he's a tip for conserving water with every flush. If you have a home, hopefully you already have a low-flush toilet. Or better still, a dual-flush toilet. Something I am interested in, though I do not know enough about it to truly recommend it, are dual-flush converter kits. They say they work with any toilet. There might be a later post once we research it more. Alright, enough background, here's the tip to save water every time you flush on those old toilets (good for renters):

1. Fill an old plastic bottle with water and screw on the cap.

2. Tie a string around the top.

3. Place in toilet tank and tape the string to the the tank at the back or side to hide the string. 

The water displacement will lower the amount of water used with each flush. With older toilets, they use too much water as it is. If you find your flushing power is a bit too week, pull the bottle out of the water a bit until you feel you have enough flushing power.

Peace!