How to tread as lightly as we can...yes, how?

(this is quite a long post, but I hope you'll stay with it and give some feedback from questions at the bottom!)

Before New York -Rediscovering the Wilderness of 1609 by Peter Miller

This is the title page article that has beckoned me for several days now, from the September 2009 issue of National Geographic. I guess I'm predisposed to gravitating toward such an article because I'm a history nut, especially this sort of anthropological history, which takes an educated stab at what Manhattan looked like 400 years ago. By using a map made by the British Army dating back to the Revolutionary War, and by taking one animal, the beaver, which happened upon the banks of the Bronx River in 2007 after years of restoration, one ecologist and a huge team of people were able to weave together an ecosystem where the beaver both depended on and was depended upon for food, shelter, water, trees, and many other animals, insects and elements. The artist - well, ecologist, -who spawned this idea of finding out what Manhattan looked like before too many people came, was able to come up with a virtual look at a wild Manhattan - a lovely forest with animals and trees that once had potential to be a park on par with Yellowstone.

What stood out to me the most about this article was this thing called the Muir web. "Consider a beaver that lived at Times Square in 1609. If you grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and lifted him out of the web, you'd find lines connecting him to a slowly meandering stream, to the aspen trees he ate, and to the mud and twigs he used to build a lodge. Not only that, you'd also find lines to the bobcats, bears and wolves that depended on him as prey and to the frogs, fish, and aquatic plants that lived in the pond he helped to create. 'The beaver, it turns out, is a landscape architect, just like people...You need him to flood the forest, which kills the trees that attract the woodpeckers that knock out cavities that wood ducks use for shelter.' Lifting a beaver out of the web disrupts cores of other residents which demonstrates how important it can be to think about an ecosystem as a network."

After reading this I began to think about what it would be like if someone in my "network" were lifted up out of this particular ecosystem. Individually, I thought, we may not have too much of a physical impact. For example, if I were lifted up out of this ecosystem, the environmental impact might not make too much difference - the air conditioner would still hum, the water would still run, gas and electricity in my house would still be used. I don't drive all that much, but that would be slightly lessened...you get my drift here. The husband, wife, father, mother of a household contributes different things to the survival of that unit, be it food, money, shelter, keeping the house clean, laundry clean, whatever. Ok. That said, we all know the bigger impact of an individual loss is the emotional one, even when the fallout affects other aspects of one's life. So it's interesting for me to think the same way about an actual ecosystem, like that of Mannahatta (Lenape people's name for Manhattan meaning "island of many hills" according to NG) 400 years ago, as individual species slowly died off in favor of infrastructure, people, "progress", growth, etc...a smaller picture of what is going on worldwide today. So what here is the emotional impact of our environmental destruction? A tree, for example, may continue to grow in the worst smog, drought, or poor-soil environment, but will that tree be as strong and healthy as a similar tree in a clean-air, soil-rich, healthy environment? Of course not - though they both may continue to grow at a similar rate. The effects of the environment on that first tree may be unseen, perhaps the seeds may be altered in some way though, and that will affect the way the next tree grows from that seed. This perhaps is the psychological equivalent to a child growing up in a family that doesn't function well or doesn't love the child.

In the way that invasive, non-native species often take over a piece of land, choking out native species and all the intricate, woven lives that surround them, we too, as a people are doing this at an alarming rate, causing so many different kinds of impacts we cannot possibly foresee. So what can we do? People, for now at least, are here to stay. A non-native species is invasive, as we are. My only thought is to come up with some life guidelines for treading lightly on this earth we call home in order to have the least impact with the homes that each of us live in.

Tread lightly.

Use the earth you have wisely.

Use the conveniences you have wisely.

Love your children as though they are the very seeds you plant for survival.

These are so general and I would love to hear what each of you have to say about this. Aside from the extremes like Low-Impact Man, what thoughts can you come up with that contribute to a general life set of guidelines for creating the least impact while still living where you are (meaning, I don't think too many people are willing to live in a Manhattan apartment without using electricity like Low-Impact Man)? And also, what are you doing that is "extreme" or out of the norm for where you live - or anywhere, for that matter?

-genny

by the way, if you want to see what NYC looked like from some random street 400 years ago, visit the Mannahatta Project here.

Going Green Gradually update - washrags

climbing flowers - Kauai

My aunt is pretty good at hand work. Did I mention that before? Anything I could ever want to do, she would be the go-to-girl . Between her and my mom, pretty much everything is covered. How lucky is that? Master craftspeople at my fingertips. I'm bragging now. And she might balk at the term, but you get the idea. Even the simplest things, I ask about. Like what kind of yarn to use if I wanted to crochet my own wash rags? I am just about done with the synthetic sponges I bought in bulk last year, and am thinking I won't buy them again. I know I can purchase these on Etsy, but come on now, I can make these (I'm guessing I'm not the only one who says this to herself!) 

When I was growing up, I had a lovely woman as my babysitter, but she became more like a Grandma. She was wonderfully loving and affectionate and kind. I'd like to say I learned as much from her as I did my own mother, and certainly more than any of my grandparents, who all lived in a day's drive away in southern California. I called her Grammy. When I was little, her lap was about the most comfortable spot in the whole house. From her, I learned about living with only a washing machine, no dryer, and hanging up the laundry on a line to dry, about scheduled meals, four o'clock crackers and grapefruit juice with vodka (good for the blood), homemade candy, the song of mockingbirds, and crocheted washrags. It was the only time I saw her do any type of handwork. She would wear out her kitchen washrag and would need another one. Crocheting merely served her as a practical use. 

So, not having had the foresight to ask Grammy herself (who passed away in '92, God bless her), my aunt Sheila had the answer. 100% cotton was best, she said. Several weeks later, I asked again just to remind myself. "Just a minute," was all she said as she walked into her room, re-emerging with these two lovely washrags she crocheted for me.

Yesterday, I confessed to her that I was having a hard time using them, they were so beautiful. "I knew you would," she told me.

In the picture there is my one and only Brandywine tomato that made it. The only one that came out at all. I think our weather isn't suited for these types of tomatoes. My hubby picked it late at night and thought it had ripened completely, but it hadn't. I had dreams about that tomato...well, I'll still partially fulfill them. 

Next post will be a delicious recipe for Gazpacho soup (but this tomato pictured is not slaughter-bound. It is going between two slices of yummy bread with some basil).

Going Green Gradually update - deodorant

homemade deodorant

Yesterday I finally did it. I've been thinking about it for so long, knowing I wanted to do it. So overwhelmed with the task of...buying the right ingredients. I made my own deodorant. I am quite pleased with the results. Not too difficult either...shea butter, cocoa butter, and two that I already have on hand - baking soda and corn starch. I had Lavender essential oil but I bought Sweet Orange to add to it. I have leftovers of everything but the cocoa butter which I bought very cheaply in bulk- the exact amount I needed. I originally saw this recipe over at Angry Chicken.

3 Tbs. Shea Butter

3 Tbs. Baking Soda

2 Tbs. Corn Starch

2 Tbs. Cocoa Butter

2 Vitamin E oil gel caps - (which I did not use, but I can see this would probably emulsify it more, although I don't have a problem with just rubbing a little-it warmed up pretty quickly and easily)

lots of essential oil (I used 20 Lavender drops and 10 orange and I can barely smell it. I don't think I can smell the orange at all. Next time I will add a little more. The overwhelming smell though, for me at least, is the cocoa butter, which is heavenly in itself.)

Wore it yesterday, was perfect, didn't get oily, didn't dry out my skin, and best of all, in the middle of August? I didn't have the scent of summer. If you know what I mean. Actually, best of all, I don't have to wonder about some of the unpronounceable ingredients as in my previous deodorant. I wouldn't be surprised if this became part of my handmade Christmas gifts to friends and family (for those who I think might like it). I also realized how easy it would be to make a lip balm or a nice lotion, maybe with just a slight variation of this recipe.

-genny

Going Green Gradually update

lovely, but what's it called? (new garden, dedicated to women, Portland State University, July, 2009)

I have been making some changes on the going green gradually front, and I have not noted them as they've been happening, so here is an update.

First and foremost, I stopped washing my hair! I refuse to call this it's popular name, as it is rather gross ("no-poo" for those who haven't heard it before). But, here's what happened - I found myself in the not uncommon position about 5 weeks ago of having not washed my hair in 3 days. I was about to wash when I just stopped and realized it was the perfect time to start this stoppage (I'd planned on waiting until Tristan was older). My hair did it's adjustment, getting oily as a reaction to the constant stripping of natural oils over the years, and then it looked great after about 2 weeks. Then I made the silly mistake of using vinegar (apple cider vinegar) straight on my hair - remembering reading somewhere about that and being too lazy to research it again. Well, apparently, I now know, that doing that causes another oil reaction to the vinegar, so my hair got a little oily again (and very easy to comb my otherwise curly, difficult to comb hair). Then I read on the blog These Days in French Life (one major source of inspiration for me) to use a little diluted baking soda as a shampoo replacement and a little diluted vinegar as a conditioning replacement (although she doesn't describe it quite like that...) anyhow, I used the baking soda and it truly is a shampoo replacement. My hair looks better now than it ever has, and I feel much better now that I've nixed the shampoo and all its cancer-causing agents and environmental poisons. Not too mention the cost of shampoo and conditioner! This I deem a permanent change. It took me awhile, psychologically, to be willing to do this, but now that I have I'm very happy about it. Using a bristle brush every night brings the natural oils down, and if you have hair that frizzes or curls easily in the humidity, as mine does, this is your natural de-frizzing gel! (I read somewhere the recalling of Laura Ingalls Wilder of Little House on the Prairie brushing her hair 100 times every night...now I know why).

Clothes are still going on the line. My mom pointed out that my initial savings may have been because of the seasonal change. Some of it probably was, but I know we knocked off a good chunk of our gas bill because of the clothes going on the line rather than the dryer.

Our compost hole is pretty much filled up and we started a new one, hopefully using our compost in a small upcoming garden.

We have started ordering small boxes of fruits and veggies from a small farm called Capay Farms...will be delivered to our door along with some neighbors' boxes as well. 

Our tomatoes are ripening and we are eating them heartily! (little orange pieces of candy, really, that even Tristan likes! Yay!)

I continue to make my own cereal from organic ingredients bought from our local co-op. 

Am on the lookout for homemade detergent recipe (Nicola...?)

I am getting a lot of inspiration from the blogs These Days in French Life, The Well-Rounded Child, and my current book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I am excited too, as I am now so much more willing to make changes as I see that what I do is mostly out of habit, and once a new habit forms, it too becomes easy. Like the clothesline and compost.

genny

Devouring a wonderful new book

"How did supermarket vegetables lose their palatability, with so many people right there watching? The Case of the Murdered Flavor was a contract killing, as it turns out, and long-distance travel lies at the heart of the plot. The odd notion of transporting fragile produce dates back to the early twentieth century when a few entrepreneurs tried shipping lettuce and artichokes, iced down in boxcars, from California eastward over the mountains as a midwinter novelty. Some wealthy folks were charmed by the idea of serving out-of-season (and absurdly expensive) produce items to their dinner guests. It remained little more than an expensive party trick until mid-century, when most fruits and vegetables consumed in North America were still being produced on nearby farms....Then fashion and marketing got involved...In just a few decades, the out-of-season vegetable moved from novelty status to such an ordinary item, most North Americans now don't know what out-of-season means."
-from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (p.48)

My goal of going green gradually has changed my way of looking at so many different things, including my househole chores, the food I eat, the hobbies I play in, and the books I read. I finally picked up my copy of this great book by one of my favorite authors (I've read all of her fiction, but this is my first time reading her non-fiction) at the Portland, Oregon Saturday farmer's market. This is really changing my thinking, probably for good. I've long lamented to my husband about the lack of taste in certain fruits and veggies bought from conventional markets, and I'm learning why that is...and why those fruit that are picked well before they are ripe never seem to ripen well, and how 98% of the seeds for our food supply comes from just 6 companies (eesh!), and lots of other super interesting things...this book is chockful of goodness!

Many months ago, my husband and I decided we would like to have some acreage of our own. Not much, just enough. Enough to plant our own garden and as many fruit trees as possible. Enough to be able to learn from our mistakes and try out new things. My foray into composting this year is just the beginning, I hope, of a lifelong learning process. It is exciting to think about. I keep my ears open for hints and tips that will come in handy in the future. We will learn much more about companion plants, ideal crop rotation, and nature's best pesticide (no chemicals please! - I remember a college roommate keeping capfuls of beer near her little herb garden to keep the slugs away...) Maybe I can even learn about canning this year, as we have a nectarine tree that delivers the sweetest nectarines I've ever tasted...almost all at once. When we return to our home after this lovely little trip, we will check to see how much longer until the nectarines are ripe, and I will start planning a canning spree around subsequent summer vacation time.

My interest is especially perked as I read in this lovely book about heirlooms vegetable varieties (there is a lot more than just heirloom tomatoes) - you know how I am about all things history...well, imagine getting to taste history! It's so exciting to think about growing vegetables, living things, that are almost extinct (almost a Jurassic Park quality about it, only more natural) I'm so looking forward to one day growing some heirloom varieties of vegetables, so excited to see how they taste! I told my hubby we would definitely do that someday, but that we should probably get some practice first so we don't waste precious heirloom seeds on our learning curve...

I am so excited to be reading this book, so excited to be learning about the food we eat, about how it's not just important to eat organically, but maybe even just as important (if not more) to eat locally. I am learning about alternative possibilities, and picking up little hints, tips and tricks from neighbors, friends and other blogs.

It is so interesting and wonderful where life leads.

A new look at Jack and Jill, Looking to the past for answers

Lately I have been thinking about how people lived in the past, and how they were naturally more environmentally conscious than we are now because so much less was available. Machines weren't being made for household use yet, chemical companies weren't bombarding us with as many products and grocery stores had maybe one item available for cleaning. Might it have been vinegar? Or baking soda (which I'm finding cleans my sinks way better than the 7th Generation spray I was using)?

Surely, you've heard this:

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after.

But have you heard the second stanza?

Then up Jack got and off did trot as fast as he could caper,

to old Dame Dob who patched his knob with vinegar and brown paper.

Why? Because vinegar is antiseptic, and it's been around for quite awhile. There are articles all over the web about this and vinegar's other myriad of uses. I mentioned once before that I am on a path to discover all the lovely things vinegar can do and what it can replace in my home: cleaning products, beauty products and things I can't imagine yet, but looking online can give me direction. I just have to try some of these myself.

One thing I thought it might work with is getting rid of ants. Since the weather has turned warmer, ants have invaded our kitchen and trying to keep them off the countertops and now the floor has not been fun. I looked online and several people said that vinegar can help. I tried it but it doesn't really help. It helps clean the floor, it gets rid of the ants for awhile, but then they return - not immediately, but eventually.

I've been thinking about how my lifestyle has changed lately, hanging clothes instead of machine drying them (by the way, our gas bill was reduced by over $100 the month after I started doing this), holding onto kitchen scraps for the compost, being more conscientious about what I buy and use, and wondering how all of us could look to the past to see how people lived in order to live more in line with the environment today. I'd like to ask anyone reading this right now to think about any "green" thing you do in your life that is not much different than how your grandmother or grandfather (or further back) might have done. Or better yet, something that you remember your grandparents doing that was better for the environment than a current norm. Please send me a comment about anything you come up with.

I think our predecessors were onto something.

A lesson in composting

The last few days have been spring cleaning days, and I visited a woman with a compost in her backyard and learned something - mainly, what I've been doing wrong. I've been adding kitchen "green" scraps - banana peels, eggshells, stems, apple and cucumber peelings, etc. that's o.k., but covering them with dirt and adding water every few days. Not supposed to add dirt. Nope. I need grass clippings. This woman has a pile of grass in her compost and she dug her hand in there and said, "Feel how warm it is underneath all that." So I put my hand in the little grass pile and sure enough, it was baking in there! That stuff was doing some serious decomposing. I went out to the street today and got some grass clippings. Hopefully they're not filled with neighbors' chemicals!

Today was an office-cleaning day and I'm hoping this will inspire me to make the shirt I've been wanting to make out of some lovely Amy Butler Midwest Modern fabric. This little Spring Top Week contest is a motivation (see the little button on my sidebar).

Hope everyone's week is going well!

Going green gradually

clothes hanging near tricycle

It is raining now, in Northern California, and these showers are greatly needed. The old adage goes, "April showers bring May flowers," but I can't help but think of how this will bring on more mosquitoes as well. Uplifting, I know, but last night at the play park, my son was attacked by mosquitoes. So were we, but I just saw him standing there surrounded by monstrous mosquitoes.

At the zoo a few days ago, I was looking at a display about how frogs are disappearing and dying off because of so many pollutants that contaminate our environment. Their skin is apparently too thin to withstand the onslaught of everything that we put out there. The question is then asked, if all the frogs disappear, what will become of their predators and their prey?

Indeed, what? And that is why I am picturing these mosquitoes. I am wondering if something has become of their predators...larger insects, small amphibians and what not, perhaps dying due to some environmental pollutant? Am I contributing to this in any way? If so, how can I change that action to something positive? I have said before that my son, god-willing, will live another 80 some-odd years on this planet, and already I can see the difference in our local environment since my own childhood. Hotter summers and more mosquitoes are just the tip of the iceberg. Change from us as individuals needs to happen quickly, before that see-saw has tipped too far in the wrong direction. Slowly but surely, I am making changes. I can only hope that everyone else is too.

I have two great sites I visit regularly. One is the blog (listed on My Blog List in the sidebar as well) of my friend , Cheryl, called The Well-Rounded Child. Cheryl is a wonderful advocate and resource for changing your ways and going green gradually. This post of hers called, "Why Greenify?" has wonderful info on basic steps to take on changing our ways when it comes to food, household cleaners and body products. Also on my sidebar under "Places I Like To Go In Digi-land" is Healthy Child, Healthy World -go here and click on the "5 Steps" box to see what you can do in your own home to make some changes. It is also a great resource.

My next project is to see how much I can do with vinegar!

Sunday suppers, grace, less waste

bountiful organic garden in Esalen, Big Sur

Sunday night suppers have been a tradition with my father and step-mother for around 10 years. Several months ago it became an issue with Tristan because after his nap he would want to stay home and getting him changed and dressed and over there for supper by 5:30 became too much of a forceful event and no longer fun, so I put it on hold for awhile. I'm hoping that now spring is here and he's a little older, maybe we can start to go again. Sunday supper, after all, is where Tristan learned about "Grace." My father, though not overly religious in any one direction, starts each supper with a grace. "Dear God, thank you for the food you have set before us and for the precious hands that prepared it." Tristan seemed to love the idea of holding hands before a meal and as often as his daddy and he and I sit down together for a meal, there is also a grace. Tristan initiates it usually by spreading wide his hands to hold one of each of ours. "Say grace Tristan." "Mommy say grace." O.k., I say grace - something long and overly inclusive. Then I say, "O.k. now Tristan's turn." Tristan has a lovely, simple grace. He bows his head low, and then very quietly he says, "Dear God thank you for the food. I love you God. Amen." How sweet is that?

In the book I mentioned in the April 4th entry, You Are Your Child's First Teacher by Rahima Baldwin Dancy, she talks about the importance of grace before meals also. The one she mentions that I like best (unfortunately she cites the author as "Unknown") goes like this:

Before the flour, the mill,

Before the mill, the grain,

Before the grain, the sun and rain,

The beauty of God's will.

Yesterday, my hubby and I in a three-hour period got to plant 8 varieties of tomatoes, 3 varieties of cucumbers, some garlic and some dill. Some of the ground we planted in hasn't seen a plant in decades. I am far from being an expert on soil but this little patch in particular gets a good 6 or 7 hours of sun each day, at least in the spring and summer. We'll see how that goes. We also planted a few of the items in containers. We had great luck with containers last year and hope to have more luck with them this year. Planting our own veggies definitely gives me more consideration about wasting food. We have such a plentiful state here in California. Food is everywhere, easy to get and the varieties are endless, all the time. How spoiled we are here! But when we are growing our own, I become more mindful of what gets lost - the squirrels who get the tangerines and persimmons before we do, the little hands that pick the tomato before it's ripe! I am so happy that Tristan has taken to saying grace, as it gives a little moment of pause to remember just where the food came from, the energy and time that went into growing and picking, and to be mindful of its waste. One nice thing about having that compost hole is that I can often put some of the waste back where it belongs. I do notice that between composting our kitchen scraps and recycling, our garbage has become smaller, which was one of my main goals in creating the compost. I think I'll call the city and order a smaller garbage can. That will save a little bit more!

Have a wonderful Monday.

Hanging it up to dry, oral traditions

I was unable to finish writing this on Tuesday and avoided the internet due to the April Fool's internet worm on Wednesday, so "today" refers to Tuesday and "yesterday" refers to Monday.
Yesterday, Tristan awoke from his nap with a fever. He later got sick (threw up) - and took a bath and then nursed for hours 'til he slept. This morning he woke up, still feverish, saying, "I'm all better now," and decided he wanted to go outside immediately. Getting dressed is usually an hour-long process for him but today he started the process of taking off his own pajamas! What was the lure outside? Besides the beautiful spring weather of course...it was the dirt pile next to our new compost hole. He got to play with his bulldozer and dump truck in the dirt, and use his toy hand shovel and rake, and I, lucky me (seriously) got to hang up our laundry to dry on one of the nearby lines my hubby strung up yesterday. Tristan's fever broke sometime during this playtime, and as I started in on my second load of clothes to hang dry, I got to reap the rewards of this new way of doing laundry: it dries faster in the sun than it does in the machine. And I fold them as I pull them down instead of leaving them in a heap in the basket to fold "later." Not to mention the energy and money I'm saving. Obviously, as a stay-at-home mom I have more time at home than a lot of people do, and it does take a few extra minutes to hang them (although truly not more than 5 minutes for an average load), but I hope by doing this I can inspire others to do this as well. And it was a fun way to be outside with my boy!
A couple of days ago I spontaneously told Tristan the story about Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox and the briar patch. I had my own version that didn’t include tar-baby, but telling it inspired me to look up more of these folk stories usually passed on by oral tradition. I found a plethora of the Brer Rabbit series here. I hope to read through some and tell them to Tristan. He’s always asking for a story and it comes in handy if I can’t read to him, like in the bathtub or while I’m driving or doing some dishes or hanging the laundry!

(l)Tristan kite-flying! (r)compost hole

Yesterday, Sunday, was very industrious. We finished digging our compost hole in the backyard, and it got to be so windy that we decided to give the kite another try! We went back to the very place where my kite-flying memories took place, back in the junior-high school field. After several nose-dives our big-fishy kite took up, up, up to the sky! My husband is from Iran and told me that when he was young he would make and sell kites, so he taught me a couple of things about flying yesterday. Once you've got that baby up there, put the string directly onto the ground, not the roll of string, the actual string, and the kite will start to come right up above you. And when it starts to nose dive, give it some slack instead of pulling on it, and it will float in that tiger wind instead of fight it. Yeah! We have different ideas on how to get it up in the air initially, he likes to unreel it and have another person lift it up and let go of it once it catches a wind. I'm more of a DIY kind-of-gal (he might say stubborn!) and I like to hold the reel and let a little string out until the kite catches a small wind, then unreel slowly as it goes up, pulling and releasing as necessary. Both ways worked yesterday!

When we came home for soup and garlic bread, my son decided he wanted to go to our neighborhood ice cream shop after lunch, so I volunteered to make ice cream instead (not wanting him to have the sugar, especially just before nap!). I'd been wanting to try this ice-cream in a bag anyway that everyone except me seems to know about. I'd bought some rock salt, put it in a big bag with some ice. Combined soy-milk, strawberries, half a banana and a little agave syrup in our little Bullet (small blender) and blended it, poured it in a smaller bag and sealed it, then put the whole thing in the bag of ice and salt, sealed that and shook it vigorously for 5 minutes. At the end of all that, we had a small serving of soft ice-cream (although not as soft as I thought it would be). All the online recipes called for milk, sugar and vanilla flavoring, none of which I wanted to give Tristan - he's never been a cow-milk drinker since his dad and I are lactose-intolerant, and I attribute sugar to many of the worlds problems (not to mention a diabetic epidemic on my hubby's side of the family)!

While Tristan napped after lunch, I finished my latest collage-card paper-cut scene - A field of poppies! I like this one. Then I watched T.V. - Sunday afternoon? Not much on. Came back to my "office" and started making this cute door-handle bag with a free pattern I got from a great new blog I discovered called JCasa Handmade (on sidebar too). She's got some free patterns, interesting subjects and is fun to read.

So it was no wonder I slept like a log and woke up a little groggy...ah Monday...gym day. I'll knock this groggy-ness right out with a steam-room session!

Multitasking

Great blogs, backyard composting 101

backyard wisteria, early spring

I am having so much fun looking at all the great blogs and then finding lists of more blogs in the great blogs I'm seeing! I've found some real treasures and great resources, ideas, free patterns, good writing and just plain fun. I've listed some of my favorite finds in my blog list in the sidebar.

Today is a beautiful Northern California day - sunny, 74 degrees and a great day for being outside. This morning I decided to take on the task of starting a small composting space in our backyard, something I've wanted to do for awhile. I looked online for some guidelines, and then spoke to our neighbor whose backyard faces ours (only a cyclone fence with ivy, honeysuckle and wisteria separating the yards) and open up to each other via a little gate at the end of the fence. His backyard is a huge organic garden and it is a pleasure to watch it grow and blossom. He gave us a little seasonal tour, showed us the new ground for soon-to-be-planted veggies, let us pick some snow and snap peas, and gave a little advice on starting a compost.

After our foray, or perhaps I should say our forage, my son and I reached into the nether corners of our shed and pulled out two shovels and our aerator - I think that's what it is called - the four-pined ground breaker-upper might be a better description! Anyway, I got to work watering the ground and breaking up the dirt, then Tristan and I shoveled the dirt in a pile next to the hole. We dug about 6 inches down into dirt I thought was dry as a desert - and found 3 worms!! That took about 45 minutes and my little guy was a great helper - he loves dirt! Still have a ways to go. I will post more about this when there is more to tell.

Sign of the Times

couch, lamp, early spring

The "clothesline" collage-card scene that I posted on March 21st seems to be following a trend of ideas that are indicative of the current economic situation as well as the environmental crisis that we face. I sit here everyday and can easily see our neighbors yard. He had a ton of space and used it to create a huge, beautiful organic garden including a small orchard with trees that have blossomed. It's great to see such bounty so close to such a busy street.

I've noticed the trend in my own home too. We are going to farmer's market lately - more often than we used to, and we are making a lot of our own food. My husband makes great homemade yogurt that we all love to eat daily. We strained it through a cheesecloth and made some yogurt-cheese to use hopefully instead of cream cheese. I've been making my own cereal by using old-fashioned rolled oats, nuts, dried fruit, honey, oil and spices and it is delicious. I eat cereal often and it is not cheap, so making it saves us a little bit o' money. We've been eating brown rice and veggies or salad with homemade dressing (also saves a bit).

On the going green gradually front, I've asked my hubby if he minded if we stopped buying the big plastic trash bags for our tall trash can and go back to using the paper bags we get from the store. He said yes - the only downside there is we'll have to be more conscientious about taking it out more often when it gets full. Also, I got the clothespins I've been looking for. Now my hubby has the lovely task of hanging a rope out somewhere in our backyard and I'll try a hand at NOT using the dryer!! We'll see how that goes.

Little by little is how this is going. Oh, and I found this great site through Elizabeth Mitchell's (the musician, not the actress) website. It gives specific info about having a healthier home environment for your children - (and more friendly for our Mother Earth) in "Five easy steps." If you have a child, this is a must. See the website http://healthychild.org/5steps for more information. I've also posted this in my "Places I like to go in digi-land" list.