Green v. Green

2010 Year in Review

2010-12-26T13:51:00.000-05:00

This will probably be our final blog posting since the year is over, and the blog has served its purpose and run its course. We've made a few lists to summarize the year here.

Biggest Money-savings:
Aside from reducing consumption in general, big savings came from Day 8: Buying only used clothing (along with Day 126: Shopping Diet and Day 132: Minimalist Fashion), and Day 2: Free Over-the-Air TV and Day 37: Giving Up Cable.

Biggest Eco-impact:
Day 3: One Car or Two? and Day 33: One Car Family - This has also been a trying experience at times but we're still hanging in there.

Biggest Surprise:
Day 131: Homemade Microwave Popcorn and Day 94: Using a Mason Jar - Homemade popcorn tastes great and a mason jar is super-handy.

Biggest Disaster:
Day 38: Find a used cargo trike - It was too heavy to be practical in our hilly neighborhood.

Most popular postings:
Tony's Pee Week Series (Day 84, Day 83, Day 82)

Things that worked great and we will keep doing:

Day 4: Buy Local Milk
Day 7: Make Bread, Don't Buy It
Day 13: Composting
Day 16: Buying Local Ice Cream
Day 21: Cut Down on Junk Mail
Day 22: Buy Eco-Friendly Toilet Paper
Day 23: Use Cloth Napkins
Day 24: Buy Recycled Paper Towels
Day 30: Stop Wearing Nail Polish - I actually stopped wearing makeup altogether but somehow forgot to post about it.
Day 47: Organic Half-n-Half
Day 48: Do a Spin Class
Day 58: Wash Clothes in Cold Water - I forget sometimes; Tony forgets all of the time.
Day 59: Find a Way to Recycle #5 Plastic - I won't ship it anymore; I found a recycling center for it.
Day 60: Re-Use Glass Jars
Day 65: Not Wasting Food
Day 66: Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap
Day 67: Handkerchiefs instead of tissues
Day 79: Get Kids Involved with Food and Day 80: Pack Better Kid Lunches
Day 86: Eco-Toothpaste and Day 85: Eco-Deodorant
Day 81: Start a Garden, Day 87: Keep Planting Things, and Day 104: Keep a Garden -I wouldn't say this worked "great" but it was inexpensive and fun, and I enjoyed watching my "black thumb" attempts at growing stuff.
Day 35: Eco-Dishwashing detergent and Day 88: Dishwashing Detergent
Day 94: Keep a Mason Jar Handy
Day 95: Pick Up Trash
Day 102: Have a Car-Free Weekend
Day 106: Buy in Bulk
Day 109: Drink Local Beer
Day 14: Reduce Use of Meat and Day 114: Meatless Monday
Day 118: Reduce Consumption
Day 98: Support Local Farmers and Day 128: Farmer's Market
Day 126: Shopping Diet and Day 132: Minimalist Fashion
Day 133: Do Some Yoga
Day 134: Buy Local Eggs - It is harder than it sounds, but so worth it.
Day 139: Rake Leaves - I enjoyed this even if Tony prefers the lawn blower!
Day 143: Skip Black Friday

Things that didn't work out so well or were more trouble than they were worth:

Day 6: Tony's Shampoo Experiment
Day 19: Unsubscribe from all magazines -Rather than banning all magazines, we've settled on two that we like: Runner's World for Megan and New York for Tony.
Day 20: The 3/50 Project - It's a great project but we don't really spend that much each month, so technically we're not truly participating.
Day 27: Tony Running Barefoot
Day 18: Turn off the Freezer and Day 34: Trying to turn off the freezer
Day 36: Buy Carbon Offsets - Annie Leonard came to Elon and basically told me they were a waste.
Day 44: Use Human Power to Get Groceries - I'm lazy, what can I say.
Day 57: Wash my face with water heated in microwave - I just quit wearing makeup, so this isn't an issue.
Day 78: Smile More - Just kidding, I'll keep working on this.
Day 90: Save graywater for plants - This felt too disgusting and not worth it.
Day 92: Homemade beet lipstick - This was too mushy, smells bad, and is not portable.
Using Flattr for tips and Day 1: Using Adsense
Vinegar as Cleaning Agent - It's not that it was all that terrible, but it wasn't all that effective either.
Day 142: Tankless Water Heater &; Day 138: Energy Star Tax Credit
Day 144: Small Business Saturday - It turns out most small businesses don't actually take Amex.

Recipes & Cooking:

Day 10: Homemade Yogurt
Day 15: Homemade Apple Sauce
Day 32: Lentils
Day 43: Homemade Broth
Day 64: Homemade Granola
Whole Wheat Bread
Day 93: Eat Dandelions
Day 110: Sugar Snaps and Shiitakes
Day 111: Loca-Zania
Day 112: Blackberries
Day 113: Sweet Eggplant Zucchini Salad
Day 115: Simple Food
Day 120: Orzo Pasta Salad and Grilled Eggplant with Peanut Sauce
Day 122: Quick Zucchini "Pasta"
Day 123: Fingerling Potato Salad with Capers and Dill
Day 127: Blueberry-Cinnamon Muffins
Day 129: Scuppernong-Peach Salsa
Day 140: Collard Greens
Day 141: Pepper Steak

Things we learned about:

Eco-Stunts
Day 89: How Processed Food is Made Pt 1 and Day 91: Part Two
Offshore Drilling
Day 105: Coal Ash and more coal ash
Day 106: Medical Waste Incineration
Day 107: Home Star Legislation
Day 108: The School Lunch Program
Day 100: Mountaintop Removal and More on Mountaintop Removal Mining
Day 121: Single Use Disposables
Genetically-Modified Foods
Day 137: Mechanically Separated Meat

Project 1969: The Cabin That Time Forgot

2010-12-24T21:32:00.002-05:00

Throughout the past year, Megan and I have frequently discussed foregoing modern amenities in the name of "saving green" or "going green." However, during the past two days we have taken the experiment to another level and in a different direction.

About a week ago, the two of us were discussing our annual trip to Pilot Mountain and trying concoct ways to make it more "awesome." Last year, we braved an ice storm that had closed much of the state, hiked to the top of the mountain, did some rock climbing, and then cuddled up in a cozy tobacco barn-turned-log cabin. This year, with no snow in the forecast and less motivation to do the climbing, we were struggling to find some other way to make this holiday trip special. When I suggested that we leave behind our phones and laptops, Megan one-upped me by suggesting we should leave behind all technology. Within a few minutes, though, we realized that "no technology = no fun" and opted to choose an arbitrary year as our technology cutoff.

We eventually settled on 1969. This was almost two generations ago, which meant we would be walking in the footsteps of our grandparents. It also was just a few years before Megan and I were born, so it is distant enough to be challenging but not impossible for us to imagine the lifestyle. It was also a pivotal year for technology. In July, men walked on the moon. In October, the first data packets were sent over DARPANet, the network that would later become the Internet.

We spent a week watching movies (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy) and listening to music (Led Zeppelin's first album, Jimi Hendrix) from the 1960s to set the mood. We wouldn't be able to watch or listen to any of these during the trip because we don't have an 8-track player or a record player or even a cassette player. We quickly discovered that even AM radio no longer offers the musical selection it once did. After doing a bit of research on the Web, relying heavily on Wikipedia and the 1969 Sears Wish Book, we left behind the following items that we would have normally taken:

iPad
mobile phones (smart phone and dumb phone - we left them in separate rooms so they wouldn't get into trouble)
GPS navigator
laptops
digital cameras
CD/DVD players
automatic door lock key fob
clothes with Thinsulate
digital watch
Bailey's Irish Cream (not invented until 1974!)
dark chocolate M&Ms (not invented until 2006)

While credit cards existed in 1968 (the predecessors to Visa and Mastercard appeared in 1958 and 1966), we opted to take only one and try really hard not to use it, relying instead on cash (invented 3000 years ago). A few other things that I packed that I felt were very appropriate for the 1960s included:

guitar
white cotton undershirts and briefs
thick wool socks
cotton/polyester blend sweatshirts (non-fleece)
Boggle
Yahtzee
wood pencils
Jiffy Pop popcorn (in the foil pan)
peanuts
beef jerky
buggy whip and oil lamp (just kidding)

We tried to find and purchase a 35mm camera for use on the trip. At Grandpappy's Antique Emporium, we found a few that dated back to the 1950s. However, I was not sure if these would take a modern 35mm cartridge. Trying again at Camera Corner, we discovered the only 35mm camera they had was a disposable one! Once out of its cardboard packaging, it looked and worked (only 27 exposures, simple flash, no LCD preview or photo review) much like the Kodak cameras of the late 60s so we felt this would meet the requirements of the project. Megan really wanted a typewriter but the only ones we found were about $25 and did not come with extra ribbon and we had no idea how to get a ribbon to fit. She thought about various strategies for re-inking an existing ribbon, but time was a'ticking.

While I have three watches, I rarely wear one since I can always check my iPhone for the time. Of the three, only two are analog and only one of those has a working battery. However, after watching Peter Fonda throws his watch to the ground before beginning his cross-country journey in Easy Rider, I opted to go without a timepiece for my own time-traveling adventure. Megan thought that not having watches made it fun when it was time for the free B&B breakfast, since there was only a one-hour window and missing it meant struggling to find a 1969-style breakfast in a pinch. Luckily, we made it both days.

Stopping to get fuel for the truck along the way, I insisted that Megan sit in the driver's seat while I did my best to play the role of the gas station attendant. I vaguely recall full service gas stations and enjoyed slowly checking the fluid levels, cleaning the windows, and addressing Megan as "Ma'am" a lot.

When we arrived at the cabin, one of the first things I did was stow the microwave and the VHS player into the closet. I left the color TV out, though it was useless since without a satellite receiver or VHS/DVD, it would have only worked with analog TV signals that are no longer broadcast.

Remarkably, we spent the rest of the weekend doing pretty much the same things that we would have done even if we weren't trying to get by on 1969 technology. We hiked. We made a fire. We drank wine. We talked. My hand would reach for an iPhone that wasn't there each time sat down at a restaurant. No check-ins to Foursquare. No updates to Facebook. Megan argued convincingly that my hand should be reaching for HER HAND when we sit down, instead of grasping my electronic pocket pal. Still, it was mildly odd to be so detached from the internet. Megan and I usually are quite quick to broadcast some interesting experience or photo with friends and family. Broadcasting in 1969 consisted of speaking loudly to the people in the same room, or maybe having a ham radio. Without the ability to instantly update her status or Google for some fact, Megan started a queue of things to do when she returned to her digital life. She kept a list of things she needed to look up, wrote her Facebook statuses in a journal with a pen, and attempted to timestamp each one. Of course, without a watch, that was an exercise in guessing.

As Megan pointed out, being as unplugged from the world as we were borders on irresponsible. To leave behind phones or to not check email daily is seen by many to be shirking duty to family and to work. ("What if there is an emergency!?!") However, by disconnecting from the world, I felt we connected with each other better. Without the distractions of the ever-present glowing rectangles, I could focus more intently on what Megan was saying to me. When Timothy Leary popularized the phrase, "Turn on, tune in, drop out," he was extolling psychedelic drugs as a way to remove oneself from society and to gain better knowledge of oneself. Forty years later, I think that simply pressing the OFF button might be a better alternative.

And now, Megan's list of "mosts" for your enjoyment.

Most Missed Item: contact lenses

Least Missed Item: cell phone

Most Annoying Thing to Try to Do in 1969 Style: operate the car as if it did not have automatic locks

Most Disappointing Thing: Jiffy Pop

Most Thrilling: walking around with giant wads of cash

Most Guaranteed to Make You Feel Poor: using a disposable camera

Note from Megan: Dude, in 2010 even Barbie dolls come with video cameras in them now. People looked at this expired, plastic cheapo camera like it had cooties when we handed it to them to take our picture. Actually, maybe we smelled like 1969 and that face they made was really about us. Oh, now I feel bad...

Thing We Most Need to Bring Back from 1969 into 2010: hot food served a la carte

Note from Megan: An egg sandwich should be one egg on toast. It should cost $1.25. It should not be served on stale "ciabatta" with limp frisee and come with two crappy side dishes and cost $6.99.

The 1969 Thing That You Didn't Expect to See in 2010 But Actually There Are a Lot More Than You'd Think: pay phones

Thing That She Refused to Give Up for This Experiment Even Though It Didn't Exist So She Totally Cheated and She Doesn't Care What You Say: fleece

Note from Megan: I mean, are you crazy? It's 20 degrees out and I'm not buying a whole new wardrobe for this cockamamy project. Please. Polyester was invented then, just not in this particular format. It's close. Cut me some slack.

Things That Were Technically Invented But We Still Didn't Use: credit cards, ATMs (1967), TaB cola, fast food, soft contacts (invented but not commercially available in the US until 1971), microwave (1946 but not commercially available until 70s).

Day 144: Small Business Saturday

2010-11-24T07:59:00.000-05:00

Register your American Express card for Small Business Saturday (11/27) and they'll give a $25 credit on your billing statement if you spend at least $25 at a small business. Way to support local businesses! Of course, you have to find a small business that actually takes Amex, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Day 143: Skip Black Friday

2010-11-23T14:21:00.006-05:00

To me, Black Friday shopping means going to some hellish Big Box at 5am to stampede through the doors trying to beat other shoppers to some plastic gadget gizmo that I don't need and probably don't really want but have been brainwashed into thinking that I do, and have been advertised to believe is of great value to me and worth getting up at an ungodly hour for.

NO THANKS.

This Thanksgiving, give yourself a break and just hang out with your family and friends or your cat or whatever. Watch a movie, play board games, go for a run. But don't feed the shopping machine.

Day 142: Why is it so D@#* tough to get a tankless water heater?!?

2010-11-21T09:53:00.003-05:00

A few days ago, Megan mentioned the Energy Star tax credit for tankless water heaters. I thought I'd share a few details from our experience in water heater shopping for those of you that might be considering this option.

A few weeks ago, Megan pointed out that there was a puddle of water under our hot water heater and I should "do something about it." I wasn't sure if this was a condensation or a slow leak that we hadn't noticed from before so I soaked up the spill, dried the floor with a fan, and went about my other chores for awhile. When I came back, there as a pancake-sized puddle again. I still couldn't tell where the leak was coming from, though, so I cleaned it up a second time. Checking on it a few minutes later, I noticed that the puddle in the back was a bit muddier and a small bit of rust-colored water was running down the back seam of the heater. As I stood up, I realized that the seam had actually ruptured near the top. A spray of dried mud was clearly visible on the wall behind the heater. I sighed realizing this meant buying a new hot water heater.

The water heater we had was 40-gallon, gas-powered, vented Rheem Fury that was installed when the house was constructed in 1991. In the spirit of "going green," I started searching the Energy Star options at both Sears and Home Depot. There was three replacement Kenmore models at Sears, ranging from $530 to $750.

Of course, Megan and I had been talking about tankless water heaters for awhile. The 30% tax rebate on tankless water heaters ends in December 2010, so we took this as a sign that it might be the right time to invest in this. While Consumer Reports noted that it would take 20 years to see a return on tankless models, I don't think they factored in the 30% tax rebate.

Checking Home Depot, I found the Rheem EcoSense ECO-200PVN. Home Depot offers Rheem models that deliver 5.3, 7.4, 8.4, and 9.5 gallons per minute. However, the 5.3 and 7.4 GPM models can raise the temperature of the water 45 degrees while the 8.4 and 9.5 GPM models can only raise it 35 degrees. The cost comparison shows how these factors counterbalance.

5.3 GPM, 45° = $860
7.4 GPM, 45° = $1200
8.4 GPM, 35° = $1000
9.5 GPM, 35° = $1200

I called Home Depot, was put on hold for about 15 minutes, and was eventually told that they didn't have any tankless units in stock but could order one. I'd also have to call a separate number (1-800-HOME-DEPOT) to arrange installation. This number turned out to be a computer that had trouble understanding me.

Since I really wanted hot water today, I tried calling some smaller places. At Carolina Supply, a guy named Jimmy gave me the scoop. Good news, first. They have the Rheem 7.4 GPM (RTG-74) on clearance for $675! Bad news, they could not do installs. I'd have to find a plumber for that. Calling Willie Saul & Son here in Alamance County, I found out they could do it. The guy I talked to there almost always installs Rinnai units. When I described where my current water heater was, though, we discovered that this was not going to work. The tankless systems require direct venting. This is a special dual-purpose pipe that brings air in from the outside and allows exhaust. (I imagine this is similar to a coaxial cable.) The cost of the piping is expensive and to run it through two-stories (and an attic) would be much more than I was willing to spend.

Ultimately, I had Willie Saul & Son Plumbing deliver and install a Rheem Fury 22V4036F1 (energy factor of 0.59) that was nearly identical to what we already had but twenty years newer. Based on someone's else water heater calculations, I think that the old unit had an energy factor of 0.49. Based on data from the California Energy Commisssion's Consumer Energy Center, I estimate the new unit will only save me an extra $27.5 per year.

So much for living in the green future...

Day 141: Pepper Steak

2010-11-20T18:25:00.003-05:00

Local grass-fed flank steak from Walters Unlimited and green peppers from our friends at Redbud. Absolutely delicious. I just winged it and didn't really use a recipe, but if you need one, I'll point you to "blogchef" who I am borrowing this picture from too. Man, I'm getting lazy on this blog...

Day 140: Collard Greens

2010-11-09T19:01:00.003-05:00

It wouldn't be fall without collard greens. Here's the collard greens with bacon recipe I used. They were fabulous. Thank you Redbud Farm for providing. I used 1 bunch of collards and half a bunch of kale. Bumped up the bacon by a few slices...

(not my picture! Mine had the lighting all funky...)

Day 139: Rake Leaves

2010-10-31T10:47:00.005-04:00

I decided to rake the front yard on Friday instead of asking Tony to use the leaf blower. Couple of advantages here: I got to surprise him with the yard being done already, and I used human power rather than gas-powered leaf blower.

Benefits: It only took 40 minutes to do the entire front yard, and Claire enjoyed jumping in the piles. Plus it was a great upper body workout, so that makes up for my missed trip to the gym that morning... not to mention getting to spend some time outdoors.

Day 138: Energy Star Tax Credit

2010-10-27T12:48:00.003-04:00

If you find yourself needing a new appliance in 2010, check out the Energy Star tax credits. These expire Dec 31, 2010.

We needed a new hot water heater this week, unfortunately the place in our house where the heater goes will not allow us to get a tankless one (needs some kind of special exhaust), and tankless is the only kind that meets the specs (Energy Factor ≥ 0.82 OR a thermal efficiency of at least 90%) to qualify for the tax credit, so we are out of luck again! (We missed out on the new house credit last year too for a bunch of silly reasons.)

Anyway, maybe one of you lucky readers can take advantage of this program.

Day 137: Avoid Mechanically-Separated "Meat"

2010-10-05T08:46:00.000-04:00

As if this were even an option over here at Green V. Green. Well, this is more an excuse to blog about mechanically-separated "meat" than anything. Consider yourselves educated.

Have you ever read an ingredients label and seen an item called "mechanically-separated chicken" or "mechanically-separated pork"? This is how that item (I hesitate to call it food) is made.

First a machine vacuums every last piece of flesh or fat off the difficult bones, such as head bones or tiny foot bones. The result is turned into a paste:

This paste is soaked in ammonia to kill bacteria. Then, since it's lost its flavor, artificial flavors are re-introduced, and the mash is colored to not be pink anymore.

Here is the result:

and

Both of these are foods made and sold by Tyson (for example here and here). Just because it comes in a shiny plastic bag with a label on it of a company you recognize, doesn't mean the methods used to produce it aren't medieval.

Day 136: Visit Your Local Library

2010-10-04T12:54:00.002-04:00

Telling me to make better use of the library is like telling a cat to take more naps. Oh, the torture. Well, if you INSIST. Yay!

I love and adore libraries. I love to walk the stacks, I love to find mis-shelved books and put them back in their precise locations. I check out the special displays, I read the flyers posted at the front. On a recent trip to New York City, Tony and I spent one of our precious afternoons at the New York Public Library. I think I got my first library card when I was three. I am a total library junkie.

Here are a few tools that you might like to make your library experience more enjoyable.

(a) Use your library's online catalog before going over, just to make sure they have what you want.

(b) If you're on Amazon.com, you can use the Library Lookup tool to check to see if your local library has a book you are interested in. This bookmarklet will open in a small window and use the ISBN of the book you are interested in to see if your library catalog lists it.

Day 135: Down with Farmer's Market Scammers

2010-09-30T09:43:00.003-04:00

I adore ALL the great vendors at our Elon Farmer's Market. I trust all of them and I think they're just the best thing that has happened to my kitchen since I learned how to chop properly.

(Psst, Farmer's Market today! 3:00-6:00 - Elon Community Church grassy area on Williamson Ave.)

That said, there have been some disturbing reports in the news lately of scams going on at OTHER farmer's markets including last year at our Greensboro market, and last week in a Los Angeles market.

Planet Green has some good tips for making sure that you're getting what you mean to get at the farmer's market.

Day 134: Buy local eggs

2010-09-28T11:13:00.004-04:00

If you think buying the $4 organic eggs at the grocery story absolve you from guilt associated with the horrific, filthy, inhumane conditions at the DeCoster-owned egg farms associated with the recent salmonella outbreak, I hate to break it to you, but its more complicated than that.

One of my favorite companies, Organic Valley, is under fire for the following photos that come from one of its suppliers in Wisconsin. Turns out, there are many paths to raising "organic" eggs, and these companies can cut corners too.

The problems arise when large brand names buy eggs from producers who are cutting corners. Then the large companies put their brand name on the eggs, and who knows what you're actually getting.

"The report found that the vast majority of farms that practiced the very highest standards—such as grazing hens on open pasture, rotating grazing areas, and even using mobile chicken houses to ensure fresh land—were small to medium sized enterprises. These farms typically market their eggs locally or regionally under their farm's brand name, mostly through farmer's markets, food cooperatives and/or independently owned natural and grocery stores. Some brands were also available regionally through larger chains like Whole Foods.

"Perhaps unsurprisingly, at the other end of the spectrum stores' own brand organic egg lines were the worst offenders when it came to conditions. The reports' authors point out that while organic consumers tend to expect transparency and information about where their eggs come from, by definition, own brand products tend to be anonymous—they also tend to be priced lower than premium organic brands."

Find a local, trusted supplier of eggs. Chickens are very trendy right now, people love raising chickens for eggs and meat. It's really not that hard to find someone to sell you some eggs. I've got 3 regular suppliers that I can choose from here in my small town. Supply will slow over winter, but they are still available.

Day 133: Do some yoga

2010-09-27T20:55:00.002-04:00

I've recently been reading a lot about the history of yoga, and its track westward to North America and western Europe, how it's changed since its arrival, etc.

Yoga has the unfortunate problem of being rather expensive, as activities go. So perhaps it is not the (pocket/wallet) "greenest" of fitness and healthy-mind activities. But, if you search around your community, you may find that there are often less expensive places that offer yoga. Many studios have a "pay what you can" policy. Universities and community colleges offer yoga at extremely reasonable rates. Health clubs offer yoga. Even many churches and hospitals offer yoga. There is one hospital in our community that offers yoga for as little as $3 per class.

Yoga can offer numerous health and fitness benefits (body awareness, stress relief, flexibility), but I feel that one of its main strengths is in teaching and reinforcing mindfulness. Being aware of yourself and your choices is a critical skill that can often be overlooked in our over-consuming, over-anxious society. We can be so busy and make so many empty choices, yoga can almost feel like a relief. Yoga allows - and actually requires - us to be present on the mat, quiet and concentrating on only one thing at a time.

For those of you local to the Burlington, NC area, I'll give a shout out and hearty recommendation to Om Shanti Yoga. I have been enjoying their classes since August. What a great group of instructors and students.

Namaste!

Day 132: Minimalist Fashion, Redux

2010-09-24T13:56:00.004-04:00

Like the fashion and shopping diets we wrote about earlier, Project 333 is designed to minimize an area of complexity in many of our lives: fashion. This clothing diet is designed to simplify - choose 33 items of clothing to wear over 3 months.

Hmmm...

Day 131: Homemade Microwave Popcorn

2010-09-19T21:56:00.002-04:00

Here's Tony's recipe for perfect microwave popcorn.

Ingredients:
brown paper bag (recycled from the grocery store?)
1/3 cup popping corn
2t. olive oil

Put the olive oil and the popcorn in the bag. Staple it shut. Microwave for exactly 2 minutes or just a few seconds longer. Tony found that in our microwave 2:15 results in burning. Your mileage may vary.

Enjoy!

(We like ours with melted butter from Homeland Creamery and salt!)

Common questions:
1. Does it have to be olive oil? Yes. Other oils have different heating temperatures. It will not work as well without olive oil.

2. Does the staple mess up the microwave since it's metal? No. It's such a small amount it has no effect.

Day 130: Recycle Used Planting Pots

2010-09-19T21:53:00.002-04:00

Home Depot in our area has a recycle station for hard-to-recycle planters and pots.

Just save them up and drop them off the next time you go there. Since the recycling station is outside, you don't even have to tote them inside. Convenient.

Day 129: Scuppernong-Peach Salsa

2010-08-29T13:51:00.002-04:00

Scuppernong grapes are the state fruit of North Carolina, and peaches are delicious and a nearly universal symbol of summertime, so I thought I'd combine them with some other summer veggies to produce a scuppernong-peach salsa.

Ingredients:
1 large peach or 2 small ones, pitted and chopped
1 jalapeno, diced fine
1/2 onion, diced fine
8 large grape tomatoes or 2 small red tomatoes or one large tomato, chopped
handful cilantro leaves, minced
12 large scuppernong grapes, halved, seeded, then quartered
1 clove garlic, minced
sprinkle of cumin
salt and pepper
a sprinkle of lime juice or lemon juice if you've got it

I'd recommend a serrated knife for the grapes. The skins are a bit tough. Mix everything together and adjust to taste. For a perfect light lunch, spread some refried black beans on a whole wheat tortilla and top with salsa, then fold like a burrito.

Day 128: Build Community at the Farmer's Market

2010-08-27T00:51:00.000-04:00

Here is a News and Observer profile of my favorite farmer's market folks: Clay and Nancy from Redbud Farm.

Day 127: Blueberry-Cinnamon muffins

2010-08-26T09:58:00.002-04:00

Here's a great easy way to use up some fading blueberries.

Ingredients:
2T brown sugar
1/4 cup oats
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed

Method:
1. Mix the brown sugar, half the cinnamon, and the oats in a small bowl. This is the topping.

2. Cream the butter and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the eggs and the vanilla.

3. Mix the dry ingredients together in another bowl. (flour, soda, powder, salt, remaining 1/2 t. cinnamon).

4. Stir in sugar mixture and buttermilk, about 1/3 of each at a time. Alternate between them.

5. Fold in blueberries.

6. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

7. Top each muffin with a bit of the oat/brown sugar mixture.

8. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until the muffins are golden on top. You can do a toothpick test to see if they are done inside too.

Day 126: Shopping Diets

2010-08-25T09:55:00.000-04:00

Here are two shopping diets I've seen recently. Perhaps there are more.

The New York times profiles the "Six Pieces" diet, in which you choose 6 clothing items and choose to accessorize those same 6 pieces for 30 days.

And there's the Uniform Project, in which a young fashion editor wears the same little black dress for one full year. Accessorized differently. Many of the accessories are available on places like etsy, and the dress and pattern(!) are available on the web site.

Day 125: Kellogg's, GMO and Organic Foods

2010-08-20T09:51:00.002-04:00

Kellogg's is under pressure to stop using genetically modified ingredients in their already-crappy cereals. Their consumer specialist responded to the boycott recently with this statement (emphasis added):

Thank you for your comments regarding the use of biotechnology ingredients. Like you, we want only the best ingredients to go into our products.

Biotech ingredients are safe and have become common in the open market. Sixty to seventy percent of packaged foods in the U.S. include biotechnology crops. Even organic ingredients can contain biotech ingredients due to cross-pollination.

We use biotech ingredients based on the backing of groups including the World Health Organization, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the American Medical Association that confirm there are no safety concerns.

You have placed trust in us to provide healthy, nutritious, and safe food. We will continue to evaluate our ingredients, suppliers and product formulas to give you the best products possible. Please be assured your concerns will be shared with our nutritionist and food developers here at Kellogg.

Today I let Kellogg's know that their reaction is totally unacceptable:

This message is a reaction to the statements made recently regarding the boycott of Kellogg's products, specifically to the consumer specialist's comments that genetically modified plants are already cross-pollinating nearby organic plants.

The attitude expressed by Kellogg's that this is a "so what" circumstance was extremely annoying to me. It points out again (as if we need more evidence of this!) that giant corporations are not looking out for my welfare or the welfare of the planet on which we all live, and ultimately, corporations are out to make a buck. And since this is America, apparently the only way a corporation will listen to citizens is if we talk in terms of consumption or dollars.

Therefore, I will be boycotting all Kellogg's products, including those from Kellogg Company subsidiaries (Keebler, Bear Naked, Morningstar Farms, and Kashi, etc etc), until Kellogg's commits to using non-genetically engineered ingredients and stops soiling the planet with their junky products.

Day 124: Books on Food and Eating Well

2010-08-18T19:48:00.006-04:00

Treehugger has a NEW list of 7 books about eating well to follow their similar list from 2008 of 9 books about food.

I've read....
2008 list

100 Mile Diet (recommended)
Omnivore's Dilemma (recommended)
In Defense of Food

2010 list

Food Matters
Food Rules

I haven't read....
2008 list

Food Security for the Faint of Heart
How to Cook Everything (I own Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" one though!)
The Oxford Companion to Food
The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food
Stuffed and Starved (Raj Patel also wrote The Value of Nothing, which I liked very much, and he is also coming to speak at Elon in September.)
Where Our Food Comes From

2010 list

Diet for a Hot Planet (read her mom's "original", Diet for a Small Planet, back in the day)
Edible
Empires of Food
Agricultural Urbanism

Guess I have some reading to do!

Day 123: Fingerling Potato Salad with Capers and Dill

2010-08-04T17:07:00.003-04:00

This is not your grandma's potato salad. And this one is great for mayo-phobes.

Get yourself a pound of fingerling potatoes, cut them into bitesize pieces (roughly in quarters?), and put them in some boiling water for 20 minutes or so, until they're tender.

While the potatoes are cooking, chop 2T capers, 2 cloves of garlic, and several stalks of dill. Put these in a small bowl with some olive oil and a bit of wine vinegar. Whisk it together. This is your sauce.

When the potatoes are done, drain them, and then toss them gently in the sauce. Transfer to serving bowl and voila! Easiest potato salad ever.

Day 122: Quick Zucchini "Pasta" with Chunky Vegetable Sauce and Meatballs

2010-07-29T08:43:00.004-04:00

This recipe has 3 parts: the zucchini strips, the meatballs (optional), and the chunky sauce.

For the zucchini strips, use a vegetable peeler to peel the zucchini on all sides, making long peels. When you get to the center core piece with the seeds in it, stop peeling, and reserve that for the sauce. One zucchini will make enough strips for 2 entree-sized portions.

For the sauce, you are going to chop whatever delicious veggies you have on hand and combine those with storebought pasta sauce. I used diced onion, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms.

Onions, eggplant, and peppers take longer so I added those first.

I added my mushrooms and tomatoes last.

Combine your diced onion, 2T olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, salt and pepper in a large chef's pan or very large skillet. Saute the onions and garlic over medium heat, careful not to let your garlic turn brown. When the onions start to soften, add the rest of the veggies. Saute these for several minutes. Don't let them stick to the bottom of the pan. If they do, just add a tablespoon of water to the pan to loosen them up.

When the veggies are starting to get very soft and fragrant, add your pasta sauce and simmer.

Optional: meatballs! I used one pound of local, pastured ground beef, oats, 1 egg, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. Form into 16 round balls (approx 1 ounce each) and cook at 350 for 20 minutes. Drop into the pasta sauce and simmer.

While the sauce is simmering, bring 2cups of water to a boil in a saucepan or microwave the water for 2 minutes until very hot. Drop the zucchini strips into the water to cook them. Let them stay in the hot water for 30-seconds to one minute. Arrange them on a plate and top with a large scoop of the sauce.

Day 121: Single-Use Disposables

2010-07-28T09:34:00.003-04:00

Seattle has taken a huge step towards zero-waste by banning wasteful single-use packaging from landfills. I'd love to see this sort of thing adopted in more places.

Here are some ideas for reducing your trash when you go out, if you live in the rest of the country where there are no rules and everything seems to go into the trash:

Bring home your compostables to your own compost bin.

Bring home your recyclables (#1 and #2 plastic bottles, #5 plastic yogurt tubs, cardboard, paperboard, glass bottles) and recycle them yourself.

Keep a cloth napkin or bandanna in your car or purse to use instead of a napkin. (I cannot tell you how handy this has been over these many months!)

When faced with two options and one has less packaging or trash than the other, choose the low-packaging alternative.

Communicate with the person serving you - ask for the item on a plate or in a cup rather than in disposables. Sometimes they will tell you they can't give it to you like that, and you might learn something about local rules or restaurant standards. You can put this information to use later. (Example: Starbucks in NYC refused to give us a muffin "to go" that was NOT in a paper bag. The bag was required. In order to get the item without a bag, we had to say "for here" and then leave the plate! Which then had to be washed... frustrating.)

Bring your own bags to the grocery. Bring your own mug to the coffee shop. Bring your own utensils (I am very forgetful of this one). Yes, we all forget. But the 5 times you remember will make you feel a lot better about "splurging" on a disposable mug the one time you forget.

Day 120: Orzo Salad and Grilled Eggplant with Peanut Sauce

2010-07-26T18:20:00.003-04:00

Here are two super-quick recipes perfect for summer.

Orzo Salad
This recipe has three small parts: chopped fresh veggies and crumbled feta cheese, orzo (small rice-shaped pasta), and a dressing/sauce. I'll tell you how to make each part and you just mix them together in a big bowl, chill, and serve.

Ingredients & Method
1 cup of orzo pasta - bring water to boil, reduce heat and cook pasta for 8 minutes

Chopped seasonal veggies (I used one small zucchini, half a cucumber, two very small peppers, one tomato, and some kalamata olives, fresh basil leaves, all chopped), Feta cheese (4 ounces or a half-block, crumbled)

After the orzo cooks, drain completely and rinse in cold water. Add to bowl with veggies and feta.

For the dressing, whisk together 1/4 cup olive oil, 2T red wine vinegar, 1 t. dried chopped thyme (or fresh if you have it), 1 t. dried chopped dill (or fresh if you have it), salt and pepper.

Toss orzo and veggies in dressing. At this point if you like a bit of a creamier texture, you could add a tablespoon or two of mayonnaise or ranch dressing, that would be nice. Refrigerate or serve at room temperature.

Grilled Eggplant and Peanut Sauce
This recipe could not be any easier. You're going to grill some lightly-oiled eggplant on either an indoor or outdoor grill, and top it with some peanut-soy sauce.

Ingredients & Method
Cut 2 medium eggplants into rounds, about 1/2 inch thick. Baste each side with olive oil and set on grill to cook. Cook until tender but not mushy.

For the peanut sauce, you're going to mix 3 cloves of minced garlic, 2 t. sesame oil over low heat in a saucepan. Add 2 T. soy sauce, 1/2 cup natural peanut butter, 1 t. sugar, and 1/3 cup water in a pan over medium-low heat until creamy. If you need to add more water, add it 1 tablespoon at a time. You want a nice creamy sauce, not too chunky and not too watery.

Top each eggplant round with a dollop of sauce.

Day 119: Miracle Vinegar

2010-07-12T16:33:00.005-04:00

I've put off doing a "use vinegar to clean your counters" posting because it seems like it's right up there with "change your lightbulbs". Yawn.

But hey, it's summer, and I'm running low on ideas. Today we finally ran out of regular cleaner for the counters so I broke down and mixed 1 part white vinegar with one part water, and put it in the spray bottle that had formerly held the "real" cleaner. Voila, cheapest cleanser ever.

Seemed to work fine except now I crave salad every time I go in the kitchen. One blog suggested adding oil of lemon eucalyptus or oil of lavender to curb the smell a bit. Yeah, let me just whip that out of my pantry. I don't know about you, but I don't just have $20 bottles of oil of lavender lying around. I'll make do with the salad dressing smell.

Day 118: Reduce

2010-07-11T09:21:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I was shopping at the consignment furniture store, I noticed 2 really cute decorative signs with the words "reuse" and "recycle". All set to buy them for the kitchen, but I could not find the 3rd sign for "reduce". Appreciated the irony, and decided to not buy anything.

Day 117: Shut retail doors "accidentally" left open

2010-07-08T21:00:00.002-04:00

You know the doors I'm talking about... the retail store doors "accidentally" left open on 100-degree days, spewing air conditioning out into the walkway so that you'll want to go into the store and cool off?

Well, it makes me sick to see it, so I just quietly shut the doors when I see them like that. (The Ann Taylor Loft at Alamance Crossing is the biggest offender locally.)

Now 9 stores in New York City have been fined for leaving their doors open during times of peak energy need.

Instead of waiting for the police to show up (don't they have better things to do?) why not just shut the door, or better yet, engage the manager in a little kindhearted banter about why they leave the doors open and waste so much money. Maybe the goods wouldn't need to cost so much if they were better stewards of our money.

Day 116: Have a Greener 4th of July

2010-06-29T17:47:00.003-04:00

It seems like everyone is vacationing this time of year. Happy 4th of July and all that stuff.

Here's some tips for "greening" your 4th of July celebration.

Hint: charcoal is out, barbequed meat is out, fireworks are out, and party decorations are out. Man, talk about a buzzkill. Well, now wait, I didn't hear anything about beer, so bring out the local keg or growler and let's get this party started!

On the other hand, those of you who are running in a July 4th 5k race (raise your hand!) know that drinking a bunch of beer is no way to grab that elusive Personal Record in this 90-degree-heat. So pass the ice water...

Day 115: Simple Food

2010-06-27T22:36:00.003-04:00

Summer is great for enjoying simple foods: beans picked right out of the garden, blackberries, tomatoes. The flavors are so good there is no need to dress anything up with all kinds of crazy sauces or drown them in fancy trimmings.

Here's a lovely salad that we had tonight using stuff from the garden and farmer's market.

Grilled chicken from the farmer's market (marinated for 5 minutes in balsamic vinegar, sliced into medallions), greens and carrots from the grocery store, tomatoes from the garden, cucumber from the farmer's market. Delish and so simple. Just let the summertime flavors speak for themselves.

Day 114: Meatless Monday

2010-06-21T09:22:00.003-04:00

Meatless Monday is a global campaign to get folks to stop eating meat on Mondays. The campaign is based on the fact that reducing meat by 15% (or one-seventh) can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save money, and may even make you healthier overall.

This particular Meatless Monday coincides nicely with a fresh UN report on the impact of eating dairy and meat:

Agriculture, particularly meat and dairy products, accounts for 70% of global freshwater consumption, 38% of the total land use and 19% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions...

Come on, one day a week is a piece of (vegetarian) cake.

Here are some meatless recipes to get you started:
Sweet Zucchini-Eggplant Salad
Ginger-Garlic Sugar Snaps and Shiitakes

More on mining, make that 'moron mining'

2010-06-20T18:42:00.002-04:00

And Rand Paul is the moron. We've posted about mountaintop removal many times here on Green v Green.

It is an issue near and dear to my heart because it is intractable and complex and heart-wrenching. On the one hand you have the environmental cost of this incredibly destructive type of mining. On the other hand, we are basically trapped here in NC into using coal mined in this manner. Even as I sit here today typing this message, my laptop is running on power generated from mountaintop removal. Powering down and lightening our load on the grid is a TOP priority here in our house.

So when Rand Paul attempts to "simplify" this issue by brushing it off, saying "I don't think anyone's going to be missing a hill or two" about mountaintop removal mining in KY (where he's running for Senate), I am incensed. Here are before and after pictures of the Rape of Appalachia. Disgusting. This comes days after Paul called it "un-American" to force BP to pay for its damages in the Gulf of Mexico. This guy is an environmental train wreck.

Day 113: Sweet Eggplant-Zucchini Salad

2010-06-19T11:37:00.006-04:00

So last week I wrote that it wasn't quite tomato season yet. Well, it is now! Here's something to use up some of those beautiful tomatoes and eggplants we're seeing all over the gardens and farmer's markets now.

This is a twist on the traditional summertime eggplant-zucchini ratatouille (the French version) or caponata (the Italian version). I got the inspiration from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. (Many of you might recognize him from his New York Times articles about food or even from Runner's World magazine bits about fitness nutrition.)

Sweet Eggplant-Zucchini Salad

All the veggies in this recipe came from Redbud Farm (at the Elon farmer's market) except the jalapeno and the mint, which came from my very own garden!

Market Ingredients:
1 eggplant, chopped into 1" pieces (rosa bianca eggplant is shown in the picture)
1 yellow zucchini, chopped (not a squash)
1 green zucchini, chopped
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
1 jalapeno or other hot pepper, minced very fine
2 tomatoes, chopped (I had extra cherry tomatoes too so I added those)
1 handful of mint leaves, minced

Ingredients from the pantry:
3 TB olive oil, divided
1 tsp cinnamon
1 TB lemon juice
salt and pepper

Method:
1. Heat 2T olive oil over medium heat in a stainless steel skillet. Add the eggplant and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes or until eggplant is soft. Remove eggplant from pan into bowl.

2. Add zucchini to hot pan with 1T olive oil. Cook for 2 minutes, then add onion and jalapeno. Cook for a few minutes until onions begin to get soft. Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

3. Add the tomatoes. Simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors. Add some salt and pepper and the lemon juice. When everything looks good, add the eggplant back in. Toss in the mint leaves and stir to mix everything. Make sure all the pieces are nice and soft, and that the flavors are mixed throughout.

4. Serve over small toasts (toasted baguette, sliced) or with fresh mozzarella pieces.

Day 112: Blackberries

2010-06-05T11:55:00.003-04:00

I feel like words can not do this justice. Today on the way back from checking out the new Shallow Ford park on Gerringer Mill Rd., I stopped at the Gibsonville Farmer's market. A woman named Debbie was selling quarts of blackberries for $5.

I went immediately to Lowe's and picked up a pint of Homeland Creamery ice cream.

Pulled a few sprigs of cinnamon basil and mint from the garden outside, and here was my lunch. Don't tell the kids.

Day 111: Quick and easy loca-zagna

2010-06-04T20:51:00.005-04:00

Loca-zagna: It's an all-local (ok, mostly local) and seasonal QUICK lasagna dinner.

This lasagna has farmer's market ingredients purchased at the Elon Community Church farmer's market (every Thursday 3:00-6:30pm) and from one farm directly (Asgard).

I bought greens from Redbud Farm, eggs from Asgard farm, ricotta and mozzarella from Calico Farmstead Cheese, and goat meat from, well, I can't remember because Tony bought this and paid cash so I have no receipt. It might have been T5 and it was 2 booths down from Redbud. Anyway, it was from the farmer's market. You can buy this all in one place, combine with some pantry staples, and end up with dinner in less than an hour.

Market ingredients:
4 cups wilted chopped greens, drained well and squeezed
1 lb ricotta cheese
1 egg
3 cloves garlic, minced (divided)*
1 handful parsley leaves, chopped fine
1 lb goat meat
1 small handful fresh chopped oregano
1/2 pound mozzarella, shredded with a hand-grater

Pantry ingredients:
8-10 whole wheat lasagna noodles, or as many as you need to make 2 layers in a 9x12 pan
1 jar spaghetti sauce (no, it's not tomato season quite yet)

Method:
1. Boil water and cook the lasagna noodles according to package directions.

2. While the noodles are cooking, chop and steam your greens, or wilt them in a saute pan until they are tender. Squeeze out all the moisture. You want them as dry as possible.

3. In a medium bowl, mix half the garlic, chopped parsley, 1 egg, the ricotta, and the greens. This will be a fairly dry and crumbly mixture.

4. In a large skillet, brown the goat meat. Near the end of cooking, mix in the rest of the minced garlic and the chopped oregano leaves. Remove meat from heat once it is done.

5. Drain the noodles once they are done cooking.

6. Once the noodles are done, the meat is done, and the ricotta mixture is mixed, you are ready to assemble the lasagna. Open the jar of sauce and spread just enough to barely cover the bottom of the lasagna pan. (This is a very thin layer, maybe 1/2 cup at the most, just to keep the noodles from sticking.) Place your first layer of noodles in the pan. Cover with one half of the ricotta mixture, then half the goat meat mixture, then half the remaining sauce.

7. Repeat the layers: noodles, ricotta, meat, sauce. Top with shredded mozzarella.

8. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Enjoy.

Don't forget to re-use your sauce jar for coffee.

*Note about garlic. Many of you might be saying, how'd she buy garlic at the farmer's market?? Well, Redbud farm had these things that looked like leeks or vidalia spring onions, but they were garlic. I minced them up and used them in cooking. One thing to note, they dry out quickly; they're not quite as moist as an onion. So if you cut it to use half, use the other half quickly or it will get too dried out to use.

On Less Packaging

2010-06-04T20:46:00.003-04:00

We've covered packaging and buying in bulk before, but in case you want another round of commentary on this timely topic (oil in the gulf helps fuel our addiction to plastic and California is considering banning free plastic bags in the checkout line), here's an article from HuffPo Green on Living without Waste.

Day 110: Sugar Snaps and Shiitakes at the Farmer's Market

2010-05-29T20:58:00.003-04:00

The farmers markets are in full swing. This week my mom and dad brought down sugar snaps and shiitakes from my step-sister's farm in Virginia Beach.

Here's what I made with them.

Shiitake Mushroom Brown Rice
Ingredients:
1 T olive oil
8 shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
3 green onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup brown rice
2 T soy sauce
2 cups vegetable broth

Method
Heat olive oil on medium heat in the bottom of a medium-sized saucepan. Add the mushrooms, onions, and garlic and saute for one or two minutes until the garlic begins to turn golden. Stir frequently, and do not let the garlic get too brown.

Add the soy sauce first, stir. Then add the brown rice, stir. Then add the broth. Stir to mix everything, then cover with the lid and reduce heat to low. Simmer on low until rice is done, at least 40 minutes. Do not let rice stick to bottom of pan.

(While the rice is cooking, prepare your ingredients for snap peas, below.)

When the rice is completely done, turn off the heat, move it to the back burner and keep the lid on until the peas are done.

Garlic Sugar Snap Peas

Ingredients
1 pound sugar snap peas, washed and stems removed
3 cloves garlic, minced
2" piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1/4 onion, minced
1 T olive oil
salt
pepper

Method
This recipe will only take a few minutes to cook, so save it for last. Heat the oil on medium in a stainless steel saute pan. Add the garlic, onion, and ginger, saute for one or two minutes until the garlic is just beginning to turn golden. Add the sugar snaps and salt and pepper. Saute the peas for 2 minutes, turning over in the pan periodically.

Day 109: Drink Local Beer

2010-05-21T12:00:00.003-04:00

(Also known as the "twist my arm" posting.)

I am not a big drinker, and certainly not a big beer drinker. I don't know much about beer at all from a technical standpoint, although I admit to making my own beer once from a Mister Beer kit that I bought on a late-night television infomercial.

Nowadays, if I'm going to drink a beer, say while sitting in a comfy chair outdoors while the kids play in the yard and the breeze is blowing, I'll make it a local one. Here is a list of craft breweries in NC.

On Customer Preference

2010-05-21T10:22:00.005-04:00

We are dealing with a medical waste incinerator here in Alamance County called Stericycle.

There are several local activists trying to get the pollutant outputs from this facility more closely monitored, and some residents are ultimately trying to close the facility entirely. There is a hearing with state regulators on this issue next week.

One of the arguments against this facility is that most of the waste that is burned could be sent to a different facility (also owned by the same company and currently underutilized) called an autoclave. Autoclaving is a different process that produces much less pollution than a traditional incinerator.

Why would a company choose NOT to send their waste to a facility that they own, that is underused, and that produces a lot less pollution? I was sent this blurb today, originally on the web page of the industry group CHWMEG (a waste industry non-profit that helps companies in the garbage business) regarding the Haw River Stericycle facility:

The Haw River facility receives pharmaceutical, hospital, medical, infectious, and a limited amount of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) waste .... Regular medical waste could be treated in an autoclave, but generators who prefer treatment by incineration send the waste to the Haw River facility." [emphasis added]

It seems like customer "preference" will be a key issue in this debate.

First we ask the company to stop burning crap that doesn't need to be burned. (NOTE: Paper?!? Really?!? Since when is paper medical waste?!? Even confidential documents could be shredded and burned. PVC? Plastic? None of this should be burned.)

"But the customer wants it" says the company.

Then we could attempt to reduce customer demand through education (and we should!), but if customers come from 23 other states, they might have an "out of sight, out of mind" mentality about polluting little ol' Haw River, so far away.

So we're at an impasse.

The job of a state regulator in this case is to see the Big Picture and disallow pollution when a company and customer see no incentive to reduce pollution themselves.

We see what happens when regulators stop regulating: the BP oil spill, the Massey Big Branch explosion. Those are just two from the past month.

I hope to put together some convincing arguments before Tuesday when we have the public forum on this incinerator.

Day 108: Support better school lunches

2010-05-18T18:43:00.003-04:00

Slow Food USA is sponsoring a "Time For Lunch" Campaign where you can contact your US senator to support legislation to ensure better (healthier, more delicious, wholesome) school lunches for kids.

Right now, Congress leaves school lunch programs with only $1 per meal to pay for food. (The rest of the $2.68 goes toward overhead.) This is inadequate and leaves school lunch programs struggling to serve healthy foods. They end up taking "the cheapest choice" instead of "the better choice". Cheap food is often highly processed, unhealthy junk. On top of that, many schools supplement their food budgets by selling junk from vending machines!

On the home page of Slow Food's campaign site "Time For Lunch", they have a really easy "email your senator" form. You fill in your zip code and customize the message, and voila.

Day 107: Support Home Star legislation

2010-05-17T15:28:00.003-04:00

Home Star is the name of a new package of legislation that just passed through the House and is on its way to the Senate.

Text of bill & summary. Basically it will cost $23 per American over 5 years to retrofit homes to be more energy efficient.

This plan "gives U.S. homeowners rebates for energy efficiency improvements and cut energy consumption. Most importantly, Home Star will put many of the country's construction folks and blue collar wage earners back to work..." (that's from the Cowell article on HuffPo).

My wishlist:
First on my list will be ceiling fans for all the bedrooms and the kitchen, 2 screen doors, and maybe an attic fan if Tony can figure out how to install it or hire someone to do it. Also I'd like a larger rug for the living room or a second rug for the other half of the room to keep heat in in the winter. A new refrigerator that is smaller and more efficient. A new efficient hot water heater. A more efficient set of gas logs. (I'm sure that will not be covered.)

Day 106: Ultralocal effort to block medical waste incinerator

2010-05-16T06:33:00.000-04:00

What is the problem?
Here in Alamance County we have a medical waste incinerator run by a company called Stericycle that accepts medical waste (think: junk from hospitals like needles, plastics, fabrics, etc) and burns it. When you burn plastic and stuff like that, you release enormous amounts of toxins into the air. This facility in Haw River is one of the largest incinerators in the US [link] and burns waste from 24 states. Lucky us!

Here are some pictures Tony and I took of the facility, located next to Alamance Community College between Graham and Haw River. You can see the twin smokestacks on the left of this picture. (They are easily viewable from I-85 also. Just look to your right as you cross over the exit 150 where the community college is.)

This little, nondescript facility is responsible for pumping out mercury, lead, cadmium, chromium, dioxin, furans, beryllium, chlorine, formaldehyde, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen chloride, and other air pollutants known to cause cancer, birth defects and developmental disabilities.

Just yesterday when we drove past the facility on I-85 on our way to Richmond, there was smoke pouring out.

What can be done?
The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League and the Haw River Assembly invite you to attend the public hearing on the permit renewal for the Stericycle medical waste incinerator on Tuesday, May 25, at 6 p.m. at Alamance Community College (ACC) in the auditorium.

There will also be a community informational meeting this coming Monday, May 17, at 7 p.m. also held at ACC in the auditorium, where we will be giving a brief presentation on the impacts of the incinerator on the health of surrounding communities, and specific issues to be addressed under the permit.

Why should we act on this?
When Annie Leonard spoke at Elon University last month, she said addressing pollution from this specific incinerator should be an important project for our local area because it may be relatively easy to transfer the vast majority of the waste to another, reduced-polluting facility (ex: an autoclave). Why burn waste that is not legally required to be burned? What sense does that make?

Update on Day 105: Coal Ash

2010-05-15T11:21:00.003-04:00

I know coal ash is down low on our list of environmental priorities this week, what with the gulf oil disaster (more to come on that later) and, close to home, the upcoming Stericycle smackdown that is about to split wide open....

But I just thought I'd update everyone on my Day 105 posting about the coal ash regulations that are supposed to be coming from the EPA any day now, and for which the EPA is supposed to take our public comments.

I want to let everyone know that our wonderful government's system for taking feedback, regulations.gov, is supposedly ready to accept comments from YOU and YOU and YOU about coal ash under docket # EPA–HQ–RCRA–2010–0640, yet their web site is STILL NOT RETURNING RESULTS. I've confirmed with the Appalachian Voices folks, and they told me that yes, this happens all the time, and yes, the clock is ticking on the 90 days we have to comment regardless of whether the web site is available or not. Tick tock. And yes "your call is important to us, please stay on the line..." What a crock of crap. Here's the government's site where they reveal their plan, and ask us to comment.

Day 106: Buy in Bulk

2010-05-15T09:05:00.000-04:00

Here's an easy way to save money and cut down on wasteful packaging. Find a store that sells food in bulk and lets you bring your own packaging.

We have several co-ops in nearby counties (soon Company Shops Market will be open in our own county!), but we enjoy stopping at Ellwood Thompson's in Richmond when we go there each month for a kid swap.

They have $0.10 off if you bring your own container, and they take the weight of the container off the item before they weigh it.

Here we have purchased bulk mixed nuts (about a pound), short grain brown rice, liquid laundry detergent, peanut butter (ground in the store!), "neptune's dream" mixed pasta shapes, rolled oats.

Visualizing Energy Use

2010-05-10T17:46:00.000-04:00

The folks at GE made a handy, interactive visualization tool for exploring the energy required to run various household appliances: Home Appliance Energy Use.

Day 105: Get Off Your Coal Ash and Do Something

2010-05-07T06:25:00.001-04:00

Coal ash (sometimes called fly ash) is the toxic byproduct of burning coal for energy. Coal powers 60% of the American energy diet. Chances are you benefit in some way from the production and burning of coal, and by extension, you are responsible for a portion of the ensuing coal ash.

Coal ash is toxic and disgusting and difficult to contain (NYT). It causes birth defects and cancer (Miami Herald) in communities where it is dumped. Coal companies have tried keeping it contained in ponds, but sometimes they break, flooding nearby towns with ash slurry. Below is a picture of a house flooded by toxic coal ash slurry in December 2008. Note the Christmas bows on the wreaths. (Appalachian Voices)

This week, the EPA has proposed two possible solutions to the Coal Ash Disposal problem. (1) phase out coal ash storage ponds; (2) allow ash ponds, but only if they have plastic liners.

The first solution is better but the second solution is preferred by the coal industry. The EPA is giving the public 90 days to comment on which solution they like better. Then, at the end of 90 days, they will decide which one to do.

What's strange is that the 90-day window is already ticking away (we're on Day 88 or 87 right now, not sure which), but the EPA hasn't yet posted a place on regulations.gov to take public comments. You're supposed to be able to put in the Docket # EPA–HQ–RCRA–2010–0640 and get a result. But no dice.

I'll write more later when I figure out how Jane Q. Public is actually supposed to respond with comments to this. :(

Day 104: Garden Update

2010-05-06T06:49:00.000-04:00

Here are some garden pics.

Squash Flower

Slugs ate my basil (I've since bought iron phosphate pellets)

Swiss Chard

First Pea Pod of the Season

Day 103: Stop Being Cheap and Donate

2010-05-05T10:48:00.005-04:00

Several years ago, I used to make and sell things (cards, paper crafts) on Ebay and use the ensuing Paypal money to donate to this cause or that political party. I'd have this secret donation bucket that was "mine" and I could use it to support my crazy fringe wacko causes. In fact, I was still using this model when I joined Company Shops Market in 2008. I told myself that I had to wait until I had the $100 in Paypal in order to join it. (In the end, I wrapped up a large box of too-big clothes and sold it and that put me over the top. And they turned out to not be so crazy, fringe, or wacko. Better luck next time! Ha ha.)

At the time, there was something so frivolously "extra" about donating to causes that I didn't want to use my "real" money to do it. My values were different then, and I viewed spending on clothes as mandatory but spending on causes as optional.

With events over the last few years being what they were, I have experienced a massive wake-up call in multiple areas of my life. (I'd highly recommend an awakening of this sort to everyone, though my hope is that you'd accomplish it in a more constructive, more painless way than I did. I'd recommend: finding religion, losing a bunch of weight, changing jobs, start running, etc. Something fun.) Anyway, my opinions about money have changed. A lot. More than it is possible to describe here.

Long story short, one of the goals of the Green V. Green experiment is to save money by simplifying and cutting back. This means, in part, being a conscious and skeptical consumer. And by conscious and skeptical I mean neurotically hyperaware of every single thing that I am buying and why. And one of the benefits from THAT is that I have a bit of extra money now to donate to my favorite causes, because I'm not buying as much stuff. For example, causes have been elevated in importance, and clothes spending has dropped way down in importance. (In fact, last month I spent $13 on clothes and that was at the thrift store.)

I've got a few pet causes: The Story of Stuff project, Sierra Club, Mountains to Sea Trail, ilovemountains.org (Appalachian Voices), Electronic Frontier Foundation, Doctors without Borders, Greenpeace, etc. A few more. I try to give to causes that (1) I really believe in and care about, (2) really need the money, and which are (3) accountable and trustworthy. Being a mindful consumer extends to donations too.

Check GuideStar, or Charity Navigator or Charity Watch to make sure the people you are giving the money to are on the up-and-up.

Note that only 501(c)3 organizations are on these sites. Groups like the Sierra Club or Greenpeace are 501(c)4 groups (more political) so contributions to them are not tax-deductible and they don't have to disclose their donor lists, etc. They are a different sort of charity. Groups like Appalachian Voices and the EFF are 501(c)3 groups so they are tax-deductible.

Find something that you really believe in, and which really needs you. Give some money.

Playing Outside: It's now called "Green Exercise"

2010-05-04T09:23:00.002-04:00

USA Today ran a story on an academic study about the mental health benefits of "green exercise", or, as regular humans like to call it, "being outdoors".

Well there's a shocker. Being outdoors for just 5 minutes in a green space will make you feel better. I believe it 100%.

Related items: Day 28, Run Outside, Not on Treadmill. Alamance Outdoors, our "other" blog.

Day 102: Have a Car-Free Weekend

2010-05-01T06:00:00.002-04:00

Yeah, so you and I both know that it's going to take a lot more than a couple of people giving up their cars to fix our nationwide oil addiction.

But here at Green V. Green, we continue to live the pipe dream. We sold the car back in February, so we've been a one-car family for a few months. Usually this is not very noteworthy. The biggest changes have been in the amount of time I spend in the car doing "errands" (you can interpret that as "shopping"). My credit card bills have gone way down! I also commute by foot to work a lot now, which means that I logged my first "75-miles by foot-transport" month in April.

Anyway, this weekend Tony's got the car up in Maryland for Max's birthday and Claire and I are down here carless. I thought about renting a car, but really, do we need it? We're going to make do without a car for a whole weekend. Will we survive? Will we live to tell the tale? More later...

Update #1: Saturday -- Being car-free does not necessarily equate to being carefree in the suburbs. We had a food crisis as there was a miscommunication about what food was left in the house when Tony left for MD. He seems to think that, like Macguyver, I can construct healthy meals out of dust and sunshine. Claire and I ordered pizza.

Update #2: Sunday -- It's 93 and we're trapped here on this dead-end street with no car and no AC. I sat outside in a chair from 10am until 7pm, reading, watching Claire paint the driveway (watered down craft paint + large rags and paint brushes = magic), and generally lazing around like a lump. It was the only thing we could do.

Update #3: Post-mortem -- We need a pair of walking / running shoes for Claire. Her new sneakers are wholly inadequate for distance walking. And the Town of Elon needs to fix the multi-use path on University Drive - STAT! Grrr.

Day 101: Tell Obama to Stop Championing Offshore Drilling

2010-04-30T10:56:00.003-04:00

I wrote email to Obama today telling him to knock it off with this "drill, baby, drill" business, and to commit additional resources to (1) clean up this horrible spill in the gulf and then (2) support clean energy research and development.

You can take action on oil spills through the Sierra Club. They're a good group.

Day 100: Take Action on Mountaintop Removal Mining

2010-04-29T14:17:00.004-04:00

Today I've declared to be Day 100 of this blog, and this is the day that I begin to take broader actions. Of course, I'll still regale you, our dear readers, with tales of homemade this-or-that. But today, I will also begin the more difficult and time-consuming task of TAWTPMO: taking action when things piss me off.

First up, mountaintop removal coal mining.

This is a horrible practice in which mountains are blown up, the coal extracted, then the mountain pieces are put back into a mound, and covered over with grass and baby trees.

The valleys in between the mountains are filled with the earth that used to be the top of the mountain. Filling the valleys destroys the streams that flow(ed) through them. The birds and animals that lived on the mountain and near the streams are dead. The scenery and vistas are ruined (Coal mining execs tout these new flat lands as better because they solve the "lack of flat space" problem in the mountains, can you believe that?) The water and air of the people who live in the towns nearby are poisoned. Giant coal ash pits are created to hold the waste sludge. These pits leak frequently and cause injury, death, and mar the landscape.

North Carolina and Georgia are the largest consuming state for coal mined in this way. Each time I turn the lights on in my house, I'm benefiting from this mountaintop removal mining. The coal comes from poorer states, WV and KY, and is brought here to be burned.

This has to stop.

Today I used the interactive tool on Follow the Coal Money to find out who in my district is taking dirty coal money. I was especially interested to learn that Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) has taken over $300,000 in contributions since 1999 from coal industry (the vast majority of these dollars coming from companies that do mountaintop removal or who do business with mountaintop removal companies), including over $108,000 this year alone. He's the 3rd highest paid Senator by the coal industry.

I sent a sharply worded email, asking basically, WTF. Coal is bad enough, but Mountaintop Removal Mining? Come on! This is some medieval stuff.

Then I sent emails to my Congressional Rep (Howard Coble) asking for him to support the Clean Water Protection Act.

You can get started by going to iLoveMountains.Org and reading about the issues, then clicking "Write to Congress" to tell them what you think.

Buying organic

2010-04-27T14:22:00.003-04:00

Did you ever wonder when to buy organic and when you can maybe afford not to?
Here is a cheat sheet that you can put in your wallet and remember which veggies are probably better off purchased with an organic label.

Organic Cheat Sheet

Day 99: Flattr Us!

2010-04-27T09:03:00.003-04:00

A few months ago, I saw an interesting video about a social micropayment system called Flattr. I'd describe it myself, but I think their video does a much better job.

I love this concept, a virtual tip jar where you can give pocket change (about $2 per month) to your favorite web sites. The problem is nearly all of the sites are in Swedish! We loved Sweden when we visited there last year, but I can't read a word of it. (Actually, I take that back. While there I learned what "utfart" means.) So, unless a lot of Swedes like laughing at two Americans trying to save the planet, we're going to have to earn our coffee money with AdSense.

Day 98: Support Local Farmers

2010-04-26T10:50:00.005-04:00

One of the easiest things you can do to improve your eco-footprint and give back to the community is to support local farmers.

Here are some pictures from when Tony and I went on the Piedmont Farm Tour yesterday.

Kids checking out a freshly laid egg.

Here is a list of concrete, practical things you can do:

Eat more vegetables and simple foods. Get used to the taste of "real food".
Buy your veggies at the farmer's market. This will ensure you're getting stuff that's local, seasonal, and "real".
Get locally-produced, humanely raised meat instead of buying "the cheapest" at the grocery store. Can't afford to do that? Try half-servings or meatless days then. No biggie.
Check out LocalHarvest.org for a super list of farmer's markets and farms in your area. You can search by zip code.
Patronize food co-ops and natural grocery stores if you have these. Check listings for towns nearby also. Twice a month Tony and I find ourselves driving through Richmond, VA. We love to stop at Ellwood Thompson's as we're driving through, as a treat. I think of it as "my" grocery store now, even though it's not really in our neighborhood!
Join a CSA. (Community supported agriculture - these are "clubs" where you get a box of fresh local veggies each week. There are also meat CSAs.)
Call up local farmers and ask about delivery options. I do this every week.
Talk to the farmers about their livelihood. This is a wonderful way to get connected. Farmers have so much to offer in terms of nutritional knowledge, information about pesticides, economic implications of what they're doing, reasons for why they grow things this way or that, etc. It is really interesting to consider all the factors that go into growing food and (hopefully) making a profit from that. While you're at it, visit local farms. Usually local farmers are thrilled to have people interested in what they are doing. Call up a farmer, especially one who has a web site or a consistent presence at the farmer's markets, and ask for a tour. The worst they can say is 'no'.
Watch Food Inc or Fresh and learn about how the industrial food system works (hint: it's probably not what you thought).
Talk to the manager at your grocery store about stocking more local produce and locally-raised (non-CAFO) meat. Ask what it takes to get this done. Find out what the problems are with doing this. Just talk plainly with the manager. You don't have to be a jerk about it, just find out the problems so you can figure out if they're fixable, and if so, by whom.
Take more pleasure in the act of feeding yourself and feeding your family. Think of food as fuel (tasty, tasty fuel) and really be discriminating about what you put in your body and in your kids bodies as their fuel.
Commit to making each meal yourself, from the best ingredients you can find. Realize that this might take longer than popping something in the microwave or assembling things from processed packages so that it looks like you're "cooking". Learn to be ok with this new time commitment. This is a tough one. Maybe the toughest on the list.
Experiment, and embrace the disasters when they come. You may buy 3 pounds of kale from a farmer (that doesn't sound like so much, does it?) and then you are stuck eating kale for a month. Kale burgers, kale soup, kale quiche, kale nuggets... Find some humor in it.
Start slowly. Make one change a week. As you run out of something in your kitchen or in your pantry, make a conscious decision about whether you will restock that item. Be mindful of your choices, and be deliberate. You don't need to napalm your current kitchen. Just make a change here or there, and add more changes as you go.
Start your own garden. Start with something easy like peas or lettuce or zucchini. Or herbs! Anyone can grow herbs. Try rosemary or thyme. I have the worst black thumb and I can still grow this stuff! Ask a farmer how to get started, or buy their seedlings to get started. Don't worry about sounding like a newbie.

Day 97: Cut Your Hair, You Dirty Hippie

2010-04-23T11:24:00.005-04:00

Well, in true Megan-style I like to be consistent and predictable at all times. No surprises. Nothing out of the mainstream. Nothing unexpected.

So, I'll follow up my introspective, activist Earth Day posting that declared that this blog shall forevermore be devoted to Things That Matter ("We here at GvG should do more for the community and not just these piddly little individual actions!") with a posting of utmost importance: I decided to cut my hair for summer.

Someone alert the media. Who am I kidding, they all read this blog already.

How is this green? Well, it means less shampoo and less water, less drying time and more ease-of-maintenance. Plus I was just starting to feel like one of those peasant-skirt-wearing-hippies. You know, when you're wearing beet lipstick and herbal pit spray, you don't want to take any chances that someone might think you're a hippie. No siree! So clearly it is time for a haircut.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Day 96: Earth Day Reflection

2010-04-22T22:08:00.002-04:00

On Earth Day (and nearly 100 actions we have posted on this blog!) it seems appropriate to address the overall mission of this project, how we feel about the progress we've made, if we're still enjoying the process, tweaks we should make, etc.

Overall I would characterize the project as a success. We've enjoyed working on this project together as a couple, and we've developed and changed our attitudes about what is possible. Sometimes it is good to do crazy things just to break down barriers in our thinking.

So, I think - but can't yet totally confirm since Tony is not reading this yet - that for the next phase of this blog we'll be working on developing actions to impact the next ring in our "concentric rings" model. For example: We have, thus far, written mostly about household issues and individual- and family-specific changes. We've focused on things like making food, reducing trash, reusing goods, transportation issues for ourselves, reducing our water waste, reducing consumption, etc. Our overall locus of control has been individualized and impact-based. Much of it has centered on reductions and alterations in our personal behavior.

The next ring of the concentric ring model might be to widen our focus to our workplace and perhaps to the slightly wider circle of our neighborhood. Can we continue all the progress we've made on our household agenda while also implementing some changes in our workplace and in our neighborhood? What would those be, and can we do this without annoying everyone or making them think we're weirder than they already do? (I was teased unmercifully the other day at College Coffee for allowing Tony to pee in a jar and pour it on the compost. Believe me, there is no "allowing" about it.)

Some previews:
(1) work on community activism around issues we care about and for which we feel that we can enact change - specific issues are still being determined. I tend to take on too much, so we are going to be judicious.
(2) work on building community around the neighborhood. We have discussed several specific agenda items. Not sure which ones will happen.
(3) take on larger projects here at home, now that we have some of the basics covered. (i.e. we've figured out cooking, but let's nail 4-season gardening; or, we've figured out trash reduction, but let's figure out energy reduction also, and then move on to energy production)

This Earth Day might also be a time to reflect on what's worked so far in our project and what hasn't. Tomorrow I'll summarize what's worked and give updates. The next day I'll summarize what has not worked, and give updates.

Day 95: Pick Up Trash Where You Find It

2010-04-21T06:55:00.002-04:00

Claire and I went to pick up trash on Saturday on University Drive. It's easy to pick up trash when walking. But it bothers me when I run outdoors and I see trash everywhere, because it's hard to run and pick up trash at the same time. So I make a mental note of where the worst spots are, and I try to go back and pick it up at some point. I noticed University Drive near Lowe's Foods was getting pretty trashy over the winter, and it just kept getting worse. This is my favorite spot to find bluebirds also, so the trash was troubling. Claire and I headed out on Saturday at about 11am.

We took 2 bags, gloves, and a good attitude. This child loves to pick up trash! It is great to work with her. We spent about 30 minutes and cleaned up the area from Lowe's north to the corner. In just that area, I'd say about 200 yards, we collected 2 bags worth, plus some cardboard. In the picture below you can see the area we cleaned: from the bags back to the stoplight in the distance. That's a lot of trash for such a small area.

This is Claire's expression when I asked her how she felt about picking up so much trash!

Trash stats: lots of smashed cans, plastic bottles. Most fast food containers were from Taco Bell and Bojangles, neither of which are located on this road. Most common item was plastic wrappers (such as candy wrappers and thin plastic wraps for drinks).

Later when we were at the garden center, one of her substitute teachers came up to us and said "hello" and then asked "were you guys out on University earlier picking up trash?" Claire was so excited to be able to say "yes!" The teacher then explained that she saw us, and then she thanked Claire. It was nice.

Day 94: Keep a mason jar handy

2010-04-20T07:02:00.000-04:00

No, people. Not for peeing in. Please. What is it with you and your one-track minds?!? Really.

NO, actually, we read in No Impact Man about keeping a mason jar around for EATING and DRINKING out of, you sick perverts. Geez.

And we liked the idea, so first Tony began taking it to the coffee shop, and now I tried it today. It's a nice feeling, heavy but a good size. Regular coffee with cream has a lovely shade, but a mocha looks really pretty with its many layers.

One other benefit is that the wider mouth makes it easy to clean, and because it's glass it doesn't hold a smell like other materials (plastic comes to mind), so it rinses easily. You can use it for water later in the day.

Day 93: Eat Dandelions

2010-04-19T07:09:00.002-04:00

Welcome to spring. The dandelions are everywhere and so of course I figured we should eat them: how much more "local" can our produce be? Walk out your front door, and voila, nature provides.

Claire and I picked up a bag full of dandelion greens on a trash pick-up adventure on Saturday.

We brought the greens home and I quadruple-washed them, painstakingly picking all the weird pieces out and washing all the grit off.

I then made a dandelion and beet greens frittata. Well, that's what I'm calling it anyway. We had roasted new potatoes, sweet potato, and beets on the side.

What I did:
1. Wash the dandelion leaves and stems.
2. Wash and chop the beet greens.
3. In a large stainless steel skillet, saute greens in olive oil with fresh chopped garlic and sliced vidalia green onions.

4. Move the greens to a plate and melt a little butter in the pan.
5. Crack 12 eggs into a bowl (I used Asgard Farm local/beautiful/real eggs $2.50 a dozen and they come to Burlington on Fridays for pickup). Throw in some baking powder (about .25t) and some cream (a tablespoon?). Whisk this.
6. Put the egg mixture in the pan. Gently put the greens in, distributing them evenly and letting them sink into the eggs. Cook this - but do not stir it - on medium for about 5 minutes.
7. When the egg stuff begins to set around the sides, move it to the oven. (Mine was set at 400 for the potatoes and beets, so I left it like that.)
8. Cook in the oven for a few minutes until it just begins to set in the middle. Take it out and put some chopped tomatoes in the center. Top with some shredded pepper jack cheese. (I used 1/2 block, I think that is about 4 ounces.)

9. Put it back in the oven to finish. Maybe another 4 or 5 minutes?

Here is Tony's reaction:

Day 92: Homemade lipstick, attempt #1

2010-04-18T08:28:00.002-04:00

When cooking with beets this winter, I noticed how much they stain. So of course the first thing I thought was, "can I make a lipstick from this?"

During the experiment, I took pictures. What follows here is my first attempt at making beet lipstick. The basic idea was I wanted to strain the beet juice and use it to color some regular Chapstick.

Step One: cut off the beet stems and a small piece of the beet, and save the rest of the beet and the greens for another use.

Step Two: put the beet pieces in a blender and blend them up. In this picture you can see the beet juice on my finger.

Step Three: put the blended pieces into the mortar and pestle and grind them up more.

Step Four: put the beet paste into a bandana and squeeze the juice into a bowl.

Step Five: take an old tube of Chapstick and put it into the mortar and pestle, then blend the beet juice into the Chapstick.

Here is what it looks like when it's done:

Step Six: try it on your lips.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Verdict: I can't see a thing, colorwise. But it works just like Chapstick! (Psst, I wouldn't call this a success... maybe next time I will try straight beet juice...)

Day 91: Learn how processed food is made, Part 2

2010-04-17T06:04:00.001-04:00

Today's processed food lesson: What is maltodextrin? My favorite smoked almonds have this stuff on them and I wondered what it is.

Maltodextrin is an umbrella term for a highly processed saccharide polymer derived from starch (corn, potato, rice, or less commonly, wheat). There are lots of these sugar-like things made from different starches. They are called dextrose, generically. But they can also be called things like "rice sugar" or "wheat sugar" or "corn syrup" on a label. [1]

Maltodextrin appears as a powder. It is absorbed in your body like glucose. If a factory takes the corn starch they would normally make corn syrup out of, and they just cook it a little less, it is maltodextrin [2].

Maltodextrins are classified by their "DE" or "dextrose equivalent" number. The numbers are usually between 3 and 20. A higher number means the glucose chains are shorter and the product is sweeter.

Maltodextrin can also be used as a thickener. It is on some peanut butters as a fat replacer. [2]

I have no information on why it's on these nuts, but here's my theory: These almonds are coated in some powdery, spicy, salty junk to make them taste delicious. I think the maltodextrin is in that mixture to make it have the right mouthfeel and to hold the spices and salt. Just my guess.

I really don't need to be eating that. I guess compared to a Twinkie, a jalapeno smoked almond is closer to "real" food, but really, wouldn't a plain almond be good too? Or just a roasted, salted almond?

[1] Sugar Association web page. http://www.sugar.org/consumers/sweet_by_nature.asp?id=277
[2] Ettlinger, Steve. 2007. Twinkie, Deconstructed. p. 64.

Day 90: Save water for plants

2010-04-16T05:52:00.002-04:00

We haven't implemented any serious efforts at outside rainwater diversion (yet), but in the house, I have tried a few strategies for saving and re-using waste water. Here is a picture of a bucket I'm using in the kitchen to catch pasta water and other kitchen water. For those who were fans of Tony's Pee Week, THIS IS NOT A PICTURE OF PEE.

After it cools, I imagine the plants will like it because of the extra nutrients in there.

UPDATE: after making beet lipstick (see posting later this week) the water is now a lovely shade of pink!

Update to glass jars in the pantry

2010-04-15T15:35:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago I posted some shots of my pantry and the recycled glass jars I am trying to use in there to store things. I've also been using the glass jars to store leftovers or portions for lunches (e.g. yogurt, etc). Tony has also been using recycled mason jars for his coffee and water at work.

The other day I went to get my yogurt and granola for lunch, and when I saw the jar lids, the idea of the yogurt being in a pickle jar and the granola being in an artichoke jar was rather unappetizing. Bleah. I decided to cover the jar lids with some old stickers that I had laying around.

Here is the result:

Day 89: Learn how processed food is made, part 1

2010-04-15T12:02:00.002-04:00

I am going to be a Debbie Downer and start a little series called "Processed Food Fun Facts" or "Learn how processed food is made". I'll have a series of factoids on here designed to teach some kitchen chemistry and food science.

FIRST UP: Hexane

So you're all proud of yourself for eating less meat and more vegetables. You saunter up to the checkout line with your package of Boca Burgers, and slap it on the counter. Along with your non-meat textured soy protein, you've just ordered a heaping portion of hexane, a chemical neurotoxin used in the refinement of gasoline.

Veggie Burgers Contain Hexane

In cooking and food science, hexanes are used to separate oil from seeds. This makes your Boca Burgers less fattening. It also makes them more unhealthy and disgusting.

After processing, larger-than-trace amounts of hexane stay in the food, and you eat that. Hexane is a known neurotoxin. Proceed with caution. If you must buy Boca Burgers, or other soy-based processed foods, buy the ones marked Organic (NOT "made with organic ingredients", it must be marked "Organic").

I don't buy Boca Burgers, but I have been known to consume the odd Clif bar now and again. Clif bars also are made with hexane.

A better solution: make your own food from whole ingredients that resemble the original natural processing. If you want to eat processed food, why not try making it yourself? This was one of Michael Pollan's Food Rules I think. (Something like "Eat all the Twinkies you want, just make them yourself.")

So on my list of things to do is to make my own granola bars. I make granola already, so how hard could it be? I think it would be relatively easy to make a bean-based veggie patty also. I am thinking black beans would be nice, and by the time it was all said and done it would probably have more protein than a Boca Burger anyhow. And I could vouch for all the ingredients. Consider this on the Green v. Green to-do list!!

Day 88: The Dishwashing Detergent Debate

2010-04-13T08:38:00.002-04:00

Earlier I posted about eco-dishwashing detergents. After much testing, and three months of back-and-forth, I have determined that the winner is........ Seventh Generation powder automatic dishwashing detergent.

This stuff works great, and when we're going through Richmond we can stop at Ellwood Thompson's and pick it up in bulk.

Also, never, ever buy Mrs. Meyers for cleaning dishes. All that aromatherapy on the dishes is just a terrible idea.

Day 87: Keep planting things

2010-04-12T21:08:00.002-04:00

This weekend I added thai basil, cinnamon basil, one tomato plant, jalapenos, and summer squash. That last one was actually meant to be zucchini but I grabbed the wrong pot and didn't notice until I got home.

Soon the violas will die and I'll replace them with strawberries I think, or maybe lettuce. Can't decide yet. Then the pansies will die and I'll replace them with more tomatoes or maybe those zucchinis. Who knows. It's very exciting to have things growing. I check on the plants all the time. It's very soothing to weed them and study them.

Oh, and in the backyard we have a crazy amount of lemon balm. It's everywhere. I'm considering it for groundcover along the sides of the yard. We have insane amounts of it.

Saving Lives, One Old Lady at a Time

2010-04-10T18:59:00.006-04:00

After finding a lost dog, setting up signs for it around the neighborhood, and letting it spend the night in the garage, our family felt like we had done our good deed for the weekend. However, we had something much more exciting in store. Tonight on the way to the Mellow Mushroom with the kids, we noticed an old woman with a handicapped sticker driving erratically in a Cadillac in front of us. She was weaving, putting her blinker on for no reason, and then started driving up on the curb. When she re-entered the roadway, she continued her weaving and erratic path. Tony called 911 and followed her. While the 911 operator said they would send someone out, we weren't entirely sure where she was going or if they'd be able to find her, so we followed her. After about 2 miles of her weaving all over the road, we finally caught up with her and came up alongside her right. We looked over and she was actually asleep at the wheel AND her sun visor had become disconnected, sitting vertically and blocking her vision!

Soon, it became clear that she was approaching a 12-lane intersection with a red light on our side and was not going to stop. She appeared ready to just plow through the intersection, completely asleep. Tony sped past her to the intersection and started honking loudly, trying to get the attention of everyone around and warn her. She was about to be T-boned by a truck and/or hit a family van head-on, but the honking got that drivers; attention and they slowed just enough to be able to avoid her. The old lady finally put her brakes on and came to a stop in the middle of the intersection.

Tony ran out of our truck and over to her car. He used his police voice on her (I imagine this is a very cranky version of the professor voice), and convinced her to open the door. He asked her to back up slowly into the turn lane, and she did. He said she was very confused and then angry at him, accusing him of pulling her over without being a police officer, and saying that she didn't want the police to come because she had had run-ins with them before. She also said that she "wasn't asleep but the horn woke me up". She was obviously in a bad way. I called 911 again and reported our location, and after about 5 minutes they sent one officer.

Tony told the officer the story and then the left once the officer said we could leave. We were very relieved that no one was hurt, although we both thought for a moment as she headed for that intersection that she was a goner.

We headed back to Mellow Mushroom and ordered a Red Oak (local beer) for each of us and some pizza. Well, about 10 minutes after we got there, we saw the strangest thing. Up the street come two police cars, sirens blaring, lights on, following... guess who. Yup, our little old lady was running from the cops!

A third police car finally joined the chase and they pulled her over about a block away from the restaurant where we were sitting outside, blue lights blazing, the whole bit. This pretty much stopped traffic for a while in that lane, and our whole restaurant patio was watching the drama. Of course, we had to explain what was going on, since, unfortunately, we knew exactly who she was. After about 20 minutes the police got her out of the car, into a police car, and a tow truck finally towed her car away. Let's hope she won't be getting her car or her license back for a long, long time.

Day 86: Personal Care Products: Toothpaste

2010-04-10T15:07:00.003-04:00

I've been a Crest girl since I was old enough to brush. I've also never had a cavity. This week I decided to try to green it up a bit. Here were my requirements:

1. No baking soda - I have very sensitive teeth and somewhat receding gums on one side, and several dentists have recommended NOT using baking soda based toothpastes. This rules out making my own toothpaste.
2. Must have fluoride - same reason. Sensitive teeth need more fluoride, or perhaps more correctly, fluoride will reduce sensitivity.
3. Must have recycled plastic container
4. Must have minty flavor
5. Must have no animal testing and no animal ingredients.
6. Must be made by a good company

I decided on Tom's Natural Toothpaste Spearmint flavor with fluoride.

Here's what I notice so far.

1. It's 2.5 times more expensive. Regular Crest costs $2. This stuff costs $4.99.
2. It has sodium laurel sulfate (SLS) in it (yuck) which causes it to foam in the mouth just like "real" toothpaste. This gives detergent properties.
3. The spearmint is nice.
4. The biggest flaw in it is that it doesn't cause your whole mouth to tingle like "real" toothpaste.
5. I'll keep using it but I'm pretty skeptical of the SLS in it. I might try a different brand when this runs out.

Whole wheat bread recipe

2010-04-08T16:55:00.003-04:00

By request, here is my whole wheat bread recipe - it could not be easier.

I'll give the basic dough recipe. You can make this in your bread machine and finish in the oven, or mix up your dough manually.

3 cups whole wheat flour
1.5t salt
2T butter
2t yeast
3T powdered milk
1 c water plus between .3-.5 cup extra (judge this for yourself - if it's a hot day, add a little less. If it's a cold day, add a bit more -- more water will help it rise a bit and yield a less dense loaf.)

Do a first rise, knead and second rise, and then finish in oven for 20 minutes on 400.

Good luck. I make this every 3 days or so. It's a beautiful thing.

Day 85: Personal care products: Deodorant

2010-04-06T16:57:00.005-04:00

Well, how can I possibly top Tony's Pee Week? I considered doing a body fluids trifecta, for example, "Spit, Sweat, and Snot: Personal Eco-Management for the Skittish". But I've decided that despite the Internet's apparent love for Tony (our traffic went through the roof during Pee Week - wait, is that love of pee or love of Tony? Hm... Also, did you notice we now have different ads along the side? The cat urine ads I understand, but Jimmy John's Subs?!? Someone explain this to me!), I can't really see myself being able to top him, what with all the details and the photos and the double entendres.

So let's just leave it a little more, well, Megan-like, shall we?

This week I'm taking advantage of this sweltering spring week (high of 92 today? Are you kidding me? We went from frozen tundra to dog days here...) to experiment with herbal deodorants. So far, I smell like bug spray. I have not heard any outwardly derisive comments in class or out in public. Claire did say she likes me to smell more like baby powder and less like roast chicken. I think she's smelling the sage. It does have a "medieval kitchen" sort of quality to it. I like to think that I don't need the full compliment of 13th century coverups for rotting meat, but hey, you never know. This stuff I'm using currently has sage oil, lavandin oil, and lemon peel oil in an alcohol base. (Wikipedia tells me that lavandin is a hybrid of lavender.)

I do want to notify The Internet At Large that sage is one thing, but if I ever end up smelling like patchouli please host an intervention. Paint my toenails, haul me off of the Grateful Dead tour bus, and douse me with tropical summer breeze antiperspirants, STAT. Because if I ever smell like patchouli, something has gone seriously, definitely wrong.

Day 84: The Pee Bee: A Look Inside the Lindner Hall Mens' Room

2010-04-03T08:46:00.002-04:00

Tony: You should really look in Lindner Hall mens' room!
Megan: No, that's okay. Really.

After writing my last posting, I decided to take Organic123's suggestion and use an old milk jug to store urine. [Megan says,"Oh my god! You are not really going to tell people about that, are you?"] Rather than keeping a full gallon jug on the sink, I grabbed a half-gallon jug and set it behind the toilet. [Megan says,"Please tell me you're not going to write about this on the Internet. For everyone to see. Your pee jug?!? Please. No."] It fit perfectly and could not easily be seen. Megan went a full day without noticing it and, after I told her it was in there, still couldn't find it. [She now claims she still wishes she did not ever know about this.] I smiled proudly at the end of the day while carrying it triumphantly to fertilize our two new pear trees. [Megan was not smiling.]

While this is a good solution for the home [Megan disagrees], it isn't suitable for the workplace. I doubt that even my greenest colleagues in the Environmental Studies program would approve of me keeping a urine jug in the science building. Fortunately, toilet technology is advancing such that less and less water is required for each flush at work. In fact, the urinals in the brand new Lindner Hall building at Elon are waterless. With the Sloan WES-5000, there is no flushing at all.

Eric Henry, owner of the ultra-green T-shirt company, TS Designs, explained to me how these work during a recent field trip there. A small cartridge at the base of the urinal releases just a bit of a chemical solution that is lighter than human urine. This chemical floats above the urine and "seals" it off from the air, preventing any odor. (You can look at Eric's own waterless urinal and grey-water toilet on the TS Design's virtual tour.)

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of these urinals is the image of a cartoon bee placed just above the cartridge. A short NPR story covered the resurgence of this pee bee which had been used on toilets in Britain a hundred years ago. While one could put instructions on the wall telling men where to aim to maximize the urinal's effectiveness, I think William Szilveszter's blog summed up the arguments in favor of the pee bee.

What do you think men do when they stand there and pee? What do you think they think about? Well, if you think world problems are solved at those wall-mounted, porcelain receptacles, think again. Most men seem to focus on aiming their streams. Yes ladies, it’s true. Whether we admit it or not, we aren’t doing much more than playing “First One to Erode the Urinal Cake” or pretending we are Chief Fireman Baker, a gruff loaner (sic) with a heart of gold who also happens to be Urinal Town’s only hope to quell a fire that threatens to decimate the local orphanage.

Equally interesting were the toilets in Lindner's restrooms. These featured the UPPERCUT® Manual Dual-Flush Flushometer: down for a regular 1.6-gallon flush, up for a 1.1-gallon flush.

Comparing this to my home toilet's 3.0-gallon flush, both options are saving a lot of water. Still, I'm not sure why they opted to have a complex flushing handle with wall-mounted instructions when they could have just set it for 1.1-gallons and let people flush twice, if need be. I also wondered why they bothered to install dual-flush handles in the mens' room. How often would a man use the toilet to whiz when there are perfectly good urinals (with bees!) right there? Regardless, I am very proud of Elon University for being very conscious about it environmental impact and for installing such forward-thinking plumbing.

Day 83: Pee on the Compost Pile: Yellow is the New Green!

2010-03-31T05:57:00.001-04:00

Tony: I think I found another use for milk jugs that could help us save money and your precious planet.

Megan: I thought this week you were only doing urine-related postin...oh no!

For most of my childhood, I lived in a small farmhouse purchased by my great-grandfather, Willis Irvin nearly 100 years ago. When he bought it, it had dirt floors and no indoor plumbing. By the time I lived in it, wooden floors had been laid and a small closet under the stairs was converted into a bathroom. The water source was a well near the house and my Dad was constantly worried about it running dry. Perhaps that was the reason why he, my brother, and I would typically stand behind the house to pee when we got home rather than taking turns in the lone bathroom.

Once I moved to the city, there were obviously a lot fewer opportunities to urinate outside. (Peeing in Paris is one of the few exceptions.) Thus, I forgot this part of my upbringing until Megan asked my to look up what items could and could not go on our compost pile. Number 34 on the list of 75 Things You Can Compost But Thought You Couldn't: Urine. An interesting article in the Telegraph last November also mentioned how the the National Trust in the UK is encouraging people to pee on straw bales outside for composting.

I have tried going out to our compost pile a few times at night to add my own personal nitrogen to the mix. Even during the day, with our enclosed back yard, there is sufficient privacy to pull this off. However, sometimes it is cold and muddy and I don't feel like making the trek. What to do, what to do? Over on YouTube, OrganicGarden123 has a solution in a short clip showing his collection of "natural liquid nitrogen" with milk jugs.

Besides being used in the compost pile, it is possible to fertilize plants with diluted. While most websites touted the benefits of adding urine's nitrogen, one article I found by Kirchmann and Petterson at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science suggested that phosphorus was absorbed by plants from human urine faster than from regular fertilizer. My favorite site on the topic featured a book by Carol Steinfeld, Liquid Gold, the Lore and Logic of Using Urine to Grow Plants. On it, I learned that "Pee on the Earth Day" is June 21! I will definitely be ordering that for Elon's library.

To sum up, if I collect rather than flush my own urine, I will spend less money on my fertilizer, waste less water, and have healthier soil for the fruits and vegetables in our home garden. Milk jugs FTW!!!

Day 82: Pee in the Shower for Fun and Profit

2010-03-29T16:22:00.008-04:00

Megan: Did you know that peeing in the shower saves water and money?
Tony: You are so gross. How much money?

While Megan thinks my Pepsi belches and Claire's incessant flatulence are disgusting, she has always joked that peeing in the shower was perfectly acceptable.

I truly thought she was a bit nutty about this until I saw a very cute public service announcement about peeing in the shower created by the Brazilian government and covered by the US media.

How much money could this save me? Randomly grabbing my December 2009 water bill, our family used 2900 gallons in one month. We pay 0.4 cents per gallon to get it and we pay the city 0.6 cents per gallon to take it back as sewer water. I couldn't believe it was only one penny per gallon! I guess Evian, Dasani, and Aquafina have give me an inflated sense of water's cost.

Let's assume I take one shower a day and need to "drain the main vein" just beforehand. This is true for me and the ~3 people in my house most mornings. Annually, that saves about 1000 household flushes at 3 gallons per flush for my fairly standard old toilet. (I measured this out, just to be sure, using leftover milk jugs from Day 34: The Freezer Experiment.) Thus, while saving water doesn't save that much money, this little exercise does decrease water bill by about 1/12th. Thus, my new water mantra is:

SHOWER AND PEE

GET ONE MONTH FREE!

As Megan said yesterday, "One drop doesn't look like much, but a continuous drip will fill up a very big bucket."

On "impact"

2010-03-28T08:47:00.002-04:00

One drop doesn't look like much, but a continuous drip will fill up a very big bucket.

Weekend Update

2010-03-28T08:42:00.002-04:00

This week Megan wrote about getting free stuff by the side of the road, giving away free stuff just for fun - including smiles, reading classic books for free, planning out this year's small garden, making better kid lunches, and The Great Lunchables Experiment.

Day 81: Start a garden

2010-03-27T07:11:00.000-04:00

I'm not known for my green thumb, but I'm going to branch out from herbs and houseplants this year and try really hard to do a bit more gardening. I've got friends who are really good at this, with their online planning tools and whatnot. I don't know. I think I'm going to start slowly and dip a toe in this year, and add projects as I see I can handle them. (We're thinking about our quadruple bottom line including "practicality" and "peace"/simplicity in all this.)

So, the garden plan so far is:

1. Continue herb garden outside in front and on side yard. Make a list of all plants and label them. Make little signs. (Tony really wants this.)

I know we have the following herbs still growing from last year:
-rosemary
-catnip
-oregano
-lemon balm

I already planted the following this year:
-thyme
-dill
-cilantro
-lavender

I still need to plant:
-mint
-basil
-parsley

2. Use containers to start peas and lettuces (we actually planted these a few weeks ago and they are starting to poke out now).

Growing so far:
-swiss chard
-sugar snap peas
-shelling peas
-leeks

To come (later):
-more lettuces
-strawberries?
-tomatoes
-eggplants
-zucchinis
-blackberries or some other vine type of plant to grow up the trellis to the left of the house.

3. As my inside plants die or get too unwieldy, I want to replace them with things we can eat. After reading The Urban Homestead, I decided I don't really want to grow anything I can't eat.

Low-stress gardens like this save money and cut down on grocery store purchases. (In the interests of the quadruple bottom line, low-stress gardening also increases time spent outdoors and contributes to a higher quality of life. I'm not sure how sustainable it will be during those hot summer months when I might just want to sit in the AC and gaze outdoors from behind glass. But we'll see.)

Day 80: Pack better kid lunches

2010-03-26T18:40:00.000-04:00

The food at school is not great, and Claire really likes to bring her own lunch rather than eat cafeteria food. I am in favor of this wholeheartedly. However, coming up with a kid lunch made up of "real food" that doesn't need refrigeration, doesn't have to be microwaved, and that she will eat and not waste is difficult.

Here are some of the items that we both can basically agree to have in her lunchbox:
--homemade applesauce (both)
--mini pepperonis (her suggestion) and cheese cubes (my suggestion)
--pbj sandwich with homemade bread, natural pb, and all-fruit jam (me) and the crusts cut off (her)
--yogurt cup (both)
--pickles (her!)

Here are some of the things I pack for her that she doesn't really like but suffers with:
--bananas (I usually pack these as "snack" so she is faced with eating it at midmorning and can't ignore it like she could at lunch time)

Here are some of the things I pack that neither of us is crazy about, but they're easy and expedient:
--granola bar
--container of "trail mix" type stuff (nuts, goldfish crackers, pretzels mixed, raisins, etc)

Here are some of the things that I pack for her that she does not want and will not eat (they come home still in the package, untouched):
--baby carrots (yes, I've tried including dip)
--any fruit that requires peeling or purposeful biting (whole apples, oranges, pears)

Here are some of the things she says she will eat, but then they still come home in the lunchbox uneaten:
--green pears D'Anjou
--sliced apples
--nuts (hit or miss, sometimes she eats, sometimes not)
--dried fruit
--grapes (hit or miss)

Have not tried celery sticks yet. Not sure there's much nutrition in a celery stick anyway. If I make it into "ants on a log" she might eat it more readily. (Probably about the same nutrition as what's in a pickle though!)

One thing that definitely happens is that she'll see something in the lunch that she does not like, so she won't eat it, but then she'll end up ravenously hungry by after-school time. The after-school program, bless their hearts, feeds the kids pretty poor-quality snacks most of the time, although sometimes I am surprised by a good offering here or there. So by after-school time she's starving and the snack is usually engineered food in a pretty package. She ends up with an overall school-hours food profile that is nothing to be proud of. I've seen the after-school program offer everything from packaged honey buns (sick) to some sort of bagel bite thingie that I couldn't identify (sicker) to chips (not looking so bad now are they?) to whole fruit. It's really hit or miss. I've also packed extra after-school snacks for her, but she'll forget them or eat them for lunch...

So, the best thing to do is to really concentrate on getting a wider variety of healthful foods into the lunchbox, and hopefully these are things that she'll eat over the course of the day.

Now, depending on what we put in there, a homemade healthy lunch of "real food" is probably not cheaper than buying from the cafeteria, so I'll have to code this as a win for planet. (However, truth be told, I think this is one of those cases where I don't really care about how "cheap" it is, because it's so much more healthy and wholesome to fix her a high-quality lunch than to save a few cents buying cafeteria food.)

Day 79: Get kids involved with their food

2010-03-25T18:42:00.005-04:00

Claire asked me several times about Lunchables, these gross (to me) pre-packaged lunches. Some of the kids at school had them, and Claire was asking me why I didn't want to get them for her. My reasons were as follows:

1. The food is poor quality and probably tastes gross
2. Too many chemicals and preservatives, too much salt, unhealthy
3. They are expensive ($1.99 for the cheapest one)
4. Wasteful packaging

However, Claire called my bluff on #1 and #3. She said she'd like to be the judge of whether it tasted bad. And I admitted that a Lunchable might go on sale some time and then it would be cheaper.

I was trying to be a good mom, the kind that doesn't deprive the child but at the same time sticks to the principles of a healthy family. I pointed out that the #2 hurdle is pretty major here - the cost and the taste can't outweigh the unhealthyness. And the #7 plastic container is 100% garbage, non-recyclable trash. (By the way, I find this utterly appalling. Why can't they use a recyclable container? Or something compostable like paper?)

We decided to perform an experiment. We would purchase one Lunchable, of Claire's choosing. We would then replicate a homemade version of the Lunchable and compare taste, cost, waste, and healthyness.

She chose Pepperoni Flavored (!) Sausage Pizza. That's "sausage" that has been "flavored" to be like "pepperoni". (Just so you know.) It cost $1.99.

Here is the photo set showing Claire assembling and eating (should I say 'devouring' the Lunchable):

Believe me, I really hoped she'd hate it. But, she did not hate it. She rather liked it, in all its partially hydrogenated glory. That mozzarella cheese food product went down like butter. She licked the plate. ("I did not!" ...she is helping me write this...)

On the other hand, the mommy-made version was healthy, hot, steaming, fresh, and, according to Claire, not nearly as good. The crust was too doughy. Sigh.

Link to the whole Lunchable Experiment Photo Set

Here is the link to the Lunchable nutrition info for the one Claire picked out. Ugh.

Needless to say, we will not be purchasing this again, but I'm glad we did the experiment. I'm glad she got to try one so she won't feel deprived or as if she wasn't heard. And I feel fairly good about the lunches I pack in general, but tomorrow I'll post a bit more about lunches for kids.

Day 78: Smile more

2010-03-25T08:10:00.004-04:00

At the risk of sounding really trite on an Oprah level, I'm going to suggest smiling more. I was in a tough meeting earlier this week, and there were a few times where I had to invoke my miracle of mindfulness "half-smile superpower". There were a few times where I should have invoked it and I forgot!

This is something I read about in Thich Nhat Hanh's The Miracle of Mindfulness. Picture the Mona Lisa's half-smile. It's a smile that evokes "humor, serious but not too serious, non-commitment to a response, open, opening to others to share in the smile... an attitude of humor and openness to others and the universe".

It's not a pinched sarcastic smile, it's not a "flip" smile, or a coy smile, or a smug smile, or a fake smile, or a grimace. Nor is it the kind of smile you'd make after hearing a joke. It's not much of a smile at all if you see it in the mirror. Actually nailing the half-smile is part of the challenge. Because if you're feeling pinched or sarcastic or fake or smug, it won't work. So you kind of have to modify both your face (your outlook) and your attitude (your inlook?) at the same time in order for this to work. But that's sort of the point.

What I like about this technique for dealing with stress is that you can remain engaged. I saw another person in the meeting deal with stress by becoming argumentative. (They are perhaps still engaged, but at what cost? I did this once myself but managed to squelch the tendency the other five times I wanted to do it...) Another person left the room several times. A third person withdrew and looked at the floor or doodled. The cool thing about the half-smile is that it not only sends the right message outward but seems to actually cool the mind inwardly as well. You can't maintain a proper half-smile in anger.

Day 77: Read free books

2010-03-24T20:37:00.002-04:00

Yes, the library is great and I am an extremely heavy library user. Highly recommend you all take advantage of your local libraries. But there are also tons of free books available online that you can load onto your Kindle or iPhone or laptop and read 100% free of charge. Right now I'm reading Walden, and just got done with the Scarlet Letter. These things take on entirely new meaning when you read them again as an adult, by the way. I don't know why Hawthorne is wasted on high schoolers... we sort of pigeonhole these classics into "I read that in high school" and then we never read them again. What a mistake!

Anyway, Project Gutenberg has tons of free stuff there, classics and interesting weird old books. Check it out.

Day 76: Get free stuff by the side of the road

2010-03-23T06:08:00.000-04:00

On the free theme... Last week our neighbors across the street began their move-out process. From their trash pile, we scavenged: a VCR tape storage rack which I'm turning into a plant stand, a Razor scooter, a plastic tub for the garage, a VCR, and some Playstation games (Tony sold these to a store for $5).

The other day while running through Mill Point, I noticed it was trash day. If I'd only had a car! There was an enormous amount of perfectly good trash out there - storage tubs, garden trellises, computer printer, laundry baskets, even an office chair.

I was tempted to call Tony and have him do a drive-through with me. Unfortunately, it was Friday and I had class.

Now that I know what day is trash day over there though, I'm all about it... Might plan ahead a bit for this. I can get to school "the long way" once a week.

From a pride (Oh! there's another P word; are we ready for a quintuple bottom line?) standpoint, it doesn't feel particularly good to go poking around in people's trash. On the other hand, it does feel nice to save perfectly good things from the landfill. ("One man's trash is another man's treasure.") And obviously this is good for pocket if we find something we needed in someone's trash.

Day 75: Give away things I don't need

2010-03-22T08:10:00.004-04:00

Driving around yesterday running errands, I said to Tony, "You know what would make me so happy right now? Finding something neat for free by the side of the road." Sometimes it is nice to get an unexpected free thing.

I didn't happen to get anything free yesterday, but today we're starting a giveaway program. You may recognize some of the items from the Haiti yard sale... We'll take photos of the items, and they're free for the taking to readers of this blog or to friends on Facebook or whatever.

First item: some old jewelry.

There are some gold pieces in here, some cheap costume pieces, dozens of earrings, 11 necklaces, 3 watches, pins, some silver, Diamonique (yes QVC!) earrings, opals, some matching sets, pearls, etc. I kept all the sentimental pieces (mostly rings), but I'm done with these pieces and they are just taking up space now. I figure maybe they can bring someone else some joy. Do what you want with them -- take them apart (and make new pieces?), give them to little kids to dress up in, sell them at a gold store, perform science experiments, whatever you want to do.

The whole collection is in a 3" x 3" x 5" rainproof plastic box sitting on my front porch. First one to come get it, gets it. You don't have to knock or tell me you're taking it... just pick it up and go. (Unless you want to, in which case, ring the bell and maybe we're here. It's spring break so no promises...)

Weekend Update: Electricity Week

2010-03-21T09:17:00.000-04:00

After having used my Kill-A-Watt meter to test possible energy savings with the freezer a few weeks ago, I tried using it again to gauge savings with my computer, my television, and the washing machine. It turns out that I can decrease these by a few percent, I should probably focus on saving energy by running the air conditioner less in the summer.

Day 74: Cooling Off

2010-03-19T23:50:00.002-04:00

I decided to log into Duke Energy to find out what they might suggest as the primary electricity culprits in my house. After filling out some basic information about the appliances and the size of the house, I got the following chart:

It turns out the biggest impact I can have is to reduce the cooling during the summer. I can also try replacing the rest of the bulbs in the house with low-wattage bulbs. Time to head to Home Depot!

Day 73: The Washing Machine

2010-03-18T21:44:00.000-04:00

For its shear volume and weight, I thought that operating the washing machine might require a lot of energy. While it is one of the new "high-efficiency" models, it must take a lot of work to spin that heavy drum so fast, right?

Running a load of clothes (using cold water, of course, after seeing Megan's reminder) for 70 minutes required 0.120 kWh. This averages out to only about 100 Watts. That's less than some light bulbs!

I think that tomorrow I need to do some research on the web (gasp!) to find a better strategy for cutting energy consumption. It turns out that my big and bright appliances are not using as much as I thought.

Day 72: Television!

2010-03-17T11:11:00.002-04:00

Teacher, mother, secret lover. The centerpiece of the modern living room. I chose my Pioneer 50" plasma because it closely resembled the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. I have read that larger televisions consume much more energy so I decided to test my own out.

Even when "off," the Pioneer still requires 28 Watts. Turning it on, it jumped up to several hundred Watts. For a few seconds, I was confused that I couldn't get a steady reading on my Kill-A-Watt meter. Then I realized that the power consumption depended on the image on the screen: a bright image needed a lot of power and a dark image needed much less.

For comparison, here are three screens that owners of the Nintendo Wii should be familiar with. The mostly black warning screen only requires 191 Watts while the mostly white menu screen requires 326 Watts. To try to tweak this a bit, I went to the television's energy settings and changed it from STANDARD to SAVE2, lowering the consumption from 326 Watts to 246 Watts.

Black Wii Warning Screen: 191 Watts

White Wii Main Menu: 326 Watts

White Wii Main Menu (TV Set to SAVE 2): 246 Watts

If our family watches TV or plays computer games for about two hours each day, the TV would need 240 kWh to run each year. With SAVE 2 enabled, that drops to 180 kWh. At a cost of $0.11 per kWh, the savings is only $6.

So far, I haven't found a significant pocket savings in my energy reduction search. In her quest to "be green" versus "save green," Megan asked me yesterday how much coal would be saved by making these lifestyle changes. In the link she posted, I found that 1 kWh requires roughly 1 pound of coal. Thus, changing the setting on my television might saves only 60 pounds of coal each year, less than one wheelbarrow full.

Given that my electric bill is much higher than that, I'm convinced there must be a few bigger energy hogs in the house. Since we have a gas water heater, a gas stove, and a gas furnace, I know those are consuming energy but aren't the ones responsible for the my high Duke Energy bill. I'll keep looking for the culprits tomorrow!

Day 71: The Computer Corner

2010-03-16T10:14:00.004-04:00

I had heard about the concept of "vampire power" a long time ago. I think the first mention of it came in the form of an email sent out by Elon University's energy expert, Paul Holt. Checking my archives, I found the following from him way back on 8/30/2008:

Have you ever wondered how much that appliance is costing me to run? Can I get a more efficient appliance and save enough energy to justify buying a new one? How can I identify the “vampire” loads in my house? That is, the power that an electronic device might use when it is not operational...

There are several types of simple plug-in monitoring devices that can help the homeowner with these questions and more. You can Google “residential plug-in monitors” and find several brands. I have attached a link to one that I have purchased. It is inexpensive ($24.95+tax+no shipping cost) and can answer these questions for you.

http://www.energyfederation.org/consumer/default.php/cPath/388_254

While I remembered the term "vampire power" from that email, I had completely forgotten (in my conscious mind) about the Kill-A-Watt meter. Somewhere deep in my brain, however, I must have remembered it because I bought that exact model a few months ago to run the Day 34 freezer experiment.

Today, I've hooked it up to the power strip in my computer corner to find out how much energy each item uses when it's on and when it's "off." The picture below shows my setup (click on it for details on each component):

Everything on: 104 Watts. Everything off: 14.5 Watts. That latter number is equivalent to running my stepdaughter's night light 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Looking at my electric bill from last month, I see that I was charged $48.35 for 458 kiloWatt-hours or $0.11 per kWh. If I assume 8,766 hours per year, this rate equals $0.93 per Watt-year. Since this is pretty close to $1, I'm going to adopt it as a new "rule of thumb."

Reducing "always on" energy use by
1 Watt saves $1 in 1 year.

This is a little depressing. I had already wired all of my computer components to a power strip that I would dutifully shut off and save money. At most, I would save $14.50 the whole year (or enough for three trips to Irazu Coffee.) This is a start, but there must be a way to make deeper cuts into the energy bill.

Day 70: Our House, Unplugged

2010-03-15T09:50:00.001-04:00

I always liked blackouts when I was growing up. Of course, for all of us kids, digging out the candles and flashlights was a treat. I was also fascinated with the hush that fell over the house, with no television on or no radio blaring. When the power came back on, it was always a bit of a let down. The sudden blast of light and noise would signal the return to the modern world. The clock would again tick as we slipped back into normal time.

In the twenty-first century, we are accustomed to ignoring the rainbow of LED power lights and the low, soft hum of fans in refrigerators, computers, and furnaces. When you visit a Bose Audio store and try on the QuietComfort 3 Noise Cancelling headphones, you discover that for only $300 you can experience near silence.

I want it for less.

This week, I'm going to work on unplugging as many useless appliances as possible at our little white house at the end of Brookfield Drive. I don't plan for us to quit using our washer and dryer and start cleaning clothes in the bathtub. After all, I'm still the kind of guy that likes ironed pants and dry-cleaned shirts. I simply would prefer that appliances in my house be off when I'm not using them. Is that too much to ask?

Weekly Roundup

2010-03-14T07:21:00.001-04:00

This week we decided to use up cleaning supplies before buying new ones, even if they're not eco-friendly. Megan talked about reducing tissue use, using castile soap, not wasting food, and making homemade granola.

In addition, Megan talked a bit about how it feels to try to make a good life with less overhead, and then we discussed peace and practicality as bottom lines, in addition to just planet and pocket.

Day 69: Use up supplies, before buying new

2010-03-13T18:51:00.002-05:00

When we moved to the new house, we consolidated two houses worth of cleaning supplies, and then the family that lived here left a very large amount of supplies (out-of-state move - we assume the movers refused to pack chemicals).

Some of the cleaning agents are greenwashed junk, and others are conventional chemical bombs, but we've decided - for pocket reasons - to use up all the cleaning supplies we have before buying new ones.

This includes dish soap (although dishwashing soap we ran out of a while back and covered that on this blog), glass cleaners, floor cleaners, multi-surface cleaners, etc.

Clearly, this is a pocket win. We could rationalize a bit for the planet in terms of not wasting and not buying new things, but I'm not sure the chemical impact in the sewer system outweighs or not?

As for peace/simplicity, and practicality, I'm not sure they're even involved. (See day 68 for info about this new quadruple bottom line.) Boo.

Pocket: 8, Planet: 13, Win-Win: 45

Day 68: Consider Peace and Practicality

2010-03-12T06:29:00.001-05:00

In making these small and big changes, we've been considering pocket and planet a lot in this experiment. We even named the blog after the two greens: pocket-green and planet-green. But what we've been kicking around recently when we talk about this is a quadruple bottom line. (Whoa - all you guys that thought the triple bottom line was the goal, take that!) To planet and pocket we've added peace (includes simplicity?) and practicality (includes convenience and sustainability for the long haul).

Any "green" action can be measured in terms of this quadruple bottom line.

What about selling the car? Originally, we chalked that up to a pocket and planet win. But does it bring us peace and simplicity? Is having one car sustainable for the long haul? Not sure yet.

Selling the car has had some unintended consequences. We have become more cooperative about our schedules, since we have to coordinate about transportation. I have shopped a lot less since I don't have as much access to stores. This is a great side benefit.

What about something like baking bread instead of buying store bread? Also a pocket and planet win, but isn't it a hassle to make bread all the time instead of just buying it? No, no, no. This has been one of the most pleasant surprises of really committing to making bread. It's been completely easy and stress-free. It fits perfectly into an after-work activity slot. Any night that we're at home can be a bread night. I can start a loaf while making dinner and by bed time, it's done and ready for the next day. Peaceful and practical.

You might recall the shampoo debacle from Week One. While it was technically cheaper and eco-friendly to reduce shampoo use, Tony's experiment to reduce it to near ZERO turned out to not bring peace and not be sustainable at all. Sure, we might have been able to see this coming, but we ran the experiment anyway. Similarly, running barefoot turned out to be great for pocket and planet, but was basically unsustainable in the long run (highly imPRACTICAL) due to cold, discomfort, crappy road conditions and any number of blisters.

I'm calling this the new quadruple bottom line: pocket, planet, peace, practicality. I'll try to measure our activities in terms of this new standard from now on. Hopefully it will be instructive to our readers as to why a particular practice is or is not something we've decided to do for the long haul.

Day 67: Reduce tissue use

2010-03-11T06:37:00.000-05:00

I've tried switching to handkerchiefs instead of tissues when I'm not sick (it's rare that I get a cold - I got one in February right before I went on that trip to CA). It seems very wasteful to use tissues for every little sniffle, especially when so much of the wood for tissues comes from ancient boreal forests.

So, I've got a stack of handkerchiefs that I've collected, some bandannas, some cotton squares of differing thicknesses. I use them, toss them in the wash, and they come out good as new.

Everyone has their own threshold for germs and stuff. I'm sure the handkerchief did not fall out of favor for no reason. This article on hankie fashion agrees with me. And even though Kimberley-Clark is now trying to make their tissues from sustainable forests, that doesn't take into account the logging, the bleaching, the cutting, the factories, the boxing, the shipping, the sheer consumption on a mass scale -- all for something so trivial -- a square of paper to blow my nose on?!?

so far...

Pocket: 7, Planet: 13, Win-Win: 45

On Living "Like This"

2010-03-10T14:50:00.004-05:00

Tony said the other day that we should spend a bit more time talking about how it FEELS to try to be "green" or "green". What does it feel to really live "like this"?

I'm not sure people really care how it feels when I give up X or Y, or when I decide to spend time making A or B instead of buying it. They might ponder why I would do it, or question our math, or wonder if there's a better path from P to Q. But given that I'm doing the work, I'm not sure anyone cares what it feels like. Most people are pretty happy to sit back and read about it.

Still, in the name of full reportage, I'll admit that it feels pretty crappy sometimes to try to live "like this". When I'm walking home at 10 at night in the dark and cold because I don't have a car, wearing my very thin-soled vegan shoes, and blowing my nose into a handkerchief instead of a tissue, and I pass a giant pile of fast food trash that someone has just chucked out their car window, that feels pretty crappy. I feel stupid. I feel as though nothing I do will matter because no amount of walking home or using castile soap or making yogurt or eating my leftovers will make up for the wasteful choices that everyone makes, including myself - what does it matter if I give up meat if I'm still drinking coffee? What is the point? Is my freezer experiment really going to save humanity? If I don't pick up the pile of trash because I have no room in my arms left to carry it, what should I do?

Then I have to remind myself to keep my side of the street clean and not worry about what's going on over on the other side of the street.

(And likely if I keep my own side of the street clean, when I have enough energy to go back and clean up the other side of the street, the trash will still be there.)

It turns out that by doing this daily experiment (which I admit may in fact be entirely pointless in the "pocket versus planet" sense of things, I mean, does it really matter that I saved $0.47 on yogurt this week and there's one less carton in the landfill?), I've actually learned a lot about myself and what I value. Turns out, it's actually pretty hard to live by values like "I don't want to be wasteful" and "I want to eat real food" and "I don't want to buy stuff I don't need". I didn't know that before. But I sure know it now.

So maybe that's the real point of the experiment. It's not about following some list of rules about making the granola or walking home or never shopping here or there. Instead, it's about crafting a life that makes no assumptions about what a good life is supposed to look like.

Day 66: Use castile soap

2010-03-10T05:25:00.001-05:00

After reading about both Colin and Vanessa using castile soap during their eco-stunts, I decided to find out for myself if this works. Lowe's Foods on University Drive carries Dr. Bronner's castile soap in both bar and liquid forms. I decided to buy liquid and almond scented (the green bottle, pictured below).

The soap works pretty much just like "regular" soap, so no real story there. When I peeled the paper inside-lid cover off, one drop got in my eye, and that was pretty painful, so be careful.

The oddest thing about the soap is that it's packaged in a very strange bottle covered in words about things I don't understand, most of which sound vaguely or explicitly religious, though it's hard to tell what religion they're from.

The bottle claims to be made from recycled materials, and it says that all its ingredients are fairly traded, etc etc.

The soap cost $6.99 but I only have to use 4 or 5 drops to get a decent clean - and it even has some lather. I'd say this is very economical. I've been using it for 3 weeks now and I've probably only used 5% of the bottle. Win-win!

so far...

Pocket: 7, Planet: 13, Win-Win: 44

Day 65: Not wasting food

2010-03-09T06:42:00.001-05:00

Turns out Americans waste an enormous amount of food, 27% actually. About one pound per day for every American is thrown away. And we're not alone:

In England, a recent study revealed that Britons toss away a third of the food they purchase, including more than four million whole apples, 1.2 million sausages and 2.8 million tomatoes. In Sweden, families with small children threw out about a quarter of the food they bought, a recent study there found.

One of the places I sometimes am guilty of being wasteful is in not eating leftovers before they go bad. I love cooking so much that I often want to make a new meal before I've completely finished the previous meals. So we get a lot of leftovers stacked up. A few days of me or Tony "forgetting" to pack a lunch and we've got a major leftover problem on our hands.

Here are some ways we could cut down on our own food waste (such as it is), and I'll try to tackle these as themes in individual posts in the days ahead:
1. Make smaller dinners
2. Eat leftovers right away
3. Pack lunches the night before
4. Be judicious about buying an ingredient to be used in just one recipe; try to re-use immediately
5. Mark leftovers with a pen so I know how old they really are (reduce paranoia about how old something is)

This will be a win-win.

Pocket: 7, Planet: 13, Win-Win: 43

Day 64: Homemade Granola

2010-03-08T06:29:00.001-05:00

Well this post is beyond past due. For some reason I thought I had written this post, but I guess I didn't.

Ok here's the easiest way to make your own granola.
1. Start with a base: 6 cups of oats, 2 cups of chopped nuts. Put these in a big bowl and mix them up.

2. Add some sorts of seeds or whatever you have that will make this interesting (no fruit yet). At this stage I add flax seeds, nutritional yeast, stuff like that.

3. Now you need a binder. This is a liquidy and perhaps slightly sweet part that will cause the oats to stick together and brown up. You'll need at least 1 cup of binder. Try maple syrup or applesauce, or both!

4. Mix all this really well and put in the oven at 300 degrees in a thin layer. I use large two sheet pans ("jelly roll pans"), placed on two oven racks in the middle spots.

5. As it's cooking, stir every 10 minutes. I usually do this 3 or 4 times. The most important part in this stage is NOT TO BURN IT. You must be vigilant about the stirring.

6. When it's done, take it out of the oven and add your dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, whatever). Stir one last time. If you add the fruit during or before the cooking process they'll get all hard and disgusting and they will break your teeth. Yuck.

Let cool completely. Store in a tightly sealed container in the pantry. At this point you can treat it like cereal: mix with yogurt, add milk, whatever. Enjoy!

Let's figure out how much this costs, compared to regular store-bought granola. High quality store granola costs about $5 per pound. This recipe makes about 3 pounds and costs about $7. Win-win.

so far...
Pocket: 7, Planet: 13, Win-Win: 42

Day 63: Weekly Roundup

2010-03-07T09:01:00.004-05:00

I'm sitting here, enjoying a cup of homemade yogurt and granola, and I am reminded that I never did do a post on how to make your own granola. I promise I will rectify this soon.

This week's roundup is as follows: coming off the Week of Eating In, we still managed to eat in almost exclusively, except for one night out at Anna Thai where we supported the Company Shops Market owners-only event. Delicious dinner and Tony was a good speaker, even without a microphone!

This week, I talked about using cold water in the laundry while managing hot water for my face. I re-used old envelopes, organized the pantry with glass jars, and found a place to mail back #5 plastic. Finally, I chatted about how to save money by cooking your own beans rather than using canned.

COMING UP: homemade granola, not wasting food, and getting free stuff by the side of the road.