On Death & Dying: Composting Series 1: Denial

I decided that I wanted to start composting in our backyard last May.  I researched different containers: ready made vs. build your own, I tried to learn what you could compost and what you couldn't: I refuse to compost nail and hair clippings. I stressed out over how big, how moist and how smelly my pile might be and stayed up night worrying that I wouldn't do it right and would be saddled with a giant pile of stinky mush.  Neighbors would complain, wildlife would be drawn to it to forage, babies and children would cry at the sight of it and so forth.

None of my worst nightmares happened and what I actually discovered is that composting is nearly fool proof.  If you barely tend to it, you'll eventually get compost (like 2 years).  If you tend to it a lot, you'll get compost really quickly (3 months)!

The first of the Death & Dying series will be focused on Denial.  There are many ways to be in denial on the topic of composting.  You might lie to yourself and say, "this banana peel can just go in the landfill, it will eventually break down."  "I don't want to compost because it it gross/smelly/icky/weird/I live in the city/I don't have time/only crunchy granola people do it."  Let me help you get out of denial and take the first step in composting.

1.  No, that banana peel will take forever to break down in a landfill because you're going to throw it away in a plastic trash bag.  Nature won't be able to get to that banana peel to compost it for about 10 years!
2.  Composting is allowed in the city and surprisingly few of nature's creatures will be interested in it.  I am not crunchy but I love composting.  It's the real life version of playing those farm games on Facebook like Farmville or Oregon Trail.  Put down your laptop and go interact with some microbes!
3.  My first batch of compost was so nutrient rich that I accidentally grew some melons in it at the very end of the summer!

Your task this week is to just survey your "land" ie, your backyard and look for a suitable site for your compost pile.  Little effort needs to be put into this step, just choose a location that:

• is roughly 4 ft wide x 4 ft long.  You might dig a hole there or place a container on top depending on which method you choose.
• consider placing your pile behind a shed/fence/shrub etc.  Compost isn't ugly but it's not quite as asthetically pleasing as a flower garden.
• is easy to access from your back door.  You'll need to cart your kitchen scraps out 1-2 times a week so it is nice to have a location that is convenient.
• is relatively close to where you keep your garden tools.  I frequently need my pitchfork, garden gloves and a watering can to tend to my pile.

You're done!  Visit me next week to learn about the next stage: Anger, and what steps you can take to move on with composting.

Get your friends on the "bagwagon"

3B Bags sent me some samples!  3B is offering a free shipping deal through Dec. 5th. Their reusable produce bags would make great stocking stuffers not to mention a nice, gentle nudge in a green direction!
3B Bags Website




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Death of a Flower

I saw a pbs special on tulips and flower trading in Holland recently.  It was fascinating and the flowers and gardens were a sight to behold.  Nevertheless, since embarking my green journey, I've started seeing things through green tinted glasses. 

The first thing that tweeked the newly formed green section of my brain is that the world's largest flower auction, Aalsmeer Flower Auction, is housed in a warehouse.  Not any ordinary warehouse but one that covers the same square footage of 200 football fields!  What?!  I decided that you can probably see this structure from space and any building that can be seen from a spaceship is decidedly too big.

Who of us hasn't been lured by a $4.99 bouquet of perfect sunflowers or daisies at the supermarket?  I have and I have begged my husband to bring me home flowers for special occassions.  Not anymore.  My days of participating in the commercialized flower business are over.  I got to thinking about how much energy it takes to run an operation like the Aalsmeer Flower Auction.  Even if it's run with compact flourescent bulbs, electric trams and is insulated to beat the band, it is still a giant, truly manufactured environment to provide a commodity that has been given value by humans. 

I can't even wrap my head around how much energy is consumed in farming and harvesting the flowers, transporting them to the auction, sending them on plane rides around the world and putting them in semi trucks and trains to be shipped to smaller cities and then ultimately being delivered to somone's door.  I reckon that a poor tulip spends 90% of it's young life staring at the inside of a truck or cargo hold of a plane.  A sad existence for an exquisite thing.  It's about the equivalent of human trafficking for flora.

Let's go back to yearning for flowers in the winter and experiencing the specific joy of watching something we have planted grow up and make our yards pretty.  Cut your own flowers and enjoy them while they last and find new ways to adorn your kitchen table in the winter.  I found a perfect acorn on a walk the other day and seeing it's perfect little body on my kitchen counter makes me just as happy as a bouquet of grocery store flowers from Holland.

Potty Training with Elimination Communication

I am pleased to have Laurie Boucke as a guest blogger today!  Laurie has a wealth of experience in natural potty training.  Enjoy!
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Infant potty training is a gentle and ancient means of toilet learning. It has several names because several of us mothers “discovered” it on our own and have written about it for different audiences. Other names include elimination communication, potty whispering, natural infant hygiene and assisted infant toilet training.


Babies are aware of the elimination function from birth and emit little signals before they have to go. But we don’t watch and listen. Communicating with your infant about this enhances bonding and reduces diaper use. The ideal time to start is between birth and 6 months, but you can start anytime up to about 2 years.

Here is how to get started:
1. Observation
Lay your undiapered baby in a comfortable, warm and safe place, then observe her:
a) timing (how long and how frequently she goes after waking or feeding)
b) body language
c) sounds
If you start with a toddler, you can use training pants or let the child go “nakey butt” while you are becoming familiar with these things.

2. Anticipation or Intuition
Anticipate when your infant needs to go, then at that moment, make a watery sound such as "sssss" or use whatever sound/words you prefer. Babies under 6 months start to associate this sound with elimination within a few days. It may take some weeks or months for toddlers.

3. Position & Toilet Place
When you think your infant needs to go, hold her gently and securely over a basin or other receptacle (or seat your toddler on a potty or the toilet) while giving an audible signal. Your child will soon associate the sound, position and place with elimination. Use whatever location and receptacle are most comfy and convenient.

4. Baby-Mother Communication

Continue to pay close attention to your child's timing and signals. When you think she needs to go, hold her in position and give your signal. If it is near time to go, infants are able to relax those muscles upon receiving your cues. Toddlers who have been trained to use diapers may take some weeks or months to catch on, so don’t be discouraged.

Fathers and caregivers can help. Infant pottying can be done on a part-time basis, as long as you are fairly consistent. For example, potty your child first thing in the morning and after his first meal; if you have time, potty him in the evening.

The environmental benefits are fabulous since parents gradually reduce the quantity of diapers over the months (most use diapers as a backup in between potty visits). This helps conserve resources such as trees and water, and it cuts down on landfill use.

Laurie Boucke wrote the first book ever on infant potty training in 1979 when she used it with her third child. Her most recent book is Infant Potty Training: A Gentle and Primeval Method Adapted to Modern Living (2008) and she co-produced a DVD entitled Potty Whispering: The Gentle Are of Infant Potty Training (2006)
http://www.white-boucke.com/IPTstuff.html“Infant Potty Training” book and “Potty Whispering” DVD
http://www.TimL.com/ipt Infant Potty Training Webring
http://www.pottywhisperer.com/
copyright 2009 Laurie Boucke, used with permission

Would You Like White or Wheat Bread?

White flour as we know it today is a product of the industrial revolution. Freshly ground whole grain flour goes rancid quickly because of the oil in the germ of the grain, which is, coincidentally, where nearly all of the nutrients are found. When food started becoming mass produced and shipped, flour needed to become shelf stable, so the bran and germ were removed and the remnant (called the middling) was ground and packaged. (Whole wheat flour that you buy on the shelf has just had the bran returned for fiber, but not the germ with the nutrients.) A problem arose when people consuming the white flour started becoming ill. They were missing the nutrients found in the germ and vitamin deficincies led to disease and health problems. That is when white flour became fortified with some basic nutrients such as niacin. The healthier alternative to eating fortified flour, of course, is to eat grain the way nature intended, whole, and grind it yourself. With the purchase of a grain mill, this is easy to do.

I use my own ground wheat flour in every recipe. I usually just substitute it for white flour without any other modifications, and we have come to prefer the denser texture and richer taste. The one consideration I make is to use hard white wheat for yeast breads and soft white wheat for quick breads, cookies, cakes, etc. I also grind rye, spelt, and corn, and there are numerous other grains/flours to experiment with.

One step further: grain is actually fairly difficult for the body to digest and you will hear of sprouting grain and soaking flour as a means of "predigesting" the grains to allow the body to better assimilate the nutrients they contain. Other cultures use this practice frequently and we used to much more so with the tradition of sourdough breads, even passing down a starter within families. An excellent book on this topic, and many others, that also includes recipes, is Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

Basic Whole Wheat Bread

1 1/2 Tbsp instant yeast

1/2 Tbsp gluten (optional)

1/2 Tbsp dough enhancer (optional)

1/2 Tbsp salt

1 1/2 c. warm water

1/4 c. honey

1/4 c. canola or olive oil

6 c. whole wheat flour

Mix all ingredients in a stand mixer on speed 2 for 9 min. Divide into two loaves, place in greased loaf pans. Let rise 15 min., bake at 350 for 30 min. Easy!

 

What do you think of this technique?  Would you try it?

How Menu Planning Saved Us!

Every Sunday night or Monday morning I select which recipes I want to make for dinner that week. Lucky for me, I only cook 3 times/week and we eat leftovers. I prefer to go to the grocery store in the morning, which is ideal and low stress. No more weekend shopping and fighting the crowds!


When selecting recipes try to:

Make your meat dishes early in the week and transition to vegetarian or pasta dishes later in the week. This ensures that you use up the most perishable stuff first. I also like to have one "oh crap" meal on hand like a frozen meal in a bag in case a recipe goes awry or I don't feel like cooking.

Both Rachel Ray and Realsimple.com have week's worth of recipes and shopping lists on their websites.

Also begin to plan ahead for snacking and lunches. I always keep soup and sandwich stuff on hand for my lunches and I started buying fruit by quantity. 1 apple and 1 banana per day etc so I never have extras that spoil.
What has changed:

Less waste: Our fridge and cupboards are no longer cluttered with random leftovers, ingredientes that we forgot to eat or weird snacks that we don't like.
More organic fruits: I can purchase organic more (I've noticed they don't last as long as their waxed cousins) It has helped me not snack so much b/c I've only purchased a specific quantity of snack foods for each week.
Less stress, cuter waist!:  We are eating out A LOT less which is great for our wallets, health and we have more time b/c we're not driving around in search of dinner! You'll be able to hit the gym with the time saved!

If you find any great recipes, please share!  I like http://www.recipezaar.com/ with recipes filtered by highest rating.

Carbon Calculator

ZeroHero Events is a business that creates sustainable events through zero waste, renewable energy and education.  I stumbled across their carbon calculators while perusing their site. 

Carbon Calculators

Use the "yearly admissions" calculator to figure your annual carbon footprint -yikes for me!
Use the travel calculators to weigh your options for car vs air travel and then buy carbon offsets to make up for your use!

It's this kind of awareness building tool that really helps me "materialize" the impact that my actions have.  Try it out and let me know what you think.  Is your carbon footprint bigger, smaller or about what you thought it would be?

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