Still Here

I have plans to knit myself a robin's egg blue hat.  I'm almost done with a pair of striped socks for Phoebe. 

The superintendent came to the PTO meeting tonight, and I am now fired up about inequitable school funding and considering more ways to get involved. Mr. Thrift is not pleased, as I run intense about stuff like this and he would prefer I calm down. I might.

The oldest has a new pet, a sweet little bunny,  that she worked long and hard to prepare for, but I was still out to the Amish stores yesterday to buy pellets and see about getting hay for her to burrow in. 

I bought the most beautiful, soft fabric at the creative reuse store the other day - I think, I dare to hope, it may be cashmere; the strongest, most declarative green  - not kelly, not dark green, just a strong, rich green green.  

I overheard a standholder at market say she needed to get rubberbands for the egg cartons, and I had a bag of rubber bands down to her the very next market day because I am oversupplied.  We were both tickled.  And this is also the stand that still has local storage veggies, which I am so grateful for because buying and eating local food is my act of defiance and hope in the face of very large world problems.  

Phoebe has had a dreadful cough and of course, it is worst at night and people are sleeping poorly around here. We read the news about the coronavirus with disbelief and worry. 

I do laundry every day.  I keep up!  I keep the family in good food.  I have a sore foot that is healing very very slowly, so I can't jog as much and this is changing my mental and physical health.  I do Pilates.  I try. 

Ben has soccer games and soccer practices just about all the time (it seems).  He just absolutely loves it, so I try to work on my attitude about driving him all over creation.  We carpool, and I take my knitting along, and I enjoy my boy enjoying himself. 

I am studying sourdough bread.  I have borrowed books on the subject, and one or two blogs I read.  I made a few notes.  I make something with sourdough every week, as I have for about 10 years now, but I am tweaking and understanding it differently, and the feel of the silky strong dough is pure delight in my hands. 

I finished Phoebe's quilt.  That does really need its own blog post. I'll be back.

My Newest Baby Step: Diva Cup

Every year, it seems I find the strength and inspiration to take another baby step in being environmentally-friendly.  After reading Cup of Jo's post and talking to a few friends, I bought a Diva Cup (with coupons, duh).  

Requisite pretty photo: a Native American skirt at a NY antique shop. In case you ever wondered what to do with your rick-rack stash.

I'm so pleased with it! And sorry I waited so long.  I avoid disposables where I can, to be environmentally-friendly, and a menstrual cup is a pretty great switch.  Less trash, less fuss, cheaper over the long run.  I'm glad I tried it first on an at-home day, because it took a few tries to get it in a comfortable spot.

Any new baby steps you're taking to be environmentally friendly?  You've been a great source of ideas for me.

More Thoughts on Straws

When I made a straw roll-up for my purse, my dear friend Rachel asked me to make her one, too.  And another one for utensils (the red one pictured below).  I had so much fun putting together fun scraps for her! 

And I love that I was inspired to ditch disposable straws by a PTO dad, and then my blog post inspired Rachel.  I think little actions can have wide ripples and little actions are worth doing!

I do not always remember to whip out my straws.  We don't go out to eat very often, so I'm not in the habit the way I am taking reusable bags into any store I'm shopping at.

Sometimes restaurant servers will lay down a handful of straws on the table and then that's easy to push them aside and pull out my reusable straws.  Sometimes the server will bring the waters with the straws already in them, with the paper left on top.  So that's a bummer, because those straws are destined for the trash already, whether we drink through them or not. 

Recently at a restaurant, there was a sign on the table that drinks are served without straws unless you request one.  Now that's a successful approach!  It prompts people to thought and choice.

The Last Straw

I was at a school meeting where a meal was served on styrofoam plates with bottled water and plasticware.  One of the dads casually whipped a reusable fork/knife/spoon set out of his work bag and avoided the plasticware.  I was thrilled. All the plates, plasticware, and water bottles were thrown away as trash, of course (which drives me crazy - our city has an excellent, comprehensive recycling program and has made recycling mandatory!! but enforcement and education lag behind, of course).

However, this dad inspired me to think about how I could replace the plastic trash with reusables when I go out. I have napkin rolls that already make potlucks and picnics easy - I'm going to start carrying them more places.  I've seen Zoe (on Instagram) take her own containers along to restaurants for any food leftovers.  And I have stopped using plastic straws (more education at this website). 

I made this little roll-up of metal straws to keep in my purse.  I bought the set of straws at a local store, and the handy cleaning brush came with them.  I got this set up before a big vacation to Maine (another post for another day!), but I am planning to be straw-free at home, too. 

The other day, Genevieve wanted to make a little project with plastic straws, and I had none whatsoever in the house.  But when I went for a little jog around our neighborhood, I found no less than 4 straws among the rest of the litter and brought them home to sterilize for her to use.

The thought of all those dumb plastic straws out there as litter is maddening. I'm going to try to do my part, and I might even turn into one of those people who decline the straw and then furthermore try to educate the person offering the straw. Might.

A Little Clothespin Bag for a Little Clothesline

Before we knew the walnut tree was coming down, I was throwing a sheet over my umbrella washline to protect my laundry from the falling walnuts.  Black walnut is a serious stain, so if you go to old-timey demonstrations of dyeing fabric and fibers, black walnut shells are one of the materials in the dye pot.  So you can see why I was trying to keep it off my laundry.

I suddenly realized that I could put up a washline on my balcony, a way to keep the laundry out in the air and the electric dryer turned off.  I bought a retractable clothesline ($14.99 at a Mennonite store), and my husband put it up for me with accompanying hooks so the line could zig-zag back and forth in a small space. 

I had the pleasure of making up a little clothespin bag hung from a child's hanger to go with it.  Oh, it was fun!  The calico is some sweet 70s stuff lined with a scrap left from an apron I'm making for the museum shop. 

And it was nice take a break from that big order from the museum shop for this little bag that was immediately filled with clothespins and trotted up to the balcony.  Because laundry for 5 people, one of whom is clinging to her cloth diapers, is a big job that must be beaten down every day.

Relatives, Permaculture, and Hot Dogs

We went to visit Uncle Ron and Aunt Elena on a little trip.  They spoiled us.  We sat up late on their cozy front porch, talking, and made delicious food together (apparently Phoebe was sitting up on the counter licking the cake batter bowl, but I was out on a bike ride and didn't see it).  We visited the SteelStacks together, a lively place with fascinating history.

One of the books I had along to read was Gaia's Garden, recommended by Amanda Soule. I like the idea of permaculture, and this second edition has a chapter on urban permaculture which is making me think and consider. I think I also understand why my dear friend was looking for stacks of newspapers when she started her garden (to mulch!  mulch everything!).

I have a lot to learn in gardening, so I was especially fascinated by Aunt Elena's gardens.  She mixed veggies and herbs in with her flowers.  She composts her scraps in one of the ways Gaia's Garden mentions:  just put the stuff in the ground and let it go.  Her soil sample tested beautifully last year.  And she has little broken bits of china here and there in the sweetest way. I adore the mix of order and whimsy in her garden:  not perfect and prissy, but definitely cared for, definitely abundant and happy.

On the drive home, we stopped at Yocco's Hot Dogs.  My hot dog quest continues! I wasn't seeking out a hot dog joint - we just needed somewhere fast to get food that hopefully wasn't a chain and hopefully before the toddler lost her mind.  My husband remembered that foodie friends had worshiped at the Yocco's shrine, so we wanted to check it out.  The hot dogs were fine - good, sure - but my attention was caught by their steamed buns. I had never heard of steamed buns before a commenter on my Patagonian hot dog post mentioned Chicago-style hot dogs, and I went googling off to do some research.

Yocco's clearly is an institution and has a loyal following.  I always love when people make a fuss about food - it immediately becomes a goal of mine to track down the food and taste it.

"Repair, Don't Throw Away"

"To combat a throwaway consumer culture, Sweden is giving financial incentives for people to repair clothes, bicycles, appliances, and other goods, according to the World Economic Forum.  In addition to providing tax incentives for repairs, levies are being added to the manufacture of new appliances based on the amount of chemicals used.  More people paying for repairs should mean more people in the labor force and more local jobs." - quote from The Mennonite May 2017, which is summarizing from Christian Century

My purse which I love, but it is vinyl and the corners are wearing off; I took a blue Sharpie to the worn corners.  A stopgap while I shop for a new purse (hopefully not vinyl).

 A Moses basket whose handles were fraying off the basket.  I darned the handles back on to the basket with twine.

 A tiny hole in our plastic watering can melted by a neighbor's cigarette cinder; I thought it was worth trying to fix with a small piece of duct tape inside and out.  The fix has been holding for months.

My granny shopping cart had a frayed back pocket.  I handsewed some patches over it so important
things (wallet! phone!) wouldn't slip out.

I would love to see incentives for repairs!  It's hard to find repair shops for anything these days because so many people say it's cheaper to buy a new one.  Do you try your hand at fixing things or know a fix-it genius?

My Favorite Garden, Vietnamese-Style

Right next to our church is my favorite yard garden.  It's a treat to walk by and see what the gardener is up to all year long.

Recently, the gardener himself was out when I walked goggling by.  I felt shy, but I told myself that most people who love plants love to talk plants, so I introduced myself and told him how much I love his garden.  His face lit up, and he started immediately handing out samples of his many kinds of mint and basil; he's Vietnamese, so his varieties are different from the ones I know and he was explaining which ones are good for what.  We had a language barrier for sure, but I did ask him if he minds if I take pictures of his garden and he waved his hand, sure sure, and handed another sprig of mint over the fence.

I returned another day with my camera (feeling shy again, but reminding myself I had permission).

My deep love for this yard is based on the pragmatism and sheer abundance - I love the make-do greenhouse/potting shed built out of old windows as far as I can tell, and the old swingset frame used as a trellis and also a shelter for tender plants.  Bottoms from nursery trays turned into fence, all kinds of supports and planters improvised from things most Americans throw away.

Look at the milk-crate edging, the lettuce mixed with flowers, the buckets and improvised shelves. I love the make-do, can-do vibe. And the roses.  Oh, the roses!

Their scent is a beautiful as they are because I put my nose in as many as I could, and thought of my grandmother who grew roses in tidy little bushes but this yard has a different tidiness, a different aesthetic from the middle-class American gardens I am accustomed to seeing.  It tickles my imagination and makes me bolder in my own gardening efforts.  I am hatching some plans for two different arbors at our balcony and porch and I am not thinking small or middle-class, no I am not.

Stretching Ground Beef

I've learned to stretch ground beef a bit with no complaints from my family.  I sub in cooked brown lentils for part of the ground beef when it's in a flavorful sauce - such as sloppy joe, spaghetti, or here in the picture, Korean beef.  Here I had doubled the recipe and just eyeballed the amount of cooked lentils to equal another pound of ground beef (I'm guessing 2 cups).  I added the cooked lentils when the beef was mostly cooked.

Bonus tip:  use a potato masher to chop and stir ground beef as it fries because it's much easier than trying to break it up with the side of a spoon.  I also mashed at the lentils a bit, which made them even less discernible in the dish.

However, I'm not trying to hide the beef-stretcher from my family.  They all know that the local organic beef I buy is expensive (but not when you consider our health and the environment!).

At the Windy Washline

Do you want to get some fresh air in your lungs to drive out the germs your people bring home?

 Want to get some sunshine in your eyes, some mood-boosting Vitamin D delivered without a pill?

Want to use a free bleach alternative with no chemicals?

Want your laundry to smell fresh and delicious and utterly clean?

Want to dispense with an appliance, get that square footage back, reduce your utility bill, and reduce your carbon footprint?

 And do you want to do all these things simultaneously for real super-efficiency?

"The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind.  The answer is blowin' in the wind. . . " (with thanks to Bob Dylan)

Keeping the Diaper Pail Smelling Fine

Now that Phoebe is eating some solids, the diaper pail has developed a stench.  The "diaper pail" is just a lidded trash can.

I sprinkled baking soda in the smelly pail liberally, but it couldn't seem to quell the stench.  Back a generation, moms would keep the dirty diapers in a water/bleach soak.  But I wasn't willing to use bleach that often or risk little white bleach spots on clothes and floors and linens.

I found an idea online somewhere for using essential oils to help with the smell.  The only oil I have on hand is tea tree oil.  I knitted a little tag with a long string - it looks like a necklace.  I hang it down inside the diaper pail and sprinkle a few drops of essential oil on it.  It works so well!  All we smell now is tea tree oil, so I'm thinking I want to get a nicer smelling oil.

When it's time to wash the diapers, I take the tag off the pail and give the pail a hasty wash.  I usually let it dry outside overnight before I set it back up in the nursery again.  I sprinkle more oil on the knitted tag, and that's that.

Other easy methods for deodorizing a diaper pail?