Back in the saddle again

Not so much the saddle, I guess, as the office chair. Although I do sometimes get saddle sores from it.
I have been off gallivanting this summer and have just not spent that much time writing. I know you'll understand - summer is busy! Not only do you have the regular activities that you usually do - jobs, kids, housework, birthdays, eating - but then in summer you add additional activities - lawn mowing, barbecues, baseball, camping and festivals. Double your pleasure, double your fun (as long as you have double the energy).
I've also been busy with food. I've been inspired this summer by the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. She and her family of 4 spent one year eating local. What does that mean? They grew much of their own food (they do live on a farm) and bought from local farmers or farmer's markets or even products in the grocery store that came from local sources. This meant lots of squash and tomatoes and no bananas. It also meant forethought and rethinking food in general. Do you know how food grows? Where it comes from? How much it really cost to grow? and what really goes into making what you eat?
It's not so much a plea for vegetarianism, or raw food, or even specifically organic. It's an encouragement to pay attention to what you are eating, how it got here and what is really in that thing you're eating. Even if you don't read the book, I encourage you to take one day to pay attention to what you eat. Do you know where it came from? Large corporate farm or small local farm? Sustainable? Environmentally safe? Pesticide free? How long did it travel (and how many gallons of gas to get there)? How does it taste?
My mom had a big garden when I was growing up and I definitely know that carrots fresh out of the ground (even with dirt on them) taste better than most of the carrots in the store. Tomatoes in the store can't even compare with those from from the garden. And did you know there are actually over 1100 varieties of lettuce out there? Oh the things we've forgotten.
So this summer I'm spending more time at Farmer's markets. More time in my garden. More time freezing (and soon to be canning). More time cooking and of best of all, more time eating.
Recently my sister came to visit. I had just picked up my CSA share and had been to a local Farmer's Market. She also brought food from my mom's garden, not to mention 2 dozen eggs from her chickens. Bon Appetit!

Bag Lady follow up.

I was going through old mags the other day and found a kids lunch bag that is made from recycled drink containers. It is sold through reusablebags.com - a fab fact and shopping site on the whole bag thing.
"Since 2003 ReusableBags.com has been a major force providing facts and news on the global push to reduce plastic and paper bag consumption. Plus, simple actions you can take to help the cause."
They have any kind of bag you could want, plus water bottles like SIGG (100% recyclable, lightweight and tested to prove 0% leaching). Bags for your groceries, your produce, your beach gear. I'm lovin' it!
By the way, I don't get paid to endorse, I just like to share when I find cool stuff!

BAG IT!

I have not yet done my New Year's Resolutions. My excuse? Suffice it to say, I haven't dedicated the time to sit down and actively think about it and write it down. I do, however, have one resolution I made today at the grocery store. It was kind of an epiphany. Seems easy, like I should have thought of it sooner, but in the absence of my 'Official Resolutions' I'm pretty excited about this one.
Effective today, January 18, 2008, I vow to not bring home a single plastic or paper bag from a shopping trip for the rest of the year (and hopefully the rest of my life).
Let me elaborate. According to my favorite stylish eco-friendly site, Ideal Bite, "In the United States, 12 million barrels of oil and 14 million trees go to producing plastic and paper bags each year." WOW. And beyond that I find the proliferation of annoying plastic bags even worse. I mean, what do you do with them? I can't bring myself to throw them away (seems like an enormous injustice) and it took me awhile to find a place that would recycle them (Cub Foods does) although that's still a huge environmental burden. And until you bring them to the recycle bin you have to find a place to store them. Yeah, annoying.
Plus I have all of these canvas bags. There's the 3 from the birth place at the hospital, 3 from the local ECFE, one from Kemps and one from MasterCard (food expo years ago)and my favorite, the one with crabs all over it. Or you could have one like the cool Elvis one I made my sister for Christmas.
I keep them all together in my front closet with great intentions of using them. Today I remembered them and on the way out of the store with all my bags it hit me. I have to use them every day. It's almost a crime not to. They are so much stronger than paper or plastic, and they're so lonely in the closet.
And so I step up on my box and urge you all to join me! Gather up all your bags from your house and put them in the front seat of your car and use them! Stop bringing home the plastic!
Let me know how it goes and if you don't have enough bags, maybe I'll make you an Elvis one too.

FRecycling

25 days of my favorite things: #2
FRecycling, as in Recycling with an F. Oddly enough, that is what my 4 year old calls it - Frecycling. He is obsessed with trash, garbage, garbage trucks, compost. You name it. If it's associated with garbage he's a fan. His favorite book is Trashy Town and his favorite video is There Goes a Garbage Truck. When he grows up he wants to be the guy that drives the lawn compost truck. We're hoping he'll take that desire and invent a new and better way to dispose of garbage. Need I say more?
Which leads me to my favorite things for today. My husband calls me a pack rat, I call myself a recycler. In my house if it can be used again, it damn well better. I donate to Goodwill and the Veterans, I resell on Ebay, I tape up books and rent or borrow things whenever I can.
Last night I made bread pudding (to use up those old husks of bread that don't get eaten and that I in turn throw in the freezer for later use). Orange Raisin Bread Pudding on a cold winter night is yummy. Now on to those frozen brown bananas...
Here are some cool people who are doing the same and turning trash into trashion. Take a look, wonder at their ingenuity, then buy something for your sister or mother. (P.S. these are not advertisements and I'm not getting paid, these are just sites I found that I like and that have cool stuff) Happy shopping!
www. ebay.com - of course the king site of re-use
www.refinding.com - trendy uses for those old tires, etc.
www.branchhome.com - some new, some recycled, all sustainable
www.halftheskydesigns.com - a new kind of bag
www.thegreenfuse.com - eco-friendly jewelry and recycled car metal art (a friend of mine!)
If you know of any other great sites the relate to recycling - please pass them on! I love looking at the wonder of what is offered via the internet.