On the go

So what happens when you are out and hungry and just want to grab something to eat? I try to avoid this happening by always having a little something with me but yesterday was my partner's birthday and we decided spur of the moment to go to the bagel shop. I know, I know tons of gluten there, but remember that we are mostly doing gluten free to support our youngest and it just so happens that he had just been dropped off at camp.

But when I thought about it, I remembered that when they serve the bagels it comes either wrapped in paper or on a paper plate. Well, we could just ask for them to hand it to us directly (which is an option by the way), but then I remembered that after our take out catastrophe, I carry this handy little to go container in the back of my car:

It stacks and I didn't think that 2 bagels would fit if it was all put together (but I figured out later that they would fit perfectly), so we took it apart and went in the shop with these 2 stainless steel containers.

I want's sure what to expect but I approached the counter and started by telling the guy that we wanted to order bagels but avoid any wrappers or plates. I asked him if he could make us bagels and put them in our containers. He shrugged like people ask him stuff like this everyday and said sure. Now, I'm not sure if it's because of where we live and the fact that people are becoming more conscious in general (I think anyway... I'm often proven wrong here) or if it was because he was from the city where anything goes. Either way, the transaction was simple and easy and we walked out of there with 2 really yummy gluten filled bagels in our own little stainless steel containers, avoiding all waste.

I will say that there was a moment when my partner (the one whose birthday it was, the one who had run out of the house without coffee) was looking at the paper to go coffee cups longingly and wanting coffee. He looked at me and said that he really wanted coffee. I asked him if he remembered a cup when he ran out the door and he said no... I told him that it WAS his birthday and he could get some if he really needed it, but we had free organic coffee at home and we were going straight there. He decided to wait in the end (good choice honey). But then when we got home he realized that we were out of cow's milk and he didn't want soy milk in his coffee, so we got back in the car and drove down the street to pick up some raw milk from a nearby farm. We remembered our old glass milk bottle to return and grabbed a new, full glass bottle. After that, he was all set and a very happy camper. A little patience and some leg work and he had a far superior cup of coffee then he would have from the bagel shop (no offense to the bagel shop).

I did forget to mention that when we dropped my youngest off at camp, we were able to buy a dozen eggs from the school - these are eggs that the children get to collect everyday and are packed in the egg cartons that we return once we are done with them. What a nice feeling coming home from a "quick" trip to town to drop a car off at a shop, two kids off at school and one kid off at camp... and to come home with delicious local, kid collected eggs, local raw milk and a special take out treat from a local shop with no waste.

It was a satisfying morning.

Thoughtful Thursday Links

I'm taking this title from somewhere, but I can't remember where. (Was it my friend Harmonic Mama?) Regardless, I give credit to where ever I took it from... I just added the "links" part.

Change Simply's Thoughtful Thursday Links is going to be a weekly post with some of the links and articles that I have been reading and researching throughout the week that I feel are worth sharing. Some will be more relevant than others, but all of them are for you to take what you need from and maybe even follow up on if need be. Tell me what you are thinking and feeling about some of this stuff! Quite frankly, I feel like there is so much info and so many ideas out there that I can't keep up the research to share.

That said, here are my (somewhat random) Thoughtful Thursday links for today, in no particular order:

This article talks about plastic waste in India and has some good points, but I urge you to read the comments as well, there are some great points there as well.

This article talks about how food is the primary source of BPA exposure for preschool aged children.

Don't get me started on this blog post, which talks about how to be environmentally conscious and take a vacation to Disney world. Yes, the excitement that my children would have there might be worth it in the moment, but I bet I could help my kids learn to find other ways to get that excited and happy about things that are more simple and have a much smaller carbon footprint. Oh, and costs less and doesn't give my hard earned cash to a big corporation.

This article may seem a bit off topic at first, but once you start to understand how important every decision that we make is, especially for our children and the way they learn, you will understand why I put it in here. It is about why and how learning to read is taught in Waldorf schools the way it is. You certainly don't have to agree with this one, but I do and this is one of the things that I read about this week and wanted to share. You might find some of your questions answered or you might totally disagree, regardless, it's worth a read if you've got time.
And just a side comment - one of the things that helps me feel as though my family is being supported in our lifestyle is being apart of the Waldorf community. There is so much connection and appreciation of nature that it makes it much easier for us (and others who are thinking similarly). Also, the simple fact that respect and consciousness is a part of the education makes all the difference.

And lastly, if you don't have the time to read any of these articles, at least take a moment to watch this trailer for a documentary called Dive that is about how much food ends up being thrown away every day. I have not seen this film yet, but it is certainly being added to my growing list of things to watch.

Look forward to more random links next Thursday!

Picnics and popsicles

I feel like I have this new disease called blogging syndrome.
It must exist.
If it doesn't then I'm inventing right it now.
The more I think about what I am doing - that is, the more conscious I become - I just have so many thoughts and so much research to do everyday that there isn't enough time to do it all. If a few days go by and I haven't posted, I start to feel idle (really, I'm not kidding). I just counted the open tabs across the top of my firefox browser and there are 12 articles waiting for me to read and follow up on and, if they are worthy, pass on to you guys. And one of those tabs is a slowly evolving post about some serious environmental stuff that is often too heavy for me to deal with at the end of a long day.

But enough about that, let's talk about more relaxing things... things like picnics and popsicles.

It's been hot here. Suddenly. The winter in the Berkshires often turns quickly into summer before we have a chance to process that it is even spring time. It's been hot and I've been exhausted from working and the kids schedule has been overwhelming to say the least... so all I want to do is go to the lake and swim and picnic for dinner.

It used to be easier then it is now, but I'm up to this particular challenge (as you know). Oh it would be so easy to just go get some grab and go food from the co-op or get take out (especially a pizza)... but we don't want the package waste and the littlest guy is gluten free. So I get creative and I cook cook cook so that we can pack it all up and take it in our containers and go have a picnic. The biggest issues with this is having enough food for my growing family - especially the 13 year old boy that is due for a growth spurt any second now and often goes for 3rd and sometimes 4th helpings at dinner.

So yesterday we did it:

Here is the little guy and my partner waiting patiently (actually, not really) for my older two kids to get out of the water and come eat. We had 2 kinds of mac and cheese (one gluten free, one not), tuna salad (with fresh tomatoes and and avocados... mmmm), sliced cucumbers and some corn chips. These corn chips make me a bit mad, actually, because they come in a paper bag, but it took me buying them and opening the bag to discover the secret plastic lining that made it not actually recyclable at all. Grrrr. Anyway, my family was happy to have a snacky food that wasn't popcorn for a moment.
Oh yeah, and we had watermelon. Because what's a picnic without watermelon?

Check out my newest favorite airtight stainless steel containers that I just picked up from green home (they are on the table).

And then of course there are these beauties, which I got from the same place:


      
My new stainless steel popsicle makers! I love them all and I am very happy with the company as well. I was a bit nervous about my first online order since attempting to reduce waste, but all of their stuff came packed simply and any plastic bags involved where very clearly marked as being recyclable. No trash with this order! They were all pricey but super worth it.

One thing I am constantly re-learning is that quality is far superior to quantity in most aspects of my life.

I will let you know how the posicles turn out once we have one... which will probably be tomorrow. I always feel like a piece of the test is how easily you can get them out of the molds...

And we will of course have many more picnicking opportunities this summer but if anyone has any good zero waste tips for picnic time, please share!

Thinking about toxic chemicals in the home

I just came across this movie called "Chemerical" - check it out, you can watch most of it right on the website. It's about a family that is challenged to remove all of the toxic chemicals (cleaners, body products, etc) from their home and replace them with all natural ones. The cool thing that I really liked about this flick was that the family got into making a lot of their own stuff. This totally appeals to me right now as I am trying to avoid packaging in general, but especially plastic packaging - which is what most cleaners and body products come in.

If you go to this link, they have some recipes available to download that are taken from their cookbook of chemical free recipes - also available through their website. There is also a youtube channel with some fun little tips to check out.

Do you make any homemade cleaning or body products? If so, let me know - I am looking to make toothpaste next (since that looks like the next thing that we will need)... I will let you guys know how it goes!

More on coffee

I know, you guys are wondering what else I might expect of you now when it comes to coffee. Buy in bulk, grind it at home, brew your own, take your own cup... so much work. But oh the savings!

But this is a story where I accidentally discovered even more cool ways to save on coffee and get even more satisfaction - can you stand it??

So, I was at the co-op staring at the bulk coffee section. I usually just buy whatever is on sale, but I realized that because of this, I never really know what my favorite kind of coffee is (dark, light, hint of chocolate, etc). I was feeling adventurous and generous so I decided on something totally different, something totally not on sale: hazelnut coffee. Now, if you know me, you know that I actually can't stand hazelnut coffee. The beans smell oh so nice, but the coffee - blah. But hazelnut happens to be my partner's favorite coffee so I thought I'd give it a shot again... it's been so long, maybe I might like it now.

What? Why would I like it now? What could I possibly think changed about me or the coffee? Regardless, I bought a bunch (actually, too much by accident) and brewed up the first pot. I poured it, let it sit for 500 hours (remember? my klean kanteen coffee cup works so well that I have to take the lid off and let it cool forever before I can drink it) and then I took a sip.

Blah.

You guessed it, I still do not like hazelnut coffee.

So now we had this full pot of gross coffee that I did not want and no good coffee to drink. The solution? Well, this actually worked out better than expected: pour the coffee into a bottle and put it in the fridge so that my partner can make iced coffee from it throughout the day. I drink my coffee black so iced coffee doesn't really make me giddy, but I'm happy that he can enjoy some good organic coffee with raw organic milk and raw organic sugar instead of... whatever the alternative might be.

So I brewed a new pot of coffee for myself and put the leftover of that in the fridge as well. Now we both have the coffee that we like and we make full use of every drop in the pot. Before, we would brew a pot, drink most of it and ignore the rest (usually not much, but still). In the end, we would end up dumping leftover coffee down the drain in the morning when we would make a new pot. Now we brew the yucky hazelnut coffee one day, put the left over in the fridge for the next day, and make the regular coffee the next day, doing the same. I get a fresh pot of coffee every other day, and on the off days it's super easy to heat up the fridge coffee - just pour in a pot and heat up on the stove top. It actually ends up taking less time then waiting for a pot to brew. And for my partner who loves iced coffee, the cold hazelnut stuff is perfect for him. Also, every few days we don't have to brew anything because we both have left over coffee, so we can save the beans for another day.

This is what we call compromise... and in this case we both end up winning.

It really is the simple things sometimes.

Special Deal

Check it out: Jerry from Let's Go Green is kind enough to offer my readers a 25% discount off of your next order - thanks Jerry! Just use the coupon code "FRIEND" at checkout and the discount will be applied. This is the company that I linked the biodegradable trash bags too... and I want you all to know that I am learning to link very carefully. I make sure that the company is good quality and offers quality products.
To be fair, I probably won't be buying any of the disposable stuff from this website... but there is still some good, environmentally friendly stuff there (disposable and non-disposable), so check it out.

In general I always suggest to only buy what you need... but when you need something, make sure you are buying quality. And of course, shop consciously!

If you are curious at all, I am thinking about getting some light bulbs from this website to update our regular old light bulbs that we still have around the house, eating up energy. But just for fun, check out this awesome outdoor composting toilet! Think of how different this world would be if more people used products like this... and if what I'm talking about is all new to you, consider trying this green home starter kit.

Ok, onto the next blog post in my head.

Eliminating costs

I have this whole other post that I have been trying to write for days, but I just haven't been able to finish because it keeps getting interrupted by all of my other growing thoughts. Oh well, I'll get to it soon enough. Consider it something for my growing followers to look forward to (you guys rock!).

(Can someone tell me - can I put a period after the parenthesis if there is an exclamation point inside of the parenthesis?)

Meanwhile, I wanted to just report that I canceled my trash service yesterday, eliminating yet another monthly cost that we just weren't really utilizing anyway. Before our change to eliminate waste from our home, we had issues paying this bill - mostly because we wouldn't need pick up that much so I never wanted to pay. It was a bit of a struggle and the company would get mad at me and then 2 months later our trash can would be filled and I'd call them up and pay the bill and get another pick up. We were paying for pick up every other week, but we never needed it that much. I'm happy about this... however, now I couldn't even imagine filling up that trash can every 2 months. If we have one or two garbage bags a month, it could take 6 months at least to fill that thing (and I don't even want this much trash). Yesterday I asked the woman from our trash company if they could just pick up our trash  twice a year and she kind of laughed. She was not laughing at me, but the thought of there being a need for that kind of service. In the end we agreed to have one more final pick up on Tuesday and they would haul away the trash can with the trash.

And then that will be it, no more trash can.

I have to say, in a way this is so relieving... but in way I'm a tad nervous. It's not about the trash (or lack thereof) that we are currently producing - it's when I look around the house and see how much more we have to do and get rid of. When we finally get around to purging this house (meaning: when I finally get some time away from work to focus on this), where will we put all of that stuff that ends up being trash?

The woman on the phone genuinely told me that she hoped this worked out for me, but I could hear the twinge of doubt in her voice. She reassured me that we could get a one time pick up as needed down the line. This is something that we might have to do later... but for now I'm focusing on the here and now. We will purge what we can before Tuesday morning when the trash can goes bye bye and go from there.

It's really not that big of a deal when I think about it because in our town we have a transfer station. Long ago we switched to taking our recycling here every Saturday instead of having it picked up by our trash and recycling company (that we paid for).  It was that one time that I saw our carefully sorted recycling be thrown in the trash truck that did it for us. Every town in our home state of MA has some sort of recycling or transfer station that is accessible and free for it's town residents. Some of the ones around here have swap shops where you can take things that you don't want any more for others to take and you can take something that you might need if you find it. I really wish our town had this... but I can always find someone in a neighboring town to help me out if I want to get rid of stuff down the line.

Anyway, in our town you can buy tags at the town hall if you want to take your trash to the transfer station. I think it's like $2 or $3 per bag, depending on the size (more for bigger ones). Since we use small 13 gallon biodegradable trash bags, we are looking at really just spending a few dollars a month if we take our trash bags there. Quite a savings compared to paying for a trash service - ours wasn't super expensive, just $26/month, but still!

And you know what else? Without that big ugly trash can outside of our house, there will be nothing for the neighborhood bear to get into at night! Oh yeah, except our compost pile... oh well, it's still better than trash all over the yard.