Thoughtful Thursday Links (on Friday)

Wow, where did this week go?
I'm a day late with posting the links that have caught my eye this week, but yesterday I was just feeling straight up lazy (which is only partially true because I did take a hike in the rain). Anyhow, instead of posting before I went to work, I decided to kick back and watch Big Ideas for a Small Planet, which I highly recommend. It's very kid friendly and inspiring to know that there are people out there doing some good stuff! (Thank goodness...)

Anyhow, I did spend a bit of time on my laptop, but it was researching rechargeable batteries. I found this website, which seemed like a pretty decent site offering some good stuff. I emailed them and they wrote back right away, offering great customer service and answering my questions. I can't believe that I have never considered getting rechargeable batteries before. Well, actually, I have considered it, but then I always think back to the rechargeable batteries that we had when I was a kid (yes, I'm talking 20 years ago) and I remember how much they just didn't work. But I realize that someone must have come up with a better quality product since then, and we need some new batteries around the house... and since I certainly don't want to buy disposable batteries anymore, now is the time to get us set up with some rechargeable batteries in the house.
I will keep you posted about this once I get some money to make a purchase...

And now, some links for you:

Check out these amazing sculptures made from recycled plastic bottles.

In San Francisco, volunteers picked through their trash to determine where most of their trash is coming from - check out this article, it's pretty interesting.

I am interested in how the series Trash Inc. will turn out. I will definitely try to find a source to watch it and see what a major television network is offering us as an environmental awareness series.

Oh, and I'm super excited to buy this environmentally friendly biodiesel alternative to my tiki torch fuel! (Once again, as soon as I can afford to buy it...)

Here is an article with some important info about buying food from Asia, and how we should be much more careful about it... or just avoid it altogether and stick with local. Just a thought.

And lastly, check out Ban the Bottle, a website dedicated to... you guessed it, banning plastic water bottles. The site has some good facts that we need to remember, like:

"In 2007, Americans consumed over 50 billion single serve bottles of water; between 30 and 40 million single serve bottles went into landfills each year."

And "It takes 17 million barrels of oil per year to make all the plastic water bottles used in the U.S. alone. That's enough oil to fuel 1.3 million cars for a year."

And let's not forget "The recommended eight glasses of water a day, at U.S. tap rates equals about $.49 per year; that same amount of bottled water is about $1,400." 


That's all I've got for you today, I hope you can find something interesting or helpful from at least one of these links...

Strawberries

I've been waiting for weeks to go strawberry picking. Every time I actually get a day off, I would go to the Thompson Finch Farm website to check on picking conditions. Either the field had just been picked cleaned in the days before and there was almost nothing left, or a ridiculous storm would happen and we couldn't go.

Anyway, we finally went strawberry picking today.
And we got a lot of strawberries.

I'm super glad that I took my older two kids, because quite frankly, my youngest was no help at all.

He was cranky after a long day at camp and didn't feel like picking anything - all he wanted to do was eat the strawberries that we had already picked. This is anti-productive and I kept telling him to pick and eat whatever he wanted and we would do all of the work. But it was hot and we were all tired.

In fact, while my youngest was at camp, my older two kids took a nice hike with me today. Here we are at the top of Monument Mountain, playing tourists in our own backyard by taking photos of ourselves:

Anyhow, we hiked and then picked the little one up from camp and then went strawberry picking in a big hot field... so needless to say, we were hot and tired and at least a little bit cranky.
But the bigger kids pulled through and helped me pick about 20lbs of some darn good organic strawberries.

So, besides eating a silly amount of strawberries all day and night, what else do we do with these beauties?

Well, I started with the freezing process. I prepped the berries and spread them out on some baking sheets and put them int he freezer.

Yes, I know... I still have all of these freakin plastic bags in my freezer, but I'm working on it over time. For now, just ignore them like I do. Thanks.
Anyhow, if you freeze the berries like this, then when you put them in whatever container or bag you might use, they won't freeze in clumps... pretty cool, huh. I will put a bunch in my fabulous new stainless steel containers, but there might end up being a few in some recycled plastic freezer bags... this year anyway. We'll see what needs to happen when we get there.

And what else could I do with all of these berries? Well, I decided that a delicious alcoholic blended strawberry drink was in order, so I loaded a bunch of fresh strawberries and some lemonade and fresh limes with vodka into my blender... just as it decided to die on me. Straight up stinky smoke and all. Ok, let's ignore this too, because I love my glass blender and frankly don't have any money to replace it right now... so it's best to pretend that this just didn't happen and move on.

But what to do with the concoction? Well, I thought that maybe a short infusion might be nice, then we could just strain it. So, I mashed up the berries and added lots of ice.

And it got me thinking about maybe making a nice strawberry infused vodka, which is next on the list.

Meanwhile, I will be making a lot of strawberry things for a while... because while strawberries are working on freezing up in the freezer, there are still a lot of berries in the fridge down below.

And if you are wondering what 20 pounds of organic strawberries looks like - it was two of those buckets, full but not over the top like this one in the fridge.

Ok, you have been kind enough to read this forever long post about my semi-productive day that included a silly amount of strawberries - and maybe you have some good recipes or ideas to share with me? I would love it, please leave a comment so that others can benefit as well!

Potato chips

Someone asked me yesterday what I've been doing about snacks for my family - someone who knows what it's like to be busy and have growing kids that eat a lot and the need to send them off with easy snacks... or pull something out of the cabinet quickly to remedy a melt down moment for a group of kids. I explained that we eat a lot of popcorn (like, a lot)... and that in a pinch, I have bought a few bags of chips over the past 6 weeks. It's true! 3 bags of potato chips that I was so super conscious of at the register and when I threw the empty bags in my trash can.

So I decided that it's time to start making these things on my own. If these freakin companies of all natural snacks won't consider having more environmentally friendly packaging (I've contacted a lot of them and the only one doing anything good is Boulder chips, but we can't get the chips in their compostable bag around here) - then I'm going to have to at least try to make some of these snacks on my own. And if I can't make them... well then, maybe we shouldn't be eating them. Think about it, before all of this convenience food - what did people eat? They ate whatever they could make or barter for. And maybe some of them were even healthier because of it.

Ok, so tonight I tried out making potato chips. It went just ok... but I have some trail and error under my belt now for future attempts. Oh, and I have some potato chips to put in my youngest child's lunch for camp tomorrow.

The down side:
1. It took me 1.5 hrs to make them.
2. Some of them didn't get quite crispy enough and I wasn't patient enough to fry them again.
3. At the very end, because I was being impatient, I splattered a little hot oil on my arm and it currently hurts me.

The up side:
1. This will be so much easier next time.
2. If I get my kids to help next time, I will have a better grasp on what to do and they will understand how special these convenience snacks are and appreciate them more.
3. They taste good.

So how did I do it?

I started with some basic organic yukon gold potatoes and sliced them up as thin as I could, I think I cut up 4 or 5.

I soaked the potato slices in cold water for about 30 minutes to help remove some of the starch.

Then I dried them by laying them on a cloth and blotting them with a cloth napkin from above.

Meanwhile, I heated up oil in a pot. I used a cast iron pot that was deep to help avoid splattering of hot oil - this is a good idea and I recommend it. Next time I will probably try and use a wider pot, mine was kind of small.

After my first few batches, I realized that the oil wasn't hot enough. I don't have a temperature taker that I could use for hot oil, but if I did, I would have wanted it to be about 350 degrees. (Hey, where on the keyboard do I find the little "degrees" circle that goes after the temperature??) The ones made in the oil that wasn't hot enough looked like this:

They look pretty good, right? I kept thinking they would crisp up as they dried, but they didn't. I ended up re-frying them. When I would take each batch out of the oil (once the oil was up to temp, it was about 3-4 minutes), I would sprinkle salt on the chips - course salt that you grind yourself works best for this, but you could add other seasoning here as well, including pepper.

Well, I finally finished after all of my trail and error and I ended up with a nice bowl of almost all crispy (ish) potato chips.

I put the crispiest ones in one of my new stainless steel airtight containers to keep them fresh - I will let you know how they keep (why I think they would last beyond tomorrow, I don't know but if they do, I will let you know).

While this is one way to have snacks around without the packaging, it certainly is not convenient. Like, at all. But maybe what we all need is a little reminder that good, fresh food is worth it sometimes. Think about where your food comes from and where the packaging goes when you are done with it... and if you can't let go of that convenience food, that's ok. All I'm asking is for you to be conscious of what you are spending your time and money on.

Ok, now I'm off to put something on my burn...

Sustain Ability Committee

Today, at the Berkshire Co-op Market Solstice Celebration, the environmental committee that a few of us have started had a table set up. It's been a great start for all of us involved - we have been working toward getting the co-op to be as environmentally conscious as we can be by doing small things to start - things like following up with our waste removal company to communicate about what they do with our waste and whether or not we are doing things right on our end (sorting, etc.)... We are also working towards better education for staff as well as customers and eventually our community. We have started the process of better recycling containers, etc... but we still have a ways to go (one step at a time).

Anyhow, those of us on the committee are super busy and doing our best to find time to do the leg work to make the change needed. Our table today was simple, but really set up to let people know that we, the Sustain Ability Committee, exist... and to give a few suggestions and thoughts about being more environmentally conscious.

One of the things on our table was a display of things that we suggested that people could have on hand to avoid having to buy things in packaging:

This is what you see in our display (all sold at our co-op!):
- Our co-op's logo klean kanteen double walled, 16oz. stainless steel water bottle (best used for coffe, in my opinion... but some think that it keeps beer cold just as well).
- Snack taxi reusable cloth snack and sandwich bags.
- Cotton drawstring reusable cotton bags made by Mothering Mother that can be used for bulk or produce.
- ToGoWare bamboo utensils that are perfect for on the go eating so that you don't have to grab plastic utensils.
- Berkshire Co-op Market logo bags: our $2 canvas bags as well as the chico bag that has our logo on it.
- Stainless steel food containers - I can't find the link for the one in the picture but here is a link to some other containers that we had on the table that we also sell at the store.
- Lastly, there were glass jars in the display that are simply just containers that I carry with me when I'm going to shop for food - all of them were originally glass jars that food came in that I saved and cleaned out to reuse.

The other thing that we had at our table were lists about the 4 "r"s...
REFUSE:

 REDUCE:

 REUSE:

 And lastly, RECYCLE:

Sorry about the glares on the photos... but it's important to note that our last board was "recycle" and we really aren't emphasizing it. In fact, we want to encourage people to recycle as a last resort! Yes, recycling is better then throwing things in the trash, but what if you could avoid getting to that phase all together?

Our committee is still in the beginning stages and open to ideas and suggestions - so please give us ideas! We want to make a difference both at the store and in our community...

Look forward to reading more about what we are doing!

Aluminum

Here's the deal:
We need new ice cube trays. We like ice, especially in the summer. We have an ice cube maker but we don't use it because we don't want to take the time to figure out how to hook up the water line to make it work. That's the real reason but for some reason I feel like ice cube trays are more environmental friendly... I haven't looked into the facts behind this one but maybe if there is a water line involved then potentially more water and certainly more energy would be used... no?

Anyway, we have been using plastic ice cube trays because that's what we have, but they are breaking. I wanted so badly to buy some of these stainless steel ice cube trays when I bought those awesome popsicle makers, but money is tight as always and we had to pick and choose. We picked the popsicle makers, obviously... but then today I came across these:

They are aluminum, but they were free. Oh the dilemma!



A friend just bought this old church that had a ton of kitchen stuff in the basement up for grabs, and something inside me told me to look in the freezer... and sure enough, there they were. I've been going back and forth about these as well as doing lots of research, but meanwhile, I will admit that I washed them and filled them and they are in my freezer now.

I am aware of the issues with aluminum. But when I really started thinking about it, I wondered if plastic ice cube trays were better than aluminum ones. I just don't know! This video convinces me to want to buy plastic bottles over aluminum cans, but coming across free aluminum ice cube trays is different then what this video is talking about... mostly because the video speaks of what it takes to produce this stuff new. Here's the deal guys: if I were going to spend my money on brand new ice cube trays, they would be stainless steel so there would be no issues... but that is just not the case right now.

Well anyway, my youngest likes them.

So let's just see how it goes.

And if you guys have more info for me to drop them or if I come across something else in my research, I will let you know.

But for now, I'm happy to have those broken plastic ice cube trays out of my freezer... and the new ones looks much nicer.


On a side note, I find it interesting that people that I know who would never use aluminum cookware or kitchen items (I won't cook in aluminum myself either), would still not think twice about drinking out of an aluminum can... something to think about.

Thoughtful Thursday Links

It's been a busy week but I have not stopped thinking.

We have had some recent bumps in the road but we have also had some good successes. There have been some things that I have had to just let go of and accept as a temporary situation, but I feel pretty good about it getting easier down the line... easier for others to understand how we live as well as more routine for us, with more solutions to some of the bumps we hit.

Last week I got asked by another parent to help out with a class party. I missed the meeting where everyone signed up for different jobs and shifts because I was stuck at work and couldn't find coverage, but I wanted to help out somewhere in the mix of class play, last day of school grilling for fund raising and a cast party for the class. Anyhow, the night before the party, I got and email requesting that I help by going out and buying a case of seltzer, which was, I was told, just 12 plastic bottle that come wrapped in plastic. Well... you can imagine my issues here. I contemplated finding a seltzer maker and making it, but with such short notice there was no way to make that happen and besides - where would I find bottles to fill (ideally glass)? After much moral dilemma, I asked another parent to help out by buying the seltzer for me. I offered to take a shift he was working but he agreed without wanting much in return. I did, however, give his son a ride that night... so I sort of helped him in return. I guess.

We also had our first gathering where we asked people to not bring or leave any trash. We asked them to bring their own plates and utensils and cups for eating. It went pretty well! Our dilemma here was the packs of hot dogs that were given to me to grill that came in disposable packaging. We now have 3 packages from hot dogs (good organic ones!) added to our trash... but that was mostly it. One piece of watermelon was brought with some plastic wrap on it, so that is in our trash as well, but it doesn't seem to stand out to me as much as those stinking hot dog wrappers. My next challenge to myself is to try and find a way to get grillable meat without packaging.

And then today my kids had dentist appointments. In the waiting room I looked over at my oldest son and he was standing, staring at me in horror - he had accidentally grabbed a plastic cup and filled it at the water cooler in the corner of the room even though our water bottle was sitting on the chair next to him. He said "mom, I'm so sorry... I wasn't thinking". I have to admit, I was surprised that after a month and a half of working on awareness, he would take a disposable cup like that. But I handled it well I think - I pointed out the water bottle right next to him and then I told him that it was ok, but he had to make sure that he took it home and added it to our recycling. He agreed that was a good idea, especially because there was only a trashcan in the room.
After that we had the free give aways in the little plastic bag issue - I immediately returned the bag that my daughter accepted but I asked her if she would truly use everything in it (toothbrush, name brand toothpaste and floss in a plastic holder). She said that she would so I let her take it (one step at a time). And then I spoke with the dentist and he had some interest in why we didn't want the bag so I started telling him about what we are doing. He wants me to send him some info about more conscious recycling, which I thought was a good sign... we will see how that goes. But when my oldest was done, he took the toothbrush and floss, but left the toothpaste because he knew that realistically, he would never use it. This is a start... but ultimately, I want to be able to refuse all of this stuff and teach my kids to refuse it as well. Someday.

I know, I know... I'm supposed to be posting links, but there are so many things everyday that require a lot of thinking. I am trying to think about everything so there is potential content everyday, but I'm also trying not to be overbearing here.

But I will share some links of things that I've been checking out this week:

Here is the newest list of the most important fruits and veggies to eat organic... even though I am a strong believer in eating everything organic whenever it's possible.

Oh and, you can read about how formaldehyde has been added to the list of known carcinogens.

Watch this clip from a show that I discovered, the first episode that we watched was about music and recording studios and gear and how to reduce the energy used (very close to my heart this one is).

And this article is worth checking out about keeping cool without using so much energy.

Ok, that's all I've got.
It was Thursday when I started this post, I swear...

Trash check in

So it's been almost 2 weeks since we took out our trash last so I thought I'd check and see how we are doing:

Not too bad. As you can see, the biggest piece of trash is that stinkin corn chip bag (the one that I thought was recyclable paper throughout, but ended up having a plastic liner). There are also two other bags from snacks that we still had lying around, as well as a non-biodegrable sponge that we just finished up with before switching over to biodegradable ones, and some random stickers from veggies and whatnot.

At this rate it looks like I have a few weeks to figure out what to do with the trash bag once it is full now that we no longer get trash pick up, but I'm not really worried...

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Totally on the side, I wanted to report about a local restaurant that has taken steps to reduce waste. We enjoy going to this cool little family run restaurant that has slowly been making good changes. When they first opened, they offered paper plates with some of their food, but soon after they transitioned to using cool tin plates (I think they are tin anyway). However, the last time that we ate there, I ordered a salad that automatically had the dressing on the side. I was a bit bummed because the dressing came in a little disposable cup... so I wrote a note to them about it and suggested that they consider using reusable containers for stuff like that. I know that they are environmentally conscious, so I felt comfortable doing this.They wrote back a very nice note thanking me for the suggestion and for making them a little more aware... And then today one of their family/staff told me that they have since switched to reusable salad dressing containers and are thinking about doing more. That's such good news!

So, if you have a favorite place to go to and you find that there are some practices that don't make you totally happy, tell them! You never know... maybe you might influence some positive chance. The worst thing that could happen is nothing - so it's certainly worth a shot. And if you are really not happy about what they are doing and they have no desire to think about change, stop going there!
Remember: vote with your dollar!