Party of One

As I pondered what to make for dinner tonight I recalled the milk sitting in the fridge that needs to get used up and thought "Curry dishes are milky, I bet I could make that." So I set out on epicurious.com to read a bunch of recipes, largely ignored all of them, boiled noodles, cooked veggies in milk + coconut oil (turns out curries use coconut milk), threw a bunch of spices at it and ended up with an interesting result. As I was eating, I thought to myself "It's sure a good thing I don't cook for anyone else!" What I ended up with was very edible and didn't taste bad, but it was too sweet, weirdly thick and the spices were off in their proportions. It was yet another moment when I realized that I live my life differently based on the size of my household; when there's just one of me it's easy to take risks in the kitchen since I'm the only one who has to stomach the results. There's also no one around to point out the gross factor in using my 'hair gel' as an ingredient in my dinner (coconut oil does wonders for taming frizz). On the other hand, if there were other people living with me there might not have been the desperation to use up the milk because someone might be around to just drink it (I can't stomach milk plain due to a childhood allergy).

There are plenty of other areas of my life that are more or less flexible based on the fact that I'm the sole member of my household. Crunchy Chicken is gearing up for this year's cloth wipe challenge and there have been quite a few comments about how people can't participate because of the other people who use their bathroom. I just tuck my bag of used wipes behind something when guests arrive, and otherwise no one is around to notice (let alone be offended by) a pile of folded cloths on the counter or in the bag or drying on a rack in the laundry room. Speaking of my laundry room (which is really just a closet) it's a simple task to line dry my laundry since I only produce one load a week and a rope zig-zagging through the shelves in that closet can hold a full load. I once told some co-workers about line drying when explaining how my electric bill is so low and got the response "You can tell she doesn't have kids if she has time to do that." Since no one is demanding my attention I also choose to take the 2 hour commute via public transportation to grad school classes, rather than the 40 minute drive. I can also set the thermostat wherever I want, and choose to let my apartment get a bit stuffy to conserve warmth (to the chagrin of my friend who visited last weekend). This is not to say that I wouldn't do these things with kids or a partner, it's just easy to do now because I don't have to worry about missing time that could be spent with others or negotiate with anyone else's preferences.

There are also items that are harder to manage on my own. You may have read some of the saga that was my multiple failed attempts to compost. As one person who tries to minimize food waste without a yard, I have yet to find a way to compost. I also have to buy things in smaller packages, which means more waste. I was shopping with a friend and he tried to convince me to buy the double sized can of baked beans (cheaper and less packaging than buying 2 cans), but I really only want to eat half a can and then am good for several weeks, so the double size would either result in me being exceedingly sick of baked beans or an entire can being sent down the disposal, neither of which are good choices. I want to buy in bulk, but I have limited space and limited usage of most things so getting a membership at someplace like Costco just isn't feasible (I was heartened to see my twitter friend @ashleymarie6 facing that conundrum as well). Same thing with getting a CSA share, I couldn't possibly use a family size one. My friend did offer to give me her leftovers if she gets a share next summer, but we'll see how many leftovers there actually are!

Overall, I'm enjoying these years in my 20's to 'go wild' (with environmentalism, not much of a party-er), figure out which changes are workable and develop habits that will later become so ingrained I no longer think of them as extra effort. But, I look forward to a time when I'll have my own house to make bigger changes (a real garden with rain barrels!), to being able to share the burdens and joys of eco-living with other people, and to having enough food waste to finally sustain a population of worms.

(This post is my contribution to September's APLS Carnival, which I am hosting. Email me a link to your post by Sept. 15 to be included!)

Staycations

The past couple weeks I've been on vacation. After 6 weeks of an intense graduate school program I was very ready for the time off, but only 3 days into being home with no plans I was itching for a task, a project, someone else to entertain me, anything. Turns out I really don't enjoy doing nothing, so I got to work preparing for the school year and helping my friend remodel her house. Thus occupied with places to focus my energy I made it through the next 3 days. At this point I was invited to a friend's lake house in Maine. While there I discovered that a friend and a body of water were really all the entertainment I required. Another 3 days whizzed by with a bit of sailing, some swimming, and a lot of hours just hanging out by the water. Next I traveled to my parents' house in CT.

A couple years ago they built their new 'summer home' and I love spending time there. The 'summer home' isn't actually a home at all, it is simply a remodeled porch. It is a nice room with a table for eating at and some comfortable chairs for lounging in. The 'commute' from home to the summer place involves opening a door in the kitchen and crossing a threshold into the new space. The thing is, it actually feels like you've traveled to a distant location- this area isn't air conditioned so it's filled with fresh air, the sounds of nature penetrate the screens and the temperature changes to reflect what's happening outside, plus it's decorated so it feels rather Tuscan. It's amazing what a slight change of atmosphere can do; coming out to play cards in the evening feels like an exciting event, but we still have all the comforts of home and never have to pack!

On the occasions when we've felt the need to venture out of our summer place, we've been going on day trips. We went out to lunch at a new restaurant right in town (10 minutes away) but it was still exciting since none of us had been before (by the way, they made guacamole with fruit in it, delicious!). One evening we went to a minor league baseball game (40 minutes away) for just $12 a seat and an awesome view of a fun game I couldn't differentiate from the professionals. Another day we went to the beach (1.5 hours away) and enjoyed a wonderful day of sitting in the sand, dipping our feet in the water (no way I was getting into the frigid ocean) and eating the lunch we'd brought with us. Today we traveled to some wineries (1 hour away), did a few wine tastings and had a delicious lunch at an amazing Italian restaurant.

So, in these weeks of vacation I've learned some very important things:
Sitting at home by myself gets boring fast, but it's really easy to solve that problem. Traveling less than 2 hours at a time I can get myself to a lake, friends, family, great food, sports, ocean, local wine and so much more. Nothing that I've done has been expensive; I haven't gone anywhere new, flown, or paid for a hotel, let alone a resort. Even though I spent 18 years living at my parent's house there are still many new and interesting things to do in the area. When I go home this weekend I will have no need for a vacation to recover from my vacation since everything I've done has been relaxing, simple and low key. There have been plenty of opportunities to be excited, and I've had new experiences, but there is always time to unwind and I'm not packing my days so tightly that I'll need to recoup when I get home. In conclusion, staycations are awesome as long as you do a bit of research and planning (but still way less than would be required for a vacation to somewhere new).

The Environment and The Economy

First, wow, I can't believe I haven't posted here since May. I mean, I can, since I've been using twitter (@crstn85) to broadcast my thoughts, and since I haven't had a day off since Memorial day, but still, I used to use this blog regularly. Sorry blogger.


The August topic for APLS is Green on the Cheap: Has the economy impacted how you live green? Do you buy fewer green products to save money? Or have you redoubled your efforts to live sustainably? What have you learned about living environmentally friendly on a budget?


Helping the environment and surviving the economy are not opposing forces. You can succeed in each failing system via the same methods. If you lack resources (monetary or planetary) you have to learn to use less and to use what you do have effectively. Using less stuff means spending less money, just as buying less means getting less stuff. Of course cutting back can only go so far and so this argument doesn't hold well for anyone who has lost income and can no longer afford the basics. Assuming you can afford the basics though, it's a good time to look for alternate ways to get the things you want and need.

Recently I got a bigger TV, not because I particularly wanted one but because it was free and my friend couldn't think of anyone else who would want an old TV without a remote. This made me realize I must be in a special class of people - what most people think of as junk I considered an upgrade. This fact was made especially clear to me this summer as I began looking around the trash area of my apartment complex. So far I've scored a fun card game and a DVD rack. Some people are actually good about leaving quality items off to the side so it's like we have our own freecycle in the apartment complex. These are things we should be doing all the time though, not just when money is tight and we recognize that someone else might want what we no longer do. It should be second nature to check in with neighbors to see if they could use something you're getting rid of, and if not, it should be donated rather than left by the curb where hopefully someone will take it before the trash pick up date.

I've never been one to buy a lot of green products; I do fairly well as far as cleaning supplies with water, microfiber cloths, Dr. Bonners soap and hydrogen peroxide for emergencies (wine on the carpet). I use cloth rather than paper products and I've never been into gadgets, eco or otherwise. I suppose that just leaves food, where I do try to buy organic and local. But, the extra expense is far outweighed by the absence of meat, and the money I'm saving not buying all those other things I just mentioned. My low electric bill makes the additional cost of 'green power' hardly noticeable, and the cool, cloudy summer has certainly helped to keep that one extra low.

Since I've been trying to live sustainably for a while now, all of these shifts - toward conserving and saving money and generally consuming less - fit in with what I'm already doing. I hope that, if nothing else, people come out of this experience realizing that there is a lot to be said for sustainability, in all of its interpretations.

allergy season

Right now I'm in the worst part of allergy season. I'm on so much medication to remain semi-functional that I can no longer tell which symptoms are side-effects and which are regular old symptoms. Being environmentally friendly isn't exactly my number 1 priority at the moment. To give you some perspective, getting the clean dishes out of the dishwasher and the pile of dirty dishes into the newly emptied machine was a huge accomplishment, over due by several days. I decided to tackle the task simply because I was stuck in the kitchen for the 1 minute it took my dinner to heat in the microwave. Yes, I did buy macaroni and cheese that I could heat up in 1 minute so that I wouldn't have to actually cook. But, I bought the kind that is made locally, by the people who run the farm store down the street. Not only is it far, far superior in taste (I can't stomach the stuff from a box, even if it is organic, just, ew) it's also supporting my local economy, and it only traveled a mile from where it was made to where it was consumed. Plus, they try to source ingredients locally as well. It's not organic or homemade by me, but it is far better than trying to get away with a few bites of hummus and chips for dinner, since that's the only thing that can go directly from fridge to plate.

It's also great when other things are such ingrained habits that I can complete them even as I stumble off to bed, my brain already shifted into the lowest gear that still allows me to walk. I turn off lights, unplug cords and flush with grey water with as much thought as it takes to put one foot in front of the other. Often I climb into bed and try to remember if I'd done something, simply because it had become so automatic that my brain didn't find the memory worth recording.

There are plenty of things that aren't so eco-friendly about allergy season- medications are bad in many ways, lots of tissues, lots more time spent in front of a screen rather than out enjoying the world and short cuts taken when I might have taken the time and energy to do something 'right' on another day. But, we do the best we can, and I rest easier knowing that my dinner was delicious and came in a reusable container, and that many of my habits remain intact simply because they have become habit.

Compost Conundrum

So, like any good eco-nut, I can't bear to think of throwing away food scraps that could return to the Earth and feed my vegetables rather than being trapped in a land fill. I did some research, decided that a worm bin would be great, and set everything up. First I collected food for a while, then I got the worms and continued to add what I hope were the proper proportions of carbon and nitrogen and water. As time passed, my worm population dwindled, until I couldn't find any worms left. See, the problem is, I don't have much food waste. This is great for me and my budget, but it didn't work out so well for the worms.

That system failed, I moved my compost bin out to the balcony and continued to add whatever food waste I had. Since it was winter, and the bin was totally dried out, nothing broke down. It is now spring and I have an overflowing bin of food scraps (predominantly egg shells actually) which is all in nearly the same state as when I put it in, with the occasional addition of mold/fungus.

Clearly the system needs some help to break down any time soon. Enter the possibility of miraculous 4 week decomposition with the help of Bokashi! Maybe. This stuff is filled with micro-organisms that pickle your food waste in a couple weeks, then if you mix it in with some soil you get rapidly decomposed organic matter. It seems too good to be true, and I can't decide if its worthwhile.

I also found a local farm that might take my materials and convert them into compost for me. There is a certain satisfaction in creating my own, but if its going to be more effective to have someone else do it, I'm willing to make that sacrifice.

So, what do I do? Make my own pickled stuff or have someone else make regular compost?

growth!

I went to clear off my camera today before we start a photo project at school, and discovered the only photos I've taken are of plants. Not that surprising since it's both planting season and plants dominate my apartment, but still makes me feel like maybe I should bring my camera out with me more. As long as I have the photos, I may as well share.

My african violet is really happy:



I bought a kit for hanging strawberries. Look at the growth in just 3 days of semi-cloudy weather. Nice work Yankee Candle Company!

Internet Dependency

When I got home from work last Friday afternoon I turned on the computer and plugged in my modem - standard procedure whenever I get home. However, something not so standard occurred - my computer didn't connect to the internet. My first reaction was mild panic, but I figured it must be a minor glitch and so I fiddled with a few settings, turned things off and back on, and waited a while. When it was clear something was wrong, I decided to contact my internet provider; here arrived stumbling block number one: everything I do, I do online. Normal procedure would be to check a website for tips, then to email or talk to someone online, and only as a last resort actually pick up the phone. But only that last resort was available, so I was forced to dig out an old bill (from before they went paperless) to find a phone number and call.

The representative (once I finally got through to him) informed me that my modem looked fine from his end, but it was really old- so old they stopped making the model in 2005 (which is eons ago for electronics). The solution was to go trade in my modem the next day. This, however, did nothing to solve the problem, and another call left me with the information that they didn't know what was wrong and couldn't help me since I use Linux. Many hours of troubleshooting and a lot of phone calls later, it's Tuesday and I'm dying without an internet connection. I'm worried that my computer is truly broken and decide to wipe the operating system and reinstall. Thankfully this solves my problem, and in the mean time I've learned a lot.

-Just because electronics are really old, that doesn't mean they're useless
My old modem turned on faster than the new one
My computer is 6 years old and still going strong

-Most people aren't willing to put in the effort to fix things
The first reaction was to go replace the old thing- it must be broken
I was kind of tempted to use this as an excuse to buy a shiny new computer
Reinstalling was actually really easy, and it only took 1 evening to get back up and running just like I was previously

-I'm totally and completely dependent on technology
I had to call friends many times this weekend to look up phone numbers
I didn't know what to wear on Saturday without weather.com
I rushed needlessly to the train since I had no idea how long it would take to get somewhere without mbta.com
My computer is the essence of my entertainment- music, games, blogs...
I had limited to no contact with most people I know while I was offline

While I appreciated the reminder that I should be less dependent on technology, mostly I am just very thankful to have my internet back and that I didn't have to buy anything new (hopefully they'll recycle the modem I traded in).