Archive for February, 2009
Clean, Green Bum
I’m always looking for ways to cut disposable products from my lifestyle. I don’t use paper towels or tissues, having replaced them with dish cloths and hankeys. I use cloth grocery bags and try my best to avoid buying foods and other products that come in lots of packaging that can’t be re-used or recycled. I’ve even swtiched from tampons to the keeper. The goal is to never throw anything out, unless it’s going into my compost or recycling bins.
But there is one thing I’m just too chicken to live without – namely, toilet paper.
I have heard of people who use water and wash cloths to clean up after using the toilet, but I don’t really feel like joining them at this point in my life. In college, when living abroad in West Africa, I learned how to wipe like the locals – with my left hand. It didn’t take long before I’d made a habit of carrying little packets of tissues with me at all times just in case I had to “go”. I simply can’t give up the satisfying feeling of a dry bottom.
So in lieu of giving up toilet paper all together, I’ve done the next best thing: buying Marcal toilet paper. I’m not big on brand loyalty, but Marcal toilet paper is my very favorite, because even though they just recently started packaging their TP in fancy “gree-looking” wrappers, they’ve only ever offered 100% post-consumer recycled toilet paper. And it’s just as cheap as all the low-end paper products you’ll find in the cleaning aisle at the grocery store.
Brands like Scott and Kleenex usually don’t use recycled paper – and when they do, they charge extra and less than half of the paper comes from recycled sources. Recycled toilet paper may not be as soft as first-generation paper, but that’s a small price to pay for saving the planet, right? A much smaller price than, say, not wiping.
Start Your Seeds
This morning I checked my handy Farmers Almanac to find out when this year’s last frost will be, and it turns out that it’s in five short weeks – which means I’m a week late at starting my seeds! There was no need to fret – it’s better to start your seeds a little too late rather than a little too early – but I didn’t want to hold out too long so I got right to work and planted about 20 out of the 40 veggie, herb and flower seeds that I bought this year. Starting your plants indoors is relatively simple, and it only took me about 2 hours to get all my seeds in dirt. Here’s an overview of what seed starting takes: (more…)
Fancy Glassware
Look at these snazzy glasses I bought at Pier One. Or Ikea. They only cost $10 each. Can you believe it? What a deal.
Gotcha! I actually didn’t pay anything for these glasses, and they’re not even glasses at all – they’re jars. But I’m using them as glasses, because every time I buy glassware it ends up broken (thanks, Boyfriend), and it’s not worth buying new ones. Instead, we just look for peanut butter and jam and pickles and whatnot that come in glass jars, and when they’re empty we wash them out and use them for drinking. They’re free, durable, and sometimes even attractive. The big ones are good for water and the little ones work well when we’re treating ourselves to a cocktail or glass of wine.
So forget buying new glasses at the store. It’s a waste of time, money and resources. Next time you’re shopping for food, think about the container that it comes in and whether or not you can re-use it. Be cool like me and drink from jars!
Sausage for Dinner
This time of year pickins at the farmers market tend to be slim, but there’s still plenty there to make a tasty meal. You’ll find a host of meat, cheese and bread, as well as lots of pickled stuff, root vegetables, squash and hardy winter greens.
Last night I feasted on a well-rounded meal procured almost entirely from the Union Square Greenmarket. It included garlic and parmesan sausages from my meat guys at Tamarack Hollow farm, an acorn squash, swiss chard with garlic and boiled red potatoes. Salt, olive oil and fresh parsley came from my local grocery store, but all the big items were from small local farms.
It turned out to be a highly satisfying, seasonal meal with little to no guilt involved (except for the Budweiser I washed it down with). And it was easy to make – just quarter and boil potatoes, saute the snosages, sizzle up the chard in garlic, oil and a little water, and steam the squash with salt and butter. Follow these simple steps and you’ve got a hearty, well-balanced winter dish made of some of the most affordable farmers market fare.
Outbreak! small farms popping up left and right
According to a USDA farm census taken every five years, the number of US farms grew significatly between 2002 and 2007, and most of that growth was due to the rampant outbreak of small farms. That’s right, our agriculture system has begun to revert to the old-style small farm system, with lots of smaller-size farms growing a variety of different foods and selling them to local eaters.
Compared to the big farm model that has dominated the US food system for the past fifty years or so, the small farm model is a really good thing. Big farms tend to grow one crop, like corn, soy, beef, chicken, etc, whereas small farms grow a little bit of each. This is better for the soil, which means small farms don’t require as much fertilizer, and it’s better for the eater, because it means we can access unique foods grown nearby in an environmentally-friendly manner.
And importantly, small farms are good for farmers. Big farms don’t really have “farmers” – they have managers and they have workers – and the farms are owned by big companies that don’t take very good care of the people who work for them. Small farms tend to be family operations where farmers have a stake and a say in their farm, their land, and the products that they sell.
So, yay! The growth of small farms in the US is a really good thing. We should celebrate. And if one of these new little farms has sprung up near you, go ahead and buy food from it – it’s a win-win situation.
