Dinky Green

Incongruous

2012-01-31T19:48:00.000-06:00

I'm biking in January—in northern Illinois!—without gloves or ear coverings, and I'm even a little too warm wearing two shirts. And yet, it's still too dark to ride without lights. There are still piles of snow that haven't melted at the corners of every intersection—usually blocking the edge of the sidewalk, meaning I must dismount and hoist my bike over. Pedaling home at 6:30 this evening felt more like riding around at 9:00 on a late spring night. Except for those snow piles, of course.

So strange to have gone from bitter cold and seven inches of snow so quickly to this unseasonably mild weather. But I'll take it. Saving gas, getting exercise, right? Besides general laziness, the cold is what keeps us off our bikes and in the car. It's why we put on our winter weight. So, I'll take it while I have it. I'm sure we'll snap back into the typical Chicago winter soon.

In the meantime, I'll try to post a little more frequently. And post something a little more interesting than one 25-minute bike commute. It's just that... well, I'm sure you've noticed how our posts taper off in late summer as harvest time hits (as if we were big crop farmers), something that has gotten worse every year in the three years we've been blogging. So, I'm going to make an effort. After all, I need to catch your attention with regular posts before I can even hope for you to notice my annual reminder to participate in Earth Hour (March 31).

2011-07-09T12:17:00.000-05:00

Gold Ball turnips and a Black Spanish radish.

Our plants are growing slower than last summer, and I worried it was something we were doing until we walked around the community garden this morning and saw other people's plots. Some have plants much further developed than ours, especially tomatoes and peppers (ours, grown from seed indoors on window sill, are pretty sad, but we're keeping our fingers crossed), but many others have some plants even smaller than ours. So I feel better. Even if we should be doing something differently to boost our garden's production, I think we can safely blame the weather (three days of 90, two weeks of 60, a week of 90, a week of 70...) for most of the slow growth.

Despite the inconsistent weather, we are harvesting a few things, as you can see in the photo of the turnips and one black radish we picked on July 4. For a few weeks now, we've been snipping off leaves from the beets, turnips and radishes and steaming/sauteing them for dinner, and now we've enjoyed a roasted veggie platter that included our turnips. We haven't eaten the radish yet, but we did stir fry some radish pods (from the radishes that bolted and went to flower quickly, then producing snap bean–like seed pods). Not bad. And, we're picking a few beans each day—Cherokee, wax and magpie—and will soon have enough to make a great bean salad or something. A friendly gardener Len met while toiling away in the sun shared with us some of her broccoli, small red radishes and bok choy. And, we're picking raspberries every day, just like the last two summers around this time. The raspberries are the lowest maintenance, highest yield item in our edible garden. And possibly the most delicious.

I can't wait to start picking cucumbers and zucchini—just in the past two days, I've seen itty bitty baby ones. Oh, and we added some potatoes to the garden! My mom gave me some little budding potato chunks that she received from a neighbor with a huge garden. We just tossed them into the ground, and less than week later we had potato plants. As they grow taller, we pile the dirt higher around them.

The last thing I have to report is the Insect Watch. I saw one squash bug near our calabaza plant a couple of weeks ago. I killed him and, after seeing the squash-bug invasion my parents are facing, I have been diligently checking the stems and undersides of the leaves of all of our squash and melon plants every time we go out to water. So far, no new sightings and no egg clusters. Maybe the dill, catnip and nasturtium (which hasn't yet bloomed) are working? Meanwhile, Len is daily hunting and squishing Japanese beetles in our corn stalks. Now we know what became of the white grubs we found while digging up the garden. Next spring, we'll kill the grubs as we find them instead of just tossing them out of the space. The other pest we've found is the cucumber beetle. Rather cute little black and yellow guys, they devoured some of our squash seedlings in one weekend earlier this season. We replanted the ones in the worst shape—and the ones that disappeared entirely—and now just keep a murderous eye out for those beetles, too. It's always beetles.

Here's to living off the land!

The Garden Plot, A Visual Aid

2011-05-19T19:56:00.001-05:00

You'll probably have to click on this image to open it separately and zoom in to read which veggies are where.

Actual measurements of our garden plot revealed that the space was not quite a full 20x30, so we shuffled a couple of items and alotted slightly less space to the walking areas, but this plan will give you the general layout of our spot in the community garden. You'll see that the sprawling items, like cucumbers, melons and squash, have about 9 square feet for each vine to fill, except for a few of the plants that will produce one- to three-pound fruit—Len built vertical frames for those guys to climb, saving some ground space. Most of the plants in the center will be planted in clusters of four, in little 2x2 squares. Those we will transplant into the garden plot after they have sprouted and grown into hardy little seedlings indoors. The beans, beets, turnips and radishes, ranging from 9 to 16 seeds per square foot, will be planted in stages, about every three weeks, so that we can harvest them over a period, instead of pulling up about 50 radishes all at once.

I also plan to plant some nasturtiums and dill here and there among the squash. And marigolds among the tomatoes.

The items you don't see on the map—herbs, lettuce, kale, spinach, chard, onions—are planted in a space about 4x7 next to the strawberries in the front yard. I'm worried about those seeds. They seem awfully slow to start.

Garden Grab Bag

2011-05-08T21:45:00.002-05:00

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This year, our edible garden was a surprise, even to us.

We were lucky enough to find out about Seeds of Change's Sowing Millions Project just before they gave away all 100 million seeds, so we placed two orders for 25 packets of certified organic seeds (two orders so we could share with our moms, not so we could hog them all for ourselves!). The shipping cost was all we had to pay for the orders and was $4.99 each. We didn't get to choose what plants we wanted or even get to see a list of the kinds of seeds they giving away; Seeds of Change would just send us a random variety. It was exciting, kind of like waiting for Christmas morning. But, we also had to wait to plan the garden until we found out what sorts of seeds we would get. In other words, we waited impatiently for about three and a half weeks.

Then the seeds arrived. So many different veggies to grow! Some people complained on the Seeds of Change Facebook page that they received lots of flowers and hardly any vegetables. Our packages fortuitously contained mostly vegetables, with only six envelopes of ornamental plants, three of which were marigolds—very useful in the vegetable garden. We did receive duplicates of some things, even quadruplets of the okra and pumpkins, but I think that was a good thing because it made it easier to share the seeds with our moms and because, let's face it, I don't think we're quite ready to plant, grow, and harvest 50 kinds of vegetables. I should say, 50 new kinds of vegetables, because when I list out all of our seeds below, you'll see the count is actually around 50.

So, the produce we will eat this summer and fall has already been determined—mostly by our surprise assortment from Seeds of Change, as well as the seeds we gathered or had leftover from last year, and just a few new purchases. Here's the list:

Lemon Basil, harvested seeds from aunt
Sweet Basil, leftover seeds
Cherokee Wax Bush Bean, Seeds of Change
Green Snap Bush Bean, leftover packet
Golden Lumen Wax Bush Bean, Seeds of Change
Sonoran Gold Bush Tepary Bean (traditional), Seeds of Change
Magpie Bush Snap Bean (heirloom), Seeds of Change
Yellow Intermediate Mangel Beet (heirloom), Seeds of Change
Witerbi Mangold Chard, Seeds of Change
Chives, leftover seeds
Cilantro, harvested seeds
Sweet Corn, leftover seeds
Upland Cress, Seeds of Change
Satsuki Madori Cucumber (rare), Seeds of Change
Sumter Cucumber, leftover seeds
Bush Champion Cucumber, Seeds of Change
Mammoth Dill, new purchase
Turkish Orange Eggplant (heirloom), Seeds of Change
Florence Fennel (heirloom), Seeds of Change
Vates Blue Curled Kale, Seeds of Change
Red Russian Kale, Seeds of Change
Red Oak Lettuce, Seeds of Change
Butter Crunch Lettuce, leftover seeds from Mom
Romaine Lettuce, leftover seeds from Mom
Eel River Muskmelon, Seeds of Change
Crimson Sweet Watermelon, leftover seeds
Sweet Dakota Rose Watermelon (heirloom), Seeds of Change
Mammoth Spineless Okra, Seeds of Change
White Lisbon Bunching Onion, Seeds of Change
Parsley, leftover seeds
New Mexican Green Chile, leftover seeds
Bell Pepper, leftover seeds
Jalapeño, leftover seeds
Jack-o-Lite Pumpkin, Seeds of Change
Pie Pumpkin, harvested seeds
Calabaza, harvested seeds
Round Black Spanish Radish (heirloom), Seeds of Change
Bloomsdale Long-Standing Spinach, leftover seeds from Mom
Hokkaido Stella Blue Squash, Seeds of Change
Butternut Squash, harvested seeds
Gold Nugget Squash, Seeds of Change
Zeppelin Delicata Squash, Seeds of Change
Sweet Dumpling Squash, Seeds of Change
Cherry Tomato, leftover seeds
Yellow Pear Tomato (heirloom), leftover seeds
Oregon Spring Tomato, new purchase
Gold Ball Turnip (heirloom), Seeds of Change
Black Beauty Zucchini, Seeds of Change
Not to mention the strawberries, raspberries, and shallots always growing in our yard.

Also, we'll be mixing these plants into the garden as a natural repellent for harmful insects like squash bugs: two types of marigolds (Seeds of Change), the dill already mentioned above, catnip (easily found wild around here), and two types of nasturtiums (new purchase). We will let you know just how well this approach works.

Even with the 20x30 plot in the community garden and the 4x10 area in our front yard, it seems like we have a lot to cram into our gardening space, and we do. But we're employing some of Mel Bartholomew's Square-Foot Gardening techniques, including some vertical gardening for the cucumbers and smaller winter squash. More about that in another post. Also to come: a map of our garden.

I'll finish up with a quick summary of what we planted on Saturday (May 7). Sowed directly in the ground: both kinds of kale, all of the kinds of lettuce, spinach, cress, fennel, chives, both kinds of basil, turnips, beets, radishes, green snap bush beans, and cherokee wax bush beans. Started indoors: all three kinds of tomatoes, all three kinds of peppers/chiles, both kinds of marigolds, eggplant, and parsley.

Now, to keep track of all of this is a garden journal...
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Weird Popcorn

2011-05-02T20:46:00.001-05:00

This snack is adapted from Martha Stewart's Chili-Lime Popcorn. It got its new name when Len was organizing our recipes, typing up ones that were handwritten or torn out of magazines, and he thought this one sounded, well, weird. It's actually very tasty, if you ask me.

2 tablespoons vegetable oil*
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1 1/4 teaspoons chili powder
3/4 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon lime zest
1 large lime wedge

Pop the popcorn in the oil.* Meanwhile, mix the chili powder, cumin, and lime zest. When the popcorn is done, sprinkle the seasonings all over it and toss to coat. Then squeeze juice from the lime wedge all over the popcorn. Serve immediately.

The chili powder, cumin, and lime zest give the popcorn a southwestern flavor, a refreshing alternative to my beloved, everyday butter-and-salt combo. You eat popcorn everyday, right? The lime juice gives each kernel a drop of moisture with a mouth feel akin to butter, but not greasy and with a tang that completely eliminates the need for salt. At least, that's what I think. Len thinks it's weird.

*You could air pop your popcorn instead, but you'll still need to toss it with about a tablespoon of oil to help the seasonings stick.

Beyond the Day

2011-04-26T20:51:00.000-05:00

How ironic that, in the last few weeks, it was on Earth Day and its weekend that we used our car the most. It was that darn rain that shouldn’t have kept me off the bicycle but did (I’m not being so wimpy about the wet and wild weather this week) and various family Easter gatherings that led to more than 150 miles of driving. Yeesh. And gas prices were nearing $4.30 in our neck of the woods and even higher near the city.

But, one good thing that came from all that fuel-burning (besides all the food we ate and the quality time spent with loved ones, of course) was that we passed a billboard for Earth Hour. Remember that? It was in March. I told you to participate. The billboard said, “This Earth Hour, go beyond the hour.” That means regularly unplugging your electronics when you’re not using them. Turning off the lights when you leave a room (like, duh).

We’ve been unplugging our TV, digital converter, and DVD player, which are conveniently connected to one power strip, as well as our amplified antenna (rabbit ears you can plug in to boost their reception), before we go to bed at night and just anytime we’re not watching a show. We also unplug the microwave and coffee maker whenever they are not actively heating or brewing something for us. It means when we do use them, they don’t display the right time, but how many digital clocks do we need in the kitchen, anyway? And, of course, of course, if we’re not charging the cell phones, the chargers are not plugged in! Yes, the chargers suck energy even when they’re not charging something.

A fun experiment is to watch your electric meter outside and see how the speed of the numbers rolling along changes when you run (or don’t run) certain things in the house. Len was watching ours slowly count our kilowatts when it spun a little faster for a few seconds. “What just happened?” he asked. “What did you change?” It was our fridge cycling on. Interesting. Well, interesting for nerds like us.

So that’s taking Earth Hour beyond the hour. What about taking Earth Day beyond the day? Lots of people already are. Lots people still need to. And, what that means to each person is different. Maybe organic gardening, public transportation, rain barrels, eating only local produce.

For us, it means the trash can is a last resort, it means bicycling in the rain so we don’t have to use the car, it means stirring the compost more frequently in anticipation of a vegetable garden, and it means hanging the laundry out to dry...just as soon as it warms up and stops raining. It could mean more, though. Water conservation, to name one category, is something we need to work on. We're not complete water gluttons, taking 30-minute showers, watering a vast lawn twice day, but it's an area in need of improvement. Future post?

What does it mean to you to take Earth Day beyond the day? What more could it mean to you?

The Last of 2010's Bounty - Spiced Butternut Squash and Lentil Soup

2011-04-17T20:32:00.001-05:00

You may not believe what we had for dinner the other night. Butternut squash from our garden. That's right, until a few days ago, we still had three small butternuts left from our 2010 garden. And I mean fresh ones, not frozen or canned or dehydrated. These babies have been sitting patiently in our pantry for more than five months without rotting or drying out or going bad in any other way. You gotta love the shelf life of winter squash!

As you may already know, we keep our thermostat quite low over the winter, which conserves energy and makes us very uncomfortable unless we are under lots of blankets, with the added benefit of creating a root cellar–like atmosphere in our kitchen. Our pantry then works like a basement, where most people would normally store their autumn harvests for the winter months.

So, that's the last of last summer's garden, not counting anything we froze or canned. And, here's what we made with it:

Spiced Butternut Squash and Lentil Soup
(adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes)

1 cup dry lentils
2 1/2 cups peeled butternut squash, cut into small pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon garam masala*
4 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth

Rinse and drain lentils. Then mix all ingredients in a 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker.

Cover and cook on low setting for 8 to 9 hours (or on high setting for 4 to 5 hours).

Before serving, we like to puree the soup using an immersion blender. You could also do it in batches in a regular blender. It comes out looking like baby food, so, if that grosses you out, just don't puree it. You may also want to add extra broth if the soup seems too thick.

*Garam masala is an Indian seasoning, and it makes this soup what it is. You can probably find it in the spice aisle in most large grocery stores. It's actually a savory and harmonious blend of spices like nutmeg, cloves, coriander, cumin, and pepper, among others.

The Loaner

2011-04-02T15:29:00.000-05:00

I’m sorry, I thought it was spring.

This cold weather has been especially disappointing considering the groundhog did not see his shadow this year, signifying an early spring. Maybe no one around here remembers that rare occurrence because we had two feet of snow February 2, but it happened! Now, I ask, where is the spring? The calendar says it is spring. The air outside begs to differ. Grrr. (Or should I say, brrr.)

We’re still biking, though. If you’re like me, once you’ve been on the bicycle for the first time each year, your addiction awakens. I don’t care that it’s cold; I want to avoid the car at all costs. And it does cost—it costs us comfort and time. But it saves us money that would have been spent on gas (which was $3.89 today!). And it makes us fitter, so you could argue that it saves us a trip to the gym (if we normally spent time at the gym, that is). I admit we broke the biking streak (not to be confused with streaking while bicycling, which we did not do) last week when rain was forecast for a couple of days and when we had an evening engagement that just didn’t allow time for biking. But this week, we’re back to freezing our buns off on the bikes everyday. It sucks, and yet it’s invigorating. I feel alive and self-sufficient and strong.

Also this week, I’ve been using a borrowed bike while mine awaits some repairs—most importantly, my back wheel is out of true and some ball bearings could be replaced, and while we’re at it, the chain is old and slack and one of the brake cables is shredded. Oh, and how about some new handlebar grips? But we must not be the only ones who’ve kicked off bike season, because the bike store’s repair shop was booked until next Wednesday! I can’t go back to using the car everyday for a week and a half! Thankfully, Len’s parents were kind enough to lend me one of their bikes.

It is very different from my bike, which is a path-and-pavement hybrid. This loaner is a cruiser, more pleasure than business, so the tires are much fatter, the handlebars are wider, and the pedals are a little out in front of the seat instead of directly beneath it. It's basically the Buick of bikes, and it’s a very comfortable ride. Very comfortable. But it’s meant for cruising around town in a leisurely fashion. So, I’ve discovered that my commute, which I thought was about equally up-and-down in each direction, is actually mostly uphill on the way to the train station. I discovered that the gears on this bike are not really calibrated for speed, and the pedals are not positioned for powering up hills, because I missed my train Monday morning. I now know I have to give myself an extra 10 minutes in the morning to compensate for the slowness of this very comfortable, temporary transport. The ride home, on the other hand, took about the same amount of time as it would have on my own bike—because it’s mostly downhill that way. I wouldn’t have known. Now I do.

Anyway, I’ll gladly take the slow bike over the car. Like I said, I’m addicted to biking after that first week. Or is it more of an aversion to the car than an addiction to the bike? Doesn’t matter. The point is, I strongly prefer to bike, so I’m happy to have the loaner. Besides, it’s a very comfortable loaner. Did I mention that?

Daylight Saving Time is Fuel-Saving Time

2011-03-21T19:15:00.000-05:00

. . . And, we're back.

As bicycling ninjas.

Since we have more daylight left in the evening—even if it doesn't necessarily come with warmer temperatures—our commutes to and from work and school were 100% car-free last week! This week begins another five consecutive days (pending the thunderstorm forecast) of bicycle commuting.

And, I want to remind everyone of Earth Hour next Saturday night. Do it! No excuses! The food in your fridge will not spoil if you cut the power for just one hour. (This is assuming you are not leaving the fridge door wide open for the duration of the hour, of course.)

Related posts:
Don't Forget Earth Hour Tonight! (Earth Hour 2010)
First Bicycle Commute of 2010

Yikes! What's that White Stuff?

2010-07-20T22:52:00.000-05:00

I am disappointed to report that powdery mildew has taken hold of our pumpkin patch and spread to the butternut squash. Next year—and it will be back next year—I will recognize the first signs and take offensive action immediately. This season, however, I didn't know what it was at first, I played the wait-and-see game, and now we're playing aggressive defense and hoping it's not too late.

I saw small white spots on some of the pumpkin leaves and wondered if they were getting too hot throughout these very hot, very sunny days. Perhaps if I give the leaves a little water, I thought, while watering one evening. Big mistake! What powdery mildew loves the most is hot, humid weather and wet leaves overnight. So, the dusty white spots spread to more leaves and completely covered some leaves, and then I finally Googled the description and diagnosed the problem.

I already had a spray bottle of organic fungicide for controlling the same malady on our apple saplings (why didn't I realize?!), so the next evening, I took action. Some gardeners will say you must remove all affected plants. Whole plants! I couldn't do it. I had baby pumpkins to try to save. I clipped off the worst-affected leaves and bundled them in a plastic bag, which went into the trash—not into the compost where they would only harbor the mildew until it could spread to anything the compost later touched. And then I sprayed the remaining affected leaves (tops and undersides, which were sometimes worse) with fungicide until the bottle ran out. I went to the hardware store and bought three more bottles and went back two evenings later to clip even more leaves and finish spraying the rest of the pumpkins, squash and—oh no!—the cucumbers too, until I had about two-thirds of a bottle left for future attacks. (You must wait at least four weeks between treatments.) The pumpkin patch had it the worst and looks pretty sparse now. I hope that the poor baby pumpkins, some on nearly leafless vines, continue to grow.

And, in much the same way that a person with a compromised immune system is more susceptible to further infection, a diseased plant is more vulnerable to harmful insects (and vice versa). It's no surprise, then, that while I was lifting the leaves to spray their undersides, I came across a small cluster of bronze pellet-shaped eggs. Squash bugs! Those ugly, flat-backed, brown bugs that like to suck the sap right out of vining vegetables. I only found the one cluster, which I removed by tearing off that portion of the leaf and trashing it with the mildewy leaves (I also crushed the eggs and soaked them with fungicide for good measure), but now I must be on the lookout for other eggs under the leaves as well as other signs of squash bugs, like yellow spots and wilting vines. Great. Stay tuned for a progress report.

Let's end on a positive note: We have already harvested nine cucumbers and used some for a delicious cold soup that I may post later; we have three good-sized regular watermelons and two palm-sized giant watermelons, as well as a few teeny tiny baby fruits in our very viney watermelon patch; and tassels are finally popping up out of our corn, resulting in fresh pale silk strands spilling out between the leaves of one stalk so far. Exciting!

I'd Like to Thank the Bees

2010-07-04T09:08:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the hardworking drones buzzing around our garden plot, like this guy on the left, just covered in pollen inside one of the pumpkin blossoms, we have some baby fruits and vegetables to nurture. So exciting! Our garden has not become a jungle yet, but leaves are getting big, and vines are stretching out. As I watered the garden for the first time in weeks yesterday, I also picked carefully through the plants more thoroughly than I have lately, and I am proud to share what I found: baby pumpkins, up to the size of a golf ball, baby butternut squash about as big as my thumb, and even some baby watermelon, no bigger than my fingernail! Aren't they cute? I hope we can bring them all to to a delicious, ripe maturity. We also picked our first cucumber and have several others steadily growing. The corn is getting taller but has no tassels yet. And, in our front yard, a few small, green tomatoes are hanging out. How does your garden grow?
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The Garden, Four Weeks Later

2010-06-20T20:41:00.001-05:00

Many of the seeds we planted last month in our community garden plot sprouted in just a few days. That whole first week, I was so diligent, rising early every morning to haul water to the site and soak each mound of bare earth, and it was exciting to see so quickly the fat seed leaves of the pumpkin, squash and watermelon and the yellow-green shoots of the corn ("Is that grass or corn? It might just be grass, but I think it's the corn. It's gotta be the corn!"). Since then, we've had a lot of rain (and, wow, does that garden turn into a mud pit!). I think I've watered the garden myself just once in the last three weeks. This weekend, I finally took our "finished" compost (the stuff that looks like rich soil with broken egg shells in it) and piled a handful or two around the base of each plant. Good fertilizer. I hope it helps along the blossoming and fruiting and such. The plants are all doing pretty well—the pumpkin especially took off—so here are some photos of our four-week-old garden.

Almost 20 stalks of corn, blowing in the wind.

The tiniest cucumber you ever saw and some other promising blossoms.

The pumpkin patch.

The butternut squash plants show signs of blossoming.

. Three of the watermelon plants that will somehow (we hope!) bear giant fruit.

In Our Twenty-by-Thirty

2010-05-22T22:40:00.001-05:00

On this glorious Saturday, with several more days of pleasant weather to come, I finally got down on my hands and knees (really—my jeans are mud-colored now) to work the rough-tilled soil in our community garden plot.

Without a rototiller at hand, I used a small spade and a trowel to break up large chunks of soil and to make little mounds where I would plant seeds. It was hard work, but sometimes that's what gardening is all about. Nevertheless, I'll consider renting or borrowing a tiller next year. For water, I half-filled a plastic storage bin from the hose and hauled it in the Croozer to the garden, where used a smaller container to scoop out some water to pour over each new planting.

As I mentioned earlier, our plot is 20x30 feet, which I realized is pretty big as I was kneeling and digging, and crawling and sowing, and crouching and watering, and standing and stretching... Just look at all we were able to plant, and keep in mind that most of these are vining plants that need a lot of room.

20 spaces for butternut squash (40 seeds sown today)
24 spaces for 3 varieties of pumpkin (48 seeds, 16 of each variety, sown today)
8 spaces for two varieties of cucumber (approximately 20 seedlings—from seeds started indoors a few weeks ago—transplanted today)
26 spaces for sweet corn (26 kernels sown today)
5 little hills for watermelon (14 seeds sown today, 5 of which are for giant watermelon that can grow up to 200 pounds—our special experiment of the season!)

I cannot wait for the seeds to sprout. Until they do, I'm going to worry that they're all duds, or that I'm not watering them enough, or that I didn't prepare the soil well enough. And when they do sprout, I'll worry that they'll dry up in the sun and die or that they'll be eaten by rabbits or deer or roly-polies. And when they get blossoms, I'll worry that they won't get pollinated or that their fruit will be eaten by insects or wildlife before it ripens... Basically, I'll worry until we're harvesting.

I also planted some edible stuff in our yard today. Basil, cilantro, and parsley seeds (because the ones I planted a few weeks ago never sprouted, boo!) as well as cherry tomato seedlings, yellow pear tomato seedlings and New Mexico green chile seedlings. I'm really excited! And yes, I'm really worried about roly-polies. Just gotta roll with the punches, though, right?

Yes! A Plot of Our Own

2010-05-04T20:56:00.002-05:00

Today, we became the proud lessees of a 20-by-30-foot patch of land in the new community garden across the street from our neighborhood. I couldn't even create a handful of 10x15 spaces our subdivision without charging more than $50 per person, but less than 100 yards away, 250 spacious community garden plots are now available to us at just $15 a pop, thanks to a partnership between the Fox Valley Park District and the Kane County Forest Preserve.

About a week ago, Len and I noticed several large rectangles of tilled earth in the grassy field (belonging to the forest preserve) that runs along a road bordering the north end of our neighborhood. Each time we drove by, to and from work, we wondered what it was about.

Yesterday, on the way home from work, I noticed small signs posted at the short end of each rectangle. We got home, fed the cat, and immediately hopped on our bikes to see what the signs were for. Labeled sections of newly planted wildflowers, perhaps? Some kind of organized prairie restoration project? Instead, the signs read, "Garden Plots 1-26," "Garden Plots 27-52," and so on.

Thrilled by the prospect of so many garden plots in such a convenient location, you better believe we snatched one up as soon as possible!

I'm so excited to have a large area for our pumpkins, squash and cucumbers—and more—this summer! Len wants to plant our various fruit tree seedlings there (we recently discovered that an apricot seed sprouted after I'd given up on it—a short story for another time), but permanent plantings aren't allowed, obviously, because the park district tills the ground every year.

Anyway, the plots open for planting on May 10, so stay tuned!

What a Waste!

2010-04-26T13:54:00.003-05:00

Happy belated Earth Day, folks... but before you throw yourself a party with those reusable party favors and maybe a little biodegradable confetti, take note: there's still a LOT of work to be done to make our world greener.

Take America's waste management systems. On his morning commute, one member of the DinkyGreen Team (okay, okay, it was me) noticed that the village of Glen Ellyn (Village of Volunteers, I've since learned) must have been conducting one of their annual "unlimited trash" pick-ups today, as the typically manicured curbside was crowded with piles of furniture, snowboarding equipment, wood scraps, kids' playthings, screen doors and the like.

Maybe it's my inner pack-rat talking here, but I like sniffing around junk piles for anything still usable (I'm not saying I want to build a house out of old tires and chicken wire, but some people, in their spring cleaning zeal, will throw out lots of stuff that still has some life left in it). So I parked the car, walked the block and rescued a couple spare wood scraps that I can put towards a project around the house (in this case, I'll probably use them to make a nice border around the vegetable garden we're planning this year). Truth be told, I wish I had been able to investigate a bit more, but the garbage trucks were already rolling through the neighborhood, and I didn't want to be late to work, so I didn't come away with much.

Therein lies part of the problem: had I known of Glen Ellyn's trash day in advance, I might have planned to leave the house earlier, scout out some good locations, or maybe even ask my friends and family if they're in need of any particular items and want to get them on the cheap while at the same time preventing the landfills from being piled that much higher.

The other part of the problem as I see it is that too often we prefer the convenience of the curb to taking the extra step and making a drop off at Goodwill, or notifying AmVets, or posting the information on freecycle (if you haven't yet joined your local freecycle community, I strongly recommend doing so).

That's why I'm proposing (and I'm not the first to do so) that so-called "unlimited trash" days be publicized across the greater metro area in which they are to take place. If one man's trash is another man's treasure, we can foster a greener community simply by giving the latter man advance notice of the former's intentions.

Trust me, there are plenty of people out there looking for free stuff at the curb; as a kid I went on many a ride-along with my mom when she "went trashing" during unlimited trash days. And we weren't the only car coasting down the suburban street at 2mph looking for deals; in fact, there were dozens! Those who knew in advance took advantage of it; it stands to reason that if more people know, more people will take advantage...and that in turn has the potential to decrease waste and therefore, the size of your local landfill as well.

Now, I know I'm probably preaching to the proverbial choir, here. If you're reading this you likely already concentrate on reducing, reusing and recycling. Some of you probably practice the three R's until you're green in the face; but our consumer culture and the habits that come with it will never go away completely. That said, the goal here is to motivate the choir to "sing" about being green. How? Attend homeowners' association meetings and help organize community-wide yard sales or swap meets that keep stuff off the curb. Talk to your Village Board and see if you can convince them to place an ad in the paper about their unlimited trash pick-up days (I know they'll probably rail against it with some soliloquy about trash-day traffic or village property or what-not, but) this is a conversation worth having, not just for freebie-hunters like me, but for the sake of the planet. Sound good?

"Do you even bother to compost your own feces?" -Greenzo, 30 Rock

This blog post was typed on a 100% biodegradable keyboard.

Earth Day, Easy to Extreme

2010-04-22T01:00:00.000-05:00

Well folks, Earth Day has been around for 40 years now. How many times have you really celebrated it in all that time? Maybe not every year? I'm here to help. Don't worry, you don't have to give up meat or move to a commune.
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I like to think of Earth Day as another kind of New Year's celebration. In other words, don't just focus on the one day. Look forward. Make a change. Make an Earth Day's resolution!
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I have loads of ideas, whether you want to try an easy change or an extreme one. I'll let you think of the in-betweens. Here we go.
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REDUCE

EASY:

Heating and cooling. Just go easy on the thermostat. No higher than 68 in the winter. No lower than 80 in the summer. You might even baby-step your way to more extreme comfort deprivation and save more than just a few bucks.
Water. Take a shorter shower. Set a timer for five minutes and see if you can finish before time runs out.
Driving. Just drive less. Several people in my office bike to work in the summer. The rest of the year they take public transportation. It's easy (and more convenient) to drive less in the city, but even in suburban and rural areas, you could walk, bike, or carpool a lot more often if you made the effort.

EXTREME:

Air conditioning. Live without it, I mean. Open windows, drink cold lemonade, wear skimpy clothes, lie in the shade, and use fans when absolutely necessary.
Driving. As in, not at all. Quit your car and rely on transportation by automobile as little as possible. I know people who have done it. Yes, they all live in the city.

REUSE

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EASY:

Grocery bags. One of our friends once wondered how anyone could still be using plastic grocery bags when it's so easy to switch to reusable bags. We were still on the plastic a year later, and it's all because of cat litter. In a future post I'll tell you all about it. In the meantime, switch to reusable bags like we eventually did. Any bag will do.
Water bottles. Lightweight, stainless steel water bottles are all over the market now. Get one, carry it with you, fill it with tap water (or filtered tap water if you must).
Coffee cups. One day earlier this year, Starbucks gave free coffee to anyone who brought in a reusable travel mug. But even on regular days, Starbucks gives you a 10-cent discount if you're using your own thermos (or even just an open mug). Ten cents off isn't much incentive, but if you instead think of it like they're charging you 10 cents for the paper cup, suddenly you want to avoid the fee, no matter how small.

EXTREME:

Water. Whole-house gray water systems collect and filter the water that runs down your sink, shower, dish washer, and washing machine drains and reuse it for watering the lawns and filling the toilets. Smaller systems set a sink above your toilet tank so that you're never using fresh water just to flush.
Material goods. Before you throw anything away, see if it might have another use. Len's good at repurposing scraps of wood and other things leftover from various projects. Out of scraps, he has built two compost bins, one little set of drawers for coffee and tea things, and several shelves, and he's also made many home repairs with project leftovers.

RECYCLE
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EASY:

Paper. Paper is so easy to recycle, you'd better have a grand excuse if you're not already doing it. If you don't have recycling pick-up in your neighborhood, there is probably a school or church near you that does have a big recycling dumpster on the premises just for paper.
Beverage cans and bottles. Again, if you don't have recycling pick-up at home, save aluminum, glass and plastic drink containers in bins or garbage bags. When you have a trunk load, drive it to your municipality's recycling center. It's just another errand, no big deal. Some restaurants and city sidewalks also have separate trash cans for recycling. Use them.
Fashion accessories. Whether you're looking for a real leather purse, a brightly colored tote bag or some unique jewelry, you can find almost any fashion accessory made from other recycled things.

EXTREME:

Building materials. Whether you're putting in new carpet or building a whole new house, you can order almost any of the necessary materials made from other recycled materials, including insulation made from old jeans and white picket fences made from old soda bottles.
Anything. Implement a recycling program where there isn't one. At your office, in your neighborhood, in your school district, or in your city.

What will be your Earth Day's resolution? What change, big or small, will you make to make a difference?
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I want to know your ideas! Click the "Comments" link at the top of this post and tell me!
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The Earth Hour 2010 Report

2010-04-03T08:30:00.013-05:00

Earth Hour 2010 was the largest public demonstration in history, according to a press release by the World Wildlife Fund:

4,000 cities
in 125 countries
including all 50 states
and Washington, D.C.

In northern Illinois, ComEd registered a decline in electricity usage of about 1 percent during the 8:30-9:30 period. One percent doesn't seem like a big number (and of course it could be bigger, which would be awesome), but it is a noticeable difference: the equivalent of removing 124,320 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or planting 15 acres of trees. Nice work, people. Let's shoot for an even higher percent next year!

I encourage you to read some of the accounts from cities around the world on EarthHour.org's news page. The site also has some really neat photos and videos of the event.

Here's just a sampling of Before-And-After photos:

St. Louis Arch, MO, USA ©WWF/Steve Behrends

Chicago Theater, IL, USA ©WWF/Chuck Osgood
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Burj Al Arab, Dubai, UAE ©Jumeirah Group

View of Central Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong ©WWF/HKPPA .

Tower Bridge, London, UK ©WWF/Jon Freeman

Candlelit coffee (illuminated by battery-powered headlamp)

Yes, that last one is ours. Len realized he needed to reheat his cup of coffee after everything was already unplugged. Setting a pillar candle inside a jug of similar diameter and balancing his mug on a cookie-cooling rack, he made use of the flame. It worked, but it also was quite precarious (as if you couldn't tell), and some coffee spilled on the carpet. Yeah, we cleaned it up by candlelight too, but not without the help of our awesome LED headlamps.

News You May Have Missed

2010-03-30T15:17:00.004-05:00

Just something I came across about an activist that's fighting for the poor and tangentially is fighting against deforestation. It's important to think of the environment and the factors working for and against it in all corners of the world. That said, please read:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100330/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_brazil_amazon_defenders

Don't Forget Earth Hour Tonight!

2010-03-27T09:34:00.004-05:00

Tonight at 8:30 p.m. your local time, turn off all of your lights and unplug all of your nonessential appliances. Unplug your coffee pot, microwave, TV, DVD player, sound system. Charging your cell phone or iPod? Unplug 'em for this hour. Unplug everything you can. Go off the grid until 9:30!

So what do you do in the dark for an hour, especially if you're in a cold climate like us? If you live in a city, especially near a downtown area with lots of skyscrapers, go outside. It could be really cool to see your city's landmark buildings go dark for this simple, hour-long call to action on global climate change. Last year's news coverage had great photos of places like Paris, New York, Chicago and Las Vegas dimming their normally well-lit recognizable buildings. It was moving.

Live in the country? Go outside and watch the sky.

Don't want to go outside? Maybe a candlelit dinner is for you. Or flashlight tag. Or snuggling under a blanket. I'm sure you can think of something.

For more information about Earth Hour, go to www.earthhour.org.

It's Alive!

2010-03-20T10:40:00.000-05:00

It happens every year. Mild mid-March weather tricks us into believing that spring has arrived. Then winter blasts back in to remind us that we may have weeks of cold temperatures yet. Today, for instance, is the first day of spring (Happy Spring, everybody!), but we awoke to a world of gray and white. It's snowing! And it's really cold out there! And yet, the garden is alive!

Shallots.

Leaf buds on our baby apple trees—they overwintered in the garage successfully!

Yesterday, on the other hand, was a work-in-the-yard kind of day. The wind was chilly, but the sun was warm. No jacket or hat necessary, just jeans and long sleeves. It was marvelous. A few years ago, I might have been hopeful—and foolish—enough to start planting my vegetable garden on a day such as yesterday. But I've lived here long enough to know better. Instead, we did some yard maintenance. Churning up the soil where I plan to plant the veggies later... Stirring the compost...

We had quite a bit of garden-ready compost in the bottom of the bin, so we reorganized it—put a piece of wood down the middle of the bin to divide in two, keeping the soil-like material on one side, and all the still somewhat recognizable other stuff on the other side. Now we can dump scraps into one side and allow one side to fully decompose. Then, we'll shovel the ready stuff into the garden and start dumping scraps on the now-empty side, allowing the other side to sit and rot (so to speak). It should be good cycle. I'll let you know how it works out.

In the meantime, let's get excited for winter to really go away so we can really get the garden started. I have big plans! (Just like last year, but hopefully I have learned a few things after last year's minor successes and many failures.) More garden posts to come, of course.

First Bicycle Commute of 2010

2010-03-04T19:26:00.000-06:00

Because we have only one car, and public transportation in the suburbs is mostly useful only for getting to the city, we rely a lot on our bikes or our own two legs when we must be in two different places at once. Even though it has been cold (oh, so cold), I've been walking a lot lately. I'd just rather not navigate the snowy and icy sidewalks on a bike. But the temperature topped 40 today!

So, I set my little bicycle taillight a-flashing, donned one of the fabulous headlamps we got for Christmas (because, until Daylight Savings Time, it's still dark when I get off the train in the evening), and I biked home from the train station!

It was great to be back on two wheels again, if only for 20 minutes. I can't wait for even warmer weather and longer days so we can do some serious biking.

One note: 40 degrees—or perhaps the upper 30s by this time of the evening—will not freeze your face off, but it is still cold! Remember to wear gloves; my hands were burnin'!

Valentine Lollipies

2010-02-14T08:26:00.002-06:00

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These were a good idea in theory.

I got the idea to make these little pies on a stick from a website called Luxirare—yes, another recommendation from a friend. "They're so cute!" I thought. "I'll make heart-shaped ones for Len for Valentine's Day!" (Luxirare's pie pops are round.) "And I'll fill them crab apple butter so they're pink, for Valentine's Day!"

Well, as you can see they did come out looking cute. But aside from that, the lollipies, as I choose name them, were not the best result of all my dessert experiments. Far from it. In fact, I think only the Rhubarb Souffle of '03 can compete with this mini-disaster. And there was a melted lemon ice cream pie once...

Could they have been great? Yes, according to Luxirare's success story. Would I make them again? Maybe, but only if I followed the advice I have included at the end of the short recipe below.

What you need:

A pie crust, rolled out thin
Small amounts of any pie filling
(for example, finely chopped or mashed fresh fruit mixed with sugar and cornstarch)
"Cookie sticks" or oven-safe lollipop sticks
(found in the baking/candy-making section of most craft stores)
A cookie cutter or a jar lid, anything to cut out the mini pie shapes

Cut out little rounds (or hearts, or whatever) from the pie crust, and place half of them on a baking sheet. Put a dollop of filling in the center of each round. Lay a stick on each one.

Place the other rounds on top of the filled ones, press the edges to seal, using a fork or the end of a spare stick to make the seal more decorative.

Bake at 450 for about 20 minutes (more or less depending on the size of your pies).

And now the advice:

The crust. I would use a store-bought crust next time, because I cannot roll out a thin-yet-sturdy homemade crust. I just haven't mastered it. My homemade crust was far too flaky to hold together and, therefore, was so thick that each pie ended up being about 95% crust, 5% filling. Awful. Very dry. This is the main reason my lollipies were a failure. The pies are going to be more crust than filling no matter what, but you need a thin crust so they're not all crust, and you need a sturdy crust so they don't fall apart.

Moving the pies. Do not touch the pies until they are cool! They'll crumble right off the sticks otherwise. (Even after they cool, they might fall off the sticks if your crust is too flaky.) They should come up very easily from the pan, but if some filling spilled out, just use a spatula to gently scrape them loose.

Kitchen Waste-Nots

2010-02-09T13:49:00.006-06:00

A friend recommended a great website to me, and I also think it's pretty great, so I have to forward the recommendation. It's called Re-Nest, and it is so frequently updated, that I can't keep up with its abundance of DIY and green ideas.

One idea from today is How To Waste (Almost) Nothing in the Kitchen. It boils down to five basic things, all of which I am happy to say we already do (most of the time):

Switch from paper to cloth (paper napkins and paper towels become cloth napkins and cloth rags)
Compost as much as possible
Recycle as much as possible
Pack leftovers in reusable, reheatable containers (avoid plastic wraps and plastic bags)
Make and use a grocery list to avoid purchasing things you don't need (and might then toss later)

I would add one more—one we still need to work on at home—and that is to scrutinize the packaging of your grocery purchases and aim to buy things with as little non-recyclable packaging as possible, so you trash as few wrappers as possible.

Any other kitchen waste-nots you would share?
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DIY - Cough Drops?

2010-01-20T21:34:00.002-06:00

I found this article in an e-newsletter today, "DIY: Herbal Cough Drops," complete with what appears to be a simple recipe. I haven't tried it yet. Neither Len nor I is sick right now.

So, I dare you to do it for me. One of you readers must have a scratchy throat, a nagging tickle in your chest...

You may find it helpful to read the whole article from The Herb Companion at the link above, but for the daredevils who would rather just get down to it, here is their recipe for homemade cough drops:

Powdered herbs
1 cup sugar, or honey
1/3 cup light corn syrup, or honey
1 1/2 cups water
Powdered sugar, for easy handling

Steep your preferred soothing herbs in 1 1/2 cups of water to make a tea.
Mix sugar and corn syrup with tea. Cook over low heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved and mixture boils.
Continue boiling without stirring until the mixture begins to crystallize; reduce heat. Wash away crystals from the side of your pan with a damp cloth.
Remove from the heat after a few minutes. Drop some of the mixture from the tip of a spoon onto a greased surface. Allow to harden and cool completely before removing. Roll the candies in powdered sugar and wrap in waxed paper for storage.

The article suggests a few different herbs with expectorant qualities; I bet you have at least two of them in your spice rack already—ginger and thyme. It also links back to past articles about the best herbs for soothing a sore throat.

Somebody let us know if you try this at home!
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Socks and Fuzzy Slippers

2010-01-10T18:20:00.000-06:00

How low do you keep your thermostat in the winter?

Growing up, I was accustomed to my parents' standard setting of 68°, a commonly acknowledged threshold between comfort and energy conservation. Now married, I face winters of perpetually icy hands as the standard was knocked down a couple of notches to 66° (this is Len's threshold of comfort and part of a compromise that means I freeze in the winter and he sweats in the summer).

Yes, the house is cold. I sure can feel the change made by those two degrees, but I can take it because they make an even bigger change in our utilities usage. And don't we all like tangible results, like smaller gas bills? I make up the difference in my comfort level by walking around the house wearing socks and fuzzy slippers. It works. Thick, fuzzy socks by themselves do not cure my toe-cicles; it's the layering of regular socks with thick, warm slippers that does the trick. When your feet are warm, your whole body feels warmer. (It works the same in reverse, too: If you're hot in the summer, take those socks and shoes off! You'll instantly feel a littler cooler.) Take it from somebody who hates dressing in layers, the sock/slipper combo is very comfortable—not at all restricting like wearing three turtlenecks.

Of course, my hands are still cold but I find that keeping busy, like moving around a lot, cleaning the house, helps get the blood flowing to the extremities. Wearing—or burrowing under—fleece is also quite effective. And burrow we do, for at night, our programmable thermostat bumps the heat down a few degrees more. We don't notice that temperature change because we're snug in bed, but we do notice the big chunk it takes out of our gas bill, yet again. The heat is programmed to go back up to 66° shortly before we have to wake up. It goes back down again while we're gone for the day. That's when the cat burrows.

A Post-Holiday Post

2010-01-04T19:34:00.004-06:00

Happy New Year, everyone! No, I am not going to suggest that you make a New Year's resolution to be greener. That's what Earth Day is for. (Watch out: it's only a few months away!) Instead, I just want to share a couple of highlights from our whirlwind holiday season that I think are relevant to this blog.

A beautiful sight. Driving up and down I-55, as we often do to visit family and friends, we pass a somewhat new wind farm. In the flat land of central Illinois, these fields of slender, white, three-armed wind turbines are—in my opinion—an elegant, magnificent sight, especially in an otherwise brown and barren winter landscape. At night, they are a wide matrix of red dots in the dark, blinking in unison (gotta warn those low-flying aircraft). I love it.

Homemade holidays. There were a whole lot of heartwarming, handmade gifts exchanged this year on both sides of our family. Most of it was good food: We gave out our apple, crab apple, and pear butters, of course, as well as some of Len's Bacon Cheese Beer Bread. We received homemade berry jams, grape jelly, hot salsa, bow tie pasta, tomato sauce, candied nuts, and fudge. And, in the DIY category, various gifts of family memories went around: a book of memories and old photos on CD, a DVD of old family videos, framed photos from a wedding this summer, and memory frames of VFW and American Legion hats paired with a photo of Len's grandpa when he was young and in uniform. Great stuff.

Adventures in Cake Decorating

2009-12-28T20:38:00.004-06:00

Here's a flashback to October, when we hosted a small baby shower for some friends. Being a lover of cutely decorated—and more importantly, homemade—cakes and whatnot, I of course was not about to order some pre-made baby shower cake from the store. No! I was going to make something cute myself!

I had the idea to make little baby blocks out of the cake. I baked two rectangular cakes, one yellow, one chocolate, let them cool, iced the top of one and stacked them. Trimming the edges for perfectly flat sides and cutting out cubes was easy enough. (There were a lot of cake scraps leftover, which Len would later use to make a modified version of his mom's trifle for an office party.)

But, I severely underestimated the amount of frosting I would need and had to settle for frosting only three sides of each block—the presentation sides, we'll call them. And, even though I did what pastry chefs would call the crumb coating (a preliminary thin layer of frosting to seal the crumbs to the cake), the chocolate layer of the cake was still so crumby that the white icing ended up looking like cookies 'n' creme icing. Not a huge deal, but not Martha Stewart perfect. (If you search for baby block cakes online, you'll find most use fondant for a perfectly smooth, flat look. I did not want to use fondant and used all soft, butter cream-like icing—way more difficult for handling the individual blocks, but much tastier.)

Before I reveal the finished product, let me just say: If I'd had more frosting and more patience, I would have used more than just three colors for trimming and decorating the blocks. And, if I'd considered beforehand how bad I am at drawing, I would have piped only letters on the blocks, instead of trying to draw things like a cat, a car, a leaf... I know you can't tell what they are. Oh, and the wooden skewers sticking out of the blocks? I made the cake a day in advance and used skewers to hold up the plastic wrap, so I could protect the cake from drying out without smearing the icing. A big enough Tupperware container, if I had the right size/shape, would have been better.

Anyway, here it is, not bad for my first baby shower cake, definitely homemade, and only room to improve:

Global Day of Action on Climate Crisis

2009-12-11T08:57:00.006-06:00

I admit this is old news, but I have been meaning to put up a post about it and am just now getting around to it.

November 30 was the Global Day of Action on Climate Crisis. Around the world, activists held peaceful demonstrations against cap and trade, carbon offsets and other solutions to climate change that some consider insufficient.

In Chicago, just a block away from my office building, one of the nine major demonstrations in the U.S. was happening—protesters lay in the middle of the street, arms linked by tubes bearing messages like, "You can't trade away our future," while others crowded around holding signs with similar messages and police on foot and horseback kept watch. In the end, about a dozen protesters were arrested, I assume for lying in the street for too long.

In case you're not clear on these climate change solutions the groups were protesting, here's a quick rundown:

Cap and trade, also known as emissions trading, is when a governing body sets a cap on companies' pollutant emissions. Companies that need to exceed the emissions cap can purchase carbon offsets ("carbon credits"), which represent a reduction in emissions. The company is not actually polluting any less, but it is giving money to companies that are polluting less or to green energy industries, in essence trading for the right to emit the amount of pollutants that these other organizations have ceased emitting.

The idea is that, while individual companies may pollute more or less than the "allowable" amount, overall emissions would average out below the cap. Whether such practices actually reduce the amount of pollutants being pumped into our air and water is yet to be determined. There aren't many statistics yet on the resulting effectiveness or ineffectiveness, and some people—November 30's protesters, for example—stand firm that emissions trading is not the answer to our climate crisis.

Reusable and Disposable Meet Halfway

2009-11-30T18:35:00.005-06:00

I think the best way to get your coffee to go is in your own thermos. But for the sake of argument, let's say you don't like carrying around a travel mug or don't want the trouble of another dish to wash. So you get your coffee in a paper cup. While the cup is not recyclable (because of the waterproof finish on the inside), that cardboard sleeve around it usually is. And recycling is great, but reusing is even better. After all, we do have to burn fossil fuel to power those recycling plants. Now, you could hold on to the same old cardboard coffee sleeve and keep reusing it, or you could get a stylin' coffee sleeve made of fabric, like these from Caribou:
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They're a neat idea for you paper-cup junkies, and they're easier to carry around than a whole thermos. And I got to thinking, you don't even have to buy one: You could just cut a cuff off of a ratty sweatshirt or sweater, and voila! Instant coffee sleeve, if you don't care much about the stylishness. Or maybe the tops of tube socks around coffee cups will be the next fashion trend...

Pie Pumpkins Aren't Just for Pies

2009-11-16T20:52:00.003-06:00

It’s easy to forget that pumpkin is really just another kind of squash, we’re so used to it being a dessert food—pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin spice latte. But this fall, Len and I have been tasting a full range of rich pumpkin flavors. If you think you don’t like pumpkin, maybe you just don’t like sweet pumpkin things. This seasonal staple tastes quite different under different circumstances, and I encourage you to try some savory recipes before you completely write it off.

Yes, I had the pumpkin latte from Starbucks. We didn’t even wait until Thanksgiving to eat a wonderful pumpkin pie because Len already baked one from scratch. He also made pumpkin bread. And, of course, we carved a jack-o’-lantern for Halloween and toasted its seeds. (And you know we saved some seeds for the garden, but that’s not relevant to food... Yet.) But our first more adventuresome pumpkin dish this fall was a pumpkin and Swiss chard lasagna recipe from delish.com. I was in love after the first bite. More recently, a friend passed a stuffed pumpkin recipe around the office. Len was skeptical when I first showed it to him, but after tasting it, he has added pumpkin to the grocery list so we can make it again.

Stuffed pumpkin is a centuries-old and easy comfort food. You can make the stuffing very simple with bread and butter, or you can jazz it up with garlic, onions, sausage or fruit. We went simple and got a delicious, soul-warming pumpkin dinner. It could also be a side dish, but it’s heavy, so I would suggest a very simple meat entree.

All you need:

A pie pumpkin or any small orange pumpkin (ours was 4 lbs.)
A flavorful melting cheese like Gruyere, grated or cut into small chunks (I used a mixture of goat cheese and asiago just because they are what I had in the fridge)
Some stale bread, cubed (or some toasted cubes of fresh bread)
Cream or evaporated milk (I used about 1 cup for our 4-lb. pumpkin)
Seasoning: salt, black pepper, white pepper and nutmeg

Preheat your oven to 375. Cut a lid out of the top of your pumpkin and set it aside. Scrape out the seeds and strings from inside the pumpkin. Lightly season the inside with salt and pepper. Then toss the bread cubes and cheese into the pumpkin in rough layers. Press the layers down a little to really stuff it! In a bowl, gently mix the cream with a little white pepper and nutmeg, then pour it over the bread inside the pumpkin. Set the pumpkin in an oven-safe dish, put its “cap” back on, and bake it for about an hour and a half. The pumpkin will become soft to the touch, and its skin will brown. Take its top off and bake it about 15-20 minutes more, so the cheese inside gets nice and bubbly.

After you remove the pumpkin from the oven, it will keep its heat for awhile, especially if you put its lid back on, so you can serve immediately or let it stand while you finish up any other dishes.

To serve, cut the pumpkin into wedges and serve each wedge scooped with some of the stuffing. The pumpkin’s skin will peel right off. Don’t forget you can eat the cooked flesh on the underside of the lid, too!

Winterizing the Apple Trees

2009-11-03T21:28:00.004-06:00

It has been a very busy autumn so far, canning apple butter, freezing pears, sprouting cherry seeds, baking all kinds of goodies, driving through the natural grandeur of northern New Mexico... Plenty of things we haven’t yet taken the time to blog about. We've been percolating blog post ideas, for sure—I've got vertical farms and cat litter (not together) on the brain lately—but tonight, I’m focusing on our apple trees.

Remember the little seedlings we were growing in six-inch clay pots? We've since re-potted them, and here is the largest of the five, standing waist-high in a ten-gallon crock. Another is behind it in the square container. With the onset of colder temperatures and less sunlight, it and the others are losing some leaves, and we will have to protect them from the Chicago winter. Last winter, they were inside the house. They were just babies then, had only been growing since the fall. But now that they have been outside all summer and are getting accustomed to the change in weather, we might actually kill them by bringing them inside. (And I'm not too keen on the idea that they might bring some bugs in with them.) They're big enough to safely go dormant—a healthy thing for a tree to do—but being in the containers instead of in the protection of solid ground, they are vulnerable to frozen roots—a very unhealthy thing. Like, fatal.

So, here's our plan. And, stay tuned for a post in the spring about whether the trees are alive and budding.

The smallest two trees, which are in temporary plastic containers about twice as tall as the six-inch pots and not much bigger around, are staying outside for the winter. The stems, or trunks if you will, are exposed to the elements, but the roots (still in their pots) are safely buried under some nice, insulating mulch. I dug holes for them in the front yard (sunniest and therefore warmest place) against the edge of our porch, behind some bushes, so they are also somewhat shielded from the wind.

The larger three seedlings (or are they saplings by now?) are in larger containers; digging holes big enough to keep them outdoors just isn't practical. These three will stay out on the front porch, adjusting as trees do to the change of season, until they lose all their leaves (meaning they are fully dormant) or temperatures consistently hover around or below freezing (meaning there's a risk their containers could freeze through, killing the roots, so I'm considering them close enough to dormant), whichever happens first. At that point, we will move them into an interior corner of our garage—the idea is to protect them from the wind and the coldest of the cold temps. I have already piled mulch over the dirt in the containers, insulating from the top. But we will also surround each container in layers of slightly crumpled newspaper and an old blanket or two, creating a bundle that will hopefully prevent the soil around the tree's precious roots from freezing all the way through. If we were in a rural or less-packed suburban area, I would just put the trees against a side of the house and pile hay or dead leaves over them as their winter coat. But I think our homeowners' association here would consider that not up to the neighborhood's aesthetic standards. So, newspaper in the garage it is.

You might be thinking that this is an awful lot of trouble for a few little seedlings that won't produce apples for years and even then might produce some weird, inedible variety. Well, maybe it is. But it's a long-term experiment that really doesn't take much of our time or resources, and I'm curious and optimistic. If we grow ourselves an orchard, I'll be sure to invite you all over for picking.

In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed for us, will you?

Quick Dinner: Zucchini Tartlets Reprise

2009-09-30T22:30:00.000-05:00

So, remember when I made the Zucchini Tartlets and froze half of the filling for later? This morning, I put that frozen baggie in the fridge to thaw, and tonight we had tartlets again. It turns out that this frozen zucchini filling makes a quick and easy weeknight dinner.

All I had to do was open a can of crescent rolls, press the dough into the muffin tin and spoon the pre-made filling into the cups! Throw it in the preheated oven, and we have dinner in half an hour. I did stir the filling well first, in case any ingredients had separated. And, since my filling was still a little icy, I baked the tartlets longer than when preparing them fresh—20 minutes or so. I am pleased to report that they turned out just as good!

Making the filling and freezing it for later might be a great way to preserve your late-summer zucchinis, just when you're getting tired of eating them. Cold weather is on the way, and who knows when you'll have a hankering for that wonderful taste of summer?

Related Posts

Zucchini Tartlets

Summer's Slow Bounty and Zucchini Pie

How 'bout them apples?

2009-09-28T21:31:00.003-05:00

From our latest tree-climbing expedition...just wait till you see what we did with them!

Crab Apple Butter

2009-09-25T19:21:00.000-05:00

Back in mid-August, we harvested 35 1/2 pounds of large red crab apples (sizes ranged from large cherry to near golf ball), and the very same day canned 20 pints (and froze several more) of delicious crab apple butter. From picking to canning, it is a long all-day affair, but I'm telling you these lip-smacking preserves are totally worth it.

Last year—our first year canning anything—we managed only 10 pints of crab apple jam, and it took almost four hours just coring the little buggers (they do have seeds almost as big as regular apple seeds). Because crab apples naturally contain a lot of pectin, the finished product was a thick jelly with little chunks of crab apples. Very tasty, but I felt the process as well as the product could be improved. Since then, we have acquired a cone-shaped fruit and vegetable sieve, which eliminated the need for coring. We needed only to pare off any bad spots we noticed as we rinsed and de-stemmed. In a short time, our 32-quart pot was full—literally full—of all 35 1/2 pounds of our fruit.

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Next, we added some water (12-14 cups) and cooked them. And stirred, stirred, stirred. The two bad things about using a pot that big are that you must stir constantly or the bottom will burn and that you have to stand on a chair to do it. On the other hand, it was great to be able to deal with all of the crab apples at once.

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Once the crab apples were nice and mushy (doesn't take too long), we starting putting batches through the sieve, to press it into a smooth, seed-free consistency.

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The crab apple puree then went back into the giant pot, and we added about five pounds of sugar and six cinnamon sticks. We brought it all to a boil again, stirring constantly as always, to ensure that the sugar dissolved and that any lurking bacteria were boiled out of existence.

All the while, we'd been sterilizing small batches of jars and lids in a pot of boiling water. At last, late at night, we ladled boiling hot crab apple butter into the jars, listening to the satisfying "pink!" of the lids sealing as we waited for subsequent batches of jars to be ready.

If you have a crab apple tree, I highly recommend making some preserves, even if you just whip up a small amount for one jar in your fridge. It's excellent on toast, pancakes, ice cream, PBJ, biscuits...

Our family of preserves: apricot jam, apple butter, crab apple butter.

Happy Autumn!

2009-09-22T22:50:00.000-05:00

Could it be the first day of fall already? The pleasant weather here in Chicagoland definitely shows it.

The summer was so busy, I can hardly believe it's over. At the same time, the temperatures have been so mild, summer barely seemed to have arrived. My pathetic garden is proof of that. The way things are going (i.e., slow), I'm not sure my mums are even going to bloom before it gets too cold.

Yes, I got several handfuls of cherry tomatoes and those two sorry excuses for cucumbers you saw in my previous post. And, I did enjoy some spinach and lettuce early in the season. Oh OK, the raspberries and strawberries did great in their small spaces, but their prime time ended months ago, meaning I had almost the whole summer to watch nothing spectacular happen in my yard. Disappointing after the initial excitement of spring seedlings and the decent June/July harvest of greens and berries. I am ashamed and disappointed to say that most of what I planted either didn't grow well or didn't grow at all. And besides the tomatoes (which still could have been more bountiful), the stuff that did grow didn't produce much, if at all. My trial and error (mostly error) with herbs in small containers didn't really work out until just recently—I have a much more vigorous bunch of herbs (basil, cilantro, parsley, green onions) growing right now. I have yet to see the beginnings of an actual pumpkin on our little pumpkin vines. Considering what day it is, I guess I won't see any pumpkins this year. Oh well...

My last tasks for the growing season:

Enjoy what's left of the nice weather while picking the tapering supply of tomatoes and herbs.
Stir the compost!
Pull up my remaining shallots and plant the clusters of shallot "heads" for next year.
Think about the plan for next year's edible garden.
Possibly build a second compost bin (well, ask Len to build one for me) so we can alternate bins each season, maximizing output and minimizing stirring and sifting.
Separate what "finished" compost I can and spread it on the permanent garden beds to help get the soil ready for next spring.
When it starts getting colder for real but before it really frosts, trim back the raspberry bushes and grape vines. (Oh yeah, I got a few small bunches of small grapes, did I tell you that? They looked more like currants. I was pleased, this being their first full season.)

So Happy Autumn, everybody. I hope your garden produced better than mine, and as you're doing your end-of-season tidying up, don't forget to compost your yard waste.

Would you look at that?

2009-09-04T20:29:00.003-05:00

My cucumbers.

All two of them.

These pitiful things, folks, are the result of shallow, heavy, clay earth. And poor sunlight.

I have work to do in this yard before next spring...

Eating Green for Our Anniversary

2009-08-25T21:45:00.001-05:00

August 21 was our 5th wedding anniversary. Thank you. To celebrate this milestone, we treated ourselves to a nice dinner out: Frontera Grill in downtown Chicago. We had been to this restaurant, where the food could be described as authentic Mexican with a modern twist, for lunch a couple of years ago and were eager to try its more extensive dinner menu. It wasn't the good food alone that made this a perfect anniversary spot for us.

Chef Rick Bayless, the owner of Frontera and its upscale neighbor Topolobampo, is a local-and-recently-national celebrity, and we've been fans of his TV show, "Mexico: One Plate at a Time," and his cuisine for almost as long as we've been married. But there's more: He's also a big advocate for sustainability. Rick's website even says, "Here at Frontera, one of our goals is to live 'sustainability' everyday." In other words, the restaurant is green! Here are some examples of how:

They use seasonal, locally grown produce, including that from their rooftop salsa garden and from Rick's own backyard.
They buy responsibly raised meats—free-range chickens and ducks, certified organic lamb, and grass-fed beef—and sustainably harvested seafood.
The vast wine list includes some biodynamic (a method of organic, holistic farming) and other organic wines.
They recycle!
They compost!
They even give their spent vegetable oil to a farm that uses it for a bio-diesel delivery van.

Now that's pretty neat.

I'll just conclude by saying that dinner was indeed sumptuous. One pleasant discovery was the Café de Olla, a sweet and fruity spiced dessert coffee that we've since been trying to duplicate at home. And, we did not bring the leftovers home in Styrofoam clamshells, oh no. The restaurant has biodegradable cardboard containers for guests like us, whose eyes are bigger than their stomachs.

Actually, just one more thing: You can read more about Rick Bayless' newest efforts as a sustainability-driven restaurateur in this article from the March/April issue of Natural Home magazine.

Zucchini Tartlets

2009-08-19T20:27:00.001-05:00

If you couldn't already tell, I love to experiment in the kitchen. This evening, I took the very same Zucchini Pie recipe I posted on August 9 and went all Martha Stewart with it to make these cute and delicious Zucchini Tartlets (I might like these better than the pie, but they do take a little more time).

Here's what I did differently:

After cooking the zucchini and onion in the butter and stirring in the spices, pour it all into a food processor and blend it up. Because the mixture is hot, leave open the center hole of your food processor's lid—or the steam under pressure might blow it off!

Let the mixture cool a little, and meanwhile open a can of crescent rolls. Unroll the dough and press the seams together so you have one big rectangle with no perforations. Now, cut the rectangle into 12 equal pieces. Press each piece a little thinner in your palm and then put them in the cups of a muffin pan.

Now pour the cheese into the mixture in your food processor and whip it up. Then beat in the eggs. Spoon the soupy mixture into the crescent-roll-lined muffin pan.

You'll only use about half of the filling, so get out another can of crescent rolls and make two pans, or save it for later (I froze mine—we'll see how it keeps).

Bake at 375 about 15 minutes, until the crescent rolls are beginning to brown and the zucchini filling has set. Allow to cool a few minutes in the pan, then very gently dig each tartlet out with a spoon. (My first two came out sloppy, but the rest kept their shape quite nicely when I worked slowly and carefully.)

TWO NOTES: I meant to put a dollop of Dijon mustard in each crescent roll before spooning in the filling, but I forgot! Honestly, I didn't miss it, but I bet it would be good. And, I stuck cherry tomato halves into the top of each tart on a whim after plating them, but next time I'm going to try baking them with the tomato halves already in place—if you should try it before I do, let me know how it turns out!

Crab Grab

2009-08-15T14:00:00.001-05:00

Today's adventure: picking crab apples! We visited just two spots, about 10-12 individual trees, and hauled back in the Croozer a whopping 35 1/2 pounds of deep red fruit ranging in size from cherry to golf ball.

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There are still some crab apple trees not quite ready to be picked—you can tell by the lack of fruit on the ground below them. The trees we visited today were at the perfect stage. They had dropped many crab apples on the ground (but not so many that you have to walk through a bee-infested sludge of rotting fruit)—which means the apples are ripe—while plenty of apples remained in the tree—which means they're not overripe yet.

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Len got on the stepladder and picked from the tree, and I mostly inspected the apples on the ground, bagging the ones that were not smashed, bruised or bug-bitten. Of course, we ate one while we were out—have to taste the product at every stage! These larger crab apples are tart but not bitter, like a Granny Smith but redder, if red can be a flavor.
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And now, it's jam time! Expect a post about the crab apple jam soon.

.Rinsing the crab apples - this is a 16-lb. batch.

Summer's Slow Bounty and Zucchini Pie

2009-08-09T12:15:00.001-05:00

Now that the strawberries and raspberries are long gone, I have been waiting impatiently to pick anything from my garden. It has been a slow growing season, thanks to the relatively cool temperatures and our awful clay soil. Only this week have a few of our cherry tomatoes begun to ripen. I have two (count 'em—two!) cucumbers that are growing abnormally—one looks like a cucumber ball and the other like a small, crook-necked squash. Our pumpkin plants (they're just too small to call vines) have flowers, so that's a good sign, but they have a long way to go yet. Our grapes are slowly getting bigger (so slowly!) and a few have begun to turn purple. Oh, and I think my butternut squash plants are kaput. Rabbits kept eating the blossoms (and no blossoms = no squash), so I rubbed hot pepper oil on them. It deterred the rabbits for sure but also killed the blossoms. Big sigh...

We've really gotta break in this soil or switch to raised beds for all summer vegetables. It's August, for crying out loud, and we have harvested a handful of baby tomatoes, one miniature bell pepper and that's it! Maybe I'll pull up the shallots and see if they're big enough.

I have, however, been enjoying the bounty of other people's gardens. My mother-in-law gave us a giant zucchini, half of which I used for fried zucchini strips and the other half to make sumptuous zucchini pie.

This is my mom's recipe for Zucchini Pie:

4 cups thinly sliced zucchini
1 cup sliced onion
1/4 c. butter
2 tablespoons parsley flakes (or 6 tablespoons fresh)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (or 1-2 garlic cloves, minced)
1/4 teaspoon basil (or 1 teaspoon fresh)
1/4 teaspoon oregano (or 1 teaspoon fresh)
2 eggs
8 oz. shredded mozzarella
1-2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
refrigerated crescent roll dough or a pie crust

Preheat oven to 375. In a pan, melt butter and cook zucchini and onion (and garlic if you're using fresh) until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in parsley, salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil and oregano.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the shredded cheese. Stir in the zucchini and onion.

Press the crescent roll dough or pie crust into a pie pan or square baking pan. Spread the Dijon mustard all over the crust. Dump in the zucchini mixture.

Bake 18-20 minutes. Let cool a little before cutting and serving.

It makes a great side dish or entree.

A Quick Note for Our Fashionista Friends

2009-07-25T11:10:00.002-05:00

A friend just bought a very nice leather bag, or as she put it as she unpacked it from the UPS box at work the other day, her first "I'm a grown-up now and can have a real leather" bag. But before members of PETA get up in arms, get this: The bag is made from repurposed leather. That's recycled, folks!

A simple online search for recycled or repurposed leather will lead you to a multitude of fashion and shopping websites, where you can buy purses, wallets, shoes, jewelry—pretty much anything leather—made from old leather jackets and such. And, since I have personally seen, touched, and smelled one of these earth- and fashion-friendly bags, I can promise all you leather lovers that the bag looks good and smells good—just like brand new leather. It does not look like a patchwork quilt, OK?

Now, I do very little fashion shopping myself, so I don't know for sure, but after browsing a little online, I think can safely say most of the items are priced just like new leather, too. But I'm sure the frequent shoppers out there, like my friend, know where to find the good deals.

Some of these handbag designers use leather remnants, like the ones leftover from a purse factory (or whatever they're called), so it's not so much recycling as it is preventing waste—still a great thing. And others are actually out there scouring thrift stores for battered leather goods that they will recycle into other stylish items.

So, I'll end with a reminder that you should always donate to Goodwill (or Salvation Army, etc.) your unwanted clothes and fashion accessories, even if they have holes or other imperfections. A purse designer is out there, searching for those items, eager to cut them to pieces and make something new.

A Fruitful Excursion

2009-07-20T20:51:00.001-05:00

Urban gleaning—maybe you've heard of it. Maybe not. It's related to freeganism (a good topic for another post, another time) and salvaging in general. It's big in Portland, Oregon, but is not unique to the Northwest. So what is it exactly?

Gleaning was originally a rural gig; people gathered stray crops left behind after a farmer harvested his fields. I'm not sure if that counts as stealing or not, but I suppose if the farmer isn't going to use the leftovers... Anyway, gleaning has moved into the cities, and in our case, the suburbs. People are picking fruit from seemingly ignored trees in residential areas. I'm not talking about going into people's yards (but if your neighbor has a fruit tree that is just dropping its bounty to rot on the ground, ask him if you can bring over your ladder and have at it—I bet he'll let you). These are fruit trees that don't belong to anybody and are not being picked clean by squirrels, like the trees surrounding an apartment complex.

A few years ago, Len and I noticed a huge crab apple tree in our neighborhood, on what appeared to be common ground, and under it, a massive mush of rotting crab apples, the edible kind just a little bigger than cherries (as opposed to the smaller, purely ornamental variety). We watched the fruit ripen, fall, and rot for two years in a row and were certain that it belonged to no one and was being used by no one. Last summer, we took advantage of this otherwise wasted harvest and picked a Croozer-full of crab apples, which we turned into sweet, tart, beautiful deep-magenta preserves.

We also found a few apple trees that we think exist by happy accident. They are typically near other crab apple trees, so we think they were meant to be ornamental crab apples, but in fact turned out to be full-fledged apples (perhaps due to the grafting of one type of tree onto another type of mature root stock). However they got there, it's free organic fruit! We're pretty sure there are no pesticides being sprayed on these trees, based on the fruit's rustic look. Of course, we nibbled on an apple, to be sure it wasn't some nasty inedible hybrid, and were delighted to find a couple of different and tasty varieties. We have no idea what kind of apples they are; one's Granny Smith-ish, the other is sweeter and more yellow/pink.

This past weekend, we took a bike ride (on our way to the grocery store—gotta combine those errands when you can!) to check on the varying stages of ripeness of "our" trees, and to look for other apple and crab apple trees. We started collecting for preserves and apple butter toward the end of the trees' peaks last year; we wanted to catch them earlier this time around. I'm happy to report we found lots of crab apple trees (more than we can use), some of which are just about ripe now, and even a few new apple trees.

But the best discovery of all (and one we're marking our calendars for next summer) was the apricot tree. Who knew? We can't believe we'd never noticed it before, all the times we've biked past it. But there it was, a litter of small orange fruits all over the ground and plenty more still in the tree. We stopped right there, hoisted ourselves into the tree (it was a big one, old, with thick branches) and picked to our hearts' content. We made apricot jam that very night, and I had apricots in my oatmeal for breakfast the next morning. Delicious. Delightful.

Green Grilling: Gas or Charcoal?

2009-07-07T22:30:00.001-05:00

One of the biggest obstacles to going green is having to give up bits of your lifestyle. You know—the convenience factor. (Why do you think Al Gore called it An Inconvenient Truth?) Recycling at home, for instance, is very convenient (when your neighborhood has curbside pickup). But what about recycling on vacation? A hearty "Great job!" to all of you who carry home bags of empties from your campsites; as for the rest of you... we'll continue this discussion later. I'm sure we'll have many more posts about how to make a difference without eschewing all of your favorite things. I'm a big proponent of being as environmentally friendly as possible while still enjoying life the way you want to enjoy it, so join me in the search for that perfect balance!

Today, we're talking about grilling. What is summer without cookouts? But burning stuff on our patios can't be good for the environment, so what's the greenest way to grill? Gas or charcoal? The debate that used to be simply about flavor has evolved into a scientific study weighing the environmental impact of obtaining the fuels, burning the fuels, and disposing of their waste. The electric George Foreman grills would probably win the energy contest, but let's be honest—that's not grilling. I'm talking about charring, smoking, barbecuing.

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I shall direct you to yet another Slate article (we do love Slate) on the charcoal vs. gas debate. As the article points out, barbecue emissions account for only 3 ten-thousandths of a percent of the United States' annual carbon footprint, so changing your grilling habits may not matter. But as I will point out, every little bit helps.

You'll see there are pros and cons to either fuel. But there is one big rule: No lighter fluid! You don't want to breath its harmful compounds, and you don't want its yucky residue on your food. If you use charcoal (we do, for the true smoky flavor of barbecue), get your coals going in a starter chimney with a couple of crumpled pieces of newspaper.

Perhaps more important than which fuel you use is how you use it. If you're using a gas grill, try not to leave it on any longer than necessary. But if you're cooking over charcoal, take advantage of the coals' lasting heat and grill for as long as possible. Why waste all that heat energy by flipping a few burgers and calling it a night? You could get another hour of good grilling out of those coals!

When we fire up the grill, we usually have prepared a feast of items to grill in succession, giving us meals for the week. We pile the coals on one side of our rectangular grill so there is a spot for grilling some things over direct heat and a spot for slow-cooking other foods off to the side. One of our latest feasts included burgers, two different kinds of fish, chicken breasts, kabobs, corn on the cob, mixed veggies, potato wedges, onions, and peaches.

Sometimes we go crazy with marinades and sauces, and it takes three hours to prep everything before we can light the coals, and we end up grilling late into the night. Other times we go for the convenience of bottled sauces, and the prep time simply depends on how long we take to decide which foods we should lay on the grill first. Regardless, it's a fun evening, especially if we're in the mood to try new recipes, and it makes the subsequent weeknight dinners a breeze.

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We do have to add a few more coals to the fire from time to time to keep it at a high, even temperature, but even then we're using fewer coals than we would have if we had grilled each meal on a separate occasion.

And, there's always fire left for cooking some dessert. (S'mores, of course.)

Red, White and...Green?

2009-07-03T08:02:00.004-05:00

“Normally I don’t eat steak, a burger AND a brat…but it is the 4^th of July. I’m going to need the energy if I’m going to start blowing crap up. It’s what the founding fathers would want.”

-Jim Gaffigan, Beyond the Pale

People love watching fireworks displays, myself included. Must be something about the low whoosh as they’re launched, followed by that brief moment of anticipation before a cannon-like boom sets off half a dozen lame-sounding car alarms, and a shower of sparks fills the night sky with splendor—and sulfurous clouds of who knows what. God bless the U.S.A., right?

At the risk of, well, having my patriotism questioned, I’d like to suggest that we could do some good by downsizing fireworks displays in the years to come. I admit, making that recommendation on July 3^rd seems a little late, but sometimes, you don’t think about these things until they’re right in front of you. Nonetheless, trimming the Independence Day pyrotechnics stands to set a far more patriotic example by minimizing land, air and water pollution, while also saving local, city and state government some green, too.

First, the bad news: fireworks imports have been on the rise recently, more than doubling between 1999 (65,000 tons) and 2006 (123,000 tons). This has lead to an increase in atmospheric emissions of heavy metals, sulfur-coal compounds and some low concentration toxic chemicals like barium, antimony sulfide and perchlorate (the latter is found in rocket fuel). So, while the displays may be breathtaking, that's the one thing you wouldn't want to do in the middle of a smoke cloud. The chemicals released often find their way into lakes, affecting fish and other wildlife. In one study, perchlorate levels rose more than 1,000 times above normal and stayed there for 14 hours; levels didn't return to normal for another 20-80 days. The effects of human exposure over long periods are currently unknown. Suddenly, the fields of non-biodegradable fireworks debris, while a concern, don't seem nearly as scary.

Now, the good news: fireworks are still regulated/restricted in many states by the Clean Air Act (whether that's enforced effectively is another story). Pyrotechnicians have also developed biodegradable fireworks shells and a mixture of clean-burning compounds that use nitrogen instead of potassium perchlorate (the only downside is, many large outdoor displays haven't made use of them because—guess what—they're more expensive, and until there's more of an incentive to purchase them, there probably won't be many buyers). And Disney recently pioneered the use of a compressed air launch pad, saving a bit on gunpowder emissions.

Interested in making the case to green up Independence Day? Unfortunately, I don't have many resources to point you to at the moment, but I'll be sure to follow-up with some information. Until then, I suggest starting at the local level and working your way up. You might find that, with a petition and a handful of signatures, your cash-strapped city government might be open to trimming the budget for the 4th. And, while many might groan at the thought, it never hurts to write your congressmen to let them know how you feel. Or hey, you could even start a blog and gripe about whatever you like. :)

If you’re like me and have a love-hate relationship with fireworks, you might like this article.

Until next time, happy 4th of July!

Table in the Alley

2009-07-01T20:17:00.004-05:00

At long last, a pic of the table I found in the alley, which is now about 300 miles away (and possibly being chewed up, ala the squad car in Turner & Hooch, by a crazy dog). Except for a little scratching in the near left corner, was in pretty good shape, and after a little polishing, I'd say it still has some life in it. Hopefully my SIL enjoys!

Trying Again with the Pumpkins

2009-06-25T19:39:00.006-05:00

Remember when we were pumped about our pumpkins? Me too... Let me summarize our little pumpkin adventure thus far.

We saved the seeds from the bigger of our two Halloween jack-o-lanterns and planted them indoors in late winter, mostly just to see if they were still alive. They germinated all right and, as spring wore on, became quite gangly little vines on our bedroom windowsill. They even began sprouting blossoms.

But indoor winter weather just isn't ideal for vegetables—the sunlight isn't quite right, the air and soil are stagnant, the little cups holding them are small. We started these seeds way too early. So we planted a few more later. These, too, germinated and sprouted quickly, stretching toward that sunshine just out of their reach outside our bedroom window.

About half of the oldest seedlings eventually pooped out and died. We gave most of the others away. When the danger of overnight frost was gone, we finally planted our two remaining vines outside. Within days, someone or something nipped them off at the base of the stem.

I planted six more seeds in a shallow tray of seed-starter mix on our front porch. It dried out so quickly, I couldn't keep up with the watering, and only two of these sprouted. They promptly died while we were on vacation.

In a fit of frustration, I dumped the tray of seed-starter mix right onto the spot where we had planted those first two seedlings. I spread a handful of seeds around in it, making sure the seeds were just lightly covered with the soil. I watered it every morning (except days it rained).

Just a few days later, voila! Cute, aren't they?

Upon closer inspection, however, I gasped in horror at this creepy crawly discovery: Roly-polies were everywhere, and they were eating my precious seedlings! Just look at that guy munching the leaves of that poor baby pumpkin plant.

Web forums on the subject of protecting plants from roly-polies (a.k.a. sow bugs, pill bugs, wood lice) were mostly useless, mostly just hosting debates on whether or not these formerly endearing crustaceans actually do eat living plant matter. Guess what? They do. I was watching them chew.

So what to do without using insecticide? I mixed up some olive oil and hot pepper flakes to brush or spray onto the leaves, thinking the bugs might not like the spiciness. But I have not tried that remedy yet. I'll go back to it if my first line of defense doesn't work. I cut plastic drinking straws (See? We rinsed and saved those straws for a good reason!) into segments the length of the seedlings stems. I cut a slit down the side of each piece of straw, so I could slip it onto the little stems—it looks like the seedlings sprouted right out of the straw. Then I pressed the straw segment into the soil just a tad, to hold it in place and to give the seedling a tiny bit of protection under the surface. I also skipped a day of watering, since roly-polies love that ever-moist soil.

Today, it seems there are fewer roly-polies. So far, the seedlings are in good shape. I will, of course, keep an eye on them and adjust my battle plan as necessary. I'm saving the hot pepper oil just in case.

And, I'll have to thin out the bunch soon. (You saw how many there were!) I never liked thinning out my plants. It feels like killing something, wasting potentially good produce. At the same time, I understand that if I don't thin them out, leaving only the very few strongest seedlings, the growing vines will be fighting for soil and sun and water and space. In our tiny yard, even one vine would be fighting for space.

More Adventures in Edible Gardening

2009-06-19T13:00:00.003-05:00

In mid-June, the temperature has finally crept up to what I consider comfortable; most other Chicagoans might consider it warm. Good gardening weather.
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Today, I planted some more fun stuff in our yard: jalapeño seeds we cut out of a store-bought pepper, the butternut squash and cucumber seedlings I had started in small containers, and, just to see what happens, an avocado pit and some key lime seeds. We have previously made an avocado pit sprout roots and a scrawny stem in a glass of water, but it died before it really turned into anything. This time I just stuck it in the dirt. As for the key lime seeds, I have no illusions that we can sustain a citrus tree outdoors in this climate. They're just an experiment. If little lime trees happen to spring from the earth, I'll dig them up and pot them and then figure out what to do.
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A garden really is just an outdoor laboratory, isn't it? I made an interesting discovery in mine a few weeks ago. This plant, and now, another baby one just like it, sprouted on its own in our little garden bed.
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As it grows, it looks—and smells—a lot like a tomato plant. Last fall, I spread some almost fully decomposed compost onto my garden areas. Could it be that seeds from tomato scraps survived the winter and germinated "wild" on their own? We'll find out. I'm letting these two plants grow undisturbed until I discover they're actually a cleverly disguised weed.
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Another experiment I began today is growing my cucumbers in a window-box-type container hanging on our fence, right under some latticework for easy climbing. But, can cucumbers thrive in shallow soil? There isn't much room for their roots to stretch. We'll see. Just in case, I planted two more seedlings in the ground at the base of the fence. They'll just have to reach a little higher before they can attach themselves to the lattice.
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Meanwhile, my snow peas aren't doing so great in the hanging baskets. They look pretty, but don't get enough sun under the porch roof and therefore haven't produced a single pea yet.
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The sweet pepper and tomato plants (the purposely planted ones) are still short but are slowly reaching for the sky. A pepper about half the size of my thumb is already growing, so that's something.
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The strawberries are still producing like crazy. And we still have our own little salad bar out there with the remaining heads of romaine and buttercrunch lettuce.
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The grapevine is stretching and has tiny clusters of tiny green balls. I wonder if these become the grapes, or if they become flowers that become the grapes? I've never seen the life cycle of a grape, so I don't know. Again, I say, we'll find out.
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And, take a look at my bushy raspberry bushes (tied back to grow up against the side of our garage instead of out into the yard), fronted by massive shallots. Those onion shoots are almost waist-high. Their tips have burst into clusters of mini onions, shallot "heads" meant to be planted back in the ground, meaning the onions beneath the dirt are almost ready to be pulled. Could I have ten times as many next spring? Or even as soon as this fall?
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Oh, and that scary-looking Chinese cabbage was definitely not cabbage. It sprouted lanky stalks of tiny yellow flowers. My mom suggested it was a type of wild mustard. She found the same thing growing in her garden 300 miles away. It had to have come from that Chinese cabbage seed packet we shared! Strangely, though, she did get some cabbage in her garden. Whatever it was, I yanked it out last week. Maybe I'll sow my leftover seeds later for a fall harvest and keep my fingers crossed.
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What's new in your garden, readers?
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Gadgets that Save You Energy and Money: Guest post by Dan Harrison

2009-06-18T09:00:00.020-05:00

As fossil fuels diminish, energy costs are going to keep rising until we have a viable alternative energy source. Until then, you can minimize your energy bills by using as little energy as possible. So in the interest of saving energy, here are a collection of gadgets for your home that should help you reduce your energy bills.

Central heating is great for keeping you cozy and warm, but your house is losing heat; you'll be wasting energy. The Thermal Leak Detector from Black & Decker is essentially a remote thermometer gadget that helps you find cold patches in a room. The detector shines a beam of light onto the part of the wall you're checking. The color of the light changes from red to blue when a cold spot is detected. The temperature of the cold spot is also shown on the LCD display on the detector. By finding the cold spots, you can then patch them up and save more energy.
For the kitchen, you can make your morning breakfast more eco-friendly with a Morphy Richards Ecolectric Toaster. The toaster saves up to 35% of the energy compared to a conventional toaster. The Ecolectric Toaster uses a special cover that closes when you start to cook your toast, resulting in less energy needed to cook the toast. The toaster also uses a motorized carriage to ensure your toast is evenly cooked. It's a bit more costly than a standard toaster, but it will save you money if your family eats loads of toast.
Do you love your cups of tea or coffee? Well the eco kettle is designed to make it as easy as possible for you to only boil the water you need. Using a special chamber of water, you release the water you need into the main kettle compartment to boil it. On average, people boil twice as much water compared to what they actually need, so this simple kettle should save energy pretty quickly!

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Perhaps something for the bathroom? Namely the EcoDrain. The EcoDrain is a clever heat exchanging device that uses the excess heat from waste shower water and uses it to preheat the cold water inlet to the shower. This means the shower's heater uses 25–40% less energy compared to using just cold water from the mains. The EcoDrain has no moving parts, but it does have a non-stick coating on its waste pipe to ensure it doesn't get clogged by dirt and debris. What makes the EcoDrain practical is that it needs very little plumbing work to fit it into your existing shower system!

I hope you enjoyed reading about these interesting energy saving gadgets. This article was written by Dan Harrison who writes about eco gadgets for EnviroGadget.com. EnviroGadget features all kinds of gadgets and technology that save water, save energy or just do something to help save the planet!

One Man's Trash Is...One Town's Cash?

2009-06-12T13:13:00.003-05:00

With the economy against the ropes, it's no surprise municipalities left and right are tightening their fiscal belts; but in some places, things are getting a little desperate. Take the Cook County suburb of Evanston (pop. 74,360), which is now looking into regulating scrap haulers because the city loses money (normally charged to homeowners) every time a scrap hauler nabs an item before the city has a chance to pick it up. Starting at $25 a pop, the city last year generated an impressive $89,000 that way.

Here's my take: these so-called "rogue haulers" are doing the city and its neighborhoods a valuable service, so there's no need to regulate them. Rather than leave that refrigerator rusting in the alley (where it can pose a danger to kids and shelter rodents and other pests) in the hopes that a city employee will eventually get around to picking it up, why not notify AMVETS (800-732-1708 for pick-ups in IL) or just pick a scrapper out of the phone book, give them a call and let them pick it up for free? I'm all for supporting city government, but I think there are probably better ways to fill the budget gaps.

Granted, there may be a few bad apples in the bunch—haulers that steal unattended items and/or rifle through recycling bins for scrap metal—but there has to be a way to isolate them without taking a bite out of business for those haulers willing to play by the rules. I wonder if Evanston's beef has more to do with demographics, as many of the haulers come from downtown and drive trucks that don't exactly add to the pleasant suburban aesthetic.

I admit, I may be speaking too soon; the news indicates only that officials are looking into "regulating" the haulers, so there's still a chance Evanston will find a fair compromise...at the same time, it's clearly about money, and that's usually when the fights start to get nasty. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

In the meantime, our own little scavenging operation is humming along. I just picked up a large, two-drawer coffee table from our alley for my sister-in-law. Even after a slight rain, it was easy to spruce up with some furniture oil and a little lubrication of the wood sliders. (I'll post a pic next week. I wish I had the foresight to take a snap before I put my refurbishing skills to use on it so you could see the "before and after" effect).

For more on the issue of Evanston's trash, here's an editorial that falls on my side of the issue. Feel free to get in on the discussion here if you have a viewpoint you'd like to express.

English Muffin Bread...from the Microwave!

2009-06-11T21:18:00.006-05:00

It might sound funny, but it's true–you can "bake" some breads by nuking the dough in a 650-watt microwave oven, which also decreases rise time and offers better energy efficiency than a gas oven (especially true if you're only making one loaf).

Since we hadn't had any bread in the house for awhile, Nicole had requested that I bake a loaf or two for sandwiches and breakfast toast, so when I came across a recipe for English Muffin Bread, I knew I'd found what I was looking for. I added a little cinnamon and some raisins for good measure, and although there aren't as many nooks and crannies, the slices toast up nicely and make for an economical choice over the prepackaged varieties you'll find in the grocery store.

Cinnamon-Raisin English Muffin Bread

1/4 cup warm water

2 1/4 tsp. yeast

1 cup warm milk

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. baking soda

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2–1 cup raisins

Place warm water in large bowl; sprinkle in yeast and stir until dissolved. Stir in milk, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Stir in raisins and add flour gradually until dough is uniformly sticky.

Grease microwave-safe loaf pan; sprinkle with cornmeal (optional). Turn dough out into loaf pan and microwave uncovered at 50% power for 1 minute. Let rest 10 minutes and repeat, allowing another 10 minutes of rest time. Once dough has doubled in size (you might need to repeat the process a third time), microwave on high for 4–6 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes in pan before removing to cool on wire rack.

I've since made this recipe a second time with the same quality result. The picture below also shows a couple loaves of a new multigrain bread recipe I tried. If only our blog offered smell-o-vision!

Chocolate Cranberry Macaroons

2009-06-10T22:46:00.002-05:00

Inspired by Au Bon Pain's ambrosial, fist-sized Chocolate-Dipped Cranberry Almond Macaroon, I experimented a little bit and created this easy and quick bite-size replica. I should say, these macaroons are quick in that they require very little hands-on time, but there is cooling time needed for the "cookies" and then for the chocolate. So allow for a couple of hours overall, or make them at a leisurely pace, baking the macaroons in the early evening, dipping them in melted chocolate later that night, so they'll be ready and waiting in the morning. Mmm!

2 egg whites

pinch of salt

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

1 1/2 cups shredded coconut

1/3 cup dried cranberries or cherries

1/4 - 1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 - 2 tablespoons butter

Preheat the oven to 325°. Butter a mini-muffin pan.

Beat the egg whites and salt with an electric mixer until they form soft peaks; that is, you can form a temporary crest in the whites before it falls back down a little. (It is very important that you do not overbeat the egg whites into stiff peaks, as if you were making a meringue, or your macaroons will turn out too crunchy—more like macaringues...) Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the sugar over the whites and beat again for just a few seconds, until the peaks appear glossy.

In a separate bowl, toss together the remaining sugar, the almond extract, the coconut and the dried cranberries. With a rubber spatula, carefully fold these into the egg whites until evenly blended.

Drop the batter into the buttered mini-muffin pan, filling each cup just a little over the top. You probably will end up with a couple of empty spaces. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the coconut tips have begun to brown and the macaroons look like they're "breathing." Allow the macaroons to cool completely in the pan.

When the macaroons have cooled, use a spoon to scoop them out of the mini-muffin pan and onto a sheet of waxed paper or a baking sheet. They will still be gooey, so don't worry too much about their shape as you're scooping them—just keep them in somewhat of a ball form.

Put the chocolate chips and butter (start with the smaller amounts listed and melt more later if necessary) in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir until all melty and smooth, heating for another 15 seconds at a time if necessary. Spoon a glob of melted chocolate onto each macaroon and allow to set at room temperature. The chocolate will stay soft but won't come off on your hands when you gently pick up one of the treats.

These macaroons will keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days.

One Stretch of Road

2009-06-09T19:21:00.004-05:00

It's interesting how, after you start a blog on a particular subject, you might feel as though you're upping the ante on yourself. If people across the world can tune-in to your feed, shouldn't you be putting your money where your mouth is and taking your cause just a tiny step further than normal?

I think that's why I was inspired, one weekend afternoon while Nicole and I were returning from errands on our bikes, to stop along a small stretch of a nearby road (which so happens to be near a nice walking path) and collect some of the recyclable trash littering the side of the road.

With more people driving and the high-schoolers out for summer break, I guess it didn't surprise me that we were able to fill our bike baskets fairly quickly–in fact, we could have made a number of trips hauling the junk away. It was as if someone had hosted a party on that stretch of road: there was Coors Light and Bud Light, plus Sprite, Gatorade, Lipton Tea, Arizona Tea, Coca-Cola and Monster for the designated drivers. The most disgusting part, though...brace yourselves...was a bottle that had been filled with what was most definitely urine. How's that for dedication? (Without gloves, you can bet I was later scrubbing my hands like there was no tomorrow.)

And I know I don't need to remind you that there's junk EVERYWHERE. I used to go up to the northwest corner of Illinois where it was less crowded and more scenic—and even there, my morning runs turned into walks as I trudged from one dirty roadside bottle to the next.

It makes me think, one goal I'd like to set for myself this summer is to perhaps "unofficially" adopt a stretch of a given road near us. I suppose I could walk it every night (or as frequently as time allows) and try to keep it clean. Readers, feel free to do the same...but I strongly suggest you do so only after investing in a pair of thick rubber gloves.

Water, Water Everywhere

2009-06-08T23:10:00.006-05:00

Our front porch looks out onto a meditation park with a water feature and a very thorough sprinkler system. When I say thorough, I mean to say that it's not uncommon to see the sprinklers soaking the grass and surrounding landscaping even after a couple days of rain or, as in the case of the picture above, during a significant rainfall event (note the large puddle that's formed underneath the pine tree). I'm all for green grass, but that seems like a bit much, doesn't it?

I think Midwesterners such as ourselves–which live just a stone's throw away from 1,180 cubic miles of fresh water–sometimes take our situation for granted. Meanwhile, the Southwest continues to ration precious H20 as Lake Mead–America's largest reservoir–is sucked dry by a growing local population.

Granted, the news on the homefront isn't all bad; my property manager tells me that the sprinklers use water recycled from the park's pond, and the pond itself is supplied by a well. Still, we don't live on a golf course, so why not turn the sprinklers off when it rains? Apparently it's too difficult to call the service personnel to have them shut off. Perhaps I should raise the issue at the next board meeting and suggest using smart sensors that accurately measure soil moisture levels, thus preventing the park from becoming a squishy, water-logged mess.

Does anyone else have a similar story of water overuse/abuse? We'd be interested to hear from you!

Field of Green

2009-06-04T19:05:00.007-05:00

Over Memorial Day weekend, we took a trip to U.S. Cellular Field and enjoyed a beautiful day at the ballpark (though the outcome wasn't what we were hoping for; Pirates 4, Sox 3). In any event, we made sure to take our plastic cups and paper hot dog containers home with us to recycle.

That got me to thinking about the Cell's recycling services and, after some investigation, I discovered we really didn't need to carry these items home; turns out there's plenty of green things going on at New Comiskey besides the forest-colored seats and groundskeeper Roger Bossert's well-manicured bluegrass. In fact, the park leads the way with:

Recycling: In addition to bins placed throughout the park, trash gathered by the clean-up crew is sorted for paper and plastic. According to White Sox management, the Cell has recycled over 570 tons of material since 1992.

Conservation: Computers regulate lighting inside the park, conserving energy.

Transportation: The CTA Red Line stop (located just across the expressway) houses a few dozen secure, weather-protected parking spaces for bikes; should those spaces fill up, several more on-street racks are located on the north side of 35th St. What's more, Sox staff maintain their own fleet of bicycles to travel in and around the stadium quickly.

Raising Awareness: The Cell turns off the lights as part of Earth Hour, and also celebrates Earth Day with educational events like "Earth Day at the Ballpark."

Parking: One of the most innovative green technologies is right under your feet! Just last year, the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority (which owns Cellular Field) installed what's believed to be the largest "permeable paving" parking lot in the U.S. Spanning 265,000 square feet—the equivalent of more than four football fields—in Lot L, the durable concrete paver stones allow surface water to filter back into the earth, reducing runoff. The system meets LEED guidelines set by the U.S. Green Building Council and is recognized as a Best Management Practice by the EPA. According to my sources, the Cell is the first park in the Major Leagues to incorporate the technology.

How's that for an environmental home run? Granted, there will always be some CO2-burn going on at every game, but for a team that attracts millions of visitors each season, they're still doing their part, and doing it well, all things considered. Go Sox!

Lowering Your Water Bill is Barrels of Fun!

2009-06-02T19:50:00.003-05:00

Recently, my brother and I installed a rain barrel at our parents' house. Even though it's possible to make one on the cheap using a Brute trash can, a length of hose and a few basic tools, we opted to save time with an easy-to-install, aesthetically pleasing, prefabricated barrel, capable of storing 50 gallons of rainwater.

All we did was cut the downspout, put a pedestal base in place to elevate the barrel (since it's just like a water tower, in that flow rates correspond to the hydrostatic pressure provided by gravity), made sure it was level, and set the barrel on top, securing it to the house wall with some rope (in the off-chance the base should become unstable).

Of course, we also had to test it, so I put the garden hose in the gutter and turned on the water works. Since I didn't measure the height as accurately as I should have (not easy on uneven ground), I came up a little short of the tip of the downspout; to compensate, I placed a brick on top to prevent water from spilling over the top of the barrel. And, thanks to the barrel's well-fitting screen, which is intended to keep gutter gunk out of the water, Mom probably won't need mosquito dunks.

Given the size of Mom's garden and the fact that they have a sizeable roof that collects plenty of runoff, it should be a wise investment. I'm interested to see how much of an effect it has on their water bill (though specific figures might be hard to quantify). Needless to say, the barrel filled to the brim after just one storm; Mom attached a soaker hose to the bottom, which snakes through her vegetable garden, providing slow 'n' steady moisture to the soil.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go perform a rain dance in the backyard.

The Garden Eating Begins

2009-06-01T22:00:00.000-05:00

I think it's finally safe to put the rest of my veggies in the ground. (Lettuce and snow peas I already sowed directly outside; they are "early" crops.) Here in Chicagoland, sneaky frost can occur overnight even in late May. So it was a week after Memorial Day when I finally moved my tomatoes and peppers from their tiny seedling containers, which I could put outside on nice days and bring inside on cold days, to the large wooden barrel containers in my front yard (the all-day sunny spot). But you better believe I'm watching the 5-day forecasts for that one rare overnight low in the 30s—I'll be running outside with newspaper and plastic bags to cover my precious plants. They're not quite seedlings anymore, but they're still tiny, thanks to the cool weather we've had. At this rate, it seems like it'll be July before we can eat anything out of the garden besides the lettuce!

Growing along with my lettuce is some scary-looking Chinese cabbage... or something. It looks more like a weed, with fuzzy, spiky leaves. When I look up Chinese cabbage, the pictures look like cabbage and not like the weird stuff growing in my little garden box. Maybe it is just a weed, but it's growing right where I planted those cabbage seeds. Maybe I got some bum seeds. I haven't picked or tasted any of it yet because I don't know what to do with it! It certainly doesn't look like it would be a pleasant texture. I'm sort of waiting to see how it grows out.

My other leafies, the romaine and buttercrunch lettuces, are growing great and taste great. I have been using some of the baby leaves in salads, making room for others to grow into full heads of lettuce. My spinach was good, but not all of the seeds sprouted, so we already ate it all and have to plant more. I think I can get another harvest before it gets too hot.

In the meantime, I'm just waiting for everything else to produce. Oh! Besides lettuce, we also have strawberries ripening now. About four at a time are ready every day or so, and I often just eat them as I pick them instead of saving them up for use as an actual ingredient in something, like strawberry shortcake. Now there's an idea...

So, what's growing in your garden, on your patio or balcony, or in your window sill? Check off your edibles in our poll over there on the right. If you're growing something that isn't listed, just click the "Comments" link at the top of this post and tell us about it!

Only A Few Hours Left to Vote!

2009-05-31T09:11:00.003-05:00

Just a quick reminder - if you haven't voted in our poll, "How are you being green this month?", now's your last chance!

I'm happy to report that, although there's no runaway winner, "recycling" is leading the way with 73% of the vote. 53% of voters are tweaking the thermostat and/or walking and biking. 46% of you are switching to CFLs. Some are even bringing their own mug to Starbucks!

Though our poll ends today, it's never to late to consider how you can be more conscientious and try something—anything—to green things up a bit. See you in June!

Ahh, Laundry

2009-05-30T21:18:00.009-05:00

Laundry is not a chore I look forward to. I have been known to choose my attire for the day directly from the dryer, where the clean clothes may have been sitting for days, just because I've been avoiding the folding and putting away. Now you'll wonder about my outfit the next time you see me. Did I select it from the tidy hangers in the closet, or did I pull it from a ball of rumpled-but-clean laundry and just shake the wrinkles out? I'll never tell.

But there is one thing that I do enjoy about laundry, and that is when I have a free Saturday, skies are clear, the breeze is moderate, and I can hang the laundry out to dry. It's the age-old green thing to do, don't you know.

Today was the first time this year we were able to do it, and now I have fresh-smelling clothes and the sun-pinkened nose to show for it. Since permanent clotheslines are not allowed in our subdivision (unfortunately true in many suburban neighborhoods these days), and there isn't much room for one in our yard anyway, we use a handy, waist-high, foldable drying rack from Ikea (pictured left and below).

Len also set up discreet, semi-permanent bases behind my raspberry bushes for inserting taller, removable poles; whenever we need to, we bring out the poles and string some extra line between them and our fence. I had two loads of laundry out there today. Now that's a crowded yard!

Of course, we make green laundry choices even when we can't dry things outside. We have a front-loading washer, which, as you know, uses less water and less detergent than the top-loading kind. It's also supposed to be gentler on your clothes. (Maybe, but the downside is that it twists all my pants legs together into a heavy pants chain that makes it tricky to extract one pair at a time without pulling out the whole ball of wet clothes.) And, of course, we use the high-efficiency ("he") detergent meant for front-loaders, choosing a dye- and perfume-free variety.

Also, we always wash everything in cold water, unless it is absolutely necessary to bleach the whites, which we very seldom do. Some of you hot-water junkies wouldn't dare wash your bed sheets in cold because you need hot water to kill the dust mites, right? I used to do that too, but no more! I'm no expert, but I've heard two different stories about that: a) the heat from your dryer will kill the mites just as effectively as the washer, or b) the hot setting on your washing machine isn't nearly hot enough to kill dust mites anyway. Whichever is true, I figure there's no reason not to keep the washer set on cold.

If you live somewhere that forbids the use of supposedly ugly permanent clothes lines (I don't think clotheslines are eyesores, but it's the only reason I can imagine they'd be banned by home owners' associations), be bold and get a portable clothes line or set of drying racks for your backyard (or your balcony!), even if you do it for just one load every once in a while. No, it's not as convenient as tossing it all in the dryer, but it's good for your clothes (just turn things inside out if you're worried about fading) and good for the earth. Clothes dryers themselves are not enormous energy hogs, but every little bit counts, and you will notice a decrease in your energy bills—always a plus.

Now for my least favorite part, taking all the clothes down and folding them. At least I get to enjoy the fantastic weather while I work.

The 100-mpg Hummer H3

2009-05-29T12:40:00.004-05:00

Of all mankind's inventions, only a few stand out as enduring monuments of progress. Crazy straws. Edison's electric pen. The self-twirling spaghetti fork. Allow me to remove my tongue from the side of my cheek.
The point is, these inventions were practically obsolete from the get-go because there was a common-sense alternative already available. That's a good way to explain how I feel about the Hummer, which has been an environmental nuisance ever since AM General rolled them off the line in 1992 (GM would buy Hummer in '98. And you’ve probably heard the latest: they’re trying to unload the brand to regain some of their financial footing).

That's why I was so interested to hear about Raser Technologies' efforts to re-design the Hummer H3 as an electric plug-in hybrid capable of squeezing 100 miles out of every gallon of unleaded. Welcome news when you consider it'd cost you about $82 to fill the H2's 32-gallon tank (at the current, local average price of $2.59/gal). Could it be these vehicular behemoths were finally going green?

Not really, if you ask me. Granted, my B.S. detector is especially sensitive when it comes to fuel-efficient vehicles, especially those that make claims without government data backing them up. But this still feels like putting a bandaid on a gaping wound; an inadequate last-ditch effort to resuscitate a dying brand. And it's hardly a coincidence that this announcement comes at the same time President Obama is tightening the nation's fuel efficiency standards. What better way to nab some easy, pro-Hummer P.R.?

As the article points out, this 100mpg rating is a bit convoluted, relying on some sketchy math to get there (and probably also some hypermiling, but minimizing braking and rapid acceleration are driving habits most buyers will likely ignore). And, while the proposed figure of 33mpg is definitely an improvement on the accepted average of 14-17mpg for the H2 (actual figures aren’t published by the EPA), who in their right mind would fork over $55,000 (20%-30% more than the all-gas H3) when there are alternatives that do the job far better for less? That’s crazy straws!

What's more, you can load a 600-lb. lithium-ion battery into the chassis of any vehicle and improve its gas mileage, but you should at the same time consider the energy it takes to charge such a battery. Unless you’re hooking it up to a wind turbine, that voltage is likely supplied by a coal-fired power plant. That’s like trying to minimize your carbon footprint by walking around on your tip-toes; same shoes, same weight, different distribution. And, at an average curb weight of 5,000-6,000 lbs., Hummers make some deep footprints. Who said bigger was better?

I know it’s easy to attack Hummers as a symbol of irresponsibility, but it also gives me a chance to present The Golden Horse Ranch Square Dance Band and their tune, “Hummer.” Good question—what would Jesus drive?

Limitless Paper in a Paperless World

2009-05-22T20:20:00.002-05:00

Fans of The Office might remember the title of this post as one of Michael Scott's unforgettably goofy slogans. But paper - a ubiquitous office supply that is the lifeblood of Dunder Mifflin - is undoubtedly in limited supply, and we should stop treating this resource, well, as if it grows on trees. That might seem a little backwards, coming from a catalog copywriter, but believe me, seeing fresh stacks of our monthlies (which will be about as useful as outhouse wallpaper just weeks after that) has only further inspired me to waste less paper.

Here's a look at the stats. In the U.S., we're real log hogs: between 1990 and 2002, paper consumption increased 15% from 84.9 million tons to 97.3 million tons. The country's ever-growing need is met by roughly 450 U.S.-based paper mills (which also produce a nice big hunk of air, water and land pollution in the process). And, despite all the computers at our disposal, paper continues to be a billion-dollar industry. That's enough to give anyone pause.

Now that we're all on the same page, here are 50 sensible (and sometimes quirky) ways to reduce, reuse and recycle paper.

Buy in bulk to reduce paper-related packaging. When you buy, check to see if the products themselves make use of recycled paper.
It's old-fashioned (and hard on germophobes), but a gentlemanly handkerchief offsets an infinite number of kleenex.
Save postage, envelopes and paper checks with online billpay (often provided by your bank and utilities for free).
Prevent junk mail from clogging your mailbox by signing up at donotmail.org.
Save notebooks & notepads to use as scrap paper (grocery lists, kids' projects, etc.).
At the office, don't print/fax every single memo when an electronically stored email will do.
Reexamine your newspaper subscription; do you need a physical copy every day?
If you have a firepit/fireplace, stop using newspaper and start your fires more efficiently with starter bricks. Or just have fewer fires.
Save plain paper bags for carrying and storing items.
Pieces of cardboard can also be used as backing in picture frames and even some furniture.
Embrace the paperless world of online news and magazines.
Minimize the use of toilet paper. Unless you've got a case of the swine flu or some other issue we don't want to know about, you probably don't need half a roll for one sitting. You might also try a bidet...
Use a perpetual-use calendar (dry-erase, magnetic kits, etc.) or your computer/email's calendar application.
Check with your local recycling facility for a specific list of recyclables (you might be surprised with what they'll accept).
Instead of paper Chinet, opt for dishwasher-safe plastic tableware at your next party.
Overpriced book-reading device that it is, the Kindle is your paper-free alternative to physical copies.
Donate your old books to book-sharing programs such as PaperBackSwap and BookMooch.
Libraries often accept stacks of old magazines. (you could recycle them, but consider the fuel required to haul them away).
Save wrapping tissue and giftwrap from gifts received to use when you give a gift.
Shredded paper waste can be used in compost bins, as packaging material when moving, and in cat litter boxes (although it does get stinkier/messier).
Don't buy paper towels! Use rags and old t-shirts to clean up your messes. At the office, use the air hand-dryer if available.
Some business-reply envelopes received in the mail can be saved for personal use.
If you bought a new coffee machine requiring different-shaped filters, you can probably still use your old filters if you're careful. Or use a filter-less coffee pot. Of course, you can compost spent filters, too.
Switch-out your post-it notes with a dry-erase board for household messages, scheduling, etc.
Phonebooks can be recycled - just make sure to tear them up into manageable chunks before you toss them in your bin.
If you're in the market for a house and are looking into a new construction, consider a builder that uses enviroboard - panels made from ecologically safe-sourced material.
Natural wood flooring is nice, but laminates and bamboo have a slightly smaller environmental impact (as always, do your homework to find the right company).
If you don't need a receipt for a given transaction, make sure to tell the clerk; they may be able to prevent the machine from printing one.
Photo paper is still paper; consider investing in a digital camera.
Egg cartons can be re-used to hold Christmas ornaments and plant seedlings, among other things.
Shoe boxes also make excellent storage containers and help organize closet/shelf space and prevent the need for rubbermaid containers.
Pizza boxes can't be recycled because of grease exposure; however, the tops, which are usually grease-free, can be cut off and binned.
Add a footer to your outgoing email reminding recipients to minimize paper use.
Paper of every kind is two-dimensional; we often use scrap paper from work to print mapquest directions, etc.
Size matters: don't use a whole sheet of paper when a post-it note will do.
Engage in environmental stewardship: when you see paper being trashed, recycle it!
Reduce the need for paper products by sharing cookbooks, magazine subscriptions, sheet music, etc. with friends and family.
Used paper can also be used for origami, paper mâché and other crafts.
It sounds goofy (and it is), but hole-puncher clippings make good confetti. When you're cleaning up the day after the festivities, use either a broom or your vacuum's dirt cup so that the scraps can be emptied into the R-bin.
After moving to a new address, don't forget to remove the packing tape from your boxes and tear them down so that they can be recycled. Or flatten and save the boxes if you'll be moving again.
Sweat the small stuff: clothing tags, receipts and expired coupons can be recycled.
Make recycling more convenient: when you put a tray by your desk or a paper bag in your bathroom, you're more likely to use them for the purpose.
Use cloth napkins instead of disposable ones.
Download music online, and you'll avoid a physical copy of the album art and liner notes (which are often included in the MP3s' ID tags, anyway).
Another option other than post-its: use the memo function of your cell phone to store lists and messages. Just don't do it while driving.
Bring your own washable grocery bags to the grocery store.
Buy recycled toilet paper. It's a bit more expensive, but at least you'll have some peace of mind.
Not to get all hippie on you, but buy hemp. An acre of hemp produces as much paper product as three acres of trees, and hemp grows faster, too.
Bring your own mug to Starbucks; you'll get a 10-cent discount and save another paper cup from the trash.
Plant a tree. Duh! :)

Can you think of more ways? I suppose the best advice I can give is to use less paper whenever possible, because ironically, even the recycling process involves CO2 production and pollution involved with de-inking.

I invite other suggestions and crazy ideas from our readers, as I'm sure there are many more not mentioned above. Happy recycling!

Cleaning Mean & Green

2009-05-20T19:59:00.006-05:00

If you can appreciate the value of a clean house, you know cleaning products can take a significant bite out of your monthly grocery bill. There's detergents, aerosols and surface cleaners specific to toilets, glass, floors, countertops...it might make you wonder how your grandparents ever lived with just plain soap and water.

Now there's a whole subcategory of products springing up at an aisle near you: "green" cleaners like Clorox's Green Works and Sunshine Makers' Simple Green. And people are buying: sales of Simple Green's all-purpose cleaner totaled $5.7 million in 2004 alone. Advertised as non-toxic and biodegradable, sounds like the earth-friendly choice, right?

Some cleaners are—but like anything else you put in your cart, caveat emptor. Nowadays, it's pretty easy to make vague, green-sounding claims (e.g., the word "natural" doesn't come with a whole lot of regulation) that lure consumers wishing to hop on the green bandwagon. As is often the case, your best bet is to do your homework and find out if the product in question is worth your money. After all, you don't want to be taken to the cleaners, now.

To that end, I hope to make your homework a little easier. Check out goodguide.com's index of all-purpose cleaners. You can search by brand name or browse the list of products, rated by health, environmental and social performance (I was somewhat surprised and disappointed to see that the Green Works we just bought has a score of 4.4 out of 10. Ouch.).

If you want to be extra green and economical, you can also make your own cleaning solutions, as virtually every surface in your home can be made to sparkle with varying combinations of white vinegar, baking soda, soap and water. Take a look at Consumer Reports' Greener Choices for a list of household ingredients and recipes for tub and tile cleaners, furniture polishes, metal polishes, air fresheners and more.

As long as we're talking recipes, my friend Annie has suggested mixing 2 tablespoons corn starch with a quart of hot water for a sprayable window cleaner. And here's one from a friend (who used to clean houses for a living, in fact) for all-purpose cleaner:

1 gallon of distilled water (minus 2 cups)
2 cups rubbing alcohol
2 tablespoons Prell shampoo

I admit I've never tried it...but seeing as how my Green Works isn't all that special, I'll have to mix it up soon.

Remember also, being green isn't just about buying the right all-purpose cleaner, it's about adopting the right lifestyle habits...but that's another post altogether. Until then, happy spring cleaning!

For Realists and Dreamers

2009-05-13T20:45:00.000-05:00

For the last few months I've been perusing a book that a friend lent to me: The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency: The classic guide for realists and dreamers by John Seymour. Seymour established the School of Self-Sufficiency in Ireland and has written numerous books on living off the land. This particular book is a heavy one, good for decorating the coffee table.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book is not only for people with five acres and a farmhouse but for anyone, even an apartment dweller, who desires to be more self-sufficient. You could be a full-fledged self-supporter, earning what little money you need by selling your own produce, or you might simply grow your own food and mend your own clothes. Inside the book, you'll find lots of inspiration for any degree of self-sufficiency, with plenty of illustrations to enhance the vast range of interesting topics. To name just a handful:

Which garden tools are used for which task
Methods of protecting your garden from pests
When to plant and harvest each vegetable/fruit and what it's good for
To-dos for each season to maintain your year-round self-sufficient lifestyle
How to buy, feed, milk, and slaughter a cow (not to mention pigs, goats, sheep, ducks...)
Keeping bees
Making beer, wine, cider, and vinegar
Composting
Building your own toilet
Drying produce in a solar dryer
Baking bread and preserving produce
Basketry, pottery, spinning wool
Building an all-purpose furnace/oven/water heater
The importance of chatting with other self-supporters in the local pub
Making the break!

And boy, it sure is tempting to make the break. I occasionally read a blog by someone who did just that and find myself green with envy.

My favorite part of the book, though, is the section on what you can do with however much land you have. These pages describe and even map out what can be done with a five-acre holding (pastures, animals, wheat, an orchard, farm buildings, everything), a one-acre holding (fruit trees, well-organized crops, and, surprisingly, hay and several animals), an allotment in an urban community garden (veggies and berries, making use of poles and strings for vertical growth), or an urban micro-garden (raised beds, more vertical supports—even for apples or plums!—and a beehive). Our yard most closely resembles this micro-garden, and I've taken Seymour's advice to use a combination of ground-level plants, raised beds, and vertically trained plants to maximize the three-dimensional space. Wonder if my neighbors would mind if I added a beehive?

All right, all you dreamers and realists. What kind of self-sufficient things do you dream of? What things do you already do?

DIY - Edible Bouquet

2009-05-12T18:31:00.008-05:00

You've probably heard of Edible Arrangements, the fruit "florist." They make those tasty bouquets of flower-shaped pineapples, melon balls, grape kabobs, and chocolate-covered strawberries. And they deliver. For this Mother's Day, my sister and I thought an edible fruit bouquet would make a great gift for our mom; she loves fruit, and she loves cutesy, crafty things like a fruit bouquet. But instead of ordering from Edible Arrangements (because it's kind of pricey and because we like projects like this—remember, food is a hobby), we created one ourselves.

It's not hard! My sister's boyfriend is a chef, so he had a handy collection of garnish tools that made it easy to ball the cantaloupe and to give the oranges that sunshine look by scoring the peel before slicing it, but everything else can be done with a paring knife. To make the flower-shaped pieces of cantaloupe, first trace your shape into the melon's flesh by making shallow cuts with the knife. Then cut it out for real. For the orange "blossom" at the bottom of our bouquet, cut a zigzag of wedges around an orange half (you'll see we speared some of the cut-out little wedges on the kabobs).

The strawberries and marshmallows are dipped in a chocolate ganache. Sounds like a fancy word; it's basically chocolate melted with other stuff so it will set when cooled but will remain soft. If you melt some chocolate chips with nothing else mixed in, the chocolate will harden again when cooled, and you'll be crunching through it to get to the fruit. I'd give you the recipe for the ganache we used, but the chef among us just whipped it up, so... I recommend you look up any simple chocolate ganache and start dipping! Or, if you prefer something beyond simple, look for a ganache in white chocolate, chocolate-orange, chocolate-raspberry, almond...

Some tips:

Stick your skewers of fruit into a half a head of cabbage. It's sturdy, foodsafe (duh) and biodegradable.
Remember to thread your fruit kabobs backwards, starting with whatever piece you want to be at the top of the skewer and sliding each piece up as you pierce it, leaving the pointy side of the skewer down, to be shoved into the cabbage.
Dip your chocolate-covered items first and let them set while you work on other pieces.
Sometimes the fruit will slide down the skewer, but grapes seem to hold their place, so slide a grape underneath pieces that won't stay put.

My next edible bouquet experiment: veggies!

Some Good News on the Green Front

2009-05-06T20:40:00.002-05:00

Today, I'd like to direct your attention to four good news articles—they're not just good articles, they're about good news! Follow the links with me...

First, let's head south to balmy Mississippi, where it's spawning time. My friend's brother is the manger of the North Mississippi Fish Hatchery, which was recently featured on a local news website. He's making the world a better place for fish and fishermen both. To find out how, check out the article and video on the Clarion Ledger's Outdoors page.

Next, we'll visit London for a taste (not literally) of a chocolate-powered car, as reported by Yahoo! Green. This experimental racecar is hoped to be one the fastest biofuel vehicles out there and is even built out of biodegradable parts.

And now, something to mark on your calendar. This weekend is Mother's Day, commonly known in the midwest as the time to begin planting outdoors. The perfect way to start this gardencentric weekend? National Public Gardens Day, of course. Friday, May 8, our nation celebrates and promotes all public gardens, including botanical gardens, arboreta, farm gardens and even zoos. Visit a public garden near you to discover its unique commitment to education, research and environmental stewardship.

Last, but not least, the DIY portion of this news digest. A couple of weeks ago (on Earth Day, as a matter of fact), MSN's Slate posted this great examination of the common question (in our house, anyway): Is it cheaper to buy it or make it? And, in the case of making it, is it worth the trouble? The article does not cover the "duh" items like hamburger buns (make!) or pizza (make!), but instead tested bagels, yogurt, and cream cheese, among other staples. I'll let you read for yourself whether you should be making these things or leaving them to the pros.

Thanks for following along. See? Not all "green news" is about the ice caps melting.

Homemade Ice Cream

2009-05-05T12:08:00.019-05:00

Welcome to another installment of the DIY kitchen!

When we last visited St. Louis, my sister-in-law's boyfriend (a sous chef-in-training) let us try a bit of his homemade vanilla ice cream, made from custard. Seeing as how May is likely to bring warmer weather (which makes the ice cream taste that much better), I thought I'd take a stab at my own ice cream concoction. When I was in college I made a banana-peach ice cream using low-fat yogurt; I thought I'd try to take a general frozen custard recipe and recreate a bit of that fruity flavor...which is how I came up with this recipe for Strawberry Banana Ice Cream:

1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup mini-marshmallows
1 cup strawberries
2 bananas, mashed

In a saucepan over low heat, whisk milk, sugar and eggs constantly for 10-20 minutes until small peaks form; set aside. When cool, whip the cream with the vanilla and lemon in a stand mixer until peaks form; fold in custard mixture and mashed banana.

For the strawberries, you can do slices if you like, but I processed them into a puree and simmered it over low heat to remove some excess moisture and give each bite more flavor. When that cooled, I added it to the ice cream mixture along with some leftover coconut we had and some not-so-fresh marshmallows (still good, just not fresh, but who can tell in ice cream?).

Anyway, just cover and refrigerate the mixture overnight. The next day, give it a turn in the stand mixer to re-whip it and stick it in the freezer. Not to brag but it came out pretty good; with a little Hershey's on top, it's like eating a banana split!

DIY - The Easy Slipcover

2009-05-04T21:25:00.006-05:00

I hear the word slipcover and think old ladies' couches, doilies and lace. But that's not the kind of slipcover we're talking about here. This is a simple, no-measuring-required, everyday-casual but nicely fitted slipcover for one cute little round footstool. (You'll want a sewing machine for this—stitching the cover by hand is possible, but it defeats the purpose of this simple project by taking too much time.)

No pattern, no measuring... This is my favorite kind of sewing—easy and improvisational. I'm good at simple curtains and pillowcases, and now I'm venturing into furniture covers. My grandma, on the other hand, has sewn those and a lot more in her lifetime: clothes for us from baby outfits to bridal party attire, a personalized Christmas stocking for every family member, and fantastically detailed Barbie doll clothes. Maybe sewing is in my blood, but I haven't challenged myself yet to more than a skirt—and I "measured" it by wrapping the fabric around myself. And I bought patterns for two cute shirts and a pair of capri pants, but that's as far as I got on those projects...

I know I said this project was no-measuring, but I lied. You may want to measure the circumference (that's around) of the footstool to make sure you cut a long enough piece of fabric. Or not: I eyeballed the length of fabric in the store by wrapping it loosely around myself (seems to be my go-to method) and saying, "Yeah, our ottoman is about this wide." The roll of fabric will probably be wide enough to leave room for the piece to cover the top of the footstool (unless your stool is very bulky), so that's it for measuring!

I should mention that this was my first time working with a stretchy textured fabric (mine has a soft t-shirt feel but is ribbed like corduroy), and I highly recommend it for such a project. It's easier to pull the cover off and on throughout the process, and in the end, it's more conducive to hiding imperfections. Dark, solid colors are also good for the latter.

Now to cut. Simply spread the fabric out on the floor. Set the footstool on its side at one corner of the sheet, leaving about an inch at each edge, and roll it completely over once. You've covered the portion of fabric you need to cut for the sides of the footstool. So cut it. Flip the footstool upside down over the remaining fabric, and cut around it for the top piece. Easy, huh?

To pin these pieces together before sewing, just pin them to the footstool in their appropriate places so they're lined up properly (and make sure the "wrong" side of the fabric—the side that will be inside when the cover is finished—is facing out). Then pin the pieces together by folding the edges up and pinning them so that about an inch of each "right" side is touching. The best way I can describe it is: pretend the seam is a mouth, the folded up edges are lips sticking straight out, and you're clamping the lips shut with pins. Shut up, seam! Goofy, I know.

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Using a zigzag stitch, sew the top piece to the sides first. It can be a little tricky sewing a curved seam, so go slow, removing pins and pulling the fabric smooth as you go. Just be careful not to stretch the fabric or the shape will be all messed up.

Pull the cover over the stool for a quick check. It's not too late to rip the seams out and start over, but hopefully you won't need to. Then, again with the zigzag, stitch up the straight seam on the side. Flip that puppy right-side-out and pull it onto the stool again. Tug in spots to line the seams up correctly.

OK, last step. The raggedy edge hanging at the bottom of the footstool. You have two choices: elastic band or drawstring. Just flip the footstool upside-down and fold that raggedy edge over one of those two items, pinning the fold in place as you go around. Remove the cover again, and sew up the fold. Careful not to run stitches over the elastic or string—you want it to be able to move inside the fold. Trim any excess. Stretch it back onto the footstool. Done!

For a more decorative touch, fabric glue can secure a ribbon (or, yes, lace) around the cover as a border. It's easiest to do when the cover is on the footstool. Just put some newspaper under the cover so you don't glue it to the footstool.

I wish you good luck in all your improvisational sewing projects (and in your traditional, more professional-method projects, too). I'd love to hear what you've finished—or left unfinished—lately!

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

2009-05-02T22:10:00.017-05:00

I think I could be a poster child for dumpster diving. Take a look around my house and you'll see a number of items from the "Curbside Collection," among them:

weight bench
computer desk
floor lamp
(we had another just like it!)
6' bookshelf
kids' dresser
(where I store my tools)
4-piece patio set
(on our front porch)
5-piece patio set
(in our backyard)
wooden barrel planters
shoe cubby
closet shelving
card tables
patio umbrella

Mostly, these items were found in good condition, needing just a little work, if any. Some duct tape here, some sandpaper there (or, in the case of our patio set, a few cans of spray paint), and you'd barely be able to tell these furnishings apart from their bought-new counterparts. Several were found while trolling the side streets of Chicago's northwest suburbs (Arlington Heights, Mt. Prospect) during "unlimited trash pickup" days. But these bargain buffets were first-come, first-served, and the competition was fierce; even my mom would roll through stop signs to beat out the other freecyclers and salvage trucks.

Just goes to show, so many people throw away/replace perfectly good stuff. I've said to Nicole how it'd be nice to quit my job and cruise the streets in search of big-ticket items to refurbish and sell on craigslist...but unfortunately, that wouldn't pay the bills as well as the 9-to-5 does. For now, it's just one of my crazy schemes. Then again, now that the weather's warmer and people are doing their spring cleaning, you can bet I'll be keeping an eye out. After all, you can't beat free!

Random pics of Nicole Going Fast

2009-05-01T09:35:00.008-05:00

TGIF! Another week in the books. To celebrate I thought I'd share some random, blurry photos of my colibrí (that's "hummingbird" en Español).

On the SeaDog tour, downtown Chicago. Hang on! Circa 2002?
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Water skiing up at my cousin's place in Silver Lake (near Kenosha) in Wisconsin. I never got out there (I'm not sure I have the balance).
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Coming home from work back when we lived about 2 miles from the Rt. 59 Metra train station.
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Water slide while camping at Lost Valley Lake, Missouri's Ozark region (big deal if it's not technically the Ozarks). Check out the hair!
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No, she's not falling towards me...just jumping down a sand dune at Warren Dunes State Park, Michigan. Because this is a picture of a picture, you can see the faint outline of me and the camera, reflected in the glossy finish. I need a scanner!

Pumped about our Pumpkins

2009-05-01T00:24:00.005-05:00

Did I mention we also have some pumpkin seedlings? See below (the pic is a picture of a picture, hence the slightly blurred image; you might note that there was snow on the ground at the time).Saved the seeds from last Halloween's pumpkin-carving. Those suckers sprout up fast! Hopefully, if the weather ever gets above, oh, I don't know - 70 DEGREES - I'll be able to put them in the ground. Nicole thinks it's still too cold, though. Maybe this weekend I can get to it, if time allows and the weather permits.

If anyone wants a seedling for their garden, let me know; I doubt we'll find room for all of these in our tiny patch of earth. Any takers? Pumpkin pie bakers, maybe?

Oodles of Green...Noodles!

2009-04-30T21:54:00.010-05:00

So, I gave you a peek of the sausage tradition in Len's family, and Len posted his latest bread recipe. Now here's some good food from my side of the family.

My mom and my sister made spinach lasagna noodles (and then later the whole dish, of course)from scratch.

There's my sis spreading the sheets of rolled-out dough:

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If you like to play with your food, homemade pasta is for you. It's very hands-on. My great grandma was Italian, and she used to tell me that she could never roll her ravioli dough as thin as her mom could (isn't that always the case?). I've tried rolling pasta dough with just a rolling pin. It's much easier with a manual pasta maker, which has a knob to adjust how close together the rollers are, so you can keep feeding the dough through, rolling it thinner and thinner.

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The dough is basically eggs and flour. So far, I've only used all-purpose flour, but many recipes call for semolina, and now that we have some in the house (see Len's aforementioned bread recipe), I'm going to try it to see the difference. I'll keep you posted, so to speak.

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For the spinach pasta dough, Mom and Sis cooked, drained and pureed some spinach and incorporated it into the dough. Voila! Green noodles.
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To cut out the individual lasagna noodles from the thin sheets, they used a special pasta cutter (think pizza wheel meets pinking shears).
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The result:

Another great thing about fresh, homemade pasta is that it needs less time to boil than dried pasta. Yes, that benefit is countered by the time it takes to mix, roll and cut the dough, but those steps really are easy and don't take very long (if you make pasta a lot, you could probably do it in the time it takes a large pot of water to boil). Besides—and here's the whole point—it's fun!

New York City-sized ice collapses off Antarctica

2009-04-29T12:09:00.003-05:00

Yep, you read that right. That's about 700 square miles! What's more, the ice shelf's thickness indicates that it took hundreds of years to form - much like the Larsen A ice shelf (collapsed in 1995) and the Larsen B (collapsed in 2002). You can read more/get depressed here.

...just one more sign of what we're going to be dealing with in the coming decades. Ugh, I need a hug. What really gets me - help me out here, Al Gore - is the paradox I'm finding myself in. I still pump out my fair share of CO2 driving the car, taking a shower, watching TV...and yes, even blogging (computer needs power; power comes from power plant; power plant burns fossil fuels). Granted, our carbon footprints measure closer to a sneaker than a snowshoe, but still.

I'm not really a fan of Roland Emmerich's films, but it's got me wondering...is The Day After Tomorrow already here?

Adventures in Edible Gardening

2009-04-28T21:30:00.003-05:00

It's chilly and rainy again. (I told you these Chicago winters were everlasting.) I'm itching to get my veggie seedlings in the ground—if it ever gets warm enough! I love having fresh produce in the yard. It's satisfying, it's cheap, and it makes healthful eating easier. I like to start my plants from seed when possible, so to get a jump on a short growing season, I start most of the seeds indoors in mid to late March. I'm still learning how to time things right.

This year, I'm embarking on a bigger gardening adventure than usual. It will be interesting to see how we get all this food to grow in our yard; you'll see why a in a little bit. Here's what we have going for Growing Season 2009:

Started from Seed Indoors

Cucumbers (small seedlings)

Pumpkins (lots of large gangly seedlings)

Cherry Tomatoes (teensy seedlings)

Yellow Pear Tomatoes (barely sprouted)

Bell Peppers (thought I saw a sprout... maybe not)
Chives (nothing yet; didn't sprout well last year either)
Cilantro (barely sprouted)
Sweet Basil (barely sprouted)
Flat-Leaf Parsley (barely sprouted)
Jalapeños (nothing yet; seeds may be too old)
Marigolds (nothing yet; seeds may be too old)
Green Chilies from New Mexico (nothing yet, etc.)
Green Beans (nothing yet, etc.)

Sowed Directly Outdoors
Snow Peas (in a container; tall seedlings)
Butternut Squash (in starter cups; nothing yet)
Buttercrunch Lettuce (in a container)*
Romaine Lettuce (in a container)*
Chinese Cabbage (in a container)*
Spinach (in a container)*

*Of these four lettuces, I think three types have sprouted, maybe all four. But I can't remember which seeds I put in which section of the rectangular wooden box, and they're all too small to identify right now.

Already Growing Outdoors

Shallots (planted the heads last fall; "green onions" tall already)

Raspberries (planted the bush last fall; new leaves are out)
Grapes (planted the vine last fall; new leaf buds visible)
Strawberries (also harvested last summer; a few new flowers out)

We are going to cram all of these tasty things into our tiny, north-facing backyard that is approximately 25' x 10'. Or we hope to, anyway. (There may also be the option of a plot in a neighborhood garden, but that's another story.) A few things are going into containers on or near the front porch, which faces north and is sunny all the time. The strawberries and grapevine are pretty unobtrusive in the ground right against the porch, and Len found a pair of wooden barrels that nicely flank our little sidewalk—I'll put the tomatoes in those. And I'm experimenting with hanging baskets on the front porch for the snow peas. Since they like to climb, I will try to train them to drape from one basket to the next. It might look pretty.

But there's hardly room for everything in front (the front yard itself is pretty much a row of bushes and a strip of grass that I'm sure our homeowners association wants to look pristine). In back, only a strip of ground closest to the alley gets sun almost all day in the summer; that is where we have dug out a rectangle in the ground and also placed the rectangular wooden box I mentioned earlier. The rest of the yard only gets full sun for a few hours at midday, and most edible things don't thrive in that much shade. So, we're planning to squeeze things in here and there. For example, the raspberries and shallots are in the sunniest part of the shady part of the yard (does that make sense?) and doing OK so far.

I'm trying to think three dimensionally to make the best use of all the space around us, not just the space on the ground. We'll see how it goes.

At any rate, I'm already tired of nursing these seedlings and can't wait to put them outside for good. At this point, they've experienced some of the nicer days outside on the porch but have to come back inside for the damp, chilly nights.

Wish me luck, and check back later for the next installment of Adventures in Edible Gardening.

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread Recipe

2009-04-27T12:43:00.020-05:00

“Eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart”

-Ecclesiastes 9:7

Baking bread is sort of a hobby of mine. Having worked in a bakery (the picture is from my brother’s first day on the job with me) and, later, watching the KETC-St. Louis program “Breaking Bread with Father Dominic” (good article about him here), it wasn’t long before I picked it up—in part because it’s also easy and economical. And, who needs a pre-sliced, store-bought, week-old loaf when you can make it yourself and fill your home with the aroma of fresh-baked bread? If only they made car air fresheners with that heavenly bouquet.

Anyway, last night I did a couple loaves: a basic banana bread (wet dough/batter) and an imitation Wonder bread (dry dough/bread machine). The recipe for the latter comes from the Top Secret Recipes cookbook (a disclosure I hope will protect me from a lawsuit should DG rack up as many hits as Pete Rose). But I digress…again.

The Wonder bread was my first try at it and calls for semolina, which looks a bit like fine-ground cornmeal (makes sense, as semolina can sometimes be used as a cornmeal alternative). Yellowish and a little gritty, it’s the same stuff you’ll find in recipes for gnocchi. Nicole said she thinks it might also contain more gluten, making the bread softer in texture. Came out good, but gigantic; I’ve modified the recipe to yield 2 loaves:

1 1/4 C warm water

2 T sugar

2 t salt

1/4 C unsalted butter, melted

4 C white flour

1/4 C semolina

4 1/2 t dry yeast

Add ingredients to bread machine in order listed and select dough cycle. Once dough is complete, separate in half and turn into 2 greased loaf pans, covering each with a bag. Let rise in warm environment for 20-30 minutes or until bread is peeking out above the pans about an inch. Just before placing in a preheated, 350° oven, brush the tops with extra melted butter. Bake for 30 minutes.

Regarding the banana bread…While it’s good on its own, I made the loaf mostly because I had some bananas that were starting to speckle, and because I wanted to try some banana bread French toast, an idea I got from the menu of Butterfield’s Pancake House, which Nicole and I visited on my birthday. Came out good! See below. Too bad the picture’s a little blurry…but you get the idea.

If anyone wants the recipe for banana bread, let me know and I'll share it in my next post. For now, I've gone on long enough (yep, here comes Nicole with the cane to yank me off the stage).

Compost, Compost, Compost

2009-04-24T10:11:00.010-05:00

Looking to grow some veggies this summer? Give your plants a hand with a healthy dose of all-natural compost, which is basically recycled organic stuff. The end result of decomposition, it's an ideal soil conditioner that keeps your garden supplied with rich nutrients. Here's a partial list of stuff you can compost:

apple cores
banana peels
carrot trimmings
corn cobs
potato peels
mushroom stems
cantaloupe rinds
strawberry tops
citrus peels
Jack-O-Lanterns
yard waste
coffee grounds
coffee filters
tea bags
egg shells
dryer machine lint
hair
leftover pizza
old car batteries

...Never mind those last two. ;-) But the other items are legit: basically anything that was grown from the earth can be recycled back into it (the dryer lint, hair and egg shells are sort of anomalies; I've been told worms love egg shells...not sure why).

Did the celery go bad in the crisper? Compost it. What about that old container of fruit salad? You bet. Not only are you improving soil quality, you're extending the life of your garbage disposal and saving space in your trash, where the organic cast-offs would stink and rot.

If you want to get serious about composting, your best bet is to buy or DIY a sturdy bin (mine's homemade). Make sure it has a heavy cover to deter animals and adequate ventilation to allow for proper breakdown of the material and prevent water from stagnating. You'll want to add plenty of carbon to balance out the organics (in our case, paper shredder clippings) and follow the three S's: sift, stir, and spray (with water) so everything decomposes evenly. From there, it's a matter of letting nature take its course, with the sun and air slow-cooking your pile into a dark brown loam...at which point you can fold it into your topsoil. A few random points to remember:

1) Composting is like your diet: you need variety! If your bin is 90% dryer lint, it's no good.

2) You can compost year-round! Waste from the winter decomposes when the weather thaws.

3) Ask friends/neighbors/relatives to pitch in. That's what we do!

4) Worms tend to speed up the process. We added some last year, and Nicole thinks they did the nasty in there also, because we have twice as many now.

5) During the summer, your pile's going to attract fruit flies, so keep it as far away from your living space as possible.

6) No excuses, city-dwellers! What about a small, in-house container?

Happy composting!

Recycling and Freecycling

2009-04-23T21:51:00.014-05:00

Since I bring home a lot of recycling from work (you wouldn't believe how much recyclable food packaging a department of 10 people produces in a week), our City of Aurora recycling bin is usually overflowing with bottles and cans come Friday morning.

I used to go out to the garage on Thursday night and stomp all the cans down under my shoe so that everything would fit and not blow all over the alley. It got to the point, though, that this was taking way too much time. Sometimes the can would shoot out from under me and slide under the car. And it wasn't doing my shoes any favors, either.

So I got a wall-mounted can crusher! Watch as Nicole demonstrates.

I know, real exciting stuff. I named it Beverly after Dr. Beverly Crusher on Star Trek. Yeah, yeah, I'm a nerd. It's Nicole's fault, she has season 1 on DVD.

Anywhoo...the really exciting part is that I got it for free from my freecycle group - an online community where you can post items you're looking for, or post items you're trying to get rid of, and people from your neighborhood come pick the items up. It's not swapping or bartering, it's just people that want to keep their old stuff out of the landfills. And as you can see, ol' Bev's still got some life left in her.

For more info, check out freecycle.org and find a group near you.

Eighty Pounds of Tradition: A Sausage-Making Adventure

2009-04-22T23:30:00.004-05:00

Yes, this is the Polish sausage. I could tell you the recipe, but then I'd have to kill you, if my in-laws didn't kill me first. It's a generations-old family secret. We still use Len's grandpa's handwritten recipe, along with his old measuring spoons and the same plastic mixing tubs that Len's dad, aunts and uncle remember from their days as little helpers on annual Sausage Day. The past three years, Len and his brother have taken over their dad's and uncle's jobs of mixing and stuffing (under the close supervision of my father-in-law, of course). I've had the privelege of helping my mother-in-law by measuring the spices, rinsing the casings, and tying off the ends.

I can't share the recipe,
but maybe you can
figure out the spices in
this picture.

Do the seasonings make
it Polish, or is it the
hands that mix it?

The homemade Polish sausage is a staple of Len's family's Easter dinner, but since we only make it once a year, we make so much more than just a holiday's worth; we make enough to have hearty Polish dinners year round. Eighty pounds to divide among us, this year. Open our deep freezer now, and you'll get a blast of frozen garlic breath. Oops! Just gave away one of the major ingredients. Well, that wasn't a hard one to guess. If there's anything in this sausage, there's garlic. Lots and lots of garlic. And maybe some of my brother-in-law's wrist hair (see photo above). Mmm.

Boil, then brown.

A tasty end result.

Hooray for Earth Day!

2009-04-22T13:26:00.014-05:00

Good news on this relatively pleasant Earth Day: there's more than corn in Indiana! The Fowler Ridge Wind Farm in Benton County, about 90 miles northwest of Indianapolis (you can see part of it from US-52), will eventually be one of the largest of its kind, able to produce 750 megawatts of power at peak operation. Currently, there are 222 wind turbines online, with plans to install more this year. Hopefully it'll be a windy year. And what a great picture! Perfect for your computer desktop.

So is it windy in Benton County? I wasn't able to find any weather info online, but most of the local high schoolers agree that Fowler Ridge blows. ;-)

Oh, I just realized this is also the 1-year anniversary of recycling my office's plastic and aluminum! I encourage you to consider doing the same for your place of work (if they don't offer such services already).

Delicious homegrown apples...in a few years, maybe

2009-04-21T20:43:00.006-05:00

This past fall, Nicole and I got some gargantuan apples from my cousins up north in Wisconsin. I mean, these suckers were as big as grapefruits! I guess apple trees love the "natural fertilizer" cows provide. The apples looked like a cross between a Jonagold and a Cortland - yellowish with lots of pink and red streaks. Haven't yet been able to confirm the exact variety, though (might need to take a trip to Thorpe and see the tree).

Anyway, when Nicole cut them up and turned them into pies, I figured, what the hell, let's save some of the seeds and see if we can get them to germinate. Our online research indicated the best way to do this was to keep them between moist sheets of paper towels in the fridge. But after more than a month, all we saw was a little pink residue on the paper towels.

Nonetheless, I planted about a dozen seeds a few months ago, and after a few days of watering, woohoo, seedlings! So now we have 6 potential trees growing on our sill. The tallest, shown here, measures about 8" with a hardy-looking stalk. Not sure where we'll plant them yet (it's not like we have room for an orchard in our backyard) or if we'll be able to pollenate them effectively, but who knows, maybe a few years from now we'll be baking a bunch of king-size apple pies with apples plucked from our very own tree!

This Land Is Your Land

2009-04-21T10:07:00.002-05:00

You don't have to look far to find "green news" these days (in fact, all you need to do is check our blog). And while there's positive green news to share (a community garden, a new wind farm, etc.), there's also lots of depressing stuff coming across the wire, too. Lots. Need an example? See the slideshow at:

http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-life/living-green/staticslideshowgreenchan.asp
x?cp-documentid=18995575>1=45002

...allow me to sum it up: yuck! Basically, this is a coast-to-coast rundown of some of the most pollution-filled places in the U.S. (never mind the "muck factories" dotting the globe - same of which paradoxically provide us with the goods and luxuries we enjoy all around us, but that's another story altogether). The article covers air (L.A.'s smog), land (Colorado's mining district, the soil of which contains high levels of cadmium, lead and arsenic, to name a few) and water pollution (the Gulf of Mexico's ever-increasing levels of "agricultural runoff" supplied by the Mississippi River).

A lot of these places, the EPA calls them "superfund" sites, because they qualify for gobs of money and broad federal authority to clean them up - because they pose a serious danger to public health (we're talking hazmat suits). And believe me, we've done some serious environmental damage in our 233 years: as of this past December 12, there are 1,255 of these sites on the National Priority List and 63 new sites proposed. Yikes.

None of the highlighted locations are near me (thankfully), but that's not to say the article makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, either. Like Woody Guthrie sang, this land is your land, this land is my land; and reading this article, I'm reminded of our environmental responsibility. I hate to sound all goody-goody, but it's true: if we all roll up our sleeves, just a little, we can make a difference. Example: it may not make a big impact, but when I'm biking and I have the Croozer with me, I'll toss whatever bottles and cans that litter the road into it so I can recycle them at home. Think globally, act locally, right? Just a thought for the day...

Green Pizza

2009-04-19T22:53:00.008-05:00

...as in spinach. Deep dish. Gino's East-style. Need I say more? I guess we might also be saving some "green" by making the 'za ourselves. Found a reverse-engineered recipe online (for Gino's pepperoni) and gave it a try, with only a few minor tweaks. Prepared in my cast-iron skillet, just as our forefathers used to make pizza thousands of years ago. Flavor-wise, it was pretty close...a couple more attempts and, if all goes well, you won't be able to tell the difference between homemade and the real deal!

Trust me folks, no need to adjust your monitors...it was as delicious as it looks!

as promised, Croozer pics

2009-04-19T22:33:00.015-05:00

from the manual...

and, an "action" shot from a trip on the Katy Trail in MO:

Speaking of Earth Day...

2009-04-19T22:18:00.004-05:00

Nicole and I also participated in Earth Hour back on March 28. Hurried home from the folks to unscrew our garage and porch lights (which are activated by stupidly hyper-sensitive light sensors). Rather than unplug everything in the house, I just flipped all the fuses in the fuse box, and, look at that, the meter's dial came to a halt.

Looking across the park we saw some houses that appeared to be participating, but probably an equal number of houses that didn't seem to be taking it seriously. It was cool to get rid of some of the unnecessary light pollution...even if it had a slightly post-apocalyptic vibe to it ("no phones no lights no motorcars, not a single luxury..."). Why don't we do this Earth Hour more often? And why is Earth Hour not on Earth Day? I'm curious to know. Might have to look into that.

If you're interested in more info, check out earthhour.org.

Everything's Greener

2009-04-18T13:41:00.006-05:00

Oh, today is a beautiful day! I'm wearing my most comfortable, light-weight capri pants and one of my favorite T-shirts, the windows are open... Ahh.

It's mostly cloudy here, but the air is warmer than it has been in years (really, about six months, but Chicago's winters seem infinite) and is, in my opinion, very comfortably humid. When the weather warms up, everything's greener. Well duh, you think, but I don't mean just the buds on the trees and the grass in the backyard (which actually looks mostly dead again!). We are greener, too.

Today we ran our first bicycle errand of the season, and man, it felt good. The gentle hills on the way home were a tad challenging, once our baskets, backpack and the Croozer were loaded with groceries, but I was pleased to find out that I'm not entirely out of shape. And it's nice not to have to rely on the car for little trips like this. In fact, biking to the store is my favorite way to multitask: Running an errand, working out, enjoying this perfect weather and being green. When it's cold outside, we can only run errands. In the car. Pbth. When it's pleasant out, the vegetable garden gets going, I stir the compost pile more often, we walk or bike most places instead of driving, Len completes a bunch of household projects (little improvements, often repairing or making new use of things that would otherwise be trash), we shut off the furnace! It's green, it's great.

So why am I inside, blogging, when it's so nice outside? Just to share one of our small, everyday adventures. Oh, and to drop a reminder: Earth Day is this Wednesday, April 22! This year, try to reduce your impact on the environment by doing something you don't normally do. That could mean not doing something, like driving unnecessarily.

As the plants outside find it easier to turn green with the warm weather, I hope you do, too.