I usually post more happy things in this space. But I can’t stop thinking about this oil spill off Mauritious. It’s such an unique eco system and a largely unspoiled place, it’s devastating to think about this tragedy.
Now that I’m quilting again, I had a look at some quilting articles I’ve been meaning to read. I really liked this stash ramble from Blue Elephant Stitches.
I’ll do a more expanded post on this, but I am now obsessed with Books and Lala.
This was an interesting introduction to Shannon Hayes and her Radical Homemaker Lifestyle.
This is a cool look at different tarot cards. And this is only the tip of the iceberg.
6 More Months Zero Waste | August - Carry No Disposables
6 More Months of Zero Waste is where we explore how to create a more zero waste and plastic free lifestyle one monthly challenge at a time. Zero waste is the goal, mindful reduction and exploration of less waste is the action.
We talk a lot about disposables in this series. We’ve switched from using plastic bags to paper or reusable, we’ve given up plastic bottled water, we try to carry our zero waste kit. 2020 has made all these things harder.
Maybe you were really good about bringing your own coffee cup but now they cafe won’t let you use them. Maybe always had your reusable bags, but now the grocers wont touch them, maybe you got take out in your own container and now you can’t. What a bummer.
But for the rest of August, let’s pledge to carry no disposables. Things are a little more relaxed in places so many coffee shops will let you bring your cups again, or stop in at a spot where you fill your own. No more take out containers: let’s eat at home, or dine out safely. We can always bring our own container for left overs!
Sticking to reusable will be hard going for a while longer, but the sooner we start making reusables the norm again, the sooner others will follow. Remember, switching to a more zero waste life style isn’t about grand sweeping changes, it’s about the small change we can make each and every day.
If you are new to this series, here’s what ew are working on for this 6 moth block. Follow along or pick and choose challenges to try.:
June 2020- Say NO, Say Yes
PLASTIC FREE JULY
August 2020 - carry no disposables
September 2020 - back to school/educate
October 2020 - beach clean
November 2020 - Hidden plastic
December 2020 - Repair before you replace
We started our tackling new zero waste challenges six months at a time in 2019: January 2019 - Trash Audit
We separated and looked our trash to see what we are throwing away and what we can reduce.
February 2019- Declutter Everything
We went thru what we have to declutter and reduce.
March 2019- Switch to Paper
This month we moved to paper to get one step closer to reusables.
April 2019- Compost
Composting is an easy way to reduce food waste and prevent it from reaching the landfill.
May 2019- Meatless Monday
One of the best ways to improve the environment is to stop eating factory farmed meat and industrial fish. Small steps lead to big change so this month we gave up meat (or dairy or fish) for at least one day.
June 2019- No Bottled Water
We gave up bottled water as an avenue to give up more disposable plastic in Plastic Free July.
July 2019 - Plastic Free July!
Go plastic free this month!
In late 2019, we continued our journey to becoming more zero waste:
November 2019 - Zero Waste Kit
We created a zero waste kit to help us be more zero waste in our day to day life.
December 2019- No Gifts
We took Dec to give no gifts and get no gifts.
January 2020 - Clothing and Fast Fashion
This month we explored what fast fashion is, and how we can stop buying it forever.
February 2020- Use Mass Transit
The shortest month seemed like a good time to explore alternatives to driving our cars.
March 2020 - Bathroom Make-over
You’ve swapped out a few items to more sustainable choices around the house. It’s time to tackle a full room.
April 2020- Grow Your Own Food
April marks the start of spring in the continental USA, and when we can start growing food easily. But there are many ways and time to grow your some of own food.
Little House in the Suburbs
One of my goals in 2020 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.
Little House in the Suburbs: Backyard Farming and Home Skills for Self-Sufficient Living by Deanna Caswell and Daisy Siskin is one of several books on self sufficiency I’ve read. I think I got this one used from amazon.
Two friends living not that far away from each both decide to get back to basics. They share their wins, loses and advice in this book.
Why do sustainablilty books try to be so cute and clever? It’s really annoying. Please avoid the cliches, puns, silly phrases and the like. I get it that many sustainability authors are nervous about sharing their lifestyle, that they worry about how “normal” people will relate. Or at least I guess this is what they are thinking. Make it cute, make it twee, that way the masses will become interested. It’s true that for many (perhaps most) people subjects in this type of book, like growing your own food, raising chickens and goats, making your own hair products, sewing your own clothes, keeping bees, and other homesteading ideas, will be very strange. These concepts seem remote, alien and undoable to most people nowadays. But it wasn’t that long ago that these were extremely mundane practices. If you had a yard, you grew food, you prob had a few chickens. If you wore clothes you repaired them, sometimes you made more. You used the scraps to make rags or quilts. If you wanted honey, you had bees and if you wanted clean hair, you made shampoo or soap. Although our society has moved far from these easy daily tasks that enrich our lives, it wasn’t so long ago that they were “normal”. Books like these, by reducing these actions to simply cute, silly stories, I believe do the opposite of the goal intended. They allow someone interested in these subjects to blow off the reality of it. I actually ended up skipping a lot of this book. I wasn’t really interested in many of the side stories, looking more for the informative aspects of the text. I skipped the goat section, as I do not intend on getting goats. There is a lot of useful information in this book, you just have to get thru a lot of “cute” to find it. All that being said, I do think for people new to the slow living or homesteading movement, this book does go over a lot of questions one might have. It covers a good range of basics, like gardening and easy health care items and recipes, to more advanced projects like keeping chickens, bees or goats. Some passages in this book were a bit outdate language wise even though it was only written in 2012, but the message is pretty timeless. If you are looking for an overview into urban homesteading, this might be a good starter book. I would recommend this book to those interested in this lifestyle and who live in the suburbs, those who have none of the basics but want to learn more, or those interested in some of the specifics in this book, like easy beekeeping.
Do you have a favorite homesteading or slow living, or low impact movement lifestyle book that you can recommend?
Summertime Makes Me Want to Quilt
You would not think that the hottest month of the year would make one crave to be seated, inside, under layers of cotton and batting, squinting and repeatedly poking themself with a needle. No one wants to sit under a sturdy quilt in August Summer for a few minutes, let alone the hours and hours it takes to make one, right?
But every August, without fail, that’s what I get a craving for.
My early life of quilting was mostly concentrated on vacations, in August, in the balmy Vermont Summers. And I just can’t shake that muscle memory or the desire to return, year in and year out, to those simpler times. Mid August rolls around and I start to dream of lush green vistas, sitting by a lake, or out on a porch, with a freshly peiced quilt over my lap, myopically poking away and sweating.
What do you crave in the summertime?
On My Mind On Friday Morning
Another photolog of deserted places.
Fascinating article about the history of separating a boys and girl clothes and toys section in stores.
I’ve gotten out of the habit of eating salads. Maybe this list of dressings to try might help?
I really like the idea of giving kids tools, not toys. I wonder if adults should have the same or the opposite?
What do you think about this list of the 10 best talking cats? I think I would add Ysma from The Emperor’s New Groove.
Videos about Videos
As you may have noticed, I want to start a YouTube Channel.
(Well, okay, I already have one. You can visit it here. But be warned, I haven’t posted there in a long while!)
Over the last 5 or so years, I’ve really gotten into watching YouTube. Watching videos and hearing people stories has really helped me on my Zero Waste journey, taught me sewing techniques, helped me better understand composting, shown me the joys of marble racing, and much more. I hope one day I can make videos that make people happy too!
I’ve been watching Renee Amberg for a few yers now. I really like a lot of her videos (about books, manifestation and planning), and others not so much (her lifestyle is very different from mine, so I skip a lot of her vlogs). I thought these “honest” tips for starting a channel were really helpful.
Jania On Film, is not a youtuber I ever watched before searching this topic, or the kind of youtuber I watch normally. But I found this video while seraching videos about how to become a youtuber and how much money creators make and I was really captivated by her style. I plan to explore some more of her content!
Another new to me creator is Jada Jones. I came across her in a video about up-and-coming yourtubers and I really enjoy her vibe. I like the way she talks to the camera as she would to a friend. This video echoed a lot of things that Renee said, but it was good to see another take on it.
My OG favorite channel abut building a youtube channel, tho is channelnotes by MuchelleB. I love her style, her voice and I think she has a lot of great advice. She breaks it down way more and shares more detailed aspects of how to create a youtube channel. I highly recommend her vids! She’s paused channelnotes but her main channel is still great!
Do you have a Youtube? How did you get started?
Bullet Journal Check In | August - What I Track and Why
The other day, I saw a friends habit tracker on Instagram and they requested to see mine. When they did, they were surprised! I was tracking so many things!!
When I first started bullet journalling, my tracker was only a handful of things, now it’s up to about 50.
I think my friend used thier habit tracker to keep them motivated for certain tasks, and I use mine that way, too. But I mostly use it to track my habits. I like to see what days I do what things, how often I do those things. I like to see what weeks or months I do which of the things I track. Sometimes I want to build a habit so I put it on my tracker to inspire me. My habit tracker changes seasonally. Summers I track swimming, Winters I might track something else. Some tasks I would do whether they were on the tracker or not. Some I very rarely do. I Like to look back over the month to take note of all this info.
Recently I’ve tried to put all the action items I want for my morning routine in one spot on my habit tracker. This way I can see if I do each item every day. I like how this has been working. Sometimes checking the habit tracker reminds me of some part of my morning routine and I set out to do it before I forget. Sometimes I don’t end up doing it in the morning, but later in the day instead.
Occasionally these are things that I will kick off my tracker if I see that I’m consistently not doing them. Sometimes I take things off bc I don’t feel the need to track them any more.
More often I think of things I might like to add to my tracker. But unless I drop other items, I’m just about out of room!
Do you use your tracker to keep you motivated? Do you track only things you do with consistency? Do you change your habit tracker each month or always track the same items year in and year out?
Why I Buy Secondhand
Last week, I went to a thrift store for the first time since March. That’s 5 months of no thrifting. That’s a long time!! That also means I went 5 months basically not buying anything besides groceries or food. And luckily, I found just want I was looking for! Right in the front of the shop, I found some cute little dishes, perfect for cat bowls.
In recent years, I’ve moved to mostly buying second hand items. The last new thing I bought, that wasn’t food or art, was a frying pan over a year ago. I already loved thrifting, but when zero waste became more important to my lifestyle, thrifting became more important as well. The more I thought about waste, the more I thought about the way things are made. Who makes them, how those people are treated, the waste that goes into production, packaging, mailing, shipping, shopping, and consumerism. And I had a realization: Basically everything I might need already exists.
Think about that for a minute.
The reasons I buy second hand is bc I don’t need to buy new.
Buying second hand reduces waste, gives items a second (or third, or fourth, etc… ) life, and saves money, among many other things.
Next time you need an item, take a minute to see if you can source it second hand! That thing you need is already out there, waiting for you to find it.
Howl's Moving Castle
One of my goals in 2020 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.
I’m pretty sure I “borrowed” Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones from my mom. But I could have also got it at a book sale. It seems like a thing I would pick up.
Sophie is the middle girl in her family and is therefore content to remain in her families hat shop toiling away, as that is the fate of middle children. But one day she is visited and cursed by a witch and Sophie’s thoughts about life and her place in it change drastically.
Surprisingly this book and author are not well known. Jones wrote a prolific amount of books, including several that a certain famous writer mined (stole?) ideas for her most famous wizarding series. I have read some of Jones’ books before, but I didn’t realize that they were all by the same author until researching this review. Howl’s Moving Castle is actually a trilogy of books all revolved around Ingary, a magical kingdom in a magical world closely related to our own world. The first book is probably the most well known of all Diana’s book bc it was made into a Hayao Miyazaki film of the same name. I have seen the film, but remember very little of it. I liked this book bc, although many books are set in magical lands, this one is also connected to the “real world”. I thought that this was an interesting take on magic in general. No spoilers, but trust me, it is unlike that aforementioned wizarding book. I also liked that there are many magical and fairytale tropes in this book, but they all have a bit of a spin. There’s a scarecrow, but it’s not what you expect, there’s a house hunted (but by a demon!). It was fun to see where the twist on the tale I was familiar with would turn up. I also picked up on a few other ideas that I’ve seen borrowed by other books, or shall we say that inspired other work? I really enjoyed this book, but it was actually a little difficult for me to get through. I’m not sure if it was the style it was written in, or that it was just such a different type of book from those I’ve been reading lately, but I felt that reading Howl really dragged for me. At points, I really wanted this book to just be over. I would blame that feeling more on me and my mindset than the book it’s self, bc I also feel this book starts a spate of books that dragged my reading down. That being said, I would definitely recommend this book to those who love magical adventures, those who have seen the movie based on it, those who like new takes on traditional fairytales, and anyone wanting to see some source material for other more well known authors.
I plan to watch the movie when I can find it! Have you ready this book and seen the movie? How did they compare?
Plastic Free July is Over - What's Next?
OK, you made it through Plastic Free July - good job!
What did you give up? What did you find was hard about this challenge? Or was it easier than you thought?
But what's next?
That's up to you, of course. You may choose to do something you didn't get to do for the month of July, or you may choose to continue to do something you started during PFJ. If you are planning to continue on the Plastic Free journey, here are five ideas to try next:
-Give up single use plastic water bottles
This is a tough one for a lot of people. Maybe you still buy bottled water. Now is the time to get a reusable water bottle and never look back!
-Have a trash audit
Save your trash for a week or some period of time and see what you are throwing away. Once you see what you are wasting, you can see where to reduce your waste.
-Have a recycling audit
Same idea as above but with your recycling. A good thing to keep in mind is that glass and metal can be recycled almost an infinite amount of time, but plastic can only be recycled once or twice before they go to the landfill.
-Pick a disposable plastic to give up forever
Maybe you gave up plastic straws for Plastic Free July, go ahead and give them up forever! Or if you already integrated giving up plastic straws already, pick plastic bags to give up next, etc..
-Choose food not packaged in plastic
Hopefully, if nothing else, PFJ made you more aware of all the plastic that is used in daily life. Once I started thinking about plastic, I realized it was everywhere!! An easy start to refusing disposable plastics is to pick unpackaged foods. Skip the cauliflower in a plastic bag and buy unpackaged broccoli instead. (or find cauliflower unpackaged at a different store).
This is only the tip of the iceberg. Now that you are thinking about the plastic and the waste in your life, there’s so many little steps you can take to reduce. Plastic Free July is a great start, but don’t stop there, the sky is the limit!
For more inspiration, check out our 6 More Months to Zero Waste Series!
On My Mind On Friday Morning
I missed the comet that was visible last month. Luckily there are photos.
Every year there is a shark to keep tabs on. Let’s check in with May.
A fox and a thief.
Reading about some of New York Mag’s favorite foods of Brooklyn and Manhattan made me want to go on an eating tour of NYC. Once restaurants re open and it’s safe to travel to the city, of course!
I would love to visit some of these pools right now.
July Plant Update
July was a good month for plant observations. Although it didn’t feel like we got out too much, we did indeed see some fun things. From the moment flowers start blooming until it’s too cold, these articles will always be a lot of just pretty flowers.
Echinacea are my Summer favorite.
Now sure what these are but we planted them in the spring and they keep blooming.
Who is this frilly fella? Another echinacea?
A perfect circle.
I tried to maintain our house plants this month, moving some, turning others.
The monstera is doing well!
We came across this and other mushrooms on one of our evening walks .
I was trying to capture the two enormous crows in this tree in this pic, but it turned out to be a nice tree portrait instead.
We drove out to visit Cherry Grove Farms and this is what it looks like.
And we met these goats!!
Notable about July was that it was hot. Like really hot and sweaty. We were lucky to be out and about as much as we were. What was July like where you live?
2020 Monthly Goals | August Goals and July Recap
Somehow I did worse on my July goals then my June goals??
Inbox to zero, but really this time
Sometimes when I look at my inbox I just feel dread.
Did even touch it.
Make 1 comic
I’d really like to find a way to chronicle my experiences
I did actually do some sketches for this. I don’t have a clear goal or story in mind tho, so that’s as far as I got.
Make 1 video
I’ve made a few in the past, but I would like to get better at it.
Not at all.
Stretch
I’m not sure why I can’t get this into my routine.
Nope. But I am rolling this one over.
Restart sourdough
June was rough and I was not able to keep up with it but I really like having starter for breads, pancakes and cookies.
This goal I actually decided was not well suited for the Summer. I do plan on starting my starter again in the Fall.
Work on Decluttering
I’n not going to fool myself that I can declutter everything in one month, but I have been trying to get some progress made on this goal.
Did not do.
Here are my August Goals:
Sew
I’ve started to get back into this and I want to make it part of my daily life.
Stretch
I have got to figure this goal out.
Make 1 video
it doesn’t matter what it is or what it’s about. I just gotta get the process started.
Tattoo work
I want a tattoo, I want to tattoo. I just have to do something on this goal. Either book an appointment for a tattoo, or practice the art of tattooing.
First steps on my book
In July, I had a realization of a book I want to write. I would like to take some baby steps to this.
Looking over my Aug goals, I see that they are all creative! I must be craving some creativity in my life right now!! Are your end of Summer goals about productivity or creativity?
Mad Cat Garden | July 2020
The month of July went by so fast, it seems like I only got garden pics from the very beginning. I’m sure, if you live in the northern hemisphere, you can imagine how July and the height of Summer is like tho. Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes.
In our two main back beds, the tomatoes were still ripening in the beginning of the month, but by the end we had tons of tomatoes. Our peas were totally done. Our peppers were peppering away. We grew almost all our peppers from seed that we saved from last year, so we were excited to have such a good crop. By the end of July, the lettuces were all but gone. we picked the remainder and hope to get another batch for our fall garden going soon. Cauliflower had long gone to seed. For some reason our potato vine died, but there seem to be a few potatoes under the earth.
More tomatoes and peppers in our middle bed. Most of what we planted this year was experimental. Some worked well, others did not. It’ll be interesting to sow a Fall garden this year, for more experimentation.
The last veg bed was planted latest and has a random assortment. Arugula, tomatoes, zucchini, endive, lettuce. The endive is thriving all thru July, but it’s so bitter we can’t eat it. Someone is eating the zuccs but it’s not us. The tomatoes in this patch are inexplicably blush colored.
The herb bed in the front is booming and everything is bolting now in the heat. In late July I chopped all the basil down to hopefully get a second crop out of it. So far, so good.We planted soy beans, which are beautiful! But we can’t tell if they are ready to pick yet. We have a bunny friend who visits here and has eaten the low hanging tomatoes. We’ve started laying out any split or over ripe or fallen fruit from the back as an offering.
In the beginning of the month we still had blueberries. The birds quickly ate all of them. By the end of July, the bushes were bare.
Most of these were ripened, picked, eaten and the branches thinned by the end of the month.
One of the few store bought peppers, pepperoncini, was prolific so far in July.
Lovely lavender from a local seller.
We grew all our shishitos from seed this year. Why are they so hard to find for sale? Blistered up, with lemon and course salt, they are one of our favorite meals. I recently served them with a horseradish and mayo dipping sauce and they were divine. Tomatoes are another staple Summer dish and we eat a lot of them!
How has your garden been this month? are you eating a lot from your growing?
The Cat Nappers
One of my goals in 2020 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.
I can’t remember where I got The Cat Nappers by PG Wodehouse, but it must have come from a local library or book sale as it was once housed at the Brielle Library.
After Wooster visits the doctor and is urged to move to the country for clean living, he and Jeeves must find their way out of another pickle, this one involving aunts, engagements, spots on the chest, horses, an African explorer and one friendly cat.
I’ve read or listened or watched quite a few Jeeves and Wooster stories now, and this one felt quite diierent to me. Although Wodehouse’s most famous characters are always self referencial, this book felt especially so. I wondered why so I looked up this book and it turns out that this is the last J&W book ever written. This book was called Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen when it was released, but changed to The Cat Nappers in America. Makes sense to me! One of the reasons I love Wodehouse’s books are their truly and uniquely British ideals and languages. But this title might be too British for those not in the know. If you hadn’t read of Wooster’s lamenting his aunts before, you might not get it. This book touches on Bertie’s fear and angst of Aunts, his love of creating his own single letter abbreviations, J&W’s habit of running into people with whom they have already had encounters (usually of the unpleasant kind) and many more tidbits and treats that are common in these stories but in a more intese fashion. So I wouldn’t recommend this book to new readers of Wodehouse or Jeeves and Wooster, but I would recommend it to those familiar with the characters, those that love romping British Country Side Adventures, and readers who might like a yarn about stealing cats.
Have you read any books staring this bumbling and balance duo?
July in Review
I can’t quite figure out July. It didn’t go by quickly, but I can’t believe that it’s over…
We worked a lot this month, and bc of the state of the world we stayed home a lot. We grew our garden and got to eat a lot from there. We spent lots of time with the cats and a lot of time in our only air conditioned room. We tried to keep up our nightly walks, and we did explore a few new places. We saw a #watchercat or two.
July was hot and busy and bustling. But it was good and motivating as well. We read and researched some things we have been thinking about. We ventured out to local restaurants for take out this month more than in the past 6 months or more. At times we were excited about this, at times we were wary. Overall, It feels good to get back to “normal” life and indulge in some of the foods and treats we enjoy, but part of it feels like it’s too soon. IN the end we decided on a healthy balance.
Some of the questions I’ve been asking my self in July are related to the future. How does the current state of the world effect us in the long term? What do we like about this time and what do we wish we could go back to? How do these times change my long term goals? It’s been hard to focus on self improvement bc work has been so busy, but asking these questions helps me to get in the right place for future action. July was a good month for reflection, if not for action.
I wonder if August will action packed?
On My Mind On Friday Morning
Let’s go back to Clamshell Currency.
I love Fort Defiance in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and I am sad that it will no longer be a restaurant but I’m glad that many of my favorite spots are still open in some form and adapting to make it work.
You know I love abandoned places.
This looked like a delicious stuffed naan recipe.
Who doesn’t want to see photos of Sir Patrick Stewart on stage???
Mad Cat Capsule | Summer 2020 (July, Aug, Sept)
This year of capsule wardrobes started on a high note, but by now, Summer, I’m kinda blah on it. At the beginning of the year I felt rejuvinated about my caspule, lately I’m unmotivated for anything that takes me out of the house. Even thinking about leaving the house fills me with ennui. While making my capsule I have to think about where I’m going and how I’m going to use the capsule. All I really want to wear these days is biker shorts and a tank top. Loungewear, cutoffs, oversized tees. But the reality is that I do need to leave the house sometimes. So here’s what I came up with for my Summer Capsule Wardrobe.
10 t shirts - AA green crewneck (10+ years old, ethical), elephant band tee (6+, local artist), ford crop (vintage, thrifted), minutemen tee (10+), Happy Bday Sandwiches! (handmade, thrifted, 10+), grey hypo color (vintage), grey AA crewneck (10+, ethical), california raisins (vintage, thrifted), talulas cream tee (5+, local biz), talulas pool party (local biz).
8 tops - talulas baseball (local biz), white sheer geo print (thrifted), white floral (thifted), white longsleeve (10+), linen floral (thrifted), silk floral (vintage), holey stripe (10+), xx.
8 tanks - circle flower (10+), unicorn (5+), green stripe (found), floral crop (10+), grey (10+), black (10+), Surf crop (10+), xx.
2 sweaters - grey cardigan (vintage, hand me down), green (5+).
4 dresses - silver (thrifted, ethical), black and white (5+, ethical), bird (8+, small biz), xx.
2 skirts - black (10+, small biz), blue short skirt (5+).
3 pants - black “linen” (5+), blue joggers (hand me down), xx.
5 shorts - cut offs (vintage, thrifted), levis “cut offs” (3+), white (5+), grey biker (5+), anchor (vintage, thrifted).
6 jeans - white (thrifted), green (thrifted), teal (thrifted), everlane blue (sustainable, ethical?), fray bottom (thrifted), xx.
I left a few blank spaces in there, bc I haven’t had a chance to go thru all my back up clothes, yet. I wanted to leave room to find a few more items and shop my closet. That leaves this capsule right around 50 pieces, which is pretty normal for me.
I kept a similar color scheme to spring; cream, peach, green, denim, white, teal, some black and of course, grey. I love how my three masks fit perfectly with my capsule. As always when making this post, I finalized and took out a few pieces. Getting everything out of the closet to photograph and count always brings the capsule into sharp focus and shows what doesn’t quite fit, or inspires for a few more items.
I didn’t include shoes in this capsule bc I have only been wearing an old pair of flops that have recently died (RIP), and an old pair of vans that are on their way out. Since my flops are no longer, I’ve been taking the opportunity to go bare foot more.
I’m interested to see how this capsule serves me for the next little over 2 months. Did you make a Capsule Wardrobe this season?
Something New: Writing Letters to Companies
A few years ago, I wrote a letter to my favorite pasta company, Bionaturae. They make the best commercial pasta, in my opinion. It’s tasty, easy to cook, and gets perfectly al dente if you cook it correctly. Since I was just starting my zero waste and plastic free journey, I really wanted to find alternatives to using products with so much plastic packaging, but this pasta is something I didn’t want to go without. I wrote and asked if there was any way I could get their products plastic free? Perhaps they sold in bulk? Perhaps I could buy directly from them? The answer I got back was a not-overly-polite “no”. It wasn’t impolite, but it wasn’t enthusiastically polite, either. I had intended to write more companies but this flat no made me a little discouraged. I wrote a few more letters here and there, but largely gave up on the idea.
A few weeks ago, I was buying my favorite pasta again and was so pleased to find out that the are changing the packaging to use less plastic!! I had resigned myself to recycling the bags this pasta came in, but the new packaging is far less plastic and mostly cardboard! Now it will be easier to recycle or even compost parts of my pasta packs.
I don’t really think my letter had anything to do with the change, but maybe it did! Maybe lots of people asked the same thing and that facilitated the change?
Either way, writing letters to your favorite companies asking them a few simple questions couldn’t hurt!
So now, I’m back to writing letters. I recently wrote to one of our favorite bread makers, Martin’s Potato Bread, to ask what ethical practices they use for their workers and in their factories. They are a family run business that is made in the USA, they only use non GMO ingredients, so in my mind they are already showing that they care. I asked if they had any plans to make a vegan version of their products. I would feel way better about buying vegan potato rolls!!
The same day, I wrote to a flip flop company I had purchased from a few years ago. I need a new pair of flops, but I’m just not sure what to get. This company is among several companies often listed for making sustainable flops. They do use sustainable practices for harvesting their rubber, but do they use ethical practices for the people harvesting? They make an interesting point, that recycled flops, often made from spent tires, are only delaying the inevitability of them ending up in landfills and not biodegrading. The rubber they use biodegrades. But since nothing biodegrades naturally in a landfill, I wanted to know if they had other suggestions for disposing of the flops?
I haven’t heard back from either company yet. But hopefully I will! What questions do you have about some of your favorite products? What do you want to know before you buy something new? I encourage you to ask those questions!
Urban Foraging Diaries
I’m not sure where I first got the idea to pick things out of the trash. But I’ve been doing it for a long time.
I will always remember a particularly gorgeous lime green velvet swivel easy chair. I remember seeing it as I was driving home, retuning a few hours later, delighted that is was still there, wrestling it into my car, giving it pride of place in my room, later moving with it to NYC, it getting scratched up and ruined by the cats, and the day I had to sadly put it back out on the curb, really trash this time. I added years and years to that beautiful chair’s life and it brought me years of joy.
When the pandemic started and we realized that we couldn’t go thrift shopping any more, we started paying more attention to when the big pick up days for garbage were around us. We were going for nightly walks anyway and had spotted a few cool things out out on the curb. Bc of Covid 19, it took us a little while to get comfortable, but eventually we picked up a few items here or there. We use gloves, or wash our hands after, and let the objects sit outside for a few days or clean them well before bringing them into the house.
Now we go out on the days we know to scout. Most weeks we don’t get anything, but sometimes we hit a small jackpot. We’ve gotten many planters and pots of all sizes, a baseball bat, wood for various projects, a large sun umbrella, and more.
Last week we picked up a well loved dining room side board. We plan to cut the top shelf off and use it on our green house. The top is warped and the wood there is splitting, so cutting that off won’t be a tragedy. It’s clear that this piece was stripped, refinished, and stripped again. Then left for a long time in a basement or shed. But it has plenty of life left in it!
It might seem weird to pick something our of someone else’s trash, but if an object is still useful, it’s far better for it to go on being used. So let’s not call it garbage picking. Let’s call it urban foraging.
Have you found treasure in other people’s trash?
