Thanks to our food scraps plus a pile of dead straw from someone's curbside and several generous handfuls of grass from the yard, the new composter is filling up nicely and now it needs to get cooking. It does seem to be getting warmer in there though it could just be that it's a black barrel on a hot day in a sunny porch. But hopefully it'll start steaming soon and then I'll know something is really happening.
I know the cycle will be starting over continuously as we add more waste, since we have no intention of getting another mixer and alternating, bit seeing as the compost itself isn't the whole goal then it really doesn't matter. As the material breaks down we can take out handfuls of compost, sifting through for whatever needs more time and using what we get, as we get it, on the plants.
Speaking of which, it's looking like some of my sprouts are ready for re-potting. I think it;s the chard though ti may possibly be the cucumber, and the tomatoes sprouts are on their way.
I love looking out the window and seeing the colorful cloth diapers hanging in the warm sun like Tibetan flags, the composter making fertilizer, the amaryllises nearly blooming, al with the backdrop of the city's main industrial zone. We're really our own little urban paradise here. At least, we;re on our way.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Happy birthday to you
I finally got my birthday present...er, five and a half months late.
Today my husband gave me this!
Updates to follow!
Today my husband gave me this!
Updates to follow!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Little green bag
I recently swore off plastic bags. I've often carried my own bag around, and have a collection of cloth bags that we use for large shopping trips. But now I'm off plastic bags for good. I have a cute little fold-up bag I keep in my purse at all times for those unexpected shopping trips and if it's not enough, I just buy a cloth bag from the supermarket rather than take plastic.
Today, for example, I made two unplanned stops. In the first store I declined their bag and stuffed everything in my purse and whatever didn't fit I just carried. In the second I bought their green bag (literally, it's green) for my groceries. We have a growing collection of them at home but they get used for everything; just this morning I emptied the laundry into one when I couldn't find an available basket.
Plastic bags really frustrate me. Now that I'm making a point never to accept them in stores I've started to realize how little thought the average consumer puts into them. And it's not even just at checkout; you use plastic in the produce aisle (do you really need to bag your cucumbers?), every time you buy individual serving sizes (is it really that hard to spoon out your yogurt from a larger tub?), and each time you buy pre-packaged (why get your chicken all wrapped in plastic in a styrofoam tray instead of having the butcher give you the fresher, prepackaged cuts?)
Just some food for thought.
Today, for example, I made two unplanned stops. In the first store I declined their bag and stuffed everything in my purse and whatever didn't fit I just carried. In the second I bought their green bag (literally, it's green) for my groceries. We have a growing collection of them at home but they get used for everything; just this morning I emptied the laundry into one when I couldn't find an available basket.
Plastic bags really frustrate me. Now that I'm making a point never to accept them in stores I've started to realize how little thought the average consumer puts into them. And it's not even just at checkout; you use plastic in the produce aisle (do you really need to bag your cucumbers?), every time you buy individual serving sizes (is it really that hard to spoon out your yogurt from a larger tub?), and each time you buy pre-packaged (why get your chicken all wrapped in plastic in a styrofoam tray instead of having the butcher give you the fresher, prepackaged cuts?)
Just some food for thought.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Baby got back
Today I want to talk a bit about cloth diapers. I've been thinking a lot lately about shopping and the excessive usage of plastic bags, and do want to talk about that, but I'll save that for the next post. Right now though I want to share a bit on how my husband and I choose to diaper our daughters.
I was cloth diapered as a baby, simply because that is what was done in those days. But now there are plenty of other options and most people don't even consider CD. When I was pregnant I did a bit of research, mostly (initially, at least) motivated by the fact that we were expecting twins and I was searching for a way to keep our expenses down. I discovered modern day cloth, and how different the diapers are today from how they were back when I was a kid. Now you don;t just have flats with pins and plastic pants; now there are prefolds with PUL covers, snappis, pockets, all-in-ones, fitteds, doublers, wool longsies, etc. It's a whole new world. It's a far more user-friendly world, that's for sure.
We settled on a stash of prefolds with covers and, mostly, pockets, of which BG 3.0 make up the bulk. We do use disposables at times, like when we're out and about. With two babies there's a limit to how many soiled cloth diapers I want to carry around town with me. Do I feel bad I don't CD all the time? Yes. But mostly I feel better about all the time I do CD, and the landfill space I am saving every time I reach for a brightly colored cloth diaper instead of a disposable.
There are other choices I make that are in line with my eco-friendly philosophies. I don't use Pampers or Huggies or other imported diaper brands and instead choose to use the local Tiltulim brand. They work just as well as any other diaper and are usually far cheaper than any other brand. It's the same reason why I don't use compostable diapers. They sound great, but aren't made locally, so the fuel used to ship all those diapers across the ocean isn't worth it to me.
Remember, every time you make a purchase, you are condoning now that item reached the supermarket shelf. Did it come on a truck from another factory? Was it manufactured in another country, trucked to an airport, flown cargo halfway across the world? Trucked to a storage facility, then trucked to the supermarket shelf?
Similarly, think about what happens when it leaves that shelf. Do you stick it in your car and drive it home? Do you walk it home? Do you take public transportation? Every single one of these choices has an impact, yet they are things most people never even consider.
We are fortunate enough to live a stones throw away from a supermarket, making our purchases very easy. But even when we lived further we still walked home, or would take public transportation home (while loaded with a granny cart and hiking backpack full of our purchases.) These decisions do have an impact. You do have the power to make a change with every single choice you make. Don't fall for colorful labeling, encouraging you to buy the imported item over the equal local one. Don't be afraid of spending an extra few minutes doing something slightly more complicated but that benefits the planet immensely (because really, CD does only take an extra two minutes a day, total. If even that. Certainly time saved from not having to schlep out all that diaper garbage every day!)
It's not for everyone, there is an ick factor. But what parent hasn't been spit up on, peed on, and pooped on already? It actually is possible to do this without dirtying your hands one bit. Plus, they're so darn cute!!
Edit: my mother corrected me, "we when [sic] had you, some people used cloth diapers, but not many. We were pretty counter culture in what we did then."
I was cloth diapered as a baby, simply because that is what was done in those days. But now there are plenty of other options and most people don't even consider CD. When I was pregnant I did a bit of research, mostly (initially, at least) motivated by the fact that we were expecting twins and I was searching for a way to keep our expenses down. I discovered modern day cloth, and how different the diapers are today from how they were back when I was a kid. Now you don;t just have flats with pins and plastic pants; now there are prefolds with PUL covers, snappis, pockets, all-in-ones, fitteds, doublers, wool longsies, etc. It's a whole new world. It's a far more user-friendly world, that's for sure.
We settled on a stash of prefolds with covers and, mostly, pockets, of which BG 3.0 make up the bulk. We do use disposables at times, like when we're out and about. With two babies there's a limit to how many soiled cloth diapers I want to carry around town with me. Do I feel bad I don't CD all the time? Yes. But mostly I feel better about all the time I do CD, and the landfill space I am saving every time I reach for a brightly colored cloth diaper instead of a disposable.
There are other choices I make that are in line with my eco-friendly philosophies. I don't use Pampers or Huggies or other imported diaper brands and instead choose to use the local Tiltulim brand. They work just as well as any other diaper and are usually far cheaper than any other brand. It's the same reason why I don't use compostable diapers. They sound great, but aren't made locally, so the fuel used to ship all those diapers across the ocean isn't worth it to me.
Remember, every time you make a purchase, you are condoning now that item reached the supermarket shelf. Did it come on a truck from another factory? Was it manufactured in another country, trucked to an airport, flown cargo halfway across the world? Trucked to a storage facility, then trucked to the supermarket shelf?
Similarly, think about what happens when it leaves that shelf. Do you stick it in your car and drive it home? Do you walk it home? Do you take public transportation? Every single one of these choices has an impact, yet they are things most people never even consider.
We are fortunate enough to live a stones throw away from a supermarket, making our purchases very easy. But even when we lived further we still walked home, or would take public transportation home (while loaded with a granny cart and hiking backpack full of our purchases.) These decisions do have an impact. You do have the power to make a change with every single choice you make. Don't fall for colorful labeling, encouraging you to buy the imported item over the equal local one. Don't be afraid of spending an extra few minutes doing something slightly more complicated but that benefits the planet immensely (because really, CD does only take an extra two minutes a day, total. If even that. Certainly time saved from not having to schlep out all that diaper garbage every day!)
It's not for everyone, there is an ick factor. But what parent hasn't been spit up on, peed on, and pooped on already? It actually is possible to do this without dirtying your hands one bit. Plus, they're so darn cute!!
Edit: my mother corrected me, "we when [sic] had you, some people used cloth diapers, but not many. We were pretty counter culture in what we did then."
Monday, May 17, 2010
The best is yet to come
Just a little heads up (and reminder to me) about certain subjects that will be addressed in future posts:
Vegetarianism
Cloth diapers
Eating local
Organic
Agriculture
Animal farming
Plastic bags
Plastic bottles - to be hosted by a guest-blogger: my husband
Recycling
Eating seasonally
Vegetable garden
...and much, much more!
Vegetarianism
Cloth diapers
Eating local
Organic
Agriculture
Animal farming
Plastic bags
Plastic bottles - to be hosted by a guest-blogger: my husband
Recycling
Eating seasonally
Vegetable garden
...and much, much more!
Let it grow
I think we're about to take the next step and get a barrel composter. I've been a little obsessed with composting lately. I love my worms and enjoy checking in on them, even though I try to disturb them as little as possible. Every time I take a peek there are new creatures in there. The worms seem happy, the conditions seem right. The only thing that really bothers me is that I can't compost everything in there. We don't have enough worms yet to be able to handle all the organic scraps we produce and even if there were more, there's a limit to what can be composted in a worm bin. But if we had a barrel then we could just put all our plate scrapings in, cooked and raw foods alike. That's make a significant change in what goes in our regular trash can.
Another reason for my obsession is because this is something I can do to make a difference. There are a lot of things not to do, like don't waste water or electricity and don't leave the car running and don't through your recyclables in the garbage. But what it comes to what you can do, what you, an everyday normal Joe Shmoe, this is it. Change your simple habits that don't even require you stepping out your front door. Instead of tossing that leftover macaroni in the garbage, put it in the composter. When you're done reading the paper, don't even bother setting it aside to be recycled (when big trucks burning lots of fuel will come pick it up and take it to be processed). Instead, shred it and add it to the bedding of your worm bin.
Why do I need this much compost, you might ask? The answer is simple: I don't. But I do know that the landfills need this biowaste even less than I do. Food in landfills is a major contributor to methane gas and thus, global warming. But by decomposing my food at home, naturally, in a process that breaks down waste in a fraction of the time it takes in a landfill, I do my share to help reduce the damage that can be caused by something as simple as an apple core or a banana peel.
So if anyone wants some free compost in a few weeks, be my guest! I'll use some on my own plants and probably dump the rest out in the field behind our home. Hopefully it'll help the trees in the playground to grow big and strong and shade my children from the sun when they play out there.
Another reason for my obsession is because this is something I can do to make a difference. There are a lot of things not to do, like don't waste water or electricity and don't leave the car running and don't through your recyclables in the garbage. But what it comes to what you can do, what you, an everyday normal Joe Shmoe, this is it. Change your simple habits that don't even require you stepping out your front door. Instead of tossing that leftover macaroni in the garbage, put it in the composter. When you're done reading the paper, don't even bother setting it aside to be recycled (when big trucks burning lots of fuel will come pick it up and take it to be processed). Instead, shred it and add it to the bedding of your worm bin.
Why do I need this much compost, you might ask? The answer is simple: I don't. But I do know that the landfills need this biowaste even less than I do. Food in landfills is a major contributor to methane gas and thus, global warming. But by decomposing my food at home, naturally, in a process that breaks down waste in a fraction of the time it takes in a landfill, I do my share to help reduce the damage that can be caused by something as simple as an apple core or a banana peel.
So if anyone wants some free compost in a few weeks, be my guest! I'll use some on my own plants and probably dump the rest out in the field behind our home. Hopefully it'll help the trees in the playground to grow big and strong and shade my children from the sun when they play out there.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
My family is in the process of making a few changes in our lifestyle. First, for those who don't know us, a little background: my husband and I live with our two wonderful twin daughters in Jerusalem, Israel. We live, like most of the country, in an apartment (well, what you north Americans would refer to as a condo, since we own it, but here they're all just called apartments). Our is a three bedroom, two bath, with a small laundry room and a nice south-eastern facing porch that, thanks to living on the top floor (with no elevator, I might add) gets complete sun. We've always been very environmentally aware, recycling what we can and using cloth diapers (which we wash at home) on our girls.
Around the time the girls were born we signed up with a local CSA. Neither of us cared much about organic eating, rather it was convenience that drove us to doing so (certainly not cost, since it's a lot cheaper to go to the city's open air market, or shuk, where all produce are fresh and tasty). With two little babies, making it to the shuk on a regular basis was unrealistic. Plus it was too easy to turn to carbs or processed foods for our meals, so we liked the idea of having a house full of veggies. Knowing there would only be another delivery the following week forced us to work hard to finish off our current box each week. Plus, there was a fun element of surprise to it. Other than the usual cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and lettuce, we never knew what we were going to get. Often there's be other staples such as potatoes or onions, but sometimes there's be something totally new. Thanks to these baskets, we discovered, and fell in love with, swiss chard and kohlrabi, among others.
Recently we both read Michal Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma and that got us thinking and talking about the food choices we make. It helped us decide we really do care about organic and, more importantly, we care about eating local. Fortunately living in Israel that really isn't much of a problem, unless you're talking about processed foods. But fresh produce is always local, and we eat by the calender. Watermelon in summer, oranges in winter, strawberries in the spring, etc.
Most recently we decided to start trying to grow some fruits and vegetables on our own. That got us thinking about fertilizer, and that got us to start composting, and that got us to get some red worms. At the moment we have two small compost bins, one with worms and one without, and we're seeing how it goes. So far the worms are still alive and the other bin doesn't stink so I guess those are both good signs.
This blog will follow our journey, wherever it takes us.
Around the time the girls were born we signed up with a local CSA. Neither of us cared much about organic eating, rather it was convenience that drove us to doing so (certainly not cost, since it's a lot cheaper to go to the city's open air market, or shuk, where all produce are fresh and tasty). With two little babies, making it to the shuk on a regular basis was unrealistic. Plus it was too easy to turn to carbs or processed foods for our meals, so we liked the idea of having a house full of veggies. Knowing there would only be another delivery the following week forced us to work hard to finish off our current box each week. Plus, there was a fun element of surprise to it. Other than the usual cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and lettuce, we never knew what we were going to get. Often there's be other staples such as potatoes or onions, but sometimes there's be something totally new. Thanks to these baskets, we discovered, and fell in love with, swiss chard and kohlrabi, among others.
Recently we both read Michal Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma and that got us thinking and talking about the food choices we make. It helped us decide we really do care about organic and, more importantly, we care about eating local. Fortunately living in Israel that really isn't much of a problem, unless you're talking about processed foods. But fresh produce is always local, and we eat by the calender. Watermelon in summer, oranges in winter, strawberries in the spring, etc.
Most recently we decided to start trying to grow some fruits and vegetables on our own. That got us thinking about fertilizer, and that got us to start composting, and that got us to get some red worms. At the moment we have two small compost bins, one with worms and one without, and we're seeing how it goes. So far the worms are still alive and the other bin doesn't stink so I guess those are both good signs.
This blog will follow our journey, wherever it takes us.
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