The House Behind the Other Houses

New life for a cheaply made chair

2012-02-26T03:00:00.000-08:00

Recently, I discovered the Fixers Collective. They describe themselves on their web page as follows.

"The Fixers Collective is a social experiment in improvisational fixing and mending. We meet regularly as a group to fix together. All are welcome." This is group that meets once a week in Brooklyn, New York, to fix anything that needs to be fixed. You can bring an item that needs repair, and more experienced fixers will help you fix it.

I became a little obsessed with the albums of photos on their Facebook page one afternoon. They seem like a group of people who have a lot of fun while taking their job of fixing things seriously. Some of the things they fix are items that take easily to being repaired, like a lamp. I was especially intrigued, however, with the fixes of items that most people would not hesitate to throw away when they break. For example, someone brought in a coffee grinder that no longer worked. The fixers put their heads together and figured out the problem, and the coffee grinder is working again -- and lots of fun was had in the process, it seems.

With visions of innovative fixers in my head, I was well primed for what happened next. I was walking with Walter through the neighborhood of the House Behind the Other Houses, and what did I see but a cheaply made, broken chair out with the trash.

What serendipity!

Needless to say, Walter and I snatched the chair up and brought it home. I put the pieces back together in the living room, and found that the problem was a broken seat.

The rest of the chair is fine, but the seat is broken
and won't hold any weight.

I brought the chair into the basement, and took the fabric off the seat by pulling out the staples.

The seat's water-stained underbelly.

When I removed the staples, it was easy to see that the cheap particleboard had broken in half.

The guy at the hardware store calls it "fall-apart-icle board."

My first idea for how to fix the seat is a sad chapter in this story. To make a long story short, I thought I could screw a piece of plywood to the particleboard to reinforce it, but instead the seat broke again and I fell through.

This looked sturdy to me. I thought it would work.

I tried it out and here's what happened. My ego was hurt.

I was discouraged and went upstairs, leaving the chair to marinate in an atmosphere of failure down in the basement.

About two weeks later, I was ready to try again. I went to Home Depot and had a piece of 3/8" plywood cut to the size and shape of the particleboard seat. I had read online that 3/8" is the right thickness to use for chair seats. I brought it home and tried sitting on it, and I could tell it wasn't sturdy enough.

Again, I was discouraged. Was this cheap trash chair even worth the trouble? I thought of the Fixers Collective again, and forged on.

This time, I went to National Lumber. The guy there was nice, but regretfully told me they can't cut wood to size. This is where a cheap-chair miracle occurred. The guy behind me in line said he was working on a construction site up the street and if I followed him he'd cut me a piece of 1/2" plywood. I followed him to the house that he and a crew were building (it was on a busy street and very visible to people going by, or I would have kept on driving), and he found a piece of 1/2" plywood on the site, and cut it to the right size. That was so nice of that guy!

I got home and had no more time or energy to work on the chair. Another week went by.

Then on Saturday morning I woke up raring to work on the chair. First, I drilled holes into the plywood, and P showed me how to attach the t-nuts, which have teeth that grip the wood.

The metal pieces are called t-nuts.

Next I washed the seat cover.

The fabric is a neutral tan - nothing fancy, but it looks fine, especially after I washed it.

When it was dry, I placed it wrong-side up on the workbench, then placed the foam cushion on top of that, then the plywood on top of that. Then I stapled the fabric to the plywood with this nice big stapler.

I got this staple gun to attach cords to the wall,
and it came in handy for the seat cover as well.

P had to do some chiseling so the new, larger connecting bolt would fit.

I would not have known how to chisel, or even that I should.

I screwed the connecting bolts into the t-nuts, and I was done!

Here is the repaired chair.

It's dog-tested, human-approved.

Here is the repaired chair in its new home at the computer desk, being modeled by the cutest chair model I've ever seen. Previously, we had a child's chair at the computer desk. I'll give that away on Craigslist. It was sturdy and useful, but a little short for adults.

These are the parts of the chair that are being thrown in the trash. They are the particleboard seat, the cardboard cover from underneath the seat, staples and a couple of screws. That's not bad, considering the entire chair was originally bound for the landfill.

Here's the moment of reckoning. This is the NEW waste I produced in fixing the chair. I will keep this plywood and maybe I can use it in a future project, however.

Here's one last look at the chair hard at work.

Thanks for reading!

A new/old dishwasher, and The Story of Stuff

2012-02-19T03:00:00.000-08:00

The kitchen in the House Behind the Other Houses cannot be said to be a work in progress. While I have had both the living room and the bathroom renovated, and lots of other smaller jobs done around the house, the kitchen has remained untouched. The kitchen is next on my list of large projects. I am saving money to have it completely renovated, and if all goes according to plan, I will have enough in December 2014 to have it done right.

In the meantime, there have been other tasks around the house that have seemed more pressing than prettying up a kitchen that is slated to be gutted in a few years anyway. However, a month or so ago, we were offered a dishwasher by P's cousin E and her husband M. M is a plumber, and he installed a new dishwasher for a customer. That customer offered their old dishwasher to M. M accepted the dishwasher, and installed it in his own kitchen. E, knowing that we have no dishwasher, emailed P and asked if we'd like their old one. P asked me, and I said, "YES!"

Luckily (?), there was an unsightly gap in our cabinets, which would perfectly fit a dishwasher. I wish I had the foresight to take a picture of the unsightly gap before the dishwasher arrived. You can see it in the photo below, but the dishwasher is jammed halfway in there. What was there before was a wire shelf with our recycling on it, plus the bin of Walter's dog food, plus our plastic and paper bags.

I figured the dishwasher could be installed right into the unsightly gap. Before the dishwasher arrived, though, some friends were visiting, and they made an excellent suggestion, which was to have the cabinet next to the sink moved to the unsightly gap, and have the dishwasher installed next to the sink, so it would be easier to load dirty dishes into it.

I called George and told him about the job. I mentioned that I would need just a few feet of countertop to go over the cabinet that would fill the unsightly gap, and that I was sure there must be people renovating their kitchens and throwing away countertops, and that I wished I could use that trash-bound countertop. George mentioned that he had about five feet of leftover countertop in his garage, and I was welcome to have it!

Monday morning, while I was at work, George came in and did the job. Here's what it looks like.

I had no idea that a small change like this would have such a big impact on how the kitchen looks and performs. Now that the unsightly gap is filled, there is a clean, unbroken line of cabinet and counter that is much more satisfying to look at. George's leftover countertop is coincidentally very close in color to the existing countertop. There is also significantly more counter space. And, last but not least, we have a dishwasher! I am so excited about it that I am sometimes washing smallish amounts of dishes that should probably just be washed by hand. I am sure I will get over the excitement and be a little more mature and moderate in my use of the dishwasher.

Coincidentally, on the night that P went to pick up the dishwasher from E and M, I had planned to watch The Story of Stuff with T and J. Watching it made me even more happy that we were getting a used dishwasher (and that it was being replaced, in E and M's house, with a used dishwasher). Those two dishwashers represent two fewer dishwashers that had to be manufactured, with all the energy use and new materials that go into them. I see no reason why I can't keep this dishwasher when the kitchen is renovated, along with the stove and refrigerator. So, thanks again, E and M!

Also, I highly recommend watching The Story of Stuff. T and J and I all liked it. J couldn't stop laughing at the little people walking into and out of the big box store. So, if you don't watch it for the environmental message, watch it for the stick figure people. You will not be disappointed.

More plastic bags, trash, and a repaired window (finally!)

2012-02-12T03:00:00.000-08:00

Walter and I took another plastic bag walk. Our finds are below.

When I first left the House to go on my walk with Walter, I noticed that our street was so filled with trash as to rival the street of the Ugly Strip. Walter and I did our plastic bag walk, then he retired to the House and I went back out to tackle the street. The scene below is right at the end of our driveway. It's usually not this bad -- I don't know what happened.

I shoved the collected trash into one of the plastic bags we had found (the red broom head didn't fit). Then it all went into our garbage can.

How did a broom head end up on the street?

I'm finally able to give an update on the quest to fix the leak coming from T's bedroom window. As I mentioned, George the contractor installed new attic windows, because the old windows were in terrible shape. We hoped and assumed this would fix the problem. For a while, it seemed like it had, but then we had a heavier rain storm, and water started streaming in again. George pulled down the siding from the peak of the roof to the tops of the second-story windows, because it seemed like the water must be getting in through cracks in the siding. What he found was that the second-story windows had been installed with no flashing, so water was just flowing right through an uncovered crack above the window. He said that he was surprised my bedroom window hadn't been leaking as well. He installed flashing and then a Tyvek-like house wrap (which seems to me to be a worthwhile use of plastic, given the damage it will prevent) and then replaced the old shingles (which were so brittle they crumbled when he removed them) with new cedar shingles. He bought new paint which matched the old paint perfectly, and now you can't even tell any work was done. I didn't take a photo when the old shingles were down, because I thought I'd have more time to do so. Here's a photo of the finished side of the house, which is almost identical to the photo you can see in the original post -- so it's not very exciting. I am looking forward to a drenching rainstorm (which probably won't happen until spring) so I can stand in T's room and gaze upon the finally-dry window.

Though this was an expensive repair, I'm very satisfied to have one more problem in the House resolved. The House may be smallish and humble, but it must have been built well when it was constructed back in the early 1900s, because it has served well for close to 100 years (if not more than 100 years -- I've done a little research at the Registry of Deeds, and I'm getting close to figuring out its exact age), even given recent decades of neglect. Slowly but surely, it's coming back.

The House - proud to serve its current inhabitants.

Thanks for reading!

A Cinderella story

2012-02-05T03:00:00.000-08:00

Have you ever found an awesome piece of furniture in the trash? I've found a few. I read recently that furniture is the fourth most frequently landfilled item (I'm assuming this is referring to number of items, rather than the actual volume of items?), so it's not surprising that you can find some nice things. Here is the latest one, which I found while walking home from the grocery store a few weeks ago.

It's such a nice old chair. The cushion was dirty, though, and the seat itself wasn't quite right -- there wasn't much support and when you sat on it, it felt like you'd fall through.

There is a reupholstery shop a stone's throw from the House. On the way home from work one night, I stopped in and asked the reuphosterer how much it would cost to recover the chair. Her answer -- $25.00! I ordered some really pretty fabric online, and not only did Luisa reupholster the chair, she made me a matching pillow for another $25.00. She did a great job, and I am so happy with them!

Doesn't it look great? I love it.

Here's the pillow.

Here's where I actually keep the pillow.

Luisa said that when she took the old cover off, she saw that the cushion was stuffed with horsehair, and also there was a label saying that the chair was manufactured in Woodbridge, NJ in 1907 (or 1909 - I forget which). She left the label and the horsehair inside.

Randalstik immediately tested and approved the chair.

Not only does it look great, it's also sturdy to sit on. I couldn't be happier with this chair. I had a spot in my living room that looked kind of stark, and now it looks much homier. Yay, trash furniture!

Public transportation woes

2012-01-29T03:00:00.001-08:00

The MBTA, which operates the commuter rail line I use to get to work, is planning on making big cuts to the services they provide, and simultaneously raise their fares. The other night there was a meeting in Salem between the MBTA and any Salem residents who wanted to attend. I knew I wouldn't be able to go, so I sent this email that day, before the meeting.

From: Simpson, Ellen

Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 2:43 PM
To: PROPOSAL, FARE
Subject: Bad idea

Good afternoon,

I’m a resident of Salem, and I want to let you know what I think of the MBTA’s proposed service cuts.

When I bought my house in Salem 13 years ago, a major factor in choosing this city was the fact that it has commuter rail service as well as multiple bus lines. I do not own a car, and I enjoy the fact that, living in Salem, I can get everywhere I need to go via public transit. I ride the commuter rail into and out of Boston every weekday to work, and I ride regularly on weekends as well – most notably, to bring my son to a weekly Saturday morning class in Harvard Square. I have used the 459 bus to go to Logan Airport, and the 455 to get to the blue line at Wonderland.

I want to add my voice to the chorus who are trying to make you understand that many people have structured their lives around the service you offer, and will have a hard time finding new ways to get to the places they need to go, if your cuts to bus routes and weekend train service are implemented. In addition, I find it surprising that the MBTA would think that offering fewer services would help their business. When you cut services, you force people to find alternatives to the MBTA, and use your services even less. As people buy cars, and become accustomed to driving more often, you will find you have made your services unnecessary to them. That seems like a poor decision on the MBTA’s part.

I don’t have a problem paying higher fares for excellent service, but I certainly don’t want to pay higher fares and in return receive stripped-down public transportation.

I hope you will listen to the outpouring of anger that is coming your way from MTBA users, and realize that it is in the best interest of the MBTA and the riders it serves to maintain (and eventually expand) the routes and frequency you offer.

If you have any questions, I can be reached at xxx-xxx-xxxx. Thank you for your time.

Ellen E. Simpson

Salem, MA

Later that day, they sent this email in reply.

Dear Ellen,

Thank you for your comments on the proposed fare and service changes for the MBTA.

We have reviewed your comments regarding the elimination of weekend and late evening service on the commuter rail as well as your comments regarding Routes 455 and 459 bus service.

Due to lower ridership and a relatively high cost per passenger trip , each of our proposals for fare and service changes includes the elimination of this service. Even with this service elimination, more than 88% of commuter rail trips are protected.

Additionally, Scenario 2 has proposed to eliminate Route 459 service entirely and cut Route 455 back to Wonderland. We recognize the impact of these proposed service changes.

Your comments will be considered as we determine the final proposal. We also welcome you to attend one of the more than 20 upcoming public meetings on fare and service changes. For meeting times, locations, and updates on proposed fare and service changes, please visit mbta.com/jointhediscussion.

Sincerely,
Jonathan R. Davis
General Manager

I know it's just a form letter that they sent me, but at least they know that one more of their customers isn't happy with their proposal.

I think this post might be a little boring, but I did take a photo to liven it up a bit. I had to use stealth photography, because I didn't want people to think I was a weirdo taking photos of them on the train. Here it is -- this is the view from my seat on the commuter rail, riding home from work that same day.

I'll try to make my next post more exciting. Thanks for sticking with me to the end of the post!

Trashy

2012-01-22T05:37:00.000-08:00

Last weekend the trash situation was out of hand near the Ugly Strip. I think a couple of houses put their trash out too early and animals and/or the wind spread it around. Also, the usual number of people tossed their cans and wrappers on the ground, and someone went on a clothes hanger rampage, and as you can imagine, it's hard to predict when that kind of thing is going to happen.

The Ugly Strip itself was completely clean of trash, but the other three photos will show you what the rest of the street looked like.

The Ugly Strip -- barren looking, but at least there's little trash.

Gross.

Also gross.

Evidence of the clothes hanger rampage.

I picked up as much trash as possible. It was very cold out, so many pieces of trash were frozen to the ground and I couldn't pick them up. It looks a lot better, though.

Better.

Only leaves left on the ground.

The rampage is now just a memory.

I was cranky about all of the trash on the street, and I ended up with a big bag of it, which normally I would throw out with my own trash. This time, as I was walking past the Dumpster where a lot of the trash on the street originates (people put loose trash in there, and seagulls open bags of trash, and the Dumpster company doesn't empty it often enough), I tossed the bag in. I know it's not the right thing to do, but it made me feel better for about one minute. Then I felt bad about it but it was too late. Next time, I'll keep it with my trash.

I almost forgot to mention I found a $20 dollar bill on the street, while walking Walter, right before picking up trash. That was a nice surprise!

One more thing...on a previous walk, I found an empty kitchen trash bag. It thought its chance to be useful was over, but it was wrong!

From trash to...trash.

Thanks for reading!

The pencil gatherer

2012-01-12T03:00:00.000-08:00

It turns out I am not the only resident of the House who collects one man's trash and turns it into his own treasure. Look at what T has been squirreling away in his backpack.

T is in his first year of middle school, and because his school is close to home, he can walk. It turns out that not only has he been getting exercise and fresh air, he has also been keeping his eyes peeled for discarded and dropped pencils, and picking them up.

There are eight in his backpack, and he wanted me to be sure to mention that he has two more at school, plus we found three more on his bedside table, for a total of 13 found pencils. Not bad for two daily walks of 9/10 of a mile (over terrain that he has picked clean of pencils on previous walks). At this rate, he'll have pencils from now until he graduates from high school -- we'll never have to buy him another package at back-to-school time!

I guess his pencil-gathering should come as no surprise, considering that his mother picks up plastic bags to use as poo bags, and his father photographs and collects found coins (and uses pinsnap.com on his iPhone -- user name Lucky Penny -- to geolocate and log them).

Yes indeed, we are passing down a proud legacy to our eldest son.

A quick post about a plastic bag walk

2012-01-05T03:00:00.000-08:00

I took a plastic bag walk to ring in the new year. I was juggling the camera, some letters I needed to mail (I had these for the first half of the walk), and the olive oil I picked up at the grocery store (I had this for the second half of the walk). I felt like I could have been more productive without the letters and olive oil, but nevertheless, I did okay.

I found eight bags. All but three were ripped, so only those three graduated to the next level (poo bags). The others took the short trip to the trash barrel over by the bus shelter.

Fuel for world domination

2011-12-30T03:00:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas I made the Carrot Apple Curry Soup I had mentioned in my post about vegetable stock. It was quick and easy to make. I substituted my homemade vegetable stock for the beef stock the recipe calls for. Carrots, apples and an onion are the only ingredients that require any preparation -- the carrots get grated, and the apples and onion get chopped. Behind the cutting board in the photo below is the Ziploc bag I keep in my freezer for future veggie stock. I am adding the carrot, onion and apple peels, and the apple cores.

My vegetable stock is defrosting in the glass jar behind the carrots.

J wanted to help me, and I had a brief vision of a parent/child cooking session, but after less than a minute, he decided he'd rather be elsewhere.

Good thing I caught this moment on film, because his interest was fleeting.

I made one other alteration to the recipe. It tells you to put the grated carrots and chopped onion and apples in a saucepan with the stock, add the honey, and bring it to a boil. It seemed to me that it would make more sense to cook them a little before adding the stock, and this was confirmed by our visitor E, who knows about cooking, so I put them in a pan with olive oil and cooked them for a while. They looked like this when I first put them in the pan.

And after ten minutes or so, they looked like this. Much better.

Next I put them in a pot with the stock and honey and brought it to a boil.

Then I blended it in the food processor.

I was excited to find this food processor at the thrift store.
It cost $6.50 and works well!

Then I added the curry powder and cream and warmed it back up.

We ate it for lunch and it was really good!

At the table, but not all visible in the photo, are T, E, J, P and me.

As I mentioned, I'm new to cooking, so I'm still excited when I can make something completely from scratch, and it tastes good. It's also healthy and inexpensive, and when served with biscuits, which I also made from scratch, it's filling. After lunch, we played T's new game of Risk for 5-1/4 hours. It's a good thing we fueled up, because world domination is hungry work.

Thanks for stopping by!

Urban dirt farmers

2011-12-27T12:21:00.000-08:00

The kids and I are home from school and work this week, and I have been enjoying one of my Christmas presents -- a book called Urban Homesteading: Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living. This morning I started reading the chapter called "Urban Dirt Farmer," about reviving and renewing the dirt in your city garden, and after a few paragraphs I was compelled to jump up and turn my compost. I was hoping to have two helpers but I ended up with none. One was content to be hanging out in his room, and the other gave me a pleasant, "No thanks," while never letting his eyes wander from his 3DS.

Not interested in compost at this time.

I headed out alone. Someone had stuck a taken-apart whiskey box behind the bin. Strange.

This is not mine!
I don't drink whiskey at all, never mind by the case.

It's easy to pull the bin off so that I can turn the compost. Today, it stayed bin-shaped.

I have an overload of browns, but I'll keep adding kitchen scraps. I am amazed by the fact that there are worms in there. The bin is on top of asphalt, so they must have come in on the hay, or the corn stalks, or something else I added in there.

In the center of the photo is an earthworm.
It's hanging out on the asphalt under the compost bin.

I mixed the compost well and put it all back in the bin. By then, J was interested in coming out to take a look.

Urban dirt farmer. He likes the pitchfork.

I'm happy with the progress of my compost. There are parts that are decomposing quickly, and there are other parts that are going more slowly and need more greens, and the whole process will probably slow way down during the cold weather, but from what I'm seeing, one of these days I'll have finished compost!

Another earthworm, in a quickly-decomposing section of the compost.

Thanks for reading!

Santa is heading toward the House!

2011-12-24T19:35:00.000-08:00

There was a little gathering of family tonight at the House, and there were some present who suggested I should tell blog readers about my punch bowl. It being Christmas Eve, and fairly late, I will make this story short and sweet.

Every Christmas Eve, my family comes over and we eat Chinese food and exchange just a few gifts, and track Santa. I have had, for a number of years, a plastic punch bowl that I have used to serve delicious (nonalcoholic, so the kids can have it too) punch. Last year, the bowl cracked enough to make it unusable, so I had to throw it away. I knew I would need another punch bowl for this year's Christmas Eve extravaganza, so I kept my eyes peeled (for a glass bowl this time), and back in August or September, I spied this sorry-looking box at the local thrift store.

I was skeptical too.

I looked inside briefly, and it appeared to have all of the parts (bowl, cups and hooks to hang the cups from the bowl). Then I turned it around and saw this view, and I thought, those people are having so much fun, it MUST be a good punch bowl. Plus, the price was right (around $12, if I remember correctly), and I was happy to be buying a used punch set, rather than a new one. And that is how the Prescut Entertainment Group punch set came to reside at the House Behind the Other Houses.

This punch bowl causes people to become even more
amusing and attractive than they already are.

After I took it out of the box and washed it, here's what it looked like.

It's sparkling!

And here's what it looked like tonight, happy to be of use again, though perhaps with a less groovy crowd than it was accustomed to in its heyday.

Wow! My family members have become even more amusing and attractive!

The hand with the large and stylish ring belongs to my sister N. She jokingly said I should let blog readers know that she is 49 and newly divorced, and open to meeting a man who is not very green and thus would be laughing a little bit AT my blog, rather than WITH my blog. I bet she didn't think I'd really put that in! But I did! Merry Christmas!

Soup stock -- a vegetable scrap's last hurrah before the compost bin

2011-12-22T19:28:00.000-08:00

There has been a dearth of posts here at The House Behind the Other Houses. I'd like to say it was due to the fact that I've been working on a big project, or I've been spending more time in nature, but the truth is that for some reason I just haven't felt like blogging. Then last week my son T asked me when I was going to do another post, and that made me want to start up again, and then this morning I found myself reading my older posts and feeling kind of excited about writing a new post. Then this afternoon, Harry left a comment mentioning that he had noticed my absence. That seemed like a funny coincidence, and I thought, yes, I'll definitely do another post. Then later in the afternoon, I got another comment letting me know that starting tomorrow I'll be on BlogHer's green page, so now I'm like, oh my gosh, I'd better get that post out! So here goes.

I have never been much of a cook, but I've been finding myself drawn to cooking lately, because when I was doing the Plastic Trash Challenge I found that I use much less plastic when I make more of our food from scratch. It's funny how one interest can lead you to another, seemingly unrelated interest. Anyway, I've been cooking lots of things I've never tried before (Hey, maybe I really WAS working on a big project!), with lots of guidance from my sister Martha, who has been cooking for years and always either has an answer to my questions, or finds it for me pretty quickly.

One of the things I have been making is soup, because it's forgiving -- if you make a mistake, it's probably still going to taste good. And soup has helped me with two challenges -- how to better use leftover food, and how to come up with a variety of vegetarian meals that everyone, especially my vegetarian son T, will like. And that leads me to the focus of this post -- vegetable stock.

Aw, there's T and J! They're not eating soup
in this photo, but sometimes they do!

Let's talk about soup stock. Every (many? see, I don't know because I'm new to cooking) soup recipe has as one of its ingredients a stock, which is simply water flavored with something. Beef stock is water that has been flavored with beef, chicken stock is water that has been flavored with chicken, and vegetable stock is water that has been flavored with vegetables. You can buy stock at the grocery store, but it usually comes in a can (lined with BPA), or in one of those Tetra-Pak containers (made of plastic), or in little foil-wrapped cubes in a cardboard box (not a bad option). However, I found out how easy it is to make stock from scratch, and how it helps me get a little more use out of vegetable scraps before I throw them in the compost bin. Here's what I do.

I have a plastic bag in my freezer -- a Ziploc I've had since way before I took the Plastic Trash Challenge.

The Ziploc in question is to the left of the Chinese takeout container.

When I'm chopping vegetables, I take the bag out and toss in all of the scraps that previously I would have put right in the compost bin. In the photo below, you can see a bunch of frozen vegetable scraps that have been in there for a while, plus some new onion skins that I just added, and in the foreground, an acorn squash, the skin of which is about to be added. You can add almost any part of a vegetable you can think of. I usually have lots of onion and garlic ends and skins, carrot peels, potato peels, squash skins, seeds and stems and the white insides of peppers, and the leaves and big stems of broccoli. I just try to wash the vegetable thoroughly first if it's not organic and I'm going to be using the outside part (like the acorn squash, for example).

When the bag is fairly full and I have a little free time, I put all the frozen vegetable scraps right into a big pot of water and boil it for an hour or two. I don't do much beyond giving it an occasional stir. Eventually the water turns a nice light brown, and it has a subtle vegetable flavor. I don't add salt or any other seasonings -- I do that when I make the actual soup.

This particular stock is heavy on squash.
You can see the seeds and skin in there.

I set up a colander on top of a pot, and pour the stock in. I end up with a bunch of soggy vegetable scraps which I can now put into the compost bin knowing I've gotten everything I can out of them, plus a nice big pot of vegetable stock. I let the stock cool, pour it into containers, and freeze it. In this case, I was running low on containers, so I had to get creative.

Frozen vegetable stock, waiting to become a delicious soup.

When I'm ready to make soup, my homemade vegetable stock is ready and waiting! The next soup I'm planning on making is Carrot Apple Curry Soup. You'll see it calls for beef stock, but I'm planning on using vegetable stock. I will let you know how it goes!

People are nice.

2011-10-29T05:40:00.000-07:00

It's October 29, and it snowed for the first time two nights ago. I decided I'd bring the yard sign in for the winter to keep it safe from the elements and from snow plows. I walked past the Ugly Strip yesterday with Walter, and I tried to pick up the sign, and I found that someone had nailed the sign to the telephone pole! Do you see the little nail right above the word "keep?"

I was so happy that someone I don't even know thought the sign was a good idea, and took the time to go get a hammer and nail to hold it there more securely. People are nice.

In other news, CVS Pharmacy, which is a large chain pharmacy in our area, is now offering a Greenbagtag program. When you check out using your own bag (rather than taking one of their plastic bags), you have the cashier scan your Greenbagtag. Every fourth scan, you get a $1.00 coupon you can use for anything in the store. I think it's a great way to encourage people to bring their own bags. The initial cost for the tag is $1.00, but you quickly make that back, depending on how often you go to CVS. I go there a lot, because it's right on the way to my work, so it's where I pick up kids' shampoo and contact solution and (plastic-free) Necco Wafers and other essentials. Here's my Greenbagtag.

Thanks for reading!

Water finds a way

2011-10-25T03:00:00.000-07:00

Ever since we first moved into the House Behind the Other Houses almost two years ago, there has been an ongoing problem of a leak in the window in T's bedroom. When there is a heavy rainstorm, there is a steady drip (almost a flow) of water coming into T's room. George, the excellent contractor who renovated my bathroom and living room, tried to fix the problem by caulking the shingles above T's window (the second-floor window on the right).

The caulk fixed the problem temporarily, but eventually the window started leaking again. Last week, George came back to get to the bottom of the problem. After taking a look in the attic, he gave me his diagnosis: the attic window above T's room has no actual windowpane in it beyond the storm window! The storm window doesn't fit tightly in the frame, so water gets right in and makes its way down the inside and outside walls and into T's room through his window.

The offending window

In addition, T's window was installed incorrectly, and is adding to the problem.

George has ordered two new windows, because the other attic window is in similarly poor shape. He will install the new windows, and reinstall Taizo's window, and the problem should be solved.

I am feeling really good about having this work done. When I moved into the House, it was unloved to the extreme. Here's some proof of that.

Here's the same bathroom after George got to it. Note the dual-flush toilet, which is my pride and joy!

That's just a little peek at the terrible, neglected state the House was in, and how good at least that portion of it looks now. George also renovated the living room, as I mentioned, and I have also had the electric upgraded, the waste pipes replaced, the chimney repaired and repointed and fitted with a cap, walls painted, hideous cat-pee rugs removed, and more. I'm having the work done slowly, because it's expensive, but there is definitely lots of progress.

It makes me feel great to be turning the House into an actual home. And from a wider perspective, I feel really good about taking care of one little piece of the planet. When I bought the House, I faced dirt and graffiti (inside and out) and decay and disrepair and an atmosphere of neglect. When I leave the House (which I hope will be many decades from now), and new owners move in, they will, I hope, feel that they are gaining a comfortable home that was well taken care of and is filled with good vibes.

In addition, we live on a crowded planet. Turning a basically uninhabitable house in the city into a well-maintained and livable home ultimately means one less chunk of former farmland being developed into suburbia.

That's my long explanation of why I feel so satisfied about my windows being repaired. Thanks for bearing with me through that.

While I was up in the attic taking photos, I tried to locate the stump of the big maple that was cut down. If you look right at the center of the unclear (because I have never washed the attic windows) photo below, you will see a plot of green grass. Beyond that is a wooden stockade fence. My guess is that the stump is in there, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for reading!

Bring on the snowblowers.

2011-10-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

It has been over a month since T and I put up the yard sign at the Ugly Strip. T commented recently that he thinks there hasn't been as much trash there, and I realized he was right. I think the sign is working, as surprising as that is to me.

This morning I did a cleanup of the Ugly Strip. I haven't done a cleanup in, again, over a month. Here's what it looked like before the cleanup. It's not bad at all.

Here's what it looked like after the cleanup.

It looks a better, but there's not an enormous difference.

Here's the trash I got. It has been a busy month in my city, so there has been no lack of foot traffic on the street of the Ugly Strip, and the weather has been beautiful, so the people who live on the street have been spending time outside as usual, yet there is very little trash. I have to give credit to the sign. Because I didn't get much at the Ugly Strip, I was able to spend a little time on my street as well. I had been thinking that the sign itself would be vandalized or stolen in a week, and not only is it still there, it's possibly making people pause before they litter. So that's great news!

There's not much trash.

Now for a little bit of sad news. Way back in March, I blogged about our "wildlife" and the two trees where they probably live. As I believe my posts make abundantly clear, the House is situated in an urban neighborhood with not a lot of trees. There was, however, a huge and beautiful old maple tree that we could look at while sitting on the porch. Here's a video I took during Hurrican Irene (I was trying to document the heavy rain, which, in the video, just seems like regular rain). The huge tree that you see is the maple.

Here's a photo of the tree last winter.

Here's a photo from the same angle today.

Yes, the tree was cut down. There was probably a good reason for it (maybe it was diseased or maybe it was dangerous for it to be growing so close to the houses it was next to), but it's definitely a loss to the residents of the House.

If there is a silver lining to the tree being cut down, it is that I am more resolved than ever to protect the crabapple tree this winter. Call me crazy, but thanks to some reflective posts from the hardware store and a few containers from the garden, my little stick-like friend will be safe. Bring on the snowblowers!

Thanks for stopping by!

Resurrecting garden shears

2011-09-25T03:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, when I was cleaning up the garden for the winter, I made a rookie gardener's mistake. I thought I could cut the tomato plant stems with scissors. I have good, sturdy scissors, but this is what happens to them when you use them for cutting thick stems.

It was a plastic piece that broke, and I couldn't figure out a way to fix them. Now I was in need of scissors as well as garden shears. I recently noticed, when going through the kids' school supplies, that we have a plethora of kids' scissors. I took a look at those, and found that one of those pairs is actually large enough for an adult to use, and it cuts well, so that solved the scissor problem.

I figured I could easily find a pair of garden shears at a second-hand store, thanks to old people moving to retirement communities...at least, that's how I envision a pair of garden shears ending up at a second-hand store. Here's what I found. This baby looks like she's cut down a shrub or two in her day.

I scrubbed off the accumulated grunginess with a stiff brush and steel wool.

Then I sprayed it with WD-40, let it sit, scrubbed it again with the steel wool, and wiped it off with a rag.

It looked much better.

Next, I toyed with the idea of sharpening the blades myself, but then I decided that sounded way too hard, so I brought it to my local hardware store, and a couple of days later, they called saying that it was ready to pick up. I wish you could tell from this photo how sharp the blades are. They are so sharp that it's a little scary.

And here they are in action, cutting with ease one of the same tomato stems that was the downfall of my scissors. The shears cost $5.00 plus tax, and the sharpening cost $3.50, so the total price was less than $9.00, plus I'm helping a pair of shears feel vital and purposeful again, and that's a feeling you can't put a price on.

Thanks for stopping by!

The crabapple tree is in its new and final home.

2011-09-23T03:00:00.000-07:00

I have another installment in the ongoing crabapple tree saga. In case you've missed the excitement, let me catch you up quickly. Back in August, I had a hole cut in the asphalt of my driveway, planted a crabapple tree, then discovered that I had planted it right on the line between my property and my neighbors'. This did not make my neighbors happy, and they requested that I move the tree. I despaired for a while, then got in touch with Joe the asphalt guy, who told me he could fill in the old hole and cut a new hole for a reasonable price.

Okay, now for the newest episode. True to his word, Joe the asphalt guy (who I have never actually met in person) filled in the original tree hole, and cut a new one. He did a very nice neat job. If you ever need any asphalt work, I recommend Joe the asphalt guy.

We moved the tree out of the old hole, into a whiskey barrel temporarily, then into the new hole. The process just gave me a feeling of deja vu, so I didn't take any photos until the tree was safely in its new spot.

The new location is safely within the boundaries of my property, so my hope is that you won't hear anything more about the tree, other than how fabulously it is doing, and how great it looks.

Finally, I cleaned up the container garden. It was really time. Here are my last home-grown vegetables of the season.

I was feeling pretty happy with the total yield of all of the vegetable plants this summer, until I actually took a minute to add them up. My grand total is one zucchini, one carrot, four peppers, and 12 tomatoes (I'm not going to count the green ones today, because they may or may not ripen). You could maybe feed one person for one day on that. This year, I was all about the heirloom vegetables, but I think I'll need to focus on finding some higher-yield plants next summer.

Thanks for reading!

Rear window

2011-09-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

Mmm, nothing like a steaming bowl of oatmeal and park apples to start the morning right!

I want to show you something so exciting that's right outside my kitchen window. First, let me show you my former view out the window. About five feet away from my house, there is a cement garage that belongs to the bar behind the house. It's cement-colored, and there was some graffiti on it. When I stood at the sink, here's what I saw. It's not very pretty.

Now look at the view!

It's an incredible mural, painted by Allison Jason, a mural artist who lives in a town near the House Behind the Other Houses!

Do you remember what it used to look like behind the house, near the new compost bin?

Now it's like this.

And this.

It makes such a difference to see this beautiful mural when I look out the window, or walk past the wall.

Thanks for reading!

P.S. The bar owners gave it the okay in advance, so I don't have to worry about any repercussions from them!

Yes! A yard sign!

2011-09-17T05:11:00.000-07:00

Look at this awesome sign! My ex-husband E made it for me!

It's at the Ugly Strip! Here's how it got there.

T and I snuck it in under cover of darkness!

Actually, that's not true. I used a flash for this photo, which makes it look darker than it really was out there. There were some people playing basketball behind the fence, and across the street there were people out on a porch talking. I was embarrassed to put it there while there were people around, to be honest. T wasn't embarrassed at all, which is just more proof in my mind that he's an old soul. T and I are worried about how long it will last out there, but this morning, at least, it was yet waving o'er the land of the free.

Can you see that there is a before-picking-up-litter and after-picking-up-litter photo of the Ugly Strip? I had given E a somewhat preachy phrase for the sign (I can't remember now what it was), and thankfully he modified it to the much better, "Let's keep our neighborhood clean."

While T and I were installing the sign, a little girl, probably six years old, came over and was asking questions about it. She was all wide-eyed and astounded about it. She said she picks up litter all the time, and she was proud of herself and very cute.

Thanks for reading!

From park to pancake

2011-09-13T03:00:00.000-07:00

I recently finished reading American Wasteland, a book about how much food we waste, in the US as well as the rest of the world. I expected to be interested in it, but I didn't expect not to be able to put it down, which is what happened. The author, Jonathan Bloom, talks about how much food waste we produce at all stages of food production and preparation, from farms, to transport, to wholesalers, to grocery stores, to consumers in the home. I recommend it.

Anyway, what I want to mention now is his discussion of people who forage in urban parks, yards, and roadways. There are lots of fruits and nuts and herbs and greens growing all around us, that are almost invisible to us until we start looking for them. This weekend, walking through the park near the House, I spied an apple tree that I had never noticed before.

Sunday morning, very early because I was a little embarrassed and nervous about harvesting apples in a park, I took my little brown bag and picked up "drops" -- apples that fell from the tree on their own. I don't feel that it's right to take the lives of apples that are still living and thriving on a tree.

Ha ha! Just kidding! I may be a little out there, but I'm no frutarian.

Okay, so, let's get serious again. I picked up drops because I wasn't brave enough to bring a ladder to the park and climb up it to pick apples.

Here's my modest harvest.

And here are the apples being rinsed in the sink.

In the lower right corner, there is a different fruit, from
a different tree in the park. I haven't identified it yet, but I will.

And here they are in front of the organic dishwashing liquid, with which I washed each one individually and thoroughly, for those of you who are grossed out by the idea of using apples that were on the ground in a park.

Now, while this was a fun project, I will tell you that while gathering the apples was easy, peeling them and cutting out the bad spots was labor intensive. I guess because, in all likelihood, no pesticides were used on the tree, the apples are small and marred by blackish spots. Nevertheless, I got them all prettied up and ready for use. Randalstik, always one to be involved in gardening, composting, and other adventures in sustainability, was on the scene.

They taste sweet and good as is, but Sunday morning I used them to make apple pancakes. They were delicious, I must say.

Thanks for reading!

Small, significant contributions

2011-09-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

This morning it was time for another swing at the Ugly Strip and its street. Walter and I walked by early this morning. The first photo is the Ugly Strip itself (with a snippet of Walter's tail and ear). The second photo is the stretch of street just beyond the Ugly Strip (please excuse the blurriness).

Here are the after photos. The second one is shot from a different angle, but you get the idea -- it looks a lot better.

I also paid a visit to my local storm drain, after reading this post, which made the link between storm drains and the ocean a lot clearer in my mind. I picked up a number of pieces of trash from around the drain. I'll try to make this stop in the future when I'm picking up trash.

Here's the trash I picked up in about 25 minutes.

Do you see the ladder in the upper right corner of the photo above? That's a clue to something exciting that's happening right outside my house, about which I will be posting sometime soon.

Although I tend to be as tuned into current events as someone who lives alone in a cave in a high cliff in a remote desert, today even I can't avoid images and stories of the September 11 attacks, and of their aftermath. Most of what I'm seeing is so sad. But some of what I see, like the photo below taken a year after the attacks (photographed by Lauren McFalls for the Olympian newspaper in Washington state), makes me feel hopeful.

"Our grief is still not a cry for war."
"Peace is patriotic."

I am grateful for the people doing good in the world, from the designers and builders of memorials...

to those who make smaller, and significant, contributions.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks in advance, Joe!

2011-09-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm continuing to try to reduce my plastic use, and here is the most recent effort I have made. I normally buy frozen broccoli to have on hand for making dinners like quiche or stir-fry. The last time I went to the grocery store, however, I bought fresh broccoli, and used the simple instructions in the comment section of this timely post to blanch and freeze it. I reused food storage bags I already had (but as my sister mentioned, I could also have used aluminum foil). Now I have two bags of broccoli in the freezer, ready to use when I need them -- and no new plastic used!

Also, I'm trying to make sure I have lots of relatively quick and easy options for breakfasts for the kids so I can minimize the amount of cereal we buy (because other than granola, I can't find any plastic-free cereals -- and they are not loving the granola option). This Sunday morning, I made sour cream coffee cake in the new bundt pan my sister N gave me for my birthday! Sour cream coffee cake isn't quick, but it does result in leftovers, which the kids have been happily eating this week for breakfast. Here it is on Sunday morning. It was really delicious!

Moving on, here is this week's plastic waste tally for the Plastic Trash Challenge. There's a lot of plastic this week, but it's a learning process.

And finally, I wanted to mention that I'm feeling better about the driveway/tree/neighbor situation, thanks to a return call I got from Joe the asphalt guy. He should be able to fill in the original hole, as well as cut me a new hole, for a reasonable price, sometime next week. Thank. You. Joe. Now that I feel better, I can share this photo of a cute and funny chalk drawing the kids and I walked by recently.

"Even when things get heavy, we'll all float on."

Thanks for reading!

I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you, so...

2011-09-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it has been a week and a day since I last posted, and even then, it was just a measly plastic tally. The reason for my absence is that I have been so discouraged about this.

No, it's not my garden or my crabapple tree that I'm discouraged about, it's where I planted the tree and what happened as a result.

So, what happened is this. I planted the tree. I was so happy about it. Then one day, one of two owners of the bar behind my house (you can see the back of the bar in the left rear of the photo) was out there when I was out there, and he said, your tree is going to get parked on. I said, no it's not, because I'm not going to park on it. And he said, it's our driveway. And I said, no, it's my driveway. To make a long story short, he had the property surveyed, and we're both right and both wrong. The driveway is split down the middle the long way -- the half against my house is mine, and the half against the neighboring house belongs to the bar owners (because they own the neighboring house as well). I genuinely thought the whole driveway was mine (well, I figured there was probably a foot or so against the neighboring house that was theirs), because I have a plot plan that shows that. Well, as it turns out, I misread the plot plan, and, unluckily enough, I planted the tree right smack on the property line...and now I have to move the tree, and have the hole filled back in with asphalt. Ugh.

And to make it even worse, the tree is enjoying its new spot, and I think it has new leaves on top.

My first step will be to move it into a whiskey barrel. Then, I will have the hole filled in. Then, maybe I will have another hole jackhammered and replant it in a spot that is without a doubt my property. It's just that any other location might end up being too close to my house, which could look both cramped and strange. So, I will take the first step of transplanting the tree, and then think on it some more.

I am bothered by this not only because it means I have to move the tree, but also because I like things to be smooth between my neighbors and me, and this is a rough patch. I know, however, that this will blow over, and I'll find a new location for the tree, and the "yard" will slowly but surely improve. I'm trying to think of this as a lesson in persistence and determination and, simultaneously, being a good neighbor (without being a pushover).

Anyway, on a brighter note, here are my newest tomatoes from the garden.

Thanks for reading my tale of woe!

Two weeks' worth of plastic tallies

2011-08-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post last week's plastic tally photo, and now I have this week's as well.

Last week:

And this week:

June Cleaver was with me today

2011-08-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

When I make pies (which I have only done a handful of times) or quiches (which I have done a lot), I use frozen pie crusts from the grocery store. Unfortunately, those crusts come packaged in plastic, so I haven't made a pie or quiche since I started the plastic tally over at My Plastic-free Life. If I wanted pie crust, I'd have to make it myself. Since this weekend was forecast to be rainy due to Hurricane Irene, it seemed like a perfect time to channel my inner June Cleaver and make a blueberry pie with homemade crust, using blueberries I had purchased from a roadside stand on our drive home from Maine a few weeks ago.

I have heard a lot about how temperamental pie dough can be. I was determined to be successful, so I wanted to follow the recipe to the letter. This meant that I needed to purchase a few pie-making tools -- pie pans, a rolling pin, pie weights and a bench scraper. I headed out this afternoon to collect the items I needed.

My first stop was the thrift store, where I located a rolling pin ($3.00) and three pie pans ($2.00, $1.00 and $1.00). There was no plastic involved in any of these purchases, of course.

The center one is a returnable Table Talk pan from back in the day!

My next stop was Williams Sonoma, where I found pie weights and a bench scraper.

The pie weights came in a plastic bag inside the glass jar.

Next, I stopped at the grocery store for the ingredients I needed. The only items that involved plastic were allspice and nutmeg, which are in glass jars but had a small plastic wrapper around the top. I also used vegetable shortening, which came packaged in plastic.

The recipe called for the dough, once it was combined, to be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for an hour. Rather than using plastic, I used sub sandwich wrappers that I had washed and saved.

When it was time to roll out the dough, the choice was to roll it either on a lightly floured surface, or between two pieces of parchment paper. I rolled the first two balls of dough on a lightly floured surface, and then, because the dough did tear and stretch somewhat, I rolled the next two balls of dough between two pieces of sub wrapping paper. I highly recommend the second method. There was no tearing or stretching, making the dough much easier to work with, and the crust more attractive.

Despite being the target of mockery, I am very happy I saved these sub wrappers.

I am not including the recipe I used (although I will tell you it's the basic pie dough recipe and blueberry pie recipe from Baking Illustrated), because this post is more about reducing plastic while making pie crusts, rather than how to make pie crusts. Also, we haven't actually tried the pie yet (it's supposed to cool for four hours), so I can't guarantee the deliciousness. However, I'm pretty proud of how it looks. Here it is.

And here are the crusts, which I will freeze and use for making quiche soon.

Here is the plastic produced from this baking project. The plastic seals from the spice jars won't be repeated often, since the jars of spices will last me a long time. The plastic bag from the pie weights is a one-time purchase. The plastic container from the vegetable shortening is the only item that I would need to use every time I make pie crusts. However, considering the shortening in this package made four crusts (two single crusts, a top crust and a bottom crust), and otherwise each crust would be packaged with a plastic cover, the shortening package is a big improvement. Also, maybe I'll be able to find shortening packaged in less, or no, plastic.

Here's one last look at the pie and the crusts cooling on the counter.

And for my vegetable garden tally, here are photos of my first California Wonder pepper, as well as two more tomatoes.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you all are staying safe and dry despite Irene!

Exciting (to me) compost update!

2011-08-25T03:30:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that I finally ordered a full-size compost bin. My 5-gallon bucket system has been doing its best, but since one of the buckets was taken by police to use in solving a crime, the system has been overloaded and yes, smelly. My new, 100-percent-recycled-plastic Exaco Thermoquick 110-gallon compost bin arrived just in time.

It took me about 10 minutes to set it up. I found it a spot behind the House where it will be out of the view of neighbors. Randalstik was very helpful during the whole process.

I had used all of the kitchen scraps in my 5-gallon bucket when I planted the crabapple tree and the gas meter garden, so the bucket was empty. I did have a pile of weeds that I pulled out of cracks in the pavement around the House. I also had hay, because I bought an entire bale on the drive home from Maine, so that I would never lack for "browns." Here's what the bin is holding so far.

Also, I harvested two more tomatoes from the container garden. I harvested them when they were just a little under-ripe, because some of my tomatoes are falling prey to insects, and some to humans (according to a couple who live in an apartment building within view of the tomato plants, they have seen someone who lives next door help themselves to my tomatoes while I'm not there -- so I'd rather bring them in a little early, and let them ripen inside). Here they are.

Goodbye for now, and don't you worry, I will keep you posted on the status of the compost!

Gas meter garden

2011-08-23T03:45:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, National Grid jackhammered a large rectangle of asphalt out of my driveway to replace my gas meter. They made it a little larger than necessary, to give me a good size space for a garden. I forgot to get a true before photo -- this photo was taken once I had started planting.

On Saturday, P and I visited the New England Wildflower Society's Garden in the Woods. There is a very pretty one-mile trail through woodland gardens, and there is also a native plant nursery. At the nursery, I bought two native perennials, a Butterfly Weed and a Rough Blazingstar. Then on Sunday, I stopped by Thomson's Garden Center and, for $2.49 each (they were on sale since it's the end of the summer), I got Bee Balm, Fleabane, Lupine, Jacob's Ladder, Stonecrop, Obedient Plant and Yarrow. Thomson's Garden Center obviously has a good selection of native plants, because, if I am not mistaken, all of the plants I purchased, with the exception of Stonecrop, is native to the Northeast.

I dug a hole for each plant, put a little unfinished compost in the bottom of each hole, and planted everything. I also planted the columbine that I already had, and stuck an iris root that I already had into the ground as well. Here's what it looks like now.

On Sunday morning before I worked on the garden, I walked by some milkweed plants and took a pod. Milkweed is the only food source for Monarch butterflies. If Monarch butterflies don't find milkweed on which to lay their eggs, their caterpillars won't eat. I stuck some seeds into the ground in the back of the garden between the downspout and the gas meter -- I'm hoping it will come up next year.

I am very excited about my gas meter garden. Here's another view of it, with the crabapple in the background.

Thanks for reading!

A dollar hole

2011-08-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

This past week, National Grid replaced the gas meters on all of the houses on our street, the House Behind the Other Houses included. In doing this, they had to jackhammer through the asphalt that surrounds the House. The National Grid representative, Dave, and his subcontractors, were so incredibly helpful and nice in so many ways, but the one I will focus on is as follows. I mentioned to Dave that I'd like the workers to leave the area they jackhammered open, rather than filling it back in with asphalt as they were doing at the other houses on the street, because I'd like to be able to plant a garden. We looked at the area together, and he suggested they make the opening larger than necessary so I'd have a bigger garden. In the end, not only did they make that large opening, they also opened up another square in the middle of the side driveway, so I could plant the crabapple tree there!

I'll talk more about the gas meter garden in my next post. Right now, I'm excited to tell you about transplanting the crabapple tree into its square in the side driveway.

The side driveway is an area next to the House that can technically be used as a driveway, but in reality is too tight to easily get a car into. What it really should be is a small yard, but at some point it was asphalted. My goal is to eventually remove all of the asphalt, but it's expensive, so I'll do it bit by bit and we'll eventually get there. Here's a photo of the side driveway last year. On the left is the House Behind the Other Houses. On the right is one of the houses in front of the House. In the background on the left is the back of the neighborhood bar. In the background on the right is the back of an apartment building.

Here's the crabapple square, courtesy of Dave and the gang from National Grid.

P and I dug the dirt out of the square, finding in the process another layer of asphalt a foot below ground. P was able to chip through that asphalt and we ended up with a nice big empty hole.

Waiting in the wings was the crabapple tree. As a refresher, T and J and I started this tree from a seed collected from a crabapple tree that we often walk by downtown. We planted six seeds back in March of this year. Only one came up, shown below.

When the weather warmed up, I planted it in a large pot outdoors. I had planted carrots in that same pot, and then gave up on them when they didn't germinate. As a result, not only did I have the crabapple tree to transplant yesterday, I also had a single carrot that finally did decide to germinate.

We put some unfinished compost from my compost bucket into the bottom of the hole, added the potting soil from the pot, and planted up the crabapple tree. While we were working, a guy who lives above the bar told us he thought it was cool that we were planting a tree, and he said that he and his fiance are getting married in a week and a half, so the length of their marriage would be marked by the size of the tree. That was really fun to hear!

I didn't realize how much I had learned about tree planting from watching my father plant a peach tree in our yard when I was about ten. That's when I first heard the saying, "Don't put a dollar tree in a dime hole," and it's also where I learned to make a berm around the base of the tree to hold the water in, and to start the tree off right with a long, very slow drink of water from the hose. It needs to be slow so that the water has time to be absorbed into the ground around the roots, rather than running off. We left the hose on with just a slow stream of water coming out and went out to dinner. When we got back, water was still being absorbed into the ground -- no runoff. Here's the tree getting its drink. What looks like water running off is actually where I wet the ground when getting the hose into position.

So now I water and wait. I can't believe how lucky I have been with this crabapple tree already. I really didn't think any of the seeds would germinate, and then one did, and it's thriving. My hope is that it will continue to grow, and we'll have a full-size tree out there, surrounded by gardens, or a patio, or anything but asphalt.

For the record, because I'm keeping track of what the vegetable plants produce, here is my carrot harvest for the year!

Thanks for stopping by!

Punching back in

2011-08-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Though I was sad to leave Moose Pond when our week was up, I'm very happy to be home. I'm even happy to be able to pick up the Ugly Strip and surrounding area. Here's what it looked like this morning.

And after 15 minutes of picking up trash.

Here's the trash I got.

Before we left for Maine last week, I finally attached a trellis to the house so the grapevine can start climbing it. Here it is.

For comparison purposes, here is the grapevine when I first planted it at the end of last summer.

It's coming along so well! I took the chicken wire down, because I think the grapevine is well established enough that a little digging by squirrels won't be too damaging for it.

I'd like to keep track of the vegetables I get from my container garden this year, so for the record, here is another tomato I picked right before we left for Maine. There was an additional one that I gobbled down before I remembered to take a photo, unfortunately.

Thanks for reading!

We were in Maine and now we're back!

2011-08-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

Today we returned from a week-long vacation to Moose Pond in Denmark, Maine! Fun was had by all. Here are T, J, and my niece LD enjoying the lake.

Before I left, I considered mentioning on the blog that I'd be gone, but then I thought, what if I have a very patient burglar for a blog reader, and this burglar has been waiting for me to mention that I'll be away from the house for a while, at which point s/he will break into my house? Later, I realized the burglar wouldn't know where I live, exactly, so what would they do, search the blog for the name of my city, locate the Ugly Strip and then search within a stone's throw of it for a house situated behind other houses? That's a stretch. Next time I'm gone for a while, I'll mention it.

Anyway, I figured I'd have a chance to pick up some trash in Maine, and I did, when T and L and I walked to Jimbob's Place, which is the convenience store in Denmark. Naively, I wondered whether I would find any trash. Well readers, there is no rest for the weary. Here's what I picked up on our first walk to Jimbob's.

And here's what I got on our second walk.

I guess I expected people to be a little more respectful in a pretty rural town along a beautiful lake, than they might be in an urban neighborhood, but that was silly of me. I certainly got less than I can pick up in my city, anyway (though in my street's defense, my neighborhood is very densely populated, whereas Denmark, Maine is not). In any case, it was an interesting experience picking up trash in a totally different setting.

We did a decent job minimizing the amount of plastic we used on vacation, although without question we used more than we would at home. Rather than bring home our trash and recycling, we threw the trash in the rental agency's Dumpster, and the recycling in their designated recycling bin. For that reason, I'm going to skip the plastic trash challenge this week, but I'll start it up again this Tuesday morning, and report it the following week. We did bring our compost home, and I added it to my 5-gallon-bucket compost bin. I was going to try to be mature and not mention this until it arrives, but I'm too excited -- I ordered a full-size compost bin, which should arrive Monday, August 22! I will definitely be posting about that as soon as I have it set up!

Here are a few more pictures. Can you imagine throwing a beer can next to this lake?

Thanks for reading!

In which I muse on the plastic I produce and how I'm not so different from the Ugly Strip litterbugs

2011-08-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

Here is my photo from this week's plastic tally. The amount of plastic waste this week is greater than last week, and comparable to the few weeks before that.

There's not much in the photo that I personally used that I feel I could easily give up (the items used by others are not as much under my control). For instance, the cat food cans...I could make homemade cat food, which I have done in the past, but the amount of work it requires is more than I want to undertake right now. Some items are easy to give up, like the Pop Tart wrappers. The Pop-Tarts were in my cabinet before I started the plastic challenge, and I just won't buy them again. I will start buying Eco-Dent dental floss, packaged in a cardboard container (although the floss is still nylon), but I have to find a place that sells it (maybe Harvest Co-op, maybe Whole Foods), and I have a few containers of floss still in the bathroom that I need to use first.

Despite the lack of quick progress, I'm glad I am undertaking the plastic challenge for many reasons, including one that I was thinking of recently, which occurred to me when I was looking at the photo of the trash I picked up last weekend at the Ugly Strip. Here's that photo.

After looking at the photo, I thought to myself, what's the difference between the Ugly Strip trash photo, and the photo of my plastic waste for the week? If I removed all of the paper trash from the Ugly Strip trash pile, the number of plastic items would probably be comparable to the number I used in a week. I'm not tossing my trash on the ground, so the chance of it arriving at the landfill or recycling center is greater, but recycling is not a great solution either (take a look at Harry's post). If I'm just picking up plastic bags (or plastic trash in general), but still producing lots of plastic, I'm simply less irresponsible than the Ugly Strip litterbugs by a matter of degrees.

I'm not saying that if you aren't trying to reduce your plastic use, you're irresponsible. I'm saying that if I am going to berate (however mildly) litterbugs in my neighborhood, I had better make sure I'm doing all I can to reduce my own trash production. I guess it's a matter of people in glass houses not throwing stones. I can't be all, oh no, my neighbors litter all the time, but I'm okay because I put my disposable plastic in the trash where it belongs. I'll keep trying to reduce my plastic use, and then I can at least feel like I'm attacking the problem from both ends.*

On a lighter note, here's my first harvested tomato! It's like a tomato in three parts, two of which are perfectly ripe, with the third being green and unripe. I'm planning on using just the two red lobes, which will be fine. I can't wait to see how it tastes!

Thanks for reading!

*Despite the enlightened tone of this paragraph, I reserve the right to jump back into being judgmental and self-righteous about any topic at any time. Thank you.

Liquid gold

2011-08-04T03:00:00.000-07:00

Here is our plastic tally photo from the week ending July 25, 2011. It's definitely an improvement over previous weeks.

I'm starting to regain faith that I can reduce our plastic use even further. I was able to buy a few plastic-free products that I originally thought I would be unable to find without plastic. Beth from My Plastic-free Life let me know that she can buy maple syrup in bulk at her local co-op. I had originally bought it in 32-fluid-ounce plastic bottles, which cost $13.99 ($.44/fluid ounce). After I started the plastic challenge, I found a 12.5-fluid-ounce glass bottle, which cost $6.99 ($.56/fluid ounce). However, the bottles still have a plastic cap. At Beth's suggestion, I called Harvest Co-op and asked whether they have maple syrup in bulk, and they do (in fact, they have an entire liquid bulk area that I had overlooked on previous shopping trips, where I also found bulk cooking oils, which I don't need now, but I will definitely need in the future)!

The bad news is, their maple syrup in bulk costs $1.07/ounce, which is just about twice as much as I paid for the glass bottle with the plastic cap. The jar (brought from home) on the far left in the photo below is my bulk maple syrup -- that amount cost $29.01! Yikes -- it's like liquid gold! Also, we use lots of maple syrup in the House Behind the Other Houses, because we frequently have pancakes on the weekend. I will try to keep buying the bulk maple syrup, but if inability to get to the co-op, or lack of desire to pay that much, get in the way, then I will permit myself to buy the glass bottles at times. I'm very glad to know it's there, though, and I'll try to keep buying it.

Other items of note in the photo above include the liquid hand soap (third from left). I brought my own empty hand soap container and filled it from their bulk containers of Dr. Bronner's soap. On the far right, in the apple sauce jar, is facial cleanser for sensitive skin. I use Cetaphil cleanser daily for my face. When my Cetaphil runs out (which will be soon), I will fill the empty container with this cleanser, and give it a try. I got a relatively small amount, in case it doesn't work for me, but if it does, I'll go back and buy more.

So, although this was an expensive trip to the co-op, I limited my purchases to items I couldn't find plastic-free at a regular supermarket, and thus kept the cost down somewhat. What I did buy should last us a while, so I won't have to make a large co-op purchase again soon. This co-op shopping trip left me feeling much more hopeful than my last trip, so that's a step in the right direction!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tom's of Maine, Part II

2011-08-02T03:00:00.000-07:00

I received a response to my email to Tom's of Maine. It is what I expected it would be -- we appreciate your concerns, here is why we made the decision, thank you for contacting us.

Hi Ellen,

Thank you for your email. I am so sorry to hear that you are disappointed by our new tube material. As you can probably imagine, switching to our new laminate tube was a really big decision for us - the aluminum tubes have been a part of our company for over 40 years.

It sounds like you may have already looked into the consideration and research involved in this change. If note, you can follow this link to learn more:

http://www.tomsofmaine.com/business-practices/environmental-practices/laminate-tube

We are working hard to make sure these new tubes don't end up in the trash. The tubes are recyclable as #7, and BPA-free, as well as phthalate-free. We've also identified a partner who will recycle and reuse the material, so we are asking people who live in municipalities that don’t accept #7 to save up their empty tubes and send them back to us.

That said, we recognize that plastic is not the perfect option. We originally chose aluminum wanting to have the packaging recycled, but the reports we were receiving were that many municipalities wouldn't accept our tubes. We also found that the process of recycling aluminum is actually much dirtier than we realized.

We are going to continue to look for ways to improve the sustainability of our packaging, and really hope folks like you will keep us aware of new options that arise. We do track consumer comments closely, and are especially interested to hear how our valued users feel about these tubes, and what direction they'd like to see us go in with future packaging.

We would all also like to take this opportunity to thank you for your commitment to sustainability and your passion for our environment, values that we at Tom's share and appreciate.

I do hope you will find this information helpful. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.

Sincerely,
Bridget M. Burns
Citizen's Advocacy Representative

I still felt like this.

So I wrote the following reply.

Hello Bridget,

I appreciate your return email. I followed the link you sent regarding your reasons for switching from aluminum to plastic tubes, and I read the information there. I understand that shipping toothpaste packaged in plastic saves energy as compared to shipping the heavier aluminum tubes, and also that manufacturing plastic tubes requires less energy than manufacturing aluminum tubes. I can see that Tom’s of Maine put a lot of thought into their switch from aluminum to plastic tubes. However, I feel that I need to make the following comments.

You mentioned in your email that there were many municipalities that wouldn't accept your aluminum tubes for recycling, and that is one of the factors that led to the decision to switch to plastic tubes. But later you mention that people who don't have recycling for #7 plastic can send their tubes back to Tom's of Maine. It seems clear enough that not every town accepts every material for recycling, and whether Tom's tubes are aluminum or plastic, consumers may need to send them back to you. Thus, the lack of recyclability of aluminum in every town is not a reason for Tom's of Maine to switch away from aluminum tubes.

You also mentioned that Tom's of Maine found that the process of recycling aluminum is dirtier than you realized. I did a quick internet search regarding the recycling of aluminum and wasn't able to find any information regarding dirtiness. In fact, there seemed to be very few disadvantages to recycling aluminum. I would be interested in learning more about the dirtiness of aluminum recycling.

Plastic can only be downcycled, rather than truly recycled. For instance, you cannot use recycled plastic for your tubes, because they require a higher-quality plastic than you can ever get from the recycling process. The plastic used for your tubes can only be made into items that use plastic of lesser quality. If plastic could be recycled and reused continually, as aluminum can, it would make plastic a better option for packaging. Unfortunately, it can't.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, trash often doesn’t make it to the recycling plant or the landfill. When a plastic toothpaste tube falls out of someone's purse or off a trash or recycling truck and onto the ground, unless someone picks it up, brings it home and recycles it, it will stay in the environment forever. It may degrade into little shreds, but those little shreds, as small as they may get, will still be plastic. Aluminum, however, when it turns into little shreds, will be little shreds of aluminum, which is a naturally occurring material.

Plastic has become an enormous problem for our planet -- it is filling our oceans, being ingested by marine animals small and large, and eventually the toxins from plastic make their way up the food chain, from small fish, to big fish, to people. I continue to hope that Tom’s of Maine will reconsider their switch from aluminum to plastic tubes.

Thanks for your time, Bridget!

Ellen

I wonder if I'll get another response. If nothing else, I'd like to know more about the dirtiness of aluminum recycling.

Thanks for reading!

My neighbors have nothing to fear

2011-07-31T03:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show the progress of my vegetables. I'm proud of myself for watering them so religiously, something I don't tend to be very good at. In fact, I've never been solely responsible for a vegetable garden before, and for good reason, really. Now, don't misunderstand, I take good care of my children, and my dog and cat. But it seems to have taken me a lot longer to reach a point in my life where I can be counted on to water plants daily. Let's take a look at the state of my garden so far.

The three heirloom tomato plants (Rose and Arkansas Traveler) are producing a good number of tomatoes, two of which started to turn red this week.

I thought for a while that I'd only have one pepper from my two California Wonder pepper plants, but now I see that the other plant has two small peppers coming along, although you might not be able to see them in this photo.

Here's the first vegetable that has actually reached the eating stage...my Black Beauty zucchini, which I had, not unreasonably I think, expected to be black, but which is just regular zucchini green. I'm fairly certain that this is the only zucchini this plant will produce. I don't see any potential new zucchinis coming along. I went to the library today and got a couple of vegetable gardening books to see where I went wrong with this, because isn't is actually typical to get so many zucchinis that you don't know what to do with them? There are jokes about people locking the doors when neighbors come bearing zucchini.

Given that the photo below represents my entire zucchini harvest for the year, my neighbors clearly have nothing to fear from me.

Here also is the grapevine sending a hopeful shoot up the side of the house, a marigold in one of the front planters, and one of the tomato plants lit from behind by the sun. My last post was a little grungy, but this one is making me feel fresh and clean as a whistle!

Thanks for stopping by!

Like a holiday!

2011-07-30T07:17:00.000-07:00

This morning on my walk with Walter, I passed the Ugly Strip. It was filled with trash, and even though my intention was to go on a plastic-bag walk, I felt like I had better tackle the Ugly Strip sooner rather than later. Walter and I quickly finished up our walk, and I returned sans Walter to start picking up litter.

Here are a few shots of the Ugly Strip before I started picking up trash. In the first photo, the Ugly Strip is in the upper right hand corner. I wanted to give you an idea of the trash on the street around the Ugly Strip. If you click on the photos, you'll get a much better view of the trash.

Here's the Ugly Strip head-on, in all it's ugliness.

Here is the Ugly Strip as seen from the side, which is the perspective that best shows the large amount of trash it harbors.

Picking up trash is really gross and really satisfying. Here's what I got.

While you wouldn't think there would be anyone spending any time at the Ugly Strip by choice (other than me, picking up trash), you would be wrong. The Ugly Strip is surrounded by large apartment buildings, as well as multi-family houses, so it's a very densely populated neighborhood (this is my neighborhood -- the neighborhood of the House Behind the Other Houses -- the Ugly Strip is just a stone's throw away). The people in my neighborhood are friendly, fun-loving and family-focused -- you can see this on any summer evening, when there are whole big extended families sitting on their porches or in their driveways or parking areas, hanging out and having fun. Kids are running everywhere, laughing and chasing each other and riding their bikes. People are barbequing and having a few beers and listening to music. It's really nice (well, aside from the shooting, of course). And there are usually a few people standing around the Ugly Strip chatting.

So, I don't want to dis my neighbors, because they're nice people. But we all have our faults, and apparently my neighbors' fault is that they don't think twice about tossing trash on the ground. I don't get it. I must have picked up ten plastic Fla-Vor-Ice wrappers, which I'm guessing were passed out to the kids last night or last weekend or sometime very recently, and obviously just dropped in the street. There is a Dumpster in the parking lot across from the Ugly Strip, so it's not like there wasn't a place to throw the wrappers away, but the parents must not be telling the kids to throw their trash away where it belongs. Another common item is drink containers -- bottles, cups, cans. People finish their drink and drop the packaging. There was a huge number of straws this morning, too, and many cigarette butts, of course.

The next photos show the cleaned-up Ugly Strip (and surrounding street) from the same perspectives. This is the satisfying part.

I'd love to plant flowers at the Ugly Strip, because a garden would be beautiful here, but because of all the foot traffic and congregate-and-chatters, it would just get trampled. Also, dogs (Walter included) find the Ugly Strip to be perfect for pooping and peeing.

It would also be nice to come up with a new, more positive name for the Ugly Strip. The Strip of Serenity? Pocket Garden of Peace? Boulevard of Beauty?

At this time, I will stick with the Ugly Strip. But now it sure is clean!

The Ugly Strip is sparkling like a holiday!

A sweltering day

2011-07-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

Today the temperature was in the 90s here in eastern Massachusetts! It's sweltering inside the House Behind the Other Houses, other than in Walter's air conditioned room. However, even Walter needs to get out sometimes, so after work, we went on a short plastic-bag hunt. Someone here in the House suggested, in the nicest way possible, that perhaps readers would enjoy a collage of plastic bag photos, rather than having to scroll through numerous photos. I think that was probably a good suggestion. Here are the six bags we found tonight, four of which went right into the trash, and two of which are poised to become poo bags.

I got a nice reply to my email from Chipotle yesterday!

Ellen,

Thanks for taking the time to write to us. We're happy to hear you are such a fan and appreciate our attempts to provide plastic free options. We promise to continue down this path and continue to look into ways to make improvements. We appreciate your support and hope to see you again soon.

Sincerely,
Cara Armstrong/Customer Service
Chipotle Mexican Grill

Thanks for reading!

Two thumbs up, one thumb down

2011-07-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

When I read Harry's email to Tom's of Maine, and their response, and his response to their response, I thought, I hope they get a flood of emails regarding their switch from aluminum toothpaste tubes to plastic. Yesterday, I wrote my own email to Tom's of Maine.

Here it is. I went with short and sweet.

Today I finished my last metal tube of Tom's toothpaste, and bought my first plastic tube of Tom's toothpaste. I have to stick with Tom's because my teeth are sensitive to the additives in other toothpastes, but let me tell you, I am so disappointed by this packaging change you have made. You can tell me what you want about why this change makes environmental sense, but the fact remains that my new plastic toothpaste tube will outlive me. I hope you reconsider this short-sighted decision.

Then I was feeling like I wanted to write a positive email to a company that I think is doing something great. I love Chipotle Mexican Grill, and mentioned them in this post. Here's the email I sent them yesterday.

I just wanted to drop you a line to let you know that I think your restaurant is awesome. I have been trying to reduce my plastic use, and everywhere I go I have to be on guard, lest someone try to give me plastic utensils, or stick my purchases in a plastic bag, or give me little plastic pouches of soy sauce. At Chipotle, my burrito came wrapped in foil only, and then placed in a paper bag, with absolutely no plastic involved. Thanks for making it easy to avoid plastic while getting takeout food!

I was struggling with what to do about photos for this post. Finally I came up with this visual representation of the Tom's of Maine situation. I didn't have a lot to work with, so thanks for your patience.

Also, here is a visual representation of the Chipotle situation, except I have to admit that this particular burrito is not from Chipotle, but it is very similar to the burritos at Chipotle, and it is wrapped in foil, just like the burritos at Chipotle. And I feel very thumbs-up about Chipotle, so the thumb position is 100% authentic.

Thanks for reading!

Walter had other plans

2011-07-17T17:25:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, the neighborhood of the House Behind the Other Houses is awesomely bag-free. That was the case today, so I ventured into a nearby neighborhood, in which, I am sad to say, I have never failed to find quite a few bags. Here are the 14 bags I found. Walter had a previous engagement on the Cape, so I did this all by myself.

Also, here's our plastic tally photo from Tuesday, July 12. It should be posted soon at My Plastic-free Life.

Deadly nightshade, and more

2011-07-11T07:00:00.001-07:00

Rather than include all of the details of our plastic waste tally, I'm just posting the link and photo. I think the tally posts might be a little boring, and anyway, you can read them on My Plastic-free Life. I will mention that I'm feeling a little discouraged by the amount of plastic we continue to generate. Much of it is from before we started taking the challenge, so that is plastic that will eventually not be included in our tally, but that still leaves us with quite a bit of plastic generated. We will keep working on it.

I have been noticing some small and even smaller pollinators in my flowers outside of the House Behind the Other Houses. These first two are actually in the viney weed I mentioned in a previous post. After some searching online, I found out that it is deadly nightshade. Deadly it may be, but it is so pretty, and very attractive to bees! A week or so ago, there were many bees collecting nectar from its flowers. Today, there were just two determined bees gleaning the last drops.

On my zucchini flowers, I spotted this very tiny...native bee? I think that's what it might be. There were some of these little guys and gals in some of the other flowers too, but I wasn't able to get a good photo of them.

Here are some tomatoes growing on my tomato plants. They are misshapen, but they're heirloom tomatoes, and they're not supposed to be perfect. Back off, okay?

Here's an unidentified bug hiding in a cosmos flower.

Here is another flower photo, just because.

Thanks for visiting!

Trash, you can run, but you can't hide!

2011-07-10T05:27:00.000-07:00

We've been away for a few days!

We're back now, and rather than do the usual plastic-bag pickup, I thought it would be a good idea simply to pick up trash on our street. I usually stick with plastic bags because I'm afraid if I try to pick up all of the trash I walk by, I'll get burned out and stop, because I won't enjoy my walks anymore. Limiting myself to just one type of trash keeps the job manageable. However, this morning I read myself a little It Starts with Me, and a little Flotsam Diaries, and a little Trash Paddler, and I felt motivated to do an all-are-welcome trash pickup just on my street. I found an eager helper.

And we got to work.

Here's J going after our old frenemy, the plastic bag. It can run, but it can't hide.

We even ventured off our street a little, to pay a visit to the Ugly Strip. You may remember that J, T and the Ugly Strip have met before. The Ugly Strip looks prettier in the summer, but it harbored much trash under all of that foliage. Here's J saying, with a raised eyebrow, "So...we meet again."

(He didn't say that, but it would be funny if he had.)

In 15 to 20 minutes, we gathered quite a lot of trash.

Plastic bags and a butterfly

2011-07-02T17:02:00.000-07:00

A walk with Walter and Roca this morning resulted in seven found bags.

Later in the day, I was puttering around the outside of the house and admiring my flowers and vegetable plants, and I saw this butterfly!

From what I can tell, this is a Cabbage White butterfly. I think they (or their caterpillars) are considered pests, but I am just happy that my flowers attracted a butterfly in the sea of asphalt that surrounds the House Behind the Other Houses.

I also took a picture of the viney weed that grows behind the house. It has grown all the way to the roof of the garage behind our house, and there are lots of bees gathering pollen from its flowers, and it's really pretty.

Today we said goodbye to our little guest Roca. In this photo, she's the one in the front.

We were fostering her for a couple of weeks for the MSPCA. They thought they had found someone to adopt her, but that person was going on vacation, so they asked us to keep her until he got back. As it turns out, the adoption fell through, so she went back to the MSPCA today. She's a friendly dog and she's a great size, so I think she will find a new home quickly. Walter had a good time with her, but Randalstik is glad she's gone. Here he is glaring at her from a basket on the top of the fridge.

Also, take a look at my compost container below.

Does it look a little lonely? That's because the other container was taken by the police to use as evidence in a shooting! I'm not kidding! There was a little excitement on our street last week, involving a shooting, and a gunman escaping by running behind the House Behind the Other Houses and, possibly, overturning my compost bin and using it to climb the fence and escape! The police came and examined the area and asked if they could take my compost bin, only they called it a bucket, not knowing its significance, or value, or history, you know? And they said they'd return it, but it's a week later now, and they still haven't brought it back.

You can't make this stuff up!

Thanks for stopping by!

My plastic tally, week seven

2011-06-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

This week I took the Plastic Trash Challenge over at My Plastic-free Life. Here's the link to the challenge.

http://myplasticfreelife.com/showyourplastic/

In the challenge, you collect all of the plastic trash you produce in one week. My week went from Tuesday, June 21 to Monday, June 27 (I'm a little late in posting). P, T, J and I participated. We saved everything we produced at home and put it in our plastic box, and if we had plastic waste from snacks/lunches outside of the house, we brought it home and added it to the box. Here's a look at our plastic waste this week (also, here's a look at the cat, hanging out in the window).

Total number of plastic items in your stash: 44

Recyclable items:
Bubble bath container
5 cat food cans and lids
Bleach container
Laundry detergent container and lid
Coke can
Styrofoam takeout container

I took the picture and then put the items in the recycling without taking note of the recycling number. Our city takes any plastic with a number inside the chasing arrows.

Nonrecyclable items:
Milk carton
Lid to bubble bath container
Sugar container
Lid to bleach container
Bag of potting soil
Bag of Nestle chocolate chips
2 plant tags
2 plastic corks
Brown sugar bag
Deodorant container
3 bottle caps
3 plastic fruit stickers
3 pieces miscellaneous plastic
4 plastic clothing tags
8 (approximately) plastic food-related items from trip to amusement park

What items could I easily replace with plastic-free or less plastic alternatives?
Bubble bath -- I believe Lush sells plastic-free bubble bath. My kids like lots of bubbles, which the Sesame Street kind provides, but I could give the Lush kind a try. I have another bottle of the Sesame Street kind to use up first, though.
Laundry detergent container and lid -- I think we have one more of these to use, and then I will start using powdered detergent in a box. It still comes with a plastic scoop, but it's a lot less plastic than the bottle.
Sugar container -- this is something I normally buy in a paper bag.
Nestle chocolate chips bag -- I bought them in bulk at the co-op with my own containers!
Brown sugar bag -- I have been making my own!
Plastic from food at Canobie Lake Park (an amusement park) -- ugh, I was so unprepared. Next time I could eliminate all of this plastic!

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic-free alternative doesn't exist?
Plastic corks -- it's just hard to tell which wine has plastic and which has cork.
Bleach -- I can live without this easily.

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
Plastic clothing tag -- these are used even at second-hand shops.
Bottle caps -- we're buying soda and beer in glass bottles, and so we're left with this small amount of plastic.

What lifestyle changes might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
Again, simply being more prepared.

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
Bubble bath -- like I said, I do have to use up another bottle, but I will make my way to a Lush store and find some alternatives to have in the bathroom for when the bottle runs out!

One less item bound for the landfill

2011-06-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

Readers with no life of their own may remember the time I broke my new flower pot. I do believe my readers have vibrant and full lives and probably don't remember the minutiae of my life, so I provided that link in case you're curious about that incident. Here's what I was left with.

I didn't want to throw away this new, and previously perfectly good pot. I Googled how to fix a terra cotta flower pot, and found many sites that gave me good instructions. I don't think my pot is considered terra cotta, but it seems like some kind of ceramic/clay and I figured like the same method would work on it. I didn't rely on any on particular site, so I haven't linked to one here. Also, I let the pot sit next to my trash can for a couple of months, for good measure. Today, I had some free time and energy, so I decided to make the fix. First, I drilled holes alongside the break, on both of the two fragments of pot.

Next, I cut pieces of copper wire to approximately 8 inches. I threaded each piece of wire through a pair of holes, pulled it tight, and twisted the wire together on the inside. I did this with each of the six pairs of holes. That's all I had to do, and it was fixed! It feels sturdy and secure.

Here's the repaired, empty pot. You can see the twisted copper wire inside.

I filled the pot with potting soil and some of my compost (which is looking pretty good!). I put more potting soil on top of the compost.

Then I planted some impatiens. Here's the pot, enjoying a useful life outside the House Behind the Other Houses!

While I was out there, I also potted some marigolds in a bright yellow pot my mother gave me. Here it is next to the peppers.

Also, I took the chicken wire off the tomatoes and zucchini. I think they've grown big enough that the squirrels won't bother with the dirt in their pots (when a lot of dirt is exposed, the squirrels can't resist digging). The tomatoes, zucchini, and peppers are all flowering, so I'm expecting little veggies soon.

Thanks for visiting!

Hunting for plastic bags with a visitor

2011-06-23T22:59:00.000-07:00

We have a visitor at our house for a couple of weeks. Her name is Roca.

She looks a lot like Walter. Here's Walter, for comparison purposes. Note the meek attitude and aversion to conflict, whereas Roca has a spunky attitude that translates to, "I am the boss of you, Walter."

But they are having fun together.

Roca came from the MSPCA in Methuen, which is where we got Walter. She was surrendered by her owners, and based on where she originally came from, the shelter director thinks there's a chance she might be Walter's sister (she definitely looks like him!). He found someone to adopt her, but that person is going on vacation, so he asked us if we would foster her for a couple of weeks, until she can go to her new home. We agreed, and now there is a lot of action in the House Behind the Other Houses.

I had the day off work because T graduated from fifth grade today! We are so proud of him!

In the morning, before the graduation, I went out for a plastic-bag hunt. It's a challenge walking both dogs at once, so I brought Roca so she could burn off some energy. Here's what we found on this misty day.

This one is two heavy yellow pages books, but they are in a plastic bag, so they fall within my jurisdiction.

We walked to the beach at Forest River Park so Roca could run around. The beach is very small and doesn't normally have a lot of people at it, and since today was rainy, there was nobody there but us.

It's a pretty beach, surrounded by a grassy park, but there was a lot of trash there. You can see some of it in this photo.

While Roca ran around for a few minutes, I picked up the biggest pieces of trash, but I barely scratched the surface of what was there. Here's what I got.

Thanks for stopping by!

My plastic tally, week six

2011-06-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

This week I took the Plastic Trash Challenge over at My Plastic-free Life. Here's the link to the challenge.

http://myplasticfreelife.com/showyourplastic/

In the challenge, you collect all of the plastic trash you produce in one week. My week went from Tuesday, June 14 to Monday, June 20. P, T, J and I participated. We saved everything we produced at home and put it in our plastic box, and if we had plastic waste from snacks/lunches outside of the house, we brought it home and added it to the box. Here's a look at our plastic waste this week.

Total items: 49

Recyclable items:

Salad clamshell (#6)

3 cat food cans and lids

Toothpaste container (not including cap) (01 PETE?)

Items: Nonrecyclable

Milk carton, cap and inner ring

Inner bread bag

Cheese wrapper

Frozen pizza wrapper

Q-tip container

CD that came with new speakers

12 beer/Coke caps (from glass bottles)

Snickers wrapper

4 other lids (1 spaghetti sauce, 1 Starbucks drink, 1 olive oil, 1 unknown)

Toothpaste cap and sticker

4 little plastic bags (maybe these came from the new speakers?)

Hose packaging

Pasta box window

Ace Rewards cards

Clothes tag holders

Plastic-topped toothpick (this was in my son’s room, from I don’t know when)

Little toy piece – I don’t know where this came from because we don’t have a set of these toys

Dog-chewed mechanical pencil

Lid to pen that we no longer have

Eye drop container and wrapper

2 bread tabs

2 fruit stickers

Dog-chewed headphones

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?

Salad clamshell — this was a takeout order, and it wasn’t really necessary.

Bread bag and bread tabs — I have already started buying bread without a plastic bag from the bakery near me. This bread was in the freezer before I started the challenge.

Frozen pizza wrapper — we can make pizza. This pizza was in the freezer before I started the challenge.

Pasta box window — I bought pasta in bulk! This window was from pasta bought before I started the challenge.

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?

One-time things like the CD that came with the new speakers.

Eye drop container and wrapper

Fruit stickers

Toothpaste cap — even Tom’s of Maine has plastic caps, and I don’t want to go the baking soda route

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?

Better planning and time management.

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?

I bought pasta and chocolate chips in bulk this weekend, so they will be my two items.

It's all about gradual improvement, right?

2011-06-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

I made a trip to the Harvest Co-op this weekend, to stock up on some plastic-free groceries. I got some tri-colored bow-tie pasta and some bulk chocolate chips, shown here in the jars I got from the thrift store (previously blogged), and jars left over from pasta sauce and jam.

Here are shampoo, conditioner, and dish soap. Now don't get your panties in a bunch -- these are not regular plastic-packaged products. I brought empty containers to the co-op, and refilled them from their bulk bins!

The trip actually involved a lot of being cooped up in a hot car on a beautiful day (it is some distance away and there was traffic) and was quite expensive. When I got home, I was feeling discouraged about reducing my plastic use, because realistically, I don't think that I can spend that much time and money on a regular basis. I was so discouraged that the next day, I used plastic creamer cups willy nilly at a restaurant, and later bought a chocolate frappe with a plastic lid and straw, and didn't save them for my plastic tally.

Later that day, however, I felt reenergized. As Danielle, Vicky and Martha mentioned in comments on an earlier post, the goal is not to be perfect, but to continually improve. I may not be able to avoid all plastic, but I'll keep trying to reduce, and that is worthwhile in itself.

Something else that makes it worthwhile is hearing my son say, "Mom, I found a bag on the way home!" and seeing his pride as he tucks the bag into the drawer where we keep the poop bags. That happened last week, and it has been one of the most motivating things I've experienced so far!

My plastic tally, week five

2011-06-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

This week I took the Plastic Trash Challenge over at My Plastic-free Life. Here's the link to the challenge.

http://myplasticfreelife.com/showyourplastic/

In the challenge, you collect all of the plastic trash you produce in one week. My week went from Tuesday, June 7 to Monday, June 13. P and I participated. We saved everything we produced at home and put it in our plastic box, and if we had plastic waste from snacks/lunches outside of the house, we brought it home and added it to the box. Here's a look at our plastic waste this week. I am a little disappointed at the quantity of plastic this week vs. last week, but I'm telling myself to be patient, and keep working at it!

Total number of plastic items: 58

List of recyclable items

Beer can (last one -- now we're only buying bottles)
Coke can (last one -- buying glass bottles now)
Pepsi bottle (was drunk at someone else's house)
Contact solution bottle (no avoiding this)
Maple syrup bottle (have replaced this with a glass bottle of maple syrup)
3 cat food cans and lids
Condiment cup lid from takeout (I have been reusing these, but this one is missing the cup part)

List of non-recyclable items

2 padded envelopes (from used books I ordered online)
seaweed chip packet
Tollhouse chocolate chips bag
Ramen noodle packet and inner spice bag
2 candy wrappers
veggie burger wrapper
butcher paper from Whole Foods (I think this isn't plastic)
frozen pineapple juice concentrate package (this was the last one)
Plastic baggie (given to Paul by my mother with a snack in it, even after she was told we are avoiding plastic!)
Dog-chewed coozy
5 straws
cilantro tag
carrot tag
CD (contained a software update that we used and now we're done with it)
used Visa gift card
5 wrist bracelets from 3 events
8 beer and Coke caps (from glass bottles)
molasses cap
Pepsi cap
2 contact lens containers
plastic tube (I have no idea what this is or where it came from -- found it in a drawer)
2 soy sauce packets (I had no idea I was going to receive these in my takeout order -- I used my own containers but they snuck these in!)
plastic lid
5 random bits of plasticent cup lid from takeout (I have been reusing these, but this one is missing the cup part)

What items could I easily replace with plastic-free or less plastic alternatives?

The padded envelopes -- I can request no plastic the next time I order online.
Tollhouse chocolate chips bag -- I can buy these in bulk at a few different places.
Straws -- we received three of these at one dinner because I just totally forgot to say no straws!

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic-free alternative doesn’t exist?

seaweed chip packet -- I don't buy these, but my son brought it home.
Frozen pineapple juice concentrate package -- I don't need to buy juice, and if I decide to get it occasionally, I can buy it in glass.
Straws -- I will be on the alert!

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?

CD with software update -- this seems like a one-time thing that can't be avoided.
Wrist bracelets from events -- we had to put these on to go in!
Coke caps -- this is so much less plastic than a plastic Coke container, so I can live with this at this point.
Contact lens containers for disposable contacts.
Contact solution bottle

What lifestyle changes might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?

I baked cookies again tonight to avoid cookie packages! Also we're eating healthier foods because I'm avoiding buying so many packaged foods. I will keep going with the baking and cooking, because it seems pretty essential to avoiding plastic, at least for us.

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?

I have one bag of Tollhouse chocolate chips left, but this week I will stock up on bulk chocolate chips so I don't have to buy any more after that.

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?

My kids are enjoying the challenge. We went out for ice cream last night, and my younger son was proud to tell the server that he didn't need a spoon for his cup of ice cream (I have been carrying some utensils in my purse to avoid having to use plastic).

Little urban farm

2011-06-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

I wanted to update you on the progress of the vegetable plants. They're doing great! Here's a shot of all of them together.

Here are two of the tomato plants. On the left is Arkansas Traveler, and on the right is Rose.

Here's the Black Beauty zucchini. It's getting huge!

Here's the crabapple tree, growing slowly but steadily. You can't tell from this angle, but it truly has grown.

Here are the peppers, which are taking on the look of pine trees hanging onto an exposed cliff. We had some windy days and they really felt it. I think they'll be just fine, though.

Here's the grapevine, which is my pride and joy. It's doing so well. My hope is that someday it will climb along the top of the porch windows.

These viney flowers are growing in another area behind the house. I'm sure they're considered a weed, but they're very pretty and they grow out of a crack in the pavement, and I admire them for that. In the winter, when the leaves are gone, there are beautiful red berries hanging from the branches.

Look, it's a little garden gnome!

Thanks for stopping!

Embarrassment? I can live with it!

2011-06-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

Some experiences I had last night and today brought me to a new level of exasperation, and action, this morning. Here's what happened.

Last night, P and I were walking home from the train station. Just before we reached the house, a young man walking ahead of us with his friend tossed a piece of trash on the ground. P was about to go say something to him, but I stopped him, because I was afraid he was going to be confrontational about it, and I didn't want to see how two strong young men might respond to that.

Later that night, I ordered takeout and got some unexpected plastic in the bag, despite my efforts to avoid it, as a result of me not realizing the super-vigilance required when ordering takeout.

This morning, I went on an early-morning bike ride. It was a beautiful day, and everything seemed fresh and clean. I got to the drawbridge over the river, which has a beautiful view and is part of the ride that I look forward to. There is typically no visible trash on the drawbridge, but this morning, I passed a plastic ziploc-type bag (picked it up), a McDonalds bag, and an empty pack of cigarettes, each about 10 feet from the next. I imagine this was the work of one person.

Finally, I was reading this post on the blog Plastic Manners, and the images and examples of marine animals eating and getting tangled in plastic somehow got to me afresh, though I have seen and heard about it many times.

Reading the post was the last straw. I suddenly feel like, why should I worry about what people think of me for telling them I don't want a straw in my drink, or for picking up dirty plastic bags when I'm dressed up and walking to work, or for explaining to the nice lady at Fresh Taste of Asia that I don't want fortune cookies and soy sauce? Really, why should I worry? I know the actions I'm taking are worthwhile, and I'm willing to experience some embarrassment for something I believe in. So, thank you, littering neighbors and Taina of Plastic Manners and people who take photos of dead whales and seals and birds. And thank you, Beth and Danielle and others for setting an example!

Success! Or so I thought.

2011-06-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

Tonight it was just P and I for dinner, so we each got takeout. P got a sub from Salem House of Pizza (no plastic involved in that). I really wanted to get palak paneer from Passage to India. However, they won't let me use my own containers for takeout (I asked them last summer and they said their attorney told them not to), and yesterday P went there and asked if they could give us takeout food in paper containers (like Chinese food takeout boxes), and they said they don't use them. They asked for his phone number and said they'd call him if they change their packaging, so maybe that means they will consider it.

In the meantime, however, Passage to India is out. I decided to give Fresh Taste of Asia a try. I walked over, ordered home-style tofu and asked the woman to use my containers, and she didn't blink an eye! She took the containers back to the kitchen. I came back 15 minutes later, and she handed me a paper bag inside a plastic bag. No problem -- I just told her I'm trying to avoid plastic, and gave her back the plastic bag, and kept just the paper bag (with my containers inside). She was probably thinking, if she's trying to avoid plastic, why did she give me plastic containers to fill? I should have been more specific, and said I'm trying to avoid taking new plastic.

Here's the bag. I was so triumphant and happy.

Then I opened the bag, and here's what I found inside. Yes, the food is packaged in my containers -- that's great. What's not great is the plastic-wrapped fortune cookies, and the plastic packets of soy sauce.

I was so disappointed! Here I thought I had managed to get a plastic-free takeout meal, and instead I have four new pieces of plastic to add to my tally. Ugh!

After I got over my disappointment, I realized I just need to be more specific. I need to say, I don't want any plastic at all -- no fortune cookies or soy sauce packets or anything. I just want the food in my containers. The woman was very nice, and I'm sure she won't have a problem with it. I will give it a try again at Fresh Taste of Asia sometime soon, because the home-style tofu was delicious. Here it is, along with a Coke bottled in glass (which I was able to buy and bring home from Howling Wolf Tacqueria last night)!

I want to mention that I've been picking up plastic bags, but my camera has repeatedly chosen not to cooperate when I've needed it to, so I have no photos to show you. It's kind of a shame, because I came across a sort of plastic bag art installation (okay, this is stretching it, but that's what it seemed like to me) in the park near the House Behind the Other Houses yesterday. The benches in the park are made of wooden planks supported by three concrete forms. The concrete forms extend above the top planks on the bench, and on each of the concrete forms on one bench, someone had placed a plastic bag, so they were waving in the wind behind the bench. They are now waiting their turns at being used as poop bags.

In other news, here are a few plastic-free or plastic-lite purchases I have made, that will help me eliminate more plastic in the future.

The two jars are the smaller sisters of the jar I got a week or so ago, that is holding my bulk granola. I plan to use them for bulk white rice and bulk basmati rice. They came from a thrift store here in Salem. The molasses (in a glass bottle) is for making brown sugar, and the peanut butter is packaged in glass as well (the molasses has a plastic lid, and the peanut butter has a plastic seal around the lid, so neither is perfect...I'll keep looking). The soap came from Whole Foods, and has no packaging at all!

Thanks for stopping by!

My plastic tally, week 4

2011-06-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

This week I took the Plastic Trash Challenge over at My Plastic-free Life. Here's the link to the challenge.

http://myplasticfreelife.com/showyourplastic/

In the challenge, you collect all of the plastic trash you produce in one week. My week went from Tuesday, May 31 to Monday, June 6. P and I participated. We saved everything we produced at home and put it in our plastic box, and if we had plastic waste from snacks/lunches outside of the house, we brought it home and added it to the box. Here's a look at our plastic waste this week. The first photo is our usual plastic waste, and the second photo is the plastic waste we produced when we took a trip to New York this weekend.

Total number of plastic items in your stash: 43

List of recyclable items
2 Coke cans
4 cat food cans and lids
Glass teriyaki bottle (it has plastic on it, and a plastic lid -- the lid can't be recycled)
Laundry detergent bottle (#2)
Plastic cup (#1)

List of non-recyclable items or those you are unsure of
Ramen noodle package, plus inner spice package
Inner cereal bag
Broken thermometer
Little plastic cup (came with takeout food before I started the challenge, I send snacks to school in these, but this one got squashed)
Plastic wrap (was on cheese in the fridge before the challenge, then I used it to wrap a snack, now it is being tossed)
Soap wrapper
2 plastic knives (I have no recollection of getting these)
2 fruit stickers
Tag from clothing
Bit of a dog-chewed pen

Non-recyclable things used while in NYC for the weekend:
Plastic cup (ordered two drinks, requested paper cups, got one paper and one plastic, didn't want to then use another paper cup so didn't say anything)
2 drink lids
2 little plastic cups that held cole slaw when we ordered lunch in a restaurant (everything else was on the ceramic plates -- didn't expect these to come in plastic)
2 tags from a tour of Ground Zero
2 straws
2 snack packs, which include 2 each of: cheese cup, knives, cookie bag, dried fruit bag, cracker wrapper, and bag that held the whole snack pack (see explanation below)

What items could I easily replace with plastic-free or less plastic alternatives?
Coke cans -- tonight I walked to Howling Wolf Tacqueria, a restaurant near us, and bought four Cokes in glass bottles! They are in the fridge for the next time we want Coke.
Laundry detergent bottle -- I will get the cardboard box next time (still have a couple of bottles still, though)
Soap wrapper -- no more soap in plastic wrappers!
Outdoor thermometer -- they have much nicer ones that aren't plastic, and probably won't break as easily!
What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic-free alternative doesn’t exist?
Little plastic cup from takeout - no more takeout from Passage to India. Paul went to Passage to India tonight, and asked if he could order takeout and have it packaged in paper (like Chinese-food boxes), and they said no, they don't like to use those, but they took his number in case they make a change. This is the same place that wouldn't fill my own containers last summer. They have such good food -- I hope they change their policy. Paul obviously left without buying dinner.

Inner cereal bag -- I have only bought granola (in bulk, using my own containers) since starting the challenge!

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
The snack packs. We went to New York for the weekend. We took the train home on Sunday -- we were scheduled to depart Penn Station at 1:00pm. We had just eaten lunch, so I was sure we'd be fine without eating again until we arrived at South Station in Boston at 5:30pm. What I didn't know is that our train would be three hours delayed. We arrived in Boston at 8:30pm. In the meantime, the dining car gave away free snack packs, but we didn't go get one. However, the nice lady sitting next to us got us each a snack pack unexpectedly when she went to get hers. Paul ate his right away. I was going to resist, but after about 10 minutes of resisting, decided I was too hungry to wait, so I ate it. And it's a good thing we did eat them, because we would have been even more starving than we were. I really wouldn't have wanted to go without food with no end in sight! And there was nothing in the dining car that wasn't in plastic, and we hadn't brought any food with us. But if it hadn't been for the snack packs, we only would have had 28 items this week! It bummed me out so much!

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
I have baked two batches of chocolate chip blondies (like brownies but not chocolate), which have made it so I haven't had to buy any cookies from the store! I will keep baking snacks so I can keep avoiding plastic-packaged snacks.

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
I was thinking about trying to find marrow bones (for the dog) not wrapped in plastic, but we have enough of those to last for a while. We're almost out of soap, so I'll find some soap that's not wrapped in plastic. I know this is kind of an easy one, but we do need it.

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
Well, I'm feeling very encouraged, because, other than the snack packs, we reduced our plastic use by quite a bit this week!

New York trip: fairly low plastic

2011-06-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

This weekend, we went to New York City. We left Boston Friday evening on the Amtrak Acela train, and arrived in New York Friday night. We just returned home about an hour ago (9:15pm Sunday night). We did pretty well avoiding plastic.

I know the cafe car on the Acela train offers almost nothing (possibly literally nothing) that's not wrapped in plastic, so before we left I got burritos from Chipotle (they wrap their burritos in tin foil and place them in a paper bag). I filled up our travel mugs with water, and brought blondies for a dessert. We ate on the train, and it was really good. You will notice there is a Coke can in the photo. P brought that to drink with dinner. I was as confused as you may be, as to how this plastic-lined can fits into the plastic-free dinner I told him I was putting together. Let's move on.

The next morning, we had breakfast at a little deli. We both ordered breakfast sandwiches. they were going to serve them on disposable plastic plates, but I said no to the plates and they just wrapped them in aluminum foil. I ordered coffee and gave them my travel mug to put it in. P got a Snapple, so the plastic-lined lid was the only plastic in this meal.

For lunch that day, we ate at an Italian restaurant. They gave us paper-wrapped plastic straws, but we set them aside on the table, and hopefully they will reuse them. The Cokes we ordered came in glass bottles (which have plastic caps), so at this lunch, the plastic trash was three plastic caps.

That afternoon, we met a friend for coffee. I asked for our iced mocha and iced coffee in paper cups. The woman said, well, it will degrade, that's why we use plastic. In my head I was like, it will degrade in the 15 minutes it will take me to drink it? Out loud I said, that's okay, I'd prefer paper. She gave me one drink in paper and one in plastic. I have no idea why. So, we ended up with one plastic cup.

I didn't take a picture of dinner that night, but the only plastic was the stirrer/straw that came in my margarita.

The next morning, we had breakfast at an eco-friendly breakfast place/bakery, that, strangely, served their food on (reusable) plastic plates and bowls. The drinks came in glass cups, though, so we only ended up with two plastic straws. I forgot to say no straws.

At lunch, we each, unexpectedly, had cole slaw served in little plastic cups on our plates. We were given straws but set them aside to hopefully be reused. So, we ended up with two little plastic cups from this meal.

Okay, up until this point, I feel like we did very well with keeping down the amount of plastic we used. Then, we were scheduled to depart Penn Station on the train at 1:00pm. We had just eaten lunch, so I was sure we'd be fine without eating again until we arrived at South Station in Boston at 5:30pm. Well, what I didn't know is that our train would be three hours delayed. We arrived in Boston at 8:30pm. The train's engine broke down, and they had to bring a new engine in to take over. In the meantime, the dining car gave away free snack packs. We didn't go to the dining car to get one, because we knew they'd be encased in plastic. However, the nice older lady sitting next to us got us each a snack pack when she went to get hers. P ate his right away. I was going to resist, but after about 10 minutes of resisting, decided I was too hungry to wait, so I ate it. And it's a good thing we did eat them, because we would have been even more starving than we were. Here is the gracious manner in which I ate my snack -- on top of my purse, on my lap.

The snack packs really added so much plastic to the trip. Here's a photo of all the plastic we produced. Something I didn't mention, but that you can see in the photo, are the two blue plastic tags we had to wear when we took a tour of the 9/11 memorial site.

I would feel very satisfied with the results if the darn snack packs weren't a part of it. However, we did manage to use a lot less than if we hadn't been paying attention and trying to reduce.

My plastic tally, week 3

2011-05-31T18:03:00.000-07:00

This week I took the Plastic Trash Challenge over at My Plastic-free Life. Here's the link to the challenge.

http://myplasticfreelife.com/showyourplastic/

In the challenge, you collect all of the plastic trash you produce in one week. My week went from Tuesday, May 24 to Monday, May 30. P, T, J, and I all participated. We saved everything we produced at home and put it in our plastic box, and if we had plastic waste from snacks/lunches outside of the house, we brought it home and added it to the box. Here's a look at our plastic waste this week.

Total items: 40

Items: Recyclable
Canola oil bottle (#1)
Yogurt container (#5)
Cookie tray (#1)
Meat tray (#7)
Egg carton (#1)
Ice cream cup w/lid (#1)
2 beer cans
3 soda cans
Can of chick peas
Two cat food cans and lids

Items: Nonrecyclable
Milk carton
12 broken CD containers and CD
3 bottle caps
Pair of flip flops, chewed by dog
Toothbrush
Ramen noodle package, plus spice envelope from inside this package
Plastic from frozen juice container (I composted the cardboard part, so this is just a portion of the package)
Plastic from super glue packaging
Plastic torn off from gummy Life Savers package
Plastic that holds the tag on a new item of clothes
Die (I mistakenly put this in the photo – it was put back into use!)
A couple of plastic fruit stickers
Not shown – dental floss
On Sunday afternoon and Monday, we visited Paul’s family and used lots of plastic (plastic plates, bowls, utensils, etc.) in the process. It was a situation where I didn’t want to bring up the fact that we’re trying to cut back on plastic. Maybe someday I’ll feel differently about this, but for now, I’m going to continue as is. We didn’t save this plastic, so it’s not in the tally.

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
The meat tray held marrow bones for the dog to chew while we’re away from home. Clearly this is only somewhat effective because he also chewed my flip-flops this week! At the store I go to, the marrow bones come pre-packaged in plastic containers (they arrive at the store already packaged), but I think I should be able to bring my own container to a different store and get marrow bones placed directly in there. It’s just a matter of finding a store that will do that, but I recently noticed a butcher shop in the next town over, so maybe I can give that a try.

I have already bought cage-free eggs in a cardboard carton. This plastic carton was left over from before I found the new source of eggs.

The ice cream cup! We went to get ice cream and I thought I’d be getting a cup or cone, and instead I wanted a frappe, and I didn’t resist! This is one thing this week that makes me feel pretty disappointed in myself — I could have put in a little more effort and I would have avoided this chunk of plastic.

Chick peas – I could get dried chick peas at the co-op.

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?
Gummy Life Savers! These were given to my son as a prize at school – I don’t buy them. You will also see some princess gummy treats in future tallies – these were given to my son by my mother, and I don’t buy them.

CD containers. These belonged to my son, and had CDs in them. I tossed the broken containers and put the CDs in a little box that makes it easier for him to access them. We have IPods, etc. and should have no reason to buy more CDs.

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
The flip flops. I have a dog-chewed item in this tally frequently enough that you might say, put your stuff away so it won’t get chewed! It just seems that I can’t predict what he’ll chew, and some things do belong on the floor (like flip-flops, which stay in a particular spot near the front door). He’s just 1-1/2 years old, so hopefully he will outgrow this behavior given more time.

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
I have to be more assertive about saying no to plastic. At the ice cream store where I got the frappe in the plastic cup, I had originally planned to get an ice cream in a cup or cone. I had my spoon in my purse, but I could feel myself wimping out about saying no spoon, because the young woman serving me seemed so sweet and I didn’t feel like being a little bit weird and different. I need to realize, first of all, it’s not a big deal, and second of all, it may make her think (or maybe she is already aware and would be receptive to my request!).

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
This is a busy week and we won’t be around this weekend, so I am going to try to maintain what we’ve already started doing, and next week I will be back to finding something new to eliminate! Hint: I think it will be the meat trays.

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
I am so happy at how much less plastic we have this week, compared to last week! Last week it filled the kitchen table and flowed over onto a chair, whereas this week it only took up half the table! I’m seeing that as I set up new systems, the plastic reduction comes a little easier (for instance, as I buy items in bulk, the plastic I would have purchased with those items is eliminated). This upcoming weekend we are going to New York for two nights, for a little fun trip. I am determined to use very little plastic on that trip. I can’t wait to see how we do!

Delicious low-plastic treats!

2011-05-29T09:05:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last plastic tally, I wanted to make a treat to take the place of store-bought, plastic packaged cookies. I decided on chocolate-chunk blondies, because I saw the recipe in the Boston Globe a couple of weeks ago and it looked good.

Taking a cue from my sister, I gathered together the ingredients for a group shot.

There is some plastic involved here. The brown sugar is in a plastic bag, but I can make brown sugar next time, using molasses and white sugar. The baking powder and vanilla extract caps are both plastic, and I don't know of a plastic-free alternative for them, but those ingredients will last me a long time and add up to a lot less plastic than a package of cookies from the store.

Here's the pan of blondies, hot out of the oven.

Some of the blondies will be eaten at home, but I want to send some to school in the kids' lunches. Here are the ones that are staying at home (in the two plastic containers), plus the ones that will be sent to school. I do have plastic wrap and aluminum foil in the drawer, but I managed to use no new wrappings for the blondies. Two are wrapped in plastic wrap that had been on some cheese already in the fridge, two are wrapped in the aluminum foil that the bittersweet chocolate bar was wrapped in, and two are in the wax paper that subs we had eaten that afternoon were wrapped in (I washed and saved the wax paper). I think these will be much appreciated in lunches this week!

In addition to sending a dessert-type snack to school in the kids' lunches, I send a snack that they eat earlier in the day in their classrooms. I was stressing about what to send that wouldn't be packaged in plastic. Thanks to a store in Salem called Milk & Honey, Harvest Co-op in Cambridge, and Whole Foods in Swampscott, it's all good!

Using my own containers, I got banana chips, yogurt-covered pretzels, chocolate-covered almonds (okay, the almonds are really for me), raisins, and cheddar sesame sticks!

Also, I wanted to show you a few things I got from the thrift store that will help with reducing plastic in the future.

I am keeping flour in the large, corked glass jar. I buy flour packaged in paper, so in this case, the jar doesn't save plastic, it just makes it more convenient to get at the flour. The smaller glass jar is holding granola that I got in bulk at Milk and Honey. I brought my own containers to buy the granola, and then put them in the glass jar. I haven't bought cereal at the grocery store since starting the Plastic Trash Challenge over at My Plastic-free Life! The spoons and forks are lightweight and I am keeping them in my purse so we don't have to use plastic utensils when we order ice cream or other food outside of the house. They have plastic handles, but since they came from a thrift store, I think that's fine -- it's using plastic that's already out there, as opposed to buying new plastic and thus maintaining the demand for plastic items.

That's all for now. Thanks for coming by!

Two bags and compost

2011-05-27T18:15:00.000-07:00

This evening, on a walk with Walter, I found only two bags. The first was a dry cleaning bag. I knotted the part where the hanger is supposed to come through, and used it on this walk for poop. Incidentally, that's what I do with my own dry cleaning bags -- knot them and use them to line the kitchen garbage can.

The second was a plastic grocery store bag that was ripped to the point of not being usable, so I threw that in the trash.

Lately I have noticed that there haven't been as many plastic bags in the neighborhood. While that's good news, I doubt that it indicates that people aren't tossing them on the ground, because what would have happened between now and a month ago that would have changed people's behavior that much? Nothing, as far as I know. It's strange, because I would have thought that with the weather being warmer, there would be more people walking, and thus more people tossing bags. Also, I can't blame it on dry weather blowing the bags away, because it has actually been quite rainy for the last two weeks. Maybe it's the fact that it has been rainy -- so that, despite the warmer temperatures, people haven't been venturing out. I don't know, but I'll keep an eye out and see whether the trend continues.

I turned my compost today. It's looking good!

I do think it needs more browns, so after this photo was taken, I added the roll of (clean) toilet paper that Walter the dog shredded joyfully while we weren't watching, plus a small paper bag that was greasy from tortilla chips (I cut the bag into small pieces).

Thanks for reading!

Compost basics

2011-05-25T18:30:00.001-07:00

I am fairly new to composting, and as you know, I'm just making a start at it with my 5-gallon-bucket system.

Though I am no authority, I have been asked by my sister to write a post on the basics of composting. She and my brother-in-law, who enjoy cooking (and thus have plenty of fruit and veggie scraps and eggshells) and have a good-sized yard in Maine, are considering giving composting a try for the first time. Their interest has been piqued by my blog (I'm blushing a little, modestly), and a cooking show (Chuck's Day Off) that featured composting in one episode. She'd like an overview of the process, which I will try to provide.

First, you need to start collecting "greens" and "browns." Greens can include fruit and vegetable bits, eggshells, coffee grounds, and grass clippings. I collect my food scraps in this sherbet container on my kitchen counter.

There are other, more stylish options, however, that might strike the fancy of the residents of the Rocky Coast. Here's a nice white ceramic one.

And here's a pretty white one with flowers.

There are many options that can be found online.

Once your kitchen container fills up, you bring it outside and dump the contents into your compost bin. There are many different kinds of bins you can buy or make. I'm going to link to a couple that I think might look nice and neat in a Maine backyard.

Here's a tumbler-style bin. This rotates easily to mix the compost without any need to use a pitchfork or shovel. It's made from 100% recycled plastic, too!

Here's a more traditional, non-tumbler bin.

Here's a nice-looking wooden bin.

In addition to your kitchen scraps and grass clippings, you add browns such as leaves you rake up in the fall, dried-up brush (the smaller you cut these things up, the quicker they will break down), and, if you read the second comment here, you'll see that you can use paper such as pizza boxes and toilet paper rolls, among other kinds.

Continue adding greens and browns, and turn (or rotate) your pile fairly often (every couple of weeks). In some period of time that is unknown to me but that I think could be more or less a year, you should have something that looks like this.

That is my basic understanding of the process. My sister mentioned that she had heard that there should be a particular ratio of carbon to nitrogen in a compost bin. After looking this up, I learned that carbon is the browns, and nitrogen is the greens. Two parts carbon (browns) and one part nitrogen (green) is the magic ratio. I'm glad to know that, because it makes me think the compost system at the House Behind the Other Houses could use some more carbon to really get the decomposing party started.

I hope this post was helpful to the residents of Nellie's House. Knowing these high-achievers, I think it won't be long before I'm enviously eying some rich, crumbly compost on the Rocky Coast!

My plastic tally, week two

2011-05-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

This week I took the Plastic Trash Challenge over at My Plastic-free Life. Here's the link to the challenge.

http://myplasticfreelife.com/showyourplastic/

In the challenge, you collect all of the plastic trash you produce in one week. My week went from Tuesday, May 17 to Monday, May 23. P, T, J, and I all participated. We saved everything we produced at home and put it in our plastic box, and if we had plastic waste from snacks/lunches outside of the house, we brought it home and added it to the box. Here's a look at our plastic waste this week.

As you can see, we had much more plastic this week than last week. Most of it was not new purchases of plastic, but things we already had in the house. Next week I may take two separate photos -- one of new purchases of plastic, and one of plastic already owned. That may help me feel like I'm making some progress in reducing the amount of plastic I am purchasing.

Total items: 81

Items: Recyclable
3 Coke/Diet Coke cans — metal recycling
4 cat food cans and lid — metal recycling
Plastic cup (#6) — someone gave our dog water in this cup when he was waiting outside a green/renewable energy fair for us!
Plastic cup (#5) and lid (#1)
2 Nantucket cookie trays (#1)
Grape jelly container (#1)
2 egg containers (#1) — I can only get cage-free eggs in plastic at the supermarket, but I went to the co-op this week and found them in cardboard!
2 plastic containers that held new speakers we got this week (#4)

Items: Nonrecyclable
2 cookie trays
potato bag
romaine lettuce bag
cat food bag
Hershey Kisses bag (left over from Easter “egg” hunt)
2 inner cereal bags
Shortbread cookie bag
Keebler Fudge cookie bag (who is putting all of these cookies in my cabinets?)
Many little plastic bags and plastic wrappers that held parts to the speakers we got this week
Bread bag
Bagel bag
Cheese bag
Cheese label
2 styrofoam containers with lids — someone at work ordered sushi for lunch, and it came with miso soup, which he didn’t want and offered to me.
2 inner cracker wrappers
Granola bar type wrapper
Rice Krispies bar wrapper
Princess fruit snack wrapper
Bowl and spoon — Paul ordered ice cream and thought it would come in a paper cup
Plastic candy box and ribbon — shower favor at work
Honey jar lid
Wii game case — ordered this secondhand online, so avoided some packaging, but not all.
2 single-serve butter containers
Bread bag tab
3 flower label tags
Chewed-up button from my pajamas (dog chewed it)
Pig timer (it broke)
Orange juice container
Milk container
Straw
Shoelace package
Toothpaste tube
2 plastic bags — we ate at a counter-service restaurant, and they thought we were taking out, when we were actually eating in.
2 bags from potting soil
3 nonpareil bags (success — I found a place where I can buy these in bulk, so I did, and these should be the last nonpareil bags in my tally!)

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
We have SO MUCH plastic this week! I don’t know why we did so much worse than last week. Most of the items are things we already had (not new purchases), so hopefully it won’t be too hard to reduce it by a lot.

The plastic cup and lid are from an iced mocha I bought in an unprepared moment of weakness. I had brought my water bottle to this garden tour, but didn’t think to bring my travel mug. I could and should have just stuck with water.

Cookie trays, Nantucket and otherwise — I bought ingredients to make chocolate chip blondies (no plastic involved — the chips will be chopped bittersweet chocolate from a bar), and we can eat these this coming week. It shouldn’t be much of a problem to make cookies regularly.

Grape jelly — I can easily get this in a glass jar.

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?/'
I’m not going to buy orange juice regularly anymore. Only one of my kids drinks it, and he doesn’t drink much of it, and I don’t think he’ll miss it much if we don’t have it. I have two more containers (frozen concentrate rather than cartons), but once those are gone, I won’t buy more.

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
Shoelaces

Pajama buttons! I won’t leave my pajamas lying on my bed anymore!

Mistake items, like the plastic bags the restaurant gave us, thinking we were taking out. We could have given them back, but I feel like they would have gone right into the trash.

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
More baking.

I sometimes just need to think ahead! Quite a few items could have been avoided with pre-planning.

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
Cookies from the store. I can bake cookies easily. I do have a couple (or more!) cookie packages in the cabinet, so those packages will show up in future tallies, but I will try hard not to buy any more.

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
I have to work harder this week! I want to reduce this hideously large number of plastic items!

Everything is planted!

2011-05-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was able to get the rest of the seedlings planted outside, as well as some new annuals for the front planters. Here are the vegetables (and the crabapple tree). On the far left, next to the fence, is one of the Arkansas Traveler tomatoes. Next is the other Arkansas Traveler, then an heirloom tomato called Rose that I bought at Thomson's Garden Center here in Salem, then the Black Beauty zucchini, then the crabapple tree, then, in the white box on the right, two California Wonder peppers, plus T's stunted, experimental, tiny California Wonder pepper. Everyone but the peppers are enjoying the afternoon sun. The peppers will get it in another 15-30 minutes, so don't feel too bad for them.

Here's a fat worm I found underneath a pot when I moved the pot to a different location. I put it in with the peppers, and soon it was gone, hopefully burrowing underneath the dirt, rather than providing a meal for a bird. In the photo, you can see the worm, then a pepper, then T's sad little pepper.

Here's a nice photo of the crabapple tree, taken by J.

Here are the flowers in the front. The annuals came from Thomson's Garden Center, and you can also see that the iris (towards the left) and the columbine (towards the right), which came from Alison the very nice gardener. The columbine is blooming prolifically!

I was so excited to find a new trash blogger on Friday. Any Doorway is written by a woman who is picking up lots of trash on the roadsides around her home in Maryland. It's so interesting to read about the motivations of the people who make a point of picking up trash. You should check out her blog!

http://anydoorway.blogspot.com/

Also, J had a chorus concert yesterday, so here he is looking all snappy in his shirt and tie, and T is also looking snappy in a more casual way.

Then today, we climbed Mount Monadnock with T and his friend E, and here they are on the summit!

Inspiration from Beacon Hill

2011-05-21T06:59:00.000-07:00

This morning I found just three bags. The first one was so gross that I just threw it directly into the nearest trash can.

The second one was full of trash. The blogger from Trash Paddler said that these are left by "Mr. Tidy Litterbug" -- someone who thinks that as long as your trash is contained in a plastic bag, it's okay to leave it for others to pick it up. I backtracked to the same trash can and threw it out.

Then I found this, which I thought was a few unused plastic bags still attached to each other, but which turned out to be "filled air" packing material. That went into the trash at home.

I wanted to mention a couple of other things. On Thursday, I went with my cousin Sheila to the Hidden Gardens of Beacon Hill tour. The gardens are tiny and beautiful. Here are some photos from the day.

Let me tell you, this gave me a lot of inspiration for the House Behind the Other Houses! Which, by the way, has a little way to go before it gets included on any garden tours. But the House Behind the Other Houses is like the little engine that could -- it may not be as fancy, it may be surrrounded by asphalt, it may be 50 feet from the back door of a bar, but it has heart, and determination, and it can go the distance, and by gosh, people like it!

That having been said, let's take a look at how the vegetable garden is shaping up. Yes, the seedlings are making the big move to large containers outside! I think I need to stop calling them seedlings!

I am moving them in the small chunks of time I have available, so they are not all outside yet. Each pot needs to be enclosed with chicken wire because of our little friends the squirrels, who have been ransacking the perennials in the front containers, bless their hearts. Here's the solution.

On the far left is an Arkansas Traveler tomato. The next pot is still vacant. The third from the left is a Black Beauty zucchini, and the fourth from the left is the crabapple tree. I will be moving the rest out soon.

Here's a peek at the Niagara grapevine. I planted this last fall, and wasn't sure whether it would survive the winter, but it did! It, too, is surrounded by chicken wire for its own safety and the safety of others.

Just kidding about the safety of others. The grapevine is harmless.

You can see the compost system in the background.

Thanks for checking in!