Productive weekend

Now that the sun is back out and shining it's been easier to get back into the swing of things. Last weekend was mostly dedicated to gardening though there was also brewing and other fun activities. This weekend was

Starting earlier though, I had a chance to take in some old boots of mine to the cobbler for some much needed repair. The rubber had worn off of most of the heels and was wearing into the wood. So I think I paid somewhere around $50 for these boots originally and having new heels put on is going to cost me around $25. I find this to be more than reasonable and look forward to seeing how they turn out.

The garden is coming along nicely. Most of the planting is done and we are now just hoping that things grow well. Last year there was a issue with powdery mildew on the squashes so this year they are further spread out and we are watching for any early signs of blight. Most of the herbs overwintered just fine except for the basil plant which needs to be replaced. Some of the chard overwintered and the hops are going crazy. So currently we have growing: salad greens, chard, corn, beans, squashes of various types, peppers, tomatoes, hops, peas, artichoke and rhubarb. I have 20 asparagus starts coming that I need to find space for and will hopefully be producing by next spring.

We are still figuring out how to deal with the neighborhood cats since their owners have seen fit to allow them to wander the neighborhood and crap in anyone's garden that they please (yes I am a little bitter). We dug a new bed this year and covered it with gardening cloth, hoping that will discourage the cats since there is no dirt to dig in. Other than that the coyote fence is still up and the smaller beds are spiked. I don't know what to do for the really big bed down at the bottom of the yard but I'm sure we'll come up with something (like live traps and a no kill shelter).

Okay, maybe it has been a while

Yes, so it has been brought to my attention numerous times that I haven't updated my blog in quite some time. Things have been busy with school and work and in some ways I haven't been as good about my environmentalism as I would like.

So, I have started biking at least a few times a week to work and back. This has been... an experience to say the last. Before this the most biking I had done was around my neighborhood for fun so I had bought an inexpensive Target bike which came up to Seattle with us. Needless to say that this just wasn't cutting it for on street commuting so I headed over to REI and bought myself a lovely little Novara Buzz which treats me well except for getting hit by a car and the need to buy a new saddle. (I'm fine btw, the car didn't hit me going that fast and all I suffered was some bruises, scrapes and a sore throat from reading the driver the riot act.)

I'm still working on making the office a greener place, especially in ways that save money since budget cuts are hitting the University hard. A recent project of mine that has finally met with success has been working with Office Depot to reduce the amount of packing material in their deliveries to the University. As the person in my Department in charge of ordering office supplies I was often distressed that I would order a few things (box of pens, staples, a few pads of paper) and it would come in this HUGE box filled with plastic air pillows.

I didn't want to throw these away because they were perfectly reusable but they kept coming in faster than I was able to find homes for my ever growing stash. I also noticed that a lot of other departments were just throwing theirs away which was both a waste and horrible for the environment. I finally contacted Office Depot to request that they take the materials back for reuse since this would clear out some of my space and save them money. I got a response back that the company would do this once but would not make it a regular thing because it caused too much extra work for the delivery drivers. I then asked that our orders not have packing material since there was really very little chance of anything being damaged. I was told that this could not be done on a department by department basis. There were a few more emails back and forth in which I suggested a central drop off point where departments could return the materials for Office Depot to reuse. Today I received noticed that the University of Washington had given Office Depot approval to not include packing materials in orders that did not contain fragile items. So YAY, score one for less unnecessary waste.

Bad mean green girl

First of all I am so very sorry for the lack of updates. There is no excuse except that I've been lazy.

So I'll start out with some quick updates. The garden is doing well and we are getting zucchini out of our ears. I've started a gardening journal with sketches, notes and such so I'll have a reminder of the lessons learned from year to year. This also will remind me where I've planted what in the past so I can make sure to rotate crops in the most beneficial way possible.

Here's a good tip that John's mom passed on to us that she learned from her farming family members. With tomatoes you need to pick off the suckers to ensure that your plant grows up instead of out. Here is an easy way to know which branches are suckers. Imagine the stalk of your tomato plant growing straight up, now there are branches that grow out at 90 degrees, these are true branches. Sometimes though there will be a small branch that grows at 45 degrees between the stem and the branch (see picture below by katiedL.), that is a sucker. As soon as you notice one just pinch it off at the base. If it has already grown to a decent size, don't worry about it because pinching it off at this point will just harm the plant. You continue to get the suckers until the first level of flowers. So if your plant starts to flower on the 3rd true stem up continue to get the suckers off the first two until they flower.

So there, a good little hint from a long line of farmers which they tend not to talk about in gardening books.

I'm also currently working on converting an old sump from John's lab into a gray water collection tank only using salvaged materials, but unfortunately left my camera at a restaurant yesterday (NOOOOO), and can't show you any images of the work in progress. Needless to say it's a little ghetto looking but should work just fine when finished.

Don't forget the oceans

Because of how we live it's often easy to forget about the oceans, despite the fact that water covers about 70% of the earth. John introduced me to the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch Program a while back and I've been carrying around their seafood guide around ever since.

While at one of my local sushi dives last week I noticed that Atlantic Salmon was on the menu which was a little confusing since I live on the Pacific Coast. You know, that place where you can get all sorts of fish? Why on earth did they need to ship in farm raised Atlantic salmon when there were so many better alternatives? So, when I got home I sat down and wrote to the management.

Dear Management,

I have been a long time customer and love the Blue C experience. However, I was dismayed recently when I noticed that you had Atlantic Salmon on your menu. Farming practices for Atlantic Salmon are harmful to our oceans and the Environmental Defense Fund has issued a health advisory for farmed salmon due to high levels of PCBs and dioxins. Being in the Pacific Northwest we have access to fantastic alternatives to Atlantic Salmon which are both healthier for consumers and better for the environment. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch has great information on environmentally friendly seafood, as well as resources for restaurants. I hope you consider this information in future purchases of seafood.

Thanks from a concerned customer

and I actually got this e-mail in response the next day!

Courtney,

Great email and thanks for sending along the information. I'm going to ask our distributor about their source because you are correct this is something we need to be sensitive to. It's one of the reasons we carry Sockeye Salmon on the belt as well.

Interestingly we are in talks with a new supplier that we think people will be very excited about. It is a long process but at the end of it we hope to have a very clear map of where all of the seafood we serve originates on a consistent basis.

Thank you gain for reaching out to us. I appreciate it.

Best regards,

Steve Rosen
Co-Founder, Blue C Sushi

Woot! I've never had a company respond positively to my environmental requests before so I'm super excited. Yea for encouragement that someone out there IS listening and that maybe I can make a difference!

Urban Foraging (for flora not freeganing)

Thanks once again to the authors of the Urban Homesteader for turning me on to foraging for edible flora in my city. It's amazing the amount of food that is growing around you that will go to waste since no one expects to find their dinner growing by the road. Since starting I have found berries of all sorts, apples, pine nuts and some possibly edible mushrooms. (It probably doesn't need to be said but please don't eat mushrooms you find unless you have been taught by an expert since some species will ET YOUR FACE).

The berries have been frozen and/or made into syrups and jam. The apples aren't big or sweet enough to really eat but we're going to try our hand at making apple butter and canning it. (Can you guys guess what people will be getting for the holidays?) The pine nuts are a little harder. You have to get the really big cones before the nuts fall out. When you look inside you'll see hard black seeds covered in black gunk. You need to pry these seeds out and then crack them to get to the edible pine nuts inside. It's a lot of work but I got a decent haul out of just a few cones.

This Saturday I'm taking a plant ID class given by my lovely friend Seb and John and I are hoping to take some mushroom ID classes soon so we can actually eat some of our fungal finds.

What is really killing me about this is that back where I lived in Austin there were pecan trees everywhere. During the fall the sidewalks would be covered with uncracked fallen pecans and we would just step on them. >.< Now if I want pecans I have to pay out of my ears for them. So do me a favor Austin reader(s), come fall head over to Hyde Park and grab some pecans. They aren't hard to crack and can be stored in your freezer (or can be mailed to your loving Mean Green Girl winkwinknudgenudge).

I'll keep you guys updated as I learn more about edible flora and hopefully won't have any horror stories about getting my mushrooms mixed up.

Wasting food is not green (even if the mold is)

So John and I were having a problem that our fresh veggies and leftovers kept going bad in our fridge meaning we were wasting perfectly good food. Being my brilliant self ::stands in a victorious pose with super hero grin:: I devised a nice little system so this doesn't happen. Meet the board.



There are actually two parts to the board. The right size lists our produce so we don't forget about things until they are found rotting in the back of the drawer. The left side is for leftovers in plastic containers. Each container lid is numbered and the number, contents and date are written on the board.

This system also saves energy as we can see what is in the fridge without having to stand with the door open.

Book Review: The Urban Homestead, Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City

I don't remember how I stumbled across this book, but I'm glad I did. The Urban Homestead is a fantastic resource for anyone living in the city who wants good ideas on how to be a little greener.

The basis for the book is to show people that they can be much more self sufficient than previously thought possible while living in an urban environment. The topics range from gardening and urban forging to solar cooking and gray-water collection.

The thing about this book that most impressed me was that the authors didn't restrict themselves to readers who live in a house. Many of the projects can be used by apartment dwellers with few or no alterations. Though some, like raising chickens, should probably be reserved for those with a yard... unless you really want to piss off your neighbors. And if that is your goal then I recommend getting a rooster to keep your chickens well serviced. One of the projects that really caught my attention were the solar cookers and dehydrators. Currently I'm working on making a combo piece out of dumpster dive finds and will make a post with directions... once I get it all figured out.

The only draw back to this book is that due to length constraints much of the information is basic. However, the authors provided a fantastic appendix of resources where more advanced information can be found.

I give the Urban Homestead 5 out of 5 trees and highly recommend that people check out the authors' blog.