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.

Green Wedding Ideas or Why the interweb sucks for good ideas

So after having a nightmare last night about the wedding, despite the fact that it's 15 months away (Eek, 15 is not a big number when I look at it written down), I sat down this morning to do some more research on how I can pull this off and be as green as possible. I have to say, some of the information I found was HORRIBLE.

I understand that green is the new black but many of these "environmentally friendly" tips only look good on the surface. In reality they are nearly as bad for the planet as whatever they are replacing. This is why I'm writing this, to get good information out there.

Lets start with flowers; even though this is something I plan on avoiding at my own wedding. A lot of sites encourage you to order organic flowers from various places which will happily ship overnight to you organically grown flowers. Wait.... ship, overnight? That probably means a plane ride, LOTS of gas and a ton of packaging. How is that green? A much better alternative is to check out local growers and see what is in season around the time of your wedding. My farmer's market always has at least one stand with flowers during the spring and summer which have the benefit of being organic, affordable, and don't come with all of the extra carbon from shipping. If you are having a fall or winter wedding really think about other alternatives to out of season flowers. Candles, locally grown gourds and other options make pretty decorations AND have the benefit of being truly green.

Invitations are another problem. John and I have decided to go the route of sending out e-invitations to most of our guests and reserving a few paper ones for close family members/friends who will want a keepsake. This saves energy since very little has to be produced and reduces gas from them being delivered. For the invitations we are sending I'm trying to find locally made paper (recycled or treeless if possible) and will hand make them myself. We are keeping our RSVPs online and will not have all of the extra junk that goes along with "traditional" invitations. Really, our thoughts on the matter are that people will probably want pictures to remember the event by more than an impersonal piece of paper.

Most importantly the best way to have any event be green is to follow the three Rs in order. Reuse, buy used or rent/borrow if you can and then give away what you don't need anymore for the next couple. Examples are buying dishes, flatware, cups and tablecloths from Goodwill, washing them up and then redonating. You get inexpensive items and don't create any waste and a good company gets business. Reduce, really modern weddings have gotten out of hand. Cut out everything you don't need and I guarantee that as long as people have a good time they won't notice. Recycle, buy disposables that are recyclable and donate non disposables via thrift stores, freecycle, or craigslist.

The snot rag wars

We'll start this off with a little video from the awesome MC Chris that I just KNOW was written about me.



So yeah, if you want to speak to my heart saying that you think seasonal allergies are sexy is a good start.

Seriously though, all nerdy references aside, I finally had to come to grips with the fact that I was using a TON of tissues. In fact, most days the only reason our custodian had to empty my trash can at all was because of the snot rags and thus something had to be done.

I tried to relieve my conscience by buying facial tissues made from recycled material but even those used energy to produce, package and ship and where then thrown away. So I took an old pair of cotton pajama bottoms I had gotten my senior year of high school which were worn beyond repair and made myself a nice set of handkerchiefs, a matching drawstring bag to hold them and then an extra bag for produce.

Overall I have to say that handkerchiefs aren't bad at all. No nasty slimy ick in my pockets or on my hands, no spreading of germs, NO PACKAGING!! My dad and grandfathers used them for years so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. One tends to last me all day though I carry around two and then I toss them in the bucket we have by the washer for our nastier dirties for my one hot wash of the week. Then they go back in the drawstring bag by the door so I remember to grab a clean one on my way out.

So here are instructions on making pajama bottom handkerchiefs with bags... okay, maybe just the bags since all I did for the snot rags was cut the legs into squares. For the bags I took the pants from the crotch up and cut them in half up the inseam. I sewed the side and bottom shut, and used the existing drawstring channel with one extra hole cut for my second output. There, so freaking simple a monkey could do it, though the monkey would probably fling poo at you in the process.